Nikolai Nikolayevich Golovin ( rus, Никола́й Никола́евич Голови́н; 4 December 1875 – 10 January 1944) was an

Imperial Russian The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. Th ...

general and military historian.

Biography

Since 1908 Golovin was professor of tactics at General Staff Academy. At the beginning of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Golovin commanded Grodno Hussar regiment. Later he was transferred to staff of the general Lechitsky 9th Army as Quartermaster-General (Director of operations), and in 1916 as Chief of Staff of 7th Army. In 1917 he was Chief of Staff of

Romanian Front The Romanian Front ( ro, Frontul Românesc, FR) was a moderate fascist party created in Romania in 1935. Led by former Prime Minister Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, it originated as a right-wing splinter group from the mainstream National Peasants' Part ...

. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

and break-up of the army he retired to Odessa where he lived in obscurity until the victory of the Allies and opening of the Black Sea allowed him to come to Western Europe. In autumn 1919 he travelled from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

through

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

to join admiral Kolchak's anti-bolshevik "white" forces. It was assumed that Golovin would be the Chief of Staff of Kolchak's army. But when he arrived at

Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...

, Kolchak's army was already retreating in disarray. Golovin decided that the situation was hopeless and did not take command, returning to Vladivostok and Europe. While living as an emigre in Paris he authored numerous books and articles on military theory and military history. He collected documents on Russian history for the Hoover library. With the help of

Vasily Maklakov Vasily Alekseyevich Maklakov (Russian: Васи́лий Алексе́евич Маклако́в; , Moscow – July 15, 1957, Baden, Switzerland) was a Russian student activist, a trial lawyer and liberal parliamentary deputy, an orator, and on ...

the Okhrana-archive was transferred. Golovin's personal collection of documents was also deposited in the Hoover Institution's archive.Register of the Nikolai Nikolaevich Golovin Papers, 1912-1943
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Works

Books

The problem of the Pacific in the twentieth century
1922. (co-authored with Andrei Bubnov) * The Russian Army in World War I. New Haven,

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, 1931. * ''The Russian Campaign of 1914: The Beginnings of the War and Operations in East Prussia''. Fort Leavenworth, KS, The Command and General Staff School Press, 1933. * Air strategy. 1936.

Articles

Great battle for Galicia: A Study in Strategy
The Slavonic Review, Vol. 5, No. 13 (Jun., 1926), pp. 25–47 * Brusilov's Offensive: The Galician Battle of 1916.

The Slavonic and East European Review ''The Slavonic and East European Review'', the journal of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (University College London), is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering Slavonic and East European Studies. It was estab ...

, Vol. 13, No. 39 (Apr., 1935), pp. 571–596 * The Russian War Plan of 1914.

, Vol. 14, No. 42 (Apr., 1936), pp. 564–584. * The Russian War Plan of 1914: II. The Execution of the Plan.

, Vol. 15, No. 43 (Jul., 1936), pp. 70–90

References

Literature

* Timothy C. Dowling. Golovin, Nikolai (1875–1944) // Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond volumes — ABC-CLIO, 2014. — P. 311. — 1166 p. — . * Головин, Николай Николаевич // Военная энциклопедия : � 18 т./ под ред. В. Ф. Новицкого � др. — СПб. ; �.: Тип. т-ва И. Д. Сытина, 1911—1915. n Russian* Залесский К. А. Головин Николай Николаевич // Кто был кто в первой мировой войне. Биографический энциклопедический словарь. М., 2003. n Russian* Порохин С. Генерального штаба Генерал-лейтенант, профессор Головин Николай Николаевич // Посев. — 2011. — Вып. 10 (1609). — С. 41-44. — ISSN 0234-8284. n Russian {{DEFAULTSORT:Golovin, Nikolai 1875 births 1944 deaths Writers from Moscow People from Moskovsky Uyezd Russian nobility Imperial Russian lieutenant generals Russian military personnel of World War I Russian All-Military Union members Military theorists Russian military historians Russian military writers Historians of World War I