Alexei Nikolayevich Kuropatkin (1848-1921) was a Russian general.

He entered the army in 1864. From 1872 to 1874 he studied at the Nicholas staff college , after which he spent a short time with the French troops in Algiers. In 1875 he was employed in diplomatic work in Kashgaria and in 1876 he took part in military operations in Turkistan, Kokan and Samerkand. In the war of 1877-1878 against Turkey he earned a great reputation as chief of staff to the younger Skobelev, and after the war he wrote a detailed and critical history of the operations which is still regarded as the classical work on the subject and is available for other nations in the German translation by Major Krahmer . After the war he served again on the south-eastern borders in command of the Turkestan Rifle Brigade .

He also commanded the Russian forces in the Battle of Mukden.

During the First World War, Kuropatkin served in command of the Grenadier Corps starting in October, 1915. In February, 1916, he became Commander, North Front. He was relieved of command in July, 1916, and assigned to Turkestan, where he served as Governor-General of the Turkestan Military District. Kuropatkin retired from the military in 1917.

The article contains text from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica