Alexey Alekseevich
Ignatiev
1877-1954
Alexey Alekseevich Ignatiev was a Russian and Soviet military officer, diplomat, author, and nobleman. He held the rank of Major General in 1917 and Lieutenant General of the Red Army in 1943. He was born into the Ignatiev family, the son of General A. P. Ignatiev and Princess S. S. Meshcherskaya. Ignatiev began his military career in the cavalry regiment and participated in the Russian-Japanese War. After the Revolution, he joined the Soviet Army and published his memoir, Fifty Years in the Ranks, which was reissued several times. He graduated from the Vladimir-Kiev Cadet Corps in 1894 and the Page Corps in 1896, earning the rank of cornet and being assigned to the cavalry regiment. In 1900, he was promoted to lieutenant. After graduating from Nikolaev Military Academy in 1902 with the first rank, he became a staff captain and served as an instructor at the Cavalry Officers’ School. From 1902 to 1903, he attended the Cavalry School and later served as squadron commander in the Life Guard Uhlan Regiment. During the Russian-Japanese War, he served as an assistant to the senior adjutant in the office of the Quartermaster General of the Manchurian Army and later acted as the acting senior adjutant for the 1st Manchurian Army from 1905 to 1907. From 1907 to 1911, he served in the headquarters of the Guards Corps and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He then became the head of a staff officer for special assignments at the 1st Army Corps headquarters. In 1908 and 1911, he worked as a military attaché in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, engaging in intelligence activities focused on Germany and Austria-Hungary. From 1912 to 1917, he continued his work as a military attache in France and also served as a representative for the Russian army in the French headquarters during World War I. During this time, he organized military supplies for Russia and attended inter-Allied meetings. After the October Revolution in 1917, he joined the Soviet government and remained in France. In 1925, he transferred funds held in his name from Russian banks in France to other accounts. This caused a boycott by emigrant organizations. He worked at the Soviet trade mission in Paris and returned to the USSR in 1937. In the Soviet Union, he continued his service in the Red Army, working in military educational institutions. During the Great Patriotic War, he was actively published, including in the Swedish press. In 1943, he initiated the creation of Suvorov Military School. He retired in 1947. His book “Fifty Years in the Ranks” left a noticeable mark in military literature. In Moscow, at the house where AA Ignatiev lived from 1937 to 1954, a memorial plaque was installed.
Address: Moscow, Lubyansky ave., 17
