Radko Dimitriev (24 September 1859-18 October 1918) was a general of both Bulgaria and the Russian Empire during the Balkan Wars and World War I. Dimitriev was best known for leading the Bulgarian 3rd Army against the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War and the Russian 3rd Army against the German Empire at the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive of 1915, and he was executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
Biography[]
Radko Dimitriev was born in Gradets, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire on 24 September 1859. He took part in the 1876 uprising against Turkish rule, and he served in the Imperial Russian Army during Russia's war with the Turks from 1877 to 1878. Dimitriev served in the Russian military for years, and he emigrated to Russia after taking part in a failed coup. In 1898, he returned to Bulgaria, and he served as Chief of the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army from 1904 to 1907. He led the Bulgarian 3rd Army against the Ottomans during the First Balkan War and served as deputy commander-in-chief during the Second Balkan War. In 1914, he became a corps commander of the Imperial Russian Army, changing allegiances once more. His Russian 3rd Army was bled white at the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive in 1915, but he would take command of the Russian 12th Army in Riga, Latvia in 1916. In 1917, he was dismissed for weakness against the soldiers' committees during the Russian Revolution, and he retired to Pyatigorsk in the Caucasus. On 18 October 1918, Dimitriev and 100 other generals and officers were executed there by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War.