Paul von Plehwe /ref> (russian: Па́вел Ада́мович (фон) Пле́ве, Pavel Adamovich (von) Pleve) (30 June 1850 – 28 March 1916), more commonly known as Pavel Plehve, was a Russian general of
Baltic German
Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...
descent who distinguished himself as a commander during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Military career
After graduation from officer's cavalry school, Plehwe served in an uhlan regiment. In 1877, he graduated from the General Staff Academy. During the
Russo-Turkish War
The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...
, Plehwe served as a staff officer of the 13th corps, and after the war worked in the Bulgarian war ministry, returning to Russia in 1880.
During peacetime Plehwe raised through the ranks, commanding cavalry regiment (1890), Nicholas cavalry school (1895), 2nd cavalry division (1899) and
Moscow military district
The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military Di ...
(1909).
World War I
He was given command over the Fifth Army which he led in the
Battle of Galicia
The Battle of Galicia, also known as the Battle of Lemberg, was a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary during the early stages of World War I in 1914. In the course of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian armies were severely defeated and ...
and the defence of Lodz. The following year he switched command to the new Twelfth Army, which he led in the
Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes
The Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes, also known as the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes, was the northern part of the Central Powers' offensive on the Eastern Front in the winter of 1915. The offensive was intended to advance beyond the V ...
in February 1915 (where the Russian Tenth Army was defeated by the Germans). He subsequently returned to command of Fifth Army and, briefly, commanded the northern sector of the Eastern Front. Plagued for years by poor health Plehwe was finally invalided out of the army in February 1916; he died later the same year.