Nestor Makhno

Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno in 1921
Military Leader of the Free Territory
In office January 5, 1919 – August 28, 1921
Personal details
Born	Nestor Ivanovych Makhno October 26 (N.S.November 7), 1888 Huliaipole, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	July 6, 1934 (aged 45) Paris, France
Political party	None (Anarchist communism)
Spouse(s)	Agafya "Halyna" Andreyevna Kuzmenko
Children	Yelena
Occupation	Anarcho-communist revolutionary, guerrilla commander, writer, peasant, painter, stagehand, farmhand
Known for	Creation of the Free Territory, leading the Ukrainian Revolution
Religion	None, Formerly Orthodox Christian

Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or Bat'ko ("Father") Makhno (Ukrainian: Нестор Іванович Махно, Russian: Не́стор Ива́нович Махно́; October 26, 1888 (N.S. November 7) – July 6, 1934) was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist revolutionary and the commander of an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War of 1917–22.

As commander of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, commonly referred to as the Makhnovshchina, Makhno led a guerrilla campaign during the civil war. Makhno fought all factions which sought to impose any external authority over southern Ukraine, battling in succession the Ukrainian Nationalists, the Imperial German and Austro-German occupation, the Hetmanate Republic, the Russian White Army, the Russian Red Army, and other smaller forces led by Ukrainian otamans. Makhno and his movement repeatedly attempted to reorganize life in the Huliaipole region along anarchist-communist lines; however, the disruptions of the civil war precluded any long-term social experiments.

Although Makhno considered the Bolsheviks a threat to the development of an anarchist Free Territory within Ukraine, he twice entered into military alliances with them to defeat the White Army. In the aftermath of the defeat of the White Army in the region in November 1920, the Bolsheviks initiated a military campaign against Makhno, which concluded with his escape across the Romanian border in August 1921. After a series of imprisonments and escapes, Makhno finally settled in Paris with his wife Halyna and daughter Yelena. In exile Makhno wrote three volumes of memoirs. Makhno died in exile at the age of 45 from tuberculosis-related causes. He is also credited as the inventor of the tachanka, a horse-drawn platform mounting a heavy machine gun.