During the Russian Revolution of March 1917, Tsar Nicholas II ordered Ivanov to suppress the revolutionaries but as promised reinforcements failed to come to his aid, he canceled the aborted mission.

Ivanov was born on 22 July 1851 (based on the old calendar at use in the Russian Empire at that time), in Mosalsk in the Kaluga Governorate.

He also participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China during the beginning of the century, after which he was promoted to lieutenant-general in early December 1901.

Later during the Battle of Shaho, he was ordered to bypass the left flank of the Japanese Army and repulse them back to Korea.

In mid April 1908, he was promoted to General of the Artillery; he was also appointed commander-in-chief of the Kiev Military District later in early December.

At first, he together with the aged general Saltza suffered a minor defeat at Kraśnik, and Plehve with Evert lost the battle of Komarów; but success came next when his Russians made good progress into Austrian Galicia by winning the battles of Gnila Lipa and Rawa with the Russian casualties of about 200,000, the Austrians having roughly twice the casualties, including thousands of POWs.

And in March 1916, he was replaced by General Aleksei Brusilov as the commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front, he was then appointed a member of the State Council, and was made adjutant to tsar Nicholas II himself.

General Ivanov, with his loyalty towards the tsar and surprisingly the tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and the mystic Rasputin as well, he enjoyed great confidence and reputation from the royal family.

He asked you to send him your new photo; please do it - it will calm the glorious old man[4]Since September 1915, the tsarina had sent many letters to her husband, exerting pressure on him in order to summon General Ivanov back from the front to be at the post of Minister of War.

General Alekseyev proposed to send a detachment by its commander with full power, to restore order in the capital.

The tsar then ordered to allocate an infantry and cavalry brigade from the Northern and Western Fronts, and appointed Ivanov as the head of the general-adjutants and commander-in-chief of the Petrograd Military District, replacing Lieutenant-General Sergei Khabalov.

Later on, the tsar ordered him to take command of the St. George Battalion in Tsarskoye Selo to ensure the royal family's safety.

There was also a speech of the Stavka about strengthening the Petrograd Garrison by allocating "strong regiments" from the front back to the capital.

General Alekseyev ordered Northern Front commander-in-chief General Yuri Danilov to send Ivanov two infantry and two cavalry regiments, reinforced by a machine-gun team: The Emperor ordered the Adjutant-General Ivanov to be appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Petrograd Military District.