Boris Savinkov

Kingdom of the North

> "*One nation. One people. One Russia.*"
> ― Boris Savinkov
>
>

Boris Savinkov, also known by his pen name "V. Ropshin", is a former revolutionary and dictator of the Russian State. During the Russian Civil War, he aided the White Army with anti-Bolshevik guerrilla tactics, slating him as a terrorist among his enemies. After the sudden assassination of President Aleksandr Kerensky, Savinkov and his party, the NRPR, assumed power when Lavr Kornilov and the military seized control of the government and installed him.

## Appearance

Boris Savinkov is a caucasian, tall man in his 50s, sporting greying black hair that is hidden by his hat. He wears a grey Russian Army officer's uniform, consisting of a shirt, trousers, and an officer's cap decorated with the circle of thorns and sword identical to that on the Russian State's flag.

## Biography

### Youth and Revolutionary Activity

In 1879, Savinkov was born to a Polish judge and his Ukranian wife in Kharkiv, Ukraine. In 1897 he enrolled in the University of St. Petersberg's law department but was expelled two years later due to participation in students riots, and finished his studies abroad in Berlin and Heidelberg.

After years of activity in various socialist organizations, he was arrested and exiled to Vologda, where he et prominent intellectuals such as the likes of Nikolai Berdyaev and Anatoly Lunacharsky. Though he was surrounded by his former heroes, Savinkov quickly developed a distaste for Marxism, adopting a more nationalist mode of thought and anti-Bolshevik sentiment in its place. After many more years of revolutionary activity and escaping from the authorities via self-imposed exile, he eventually found himself as the Deputy Minister of War under the Provisional Government of Russia's president, Aleksandr Kerensky, in 1917.

### The Provisional Government and Civil War

While in his position, Savinkov planned to take control of the fledgling Russian Republic and establishing a "Revolutionary Dictatorship" with three members in power; Kerensky, the general Kornilov, and himself. Though all was going to plan, the plot ultimately proved to be a disaster when Kornilov attempted to launch it early and exposed himself and Savinkov to Kerensky, who was unaware of the plot for quite some time and was angry that two of his greatest allies tried to strangle the young democracy in its cradle. Though he offered to stay with him and arrest Kornilov, Kerensky did not trust Savinkov and sent the police to arrest him in his home. He was taken and imprisoned in Lubyanka, sentenced to death by hanging. Before his execution, however, he escaped through a 4th-floor prison window, shouting his thanks to a prison guard giving chase.

He fled to Finland and stayed there until the outbreak of the Russian Civil War in October of that same year. He offered his aid to the Republic if he was given amnesty and Kornilov was reappointed, but his offer was declined. He moved back to central Russia, near Tsaritsyn, and formed a rebellion against the Bolsheviks called the Society for Defense of the Motherland and Freedom. His role in the July 1918 revolts in Yaroslavl, Rybinsk, and Murom earned the respect of the White Army and the Central Russian SR was allowed to negotiate on equal grounds with Siberia during the Congress of Omsk. Kerensky begrudgingly allowed Savinkov to rejoin politics and reinstated Kornilov, allowing the two to form the national populist NRPR party.

### Recent History

In the wake of the economic collapse of 1932 and summary decline after Black Monday struck all of Europe, the NRPRs land reform proposals and populist agenda attracted many rural conservatives, farmers, and nationalists within the nation. His loathing for Kerensky festered as the year went on, as the president sacrificed Russia's pride to stay on good terms with the behemoth of Europe, the German Empire. This only provided more traction for Savinkov's platform, as the unequal trade deals and loss of territory did nothing to alleviate Russia's ailing economy.