Snesarev, Andrei

Snesarev, Andrei Evgen’evich 

Born Dec. 1 (13), 1865, in Staraia Kalitva, in what is now Rossosh’ Raion, Voronezh Oblast; died Dec. 4, 1937, in Moscow. Russian and Soviet military leader. Hero of Labor (1928). Orientalist.

The son of a priest, Snesarev graduated from the faculty of mathematics of Moscow University (1888) and from the Moscow Conservatory. He had a command of 14 languages. He entered military service and graduated from the Moscow Infantry School in 1890 and from the Academy of the General Staff in 1899. He served in Turkestan, where he studied the Middle East and wrote geographic descriptions for military use. He traveled to India, Afghanistan, Tibet, and the Kashgar region.

In 1904, Snesarev joined the General Staff and began teaching military geography in military schools. In 1910 he became chief of staff of a cossack division. During World War I (1914— 18), he served as a regiment, brigade, and division commander. In September 1917, Snesarev, with the rank of lieutenant general, was chosen commander of the IX Army Corps. In May 1918, he volunteered for the Red Army. Until July he was military director of the North Caucasian Military District and in September he took charge of screen detachments for the defense of the Western Region. Subsequently, he was commander of the Western Army (renamed the Byelorussian-Lithuanian Army in March 1919).

From August 1919 through July 1921, Snesarev was head of the Academy of the General Staff. From 1921 to 1930 he was head of the Institute of Oriental Studies and also a professor there. He was simultaneously a professor at the Air Force Academy from 1924 and a professor at the Military Political Academy from 1926.

WORKS

Severo-Indiiskii teatr, parts 1-2. Tashkent, 1903.
Indiia kak glavnyi faktor v sredneaziatskom voprose. St. Petersburg, 1906.
Voennaia geografiia Rossii, 2nd ed. St. Petersburg, 1910.
Afganistan. Moscow, 1921.
Indiia, vol. 1. Moscow, 1926.

REFERENCE

Andrei Evgen’evich Snesarev: Zhizn’ i nauchnaia deiatel’nost’. Moscow, 1973. [23–1892–]