18 July) 1870, the son of a rider in a lancer regiment who had been promoted to a position as an official in a military department.
Upon graduation from the Kiev Cadet School in 1892, Sytin began his Imperial Russian Army career.
During World War I, Sytin commanded an artillery battery, a brigade, and the 37th Infantry Division.
I had [as my subordinate in the Imperial Russian Army], by the way, the current Bolshevik “commander-in-chief,” then a general, Pavel Sytin.
In March 1918, he became the commander of screening units in the Bryansk region in the Red Western Front, and in May 1918 he served as the head of the Soviet Russian delegation conducting peace negotiations with the Germans in Kharkov.
The troops under his leadership fought major battles with the White Cossacks, holding back anti-Bolshevik forces in a vast space from Bryansk to Kizlyar, although the attempted advance of Red Southern Front troops along the Balashov axis was not successful due to poor preparation.
Sytin was recalled from the front and appointed head of the administrative affairs department of the Revolutionary Military Council.