Pavel Pavlovich Sytin () (30 July [O.S. 18 July] 1870 Skopin – 22 August 1938 Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet military leader who reached the rank of major general in the Imperial Russian Army. He fought in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. Biography Early life Sytin was born in Skopin in the Russian Empire's Ryazan Governorate on 30 July (O.S. 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. He graduated from the Kiev Cadet School (later the Kiev Military School) in 1892. Imperial Russian Army Upon graduation from the Kiev Cadet School in 1892, Sytin began his Imperial Russian Army career. He graduated from the Nikolayev Academy of the General Staff in 1899 in the first category. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. From 1908 to 1909 he was the head of the combat department of the headquarters of the Brest-Litoŭsk Fortress. In 1909, he became an instructor at a military school, then became a senior adjutant at the headquarters of the Kronstadt Fortress. During World War I, Sytin commanded an artillery battery, a brigade, and the 37th Infantry Division. He was promoted to major general on 23 January 1917. The February Revolution deposed Tsar Nicholas II in March 1917, and the Russian Provisional Government that took power proclaimed a new Russian Republic. Sytin served in the post-imperial Russian Army. He commanded the 11th Infantry Division during the Battle of Krechowce on 24 July 1917. Red Army The Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution on 7 November 1917, beginning the Russian Civil War. Sytin sided with the Bolsheviks. General Anton Denikin, an opponent of the Bolsheviks, White movement leader, and a commander of White Army forces, mentioned him as follows: Many schemers came with plans to save Russia. I had [as my subordinate in the Imperial Russian Army], by the way, the current Bolshevik “commander-in-chief,” then a general, Pavel Sytin. He proposed the following measure to strengthen the front: to declare that land — of landowners, the state, the church — be given free of charge to the peasants, but exclusively to those who fight on the front. “I mentioned,” said Sytin, “this proposal to Kaledin [i.e., General Alexey Kaledin], but he grabbed his head [and said] 'What you preach, it's pure