Ilia Odishelidze ( ka, ილია ოდიშელიძე); russian: Илья Зурабович Одишелидзе, ''Ilya Zurabovich Odishelidze'') (25 March 1865 – c. 1924) was a Georgian military leader who had also served as a general of the

Imperial Russia 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. The ...

n army.

Biography

Born in Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire, he graduated from the 3rd Alexander’s School (1887) and the General Staff Academy in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

(1894). The next ten years were spent in military work in various regions of the empire. He took part in the

Russo-Japanese war The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

(1904–1905) in the capacity of a chief of staff of the 6th Eastern

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 ...

n Division. He served, from 9 November 1911 to 9 January 1914, a

governor general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

and was moved afterwards as a chief of staff of the

Turkestan Military District The Turkestan Military District (russian: Туркестанский военный округ (ТуркВО), ''Turkestansky voyenyi okrug (TurkVO)'') was a military district of both the Imperial Russian Army and the Soviet Armed Forces, with it ...

. Promoted to lieutenant general on 11 October 1914, he was Chief of Staff of the

10th 10 (ten) is the even natural number following 9 and preceding 11. Ten is the base of the decimal numeral system, by far the most common system of denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. It is the first double-digit number. The re ...

, and later of the

1st Army First Army may refer to: China * New 1st Army, Republic of China * First Field Army, a Communist Party of China unit in the Chinese Civil War * 1st Group Army, People's Republic of China Germany * 1st Army (German Empire), a World War I field Arm ...

. In 1917 he held command over the 15th Army Corps,

1st First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

and 3rd armies. On October 2, 1917 he was appointed the commander-in-chief of the Caucasus Army. In January 1918 he was in command at

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

. During the total collapse of the

Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...

administration he tried to prevent the imperial army's disintegration, then resigned as a commander and helped to organize national Georgian divisions. In March 1918, he served as deputy minister of war for the

Transcaucasian Commissariat The Transcaucasian Commissariat was established at Tbilisi on 11 November 1917, as the first government of the independent Transcaucasia following the October Revolution in Petrograd. The Commissariat decided to strengthen the Georgian–Armenian� ...

, but was sacked for his nationalistic sentiments. After

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

’s declaration of independence (May 26, 1918), he held various important posts in the national armed forces and served as the commander-in-chief of army from the fall of 1920 to February 1921. After the Soviet invasion of Georgia, his fate becomes unclear. According to some sources, he was shot by the Bolsheviks in 1921. He, however, appears to have fled to Turkey, where he died around 1924. Odishelidze's son Alexander, a colonel of the Georgian army, moved to France, where he died in 1933.

Honours and awards

Order of St. Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus ( pl, Order Św. Stanisława Biskupa Męczennika, russian: Орден Святого Станислава), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Ponia ...

, 3rd class (1902) * Order of St. Anne, 3rd class with swords and bow (1905) *

Order of St. Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir (russian: орден Святого Владимира) was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptize ...

, 4th class with swords and bow (1905) *

, with Swords 3rd class (1905) *

Gold Sword for Bravery The Gold Sword for Bravery (russian: Золотое оружие "За храбрость") was a Russian award for bravery. It was set up with two grades on 27 July 1720 by Peter the Great, reclassified as a public order in 1807 and abolished ...

(29 March 1905) * Order of St. Anne with Swords 2nd class (1906) *

Order of Saint George The Order of Saint George (russian: Орден Святого Георгия, Orden Svyatogo Georgiya) is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. Originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) a ...

, 4th class (1907) *

, 1st class (6 December 1912).

References

Одишелидзе, Илья Зурабович
ru) {{DEFAULTSORT:Odishelidze, Ilia 1865 births 1924 deaths People of World War I from Georgia (country) Military personnel from Georgia (country) Generals from Georgia (country) Imperial Russian Army generals Georgian generals in the Imperial Russian Army Georgian lieutenant generals (Imperial Russia) Georgian generals-in-chief (Imperial Russia) Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class Recipients of the Gold Sword for Bravery People from Georgia (country) executed by the Soviet Union

Biography

Honours and awards

See also

References