LEADERS & COMMANDERS

BARON PYOTR NIKOLAYEVICH WRANGEL

NICKNAMED ‘THE BLACK BARON’ BY THE BOLSHEVIKS, WRANGEL SHOT TO FAME IN 1919, FIRST AS A CAVALRY COMMANDER THEN AS THE LEADER OF THE LAST SERIOUS MILITARY OPPOSITION TO THE BOLSHEVIK REGIME IN 1920

Wrangel was born into an aristocratic Baltic-German family that had served the Russian monarchy for centuries. He was educated and spent much of his youth in Rostov-on-Don, qualifying as a mining engineer in 1901. Volunteering for military service the same year, he joined the elite Life Guard Cavalry Regiment. When war with Japan broke out in 1904, Wrangel volunteered for active service and joined a local Cossack regiment as a junior officer. He was decorated for bravery and decided to follow a military career, re-joining the Life Guard Cavalry Regiment. He remained there, gaining further promotions and awards for bravery, until late 1915 when he was appointed to command another Cossack regiment with the rank of colonel.

Following the revolution of March 1917 he was promoted to