Governor General of Moscow (see Durnovo). Skoropadsky's first major assignment was a sotnia (company) commander in the 2nd Chita Cossack Regiment of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Host in Chita during the Russo-Japanese War. Later he became an adjutant to the commander of the Russian forces on the Far East General Nikolay Linevich. During the war Skoropadsky was awarded the George's Weapon and several orders. In December 1905 Tsar Nikolai II made him a Fliegel-Adjutant in a rank of colonel. On 4 September 1910 Colonel Skoropadsky was commissioned as the commander of the 20th Finnish Dragoon Regiment still continuing to be a Fliegel-Adjutant of the H. I. M. Retinue. On 15 April 1911 he was reassigned to the Leib-Guard Cavalry Regiment. Leib-Guards were the elite Russian military forces assigned for a personal protection of the emperor. On 6 December 1912 Skoropadsky was promoted to the Major General of the H. I. M. Retinue. World War I At the start of World War I, Skoropadsky was given command of the reorganized 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Guard Division (General Nikolai Kaznakov) as part of the 1st Army commanded by General Paul von Rennenkampf. Skoropadsky already worked for von Rennenkampf during the Russo-Japanese War when the last was commanding Trans-Baikal Cossack Host. On 6 August 1914 his regiment distinguished itself in battles near Kraupishken as part of the Russian invasion of East Prussia. Later he was appointed as a commander of the United Cavalry Guard Division which distinguished near Kaushen. General Skoropadsky also commanded the 5th Cavalry Division. On 2 April 1916 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and was commissioned the 1st Cavalry Guard Division. From 22 January to 2 July 1917 he was in charge of the 34th Army Corps. In July 1917, the decommissioned 34th Army Corps was transformed into the 1st Ukrainian Corps. In October 1917 at the first Congress of the Free Cossacks, he was awarded a title of the honorary Otaman. From October to November 1917 his 60,000-man Army Corps successfully defended the railway corridor stretching through Podolie to Polissya, Vapniarka – Zhmerynka – Koziatyn – Shepetivka and defended against the attacks from the Romanian front particularly the 2nd Guard Corps that was headed by Yevgenia Bosch. Political career in Ukraine In April 1918, the invading Germans forced the army of the Bolshevik Ukrainian People's Republic to retreat, and made Skoropadsky Hetman of Ukraine. According to Peter