Mikhail Skobelev

Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev (; 29 September 1843 – 7 July 1882), a Russian general, became famous for his conquest of Central Asia and for his heroism during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. 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 Pasha"). During a campaign in Khiva, his Turkmen opponents called him goz ganly or "Bloody Eyes". British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery assessed Skobelev as the world's "ablest single commander" between 1870 and 1914 and wrote of his "skilful and inspiring" leadership. Francis Vinton Greene also rated Skobelev highly. Early life and conquest of Khiva Skobelev was born in Saint Petersburg on 29 September 1843. His mother was Russian philanthropist Olga Skobeleva, and his father was Russian general Dmitry Ivanovich Skobelev. After graduating from the General Staff Academy as a staff officer, he was sent to Turkestan in 1868 and, with the exception of an interval of two years, during which he was on the staff of the grand duke Michael in the Caucasus, remained in Central Asia until 1877. During the Khivan campaign of 1873 he commanded the advance guard of General Lomakin's column from Kinderly Bay, in the Caspian Sea, to join General Verevkin, from Orenburg, in the expedition to the Khanate of Khiva, and, after great suffering on the desert march, took a prominent part in the capture of the Khivan capital. Later, dressed as a Turkoman, he explored in a hostile country the route from Khiva to Igdy on the old riverbed of the Oxus.