Nikolai Golovin

Nikolai Nikolayevich Golovin (Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Голови́н; 4 December 1875 – 10 January 1944) was an Imperial Russian Army general and military historian.

Nikolai Nikolayevich Golovin
Born	(1875-12-04)4 December 1875 Moscow, Russian Empire
Died	10 January 1944(1944-01-10) (aged 68) Paris, France
Allegiance	Russian Empire
Branch	Imperial Russian Army White Army
Years of service	1885–1917
Rank	Chief of Staff
Commands	Grodno Hussar regiment Professor, General Staff Academy Quartermaster General, 9th Army Chief of Staff, 7th Army
Battles / wars	First World War Russian Civil War
Other work	The problem of the Pacific in the twentieth century. 1922. (co-authored with Andrei Bubnov) The Russian Campaign of 1914: The Beginnings of the War and Operations in East Prussia. Fort Leavenworth, KS, The Command and General Staff School Press, 1933.

Biography

Since 1908 Golovin was professor of tactics at the General Staff Academy.^[1]

At the beginning of World War I, Golovin commanded the Grodno Hussar regiment. Later he was transferred to staff of general Platon Lechitsky's 9th Army as Quartermaster-General (Director of operations), and in 1916 as Chief of Staff of 7th Army. In 1917 he was Chief of Staff of the Romanian Front.

After the Russian Revolution and break-up of the army he retired to Odessa where he lived in obscurity until the victory of the Allies and opening of the Black Sea allowed him to come to Western Europe.

In autumn 1919 he travelled from Paris through Vladivostok to Siberia to join Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak's White movement. It was assumed that Golovin would be the Chief of Staff of Kolchak's army. But when he arrived at Omsk, Kolchak's army was already retreating in disarray. Golovin decided that the situation was hopeless and did not take command, returning to Vladivostok and Europe.

While living as an emigre in Paris he authored numerous books and articles on military theory and military history. He collected documents on Russian history for the Hoover library. With the help of Vasily Maklakov the Okhrana-archive was transferred.^[2] Golovin's personal collection of documents was also deposited in the Hoover Institution's archive.^[3]

Works

Books

• The problem of the Pacific in the twentieth century. 1922. (co-authored with Andrei Bubnov)
• The Russian Army in World War I. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1931.
• The Russian Campaign of 1914: The Beginnings of the War and Operations in East Prussia. Fort Leavenworth, KS, The Command and General Staff School Press, 1933.
• Air strategy. 1936.

Articles

• Great battle for Galicia: A Study in Strategy Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine The Slavonic Review, Vol. 5, No. 13 (Jun., 1926), pp. 25–47
• Brusilov's Offensive: The Galician Battle of 1916. The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 13, No. 39 (Apr., 1935), pp. 571–596
• The Russian War Plan of 1914. The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 14, No. 42 (Apr., 1936), pp. 564–584.
• The Russian War Plan of 1914: II. The Execution of the Plan. The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 15, No. 43 (Jul., 1936), pp. 70–90