Pyotr Semyonovich Isaev (; better known as Petka () or Pete; April 20, 1890 – September 5, 1919) was a participant in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, assistant to a

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

commander

Vasily Chapayev Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev (; 5 September 1919) was a Russian soldier and Red Army commander during the Russian Civil War. Biography Chapayev was born into a poor peasant family in a village called , now part of Cheboksary. During World War I ...

and

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

of the communications battalion. Thanks to the vivid image of Petka in the film ''Chapaev'', he became the hero of numerous anecdotes about Petka, Vasily Ivanovich and Anka the Machine-Gunner.

Biography

Pyotr was born on July 20, 1890, in the village of , ,

Samara Governorate Samara Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR, located in the Volga Region. It existed from 1850 to 1928; its capital was in Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He graduated from the . In

, he was a senior

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

of the musician team, after being wounded he returned home. In the spring of 1918, he organized a detachment in Korneevka to suppress the anti-

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

uprising, then in the village of Semyonovka he first met with

. Soon he became squadron commander at Chapayev, in the fall he was appointed chief of communications of the 1st brigade of the Chapayev division. Together with Chapayev, he transferred to the 2nd Nikolaev division, where he was the commander of the communications battalion, the assistant to the chief of communications.

Versions of death

There are several versions of the circumstances of his death. According to one version, Pyotr died (or shot himself) on September 5, 1919, in a battle during the , where the headquarters of the 25th rifle division was located. According to the version set forth in Dmitry Furmanov's novel and then reflected in the film of the same name, after the wounded Chapaev was being transported across the river, Pyotr remained on the shore, fired back and then fired the bullet into himself. According to his grandson, in that battle he was mortally wounded and, together with Chapaev, was buried in an unmarked grave. According to another version, Isaev shot himself a year later after the death of Chapayev, unable to bear the loss of a close friend. There is a version that he committed suicide a month after the battle, without finding the body of the deceased commander, or died of wounds at his home after leaving the hospital.

In culture

For the role of Petka in the film Chapaev, was first invited, but ultimately Leonid Kmit was approved.

Awards

For the capture of a

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

spy, Pyotr was awarded a personalized Browning pistol with the inscription "To Pyotr Isaev for courage from the Ural Chekists" (). Pyotr was also awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

Personal life

He was married to Anna Goldyreva. His grand-niece claims that his wife's name was Fima.

References