FATE OF ADMIRAL KOLCHAK

Admiral Aleksandr Vasilevich Kolchak was one of the most extraordinary figures to appear on the Russian political stage during the early 20th Century. A one-time polar explorer, Kolchak was also an outstanding naval officer who commanded the Tsar's Black Sea Fleet in 1916. Disgusted by the growing threat of revolutionary Bolshevism, Kolchak resigned his commission and offered his services to the British navy when the Bolsheviks withdrew their support for the Allies in 1917. Kolchak's unusual career reached its height just over a year later when he was confirmed as the leader of the White Russian cause - the Supreme Ruler of All the Russias - after a coup in Omsk in November 1918. Characterised by corruption and incompetence, the White cause in Siberia was doomed, despite support from Britain, France and Japan. Omsk fell to the Red Army and Kolchak was captured and tried. Virtually alone and defenceless he was shot in a grubby charade of justice, in 1920. Based on an impressive range of sources, including interviews with Admiral Kolchak's son, Peter Fleming presents a sympathetic portrait of this strange, charismatic figure.