Mikhail Skobelev

Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev , a <a href="/facts/Russian_Empire/hg1g5SpV">Russian</a> general, became famous for his <a href="/facts/Russian_conquest_of_Central_Asia/tu6VsJoF">conquest of Central Asia</a> and for his heroism during the <a href="/facts/Russo-Turkish_War_(1877%25E2%2580%259378)/KqxV0Co1">Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878</a>. Dressed in a white uniform and mounted on a white horse, and always in the thickest of the fray, he was known and adored by his soldiers as the "White General" (and by the Turks as the "White <a href="/facts/Pasha/Qqx1dt2J">Pasha</a>"). During a <a href="/facts/Khivan_campaign_of_1873/vdwMzop0">campaign in Khiva</a>, his <a href="/facts/Turkmen_people/SWL2r6f2">Turkmen</a> opponents called him goz ganly or "Bloody Eyes".
British <a href="/facts/Field_Marshal_(United_Kingdom)/KPlRphd1">Field Marshal</a> <a href="/facts/Bernard_Montgomery/Jlo77RF1">Bernard Montgomery</a> assessed Skobelev as the world's "ablest single commander" between 1870 and 1914 and wrote of his "skilful and inspiring" <a href="/facts/Leadership/37hL95TH">leadership</a>. <a href="/facts/Francis_Vinton_Greene/4s6x1oYq">Francis Vinton Greene</a> also rated Skobelev highly.

Mikhail Skobelev open-in-new

Mikhail Skobelev