The Number of Russian Naval Officers during the Civil War

Abstract

The article presents some conclusions of a research project on the mass prosopographic analysis of the “old” (mainly commissioned before October 1917) Russian naval officers during the Civil War (1917–1922) — primarily, it concerns the number of representatives of this category in the Red Fleet and in the main white groups. The article outlines the main historiography and a range of problems researchers face: the objective lack of sources; the complex and changeable structure of naval officership; different approaches of the Reds and the Whites to the concept of “officer” or “person of the command staff”; the continuation of appointment to officers by white governments; transfers to the fleet from the land army. The hypothesis put forward by the author of this article in 2007 on this issue — that about 80 % of the “old” navy officers served with the Reds during the Civil War — is being revised. The conclusion is that about 42 % of the “old” navy officers served during the Civil War only in the Red Army; up to 24 % of officers served at least for some time in various white formations; and about 34 % of officers evaded participation in the Civil War. Conclusions are drawn about the number of “old” naval officers in the main white formations. For the first time in historiography, the composition of the Corps of Naval Officers (as part of Armed Forces of South Russia) is described.