Alexander Kolchak - Legacy

Legacy

Admiral Kolchak was not successful from the time of his taking the position of Supreme Ruler until his death, though it must be borne in mind that he operated under very difficult circumstances. As a military commander he was unable to make successful strategic plans or to coordinate with other White Army generals such as Yudenich or Denikin.

Kolchak failed to convince potentially friendly Finland join with him against the Bolsheviks. He was unable to win diplomatic recognition from any nation in the world, even Britain (though the British did support him to some degree). He alienated the Czechoslovak Legion, which for a time was a powerful organized military force and very strongly anti-Bolshevik. As was mentioned above, the American commander, General Graves, disliked Kolchak and refused to lend him any military aid at all.

After decades of being vilified by the Soviet government, Kolchak is now a controversial historic figure in post-Soviet Russia. The "For Faith and Fatherland" movement has attempted to rehabilitate his reputation. However, two rehabilitation requests have been denied, by a regional military court in 1999 and by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2001. In 2004, the Constitutional Court of Russia returned the Kolchak case to the military court for another hearing.

Monuments dedicated to Kolchak were built in Saint Petersburg in 2002 and in Irkutsk in 2004, despite objections from some former Communist and left-wing politicians and former Soviet army veterans. There is also a Kolchak Island. The modern Russian Navy thought about naming the third ship of the new Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates, Admiral Kolchak to commemorate the Admiral but the time was not right and the name was not assigned.