• General of the Russian Imperial Army Nikolai Petrovich Linevich, 1839

Born in Saint Petersburg, Linevich entered military service as a cadet in 1855. Stationed with the 75th Infantry Regiment at Sevastopol, his first combat experience was against the mountain tribes of the western Caucasus Mountains. He made a name for himself in the Russo - Turkish War (1877 - 1878), and was appointed commander of the South Ussuri Division in 1895.

During the Boxer Rebellion, Linevich was commander of the 1st Siberian Army Corps. He participated in the Battle of Peking in 1901. In 1903, he was appointed commander of the Amur Military District as Governor General of Dauria.

At the outbreak of the Russo - Japanese War he was temporarily in charge of the Russian Manchurian Army until the arrival of General Aleksey Kuropatkin on March 15, 1904. He was again placed in command of the Manchurian Army from October 1904 to March 3, 1905. After the Russian defeat at the Battle of Mukden, General Kuropatkin was relieved of his command, and Linevich was promoted to succeed him as commander in chief of the Russian armies in the far east. However, once promoted, Linevich procrastinated, irking the Tsar with never - ending demands for reinforcements, and refusing to go on the offensive against the Japanese positions. After the Treaty of Portsmouth ended the war, Linevich oversaw the evacuation of Russian forces from Manchuia, hampered by strikes and revolutionary agitation by the railroad workers. He refused to take action against the workers, and when a portion of his troops revolted as part of the Russian Revolution of 1905, he was in no hurry to put down the risings. As a result, he was relieved of his duties in February 1906.

Linevich spent the rest of his life in retirement. His wartime journal ("The Russian - Japanese War. From the diaries A.N. Kuropatkin and N.P. Linevich") was published posthumously in 1925.