[1][2] Born in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kornilov began his military career after graduating from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School and the General Staff Academy.

Following his escape from detention after the Kornilov Affair, he co-founded the Volunteer Army and led its forces in southern Russia during the early stages of the Russian Civil War.

His legacy remains deeply contested, viewed by some as a patriot fighting for Russia's unity and by others as a reactionary figure whose actions exacerbated the nation’s descent into chaos.

But Boris Shaposhnikov, who served with Pyotr Kornilov, the brother of Lavr, in 1903, mentioned the "Kyrgyz" ancestry of their mother - this name was usually used in reference to Kazakhs in 1903.

In 1910 Kornilov was recalled from Beijing but remained in St. Petersburg for only five months before departing for western Mongolia and Kashgar to examine the military situation along China's border with Russia.

[10] On 8 March, Kornilov placed the Empress Alexandra and her children under house arrest at the Alexander Palace (Nicholas was still held at Stavka), replacing the Tsar's Escort and Combined Regiments of the Imperial Guard with 300 revolutionary troops.

His army inflicted a spectacular defeat on the Austrians, taking 10,000 prisoners - Russia's only notable military success in the year 1917 - though after five days, was forced to retreat.

In the mass discontent following the July Days, the Russian populace grew highly skeptical about the Provisional Government's abilities to alleviate the economic distress and social resentment among the lower classes.

[2] Because the Petrograd Soviet was able to quickly gather a powerful army of workers and soldiers in defence of the Revolution, Kornilov's coup was an abysmal failure, and he was placed under arrest.

"[16] He vowed that the goals of his forces must be fulfilled even if it was needed "to set fire to half the country and shed the blood of three-quarters of all Russians.

[16] On 24 February 1918, as Rostov and the Don Cossack capital of Novocherkassk fell to the Bolsheviks, Kornilov led the Volunteer Army on the epic 'Ice March' into the empty steppe towards the Kuban.

Although badly outnumbered, he escaped destruction from the pursuing Bolshevik forces and laid siege to Ekaterinodar, the capital of the Kuban Soviet Republic, on 10 April.

[19] A few days later, when the Bolsheviks gained control of the village, they unearthed Kornilov's coffin, dragged his corpse to the main square and burnt his remains on the local rubbish dump.