# Alexei Kaledin — Ten Days That Shook the World character guide

> Alexei Kaledin in Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Kaledin, Ataman Kaledin, General Kaledin

**First appearance:** 0011-i-background

## Snapshot

Cossack ataman who disperses Soviets across the Don Basin and marches north, the most immediate military threat to the fragile Bolshevik government.

## Who they are

Kaledin looms as the counter-revolutionary bogeyman in the days after the insurrection, his forces moving north while the Bolsheviks scramble to consolidate power. News of his dispersal of Soviets and Unions in the Don Basin arrives alongside reports of Cossack victories at Kiev, feeding the sense of a world closing in. He matters because he forces the new government to confront the reality that seizing power in Petrograd is only the beginning of a far longer struggle.

## In the story

### [The Committee for Salvation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/chapters/vi-the-committee-for-salvation)

Declares himself in power on the Don, supporting the Provisional Government against the Bolsheviks.

### [Appendix to Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/chapters/appendix-to-chapter-xi)

Addressee of Purishkevitch's letter; expected to lead a counterrevolutionary advance on Petrograd.

### [Purishkevitch's Letter to Kaledin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/chapters/9-purishkevitch-s-letter-to-kaledin)

Recipient of the letter, Ataman of the Don Cossacks, expected to lead a march on Petrograd.

### [From the Council of People’s Commissars to the Toiling Cossacks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/chapters/16-from-the-council-of-people-s-commissars-to-the-toiling-cossacks)

Condemned for threatening the Don Soviets and assembling troops against the people.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/characters/kaledin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ten_days_that_shook_the_world_se/characters