Vasily Boldyrev was one of the most capable and influential military commanders in the Russian Army during WWI and the Russian Revolution. When the October Revolution broke out, he was the Lieutenant-General and Commander-in-Chief of the 5th Army, but was soon arrested for being disobedient to the Bolshevik Government. After being released in March 1918, he joined the Union of Regeneration, which was founded in April 1918 in Moscow. He attended the Ufa State Conference as a military representative of the Union, and in the beginning of November, when the Directory was established as the All Russian Government, he was elected as one of its five members and commander-in-chief of its armed forces. However, the Directory was soon overthrown by a coup on November 18, 1918, and Admiral A. Kolchak took over. Boldyrev refused to serve the new government and moved to Japan.
He arrived from Vladivostok on December 30, 1918, and mainly lived in Tokyo and Yokohama for a little longer than a year. During his stay in Japan, he met key figures of the Japanese Army, including the Minister of War Lieutenant-General Tanaka Giichi, the Chief of the General Staff General Uehara Yusaku, and the Chair of the Support Commission for Siberia Baron Mekata Tanetaro. Initially, Boldyrev’s relationship with the Japanese army was relatively favorable, but it gradually cooled. The leaders of the Japanese Army probably found him difficult to control, or even dangerous. Boldyrev was disappointed, aware that the Japanese military officials and politicians were not only indifferent to establishing democracy and recovering the unity of Russia, but also intended to do the opposite.
Boldyrev left Japan on January 17, 1920, and arrived in Vladivostok on January 19. At the end of that month, General Vasily Rozanov lost power in Maritime Province and the New Provisional Zemstvo Government of the Maritime Province was established. Boldyrev occupied a unique and important position in politics in the Russian Far East up until 1922. His story is very interesting, but it is already the theme of another article.
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