Taube, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

Born Aug. 9 (21), 1864, in Staroe Kriukovo, in what is now Moscow Oblast; died January 1919 in Ekaterinburg (present-day Sverdlovsk). Russian and Soviet military figure. Baron; lieutenant general (1915).

Taube, the son of a railroad engineer, graduated from the Mikhail Artillery School in 1884 and from the Academy of the General Staff in 1891. He commanded a regiment in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05). During World War I (1914–18) he served as chief of the transportation and economic division of the army and chief of an infantry and rifle division; he became chief of staff of the Omsk military district in May 1916.

After the February Revolution of 1917, Taube was subjected to repressions for supporting the Soviets. In October 1917 he joined the Soviet side. In April 1918 he became chief of staff of the Siberian Military Commissariat, which included the Irkutsk, Omsk, and Amur military districts. In June 1918 he became chief of staff of the Red Army command in Siberia. After the collapse of Soviet power in Siberia, he was sent to Moscow by the Siberian Council of People’s Commissars, but in September 1918 he was arrested by the White Guards in Bodaibo. He was court-martialed in Ekaterinburg and sentenced to death. Taube died of typhus in a cell of prisoners condemned to death.