Lot Essay
General Nikolai Protopopov (1853-c. 1917) served as head of the 31st Infantry Division in 1912-1914 and was appointed General of the Infantry in 1916. At the beginning of the First World War Nikolai Protopopov was in charge of the X Corps which operated in the Carpathians and in Galicia. In 1916 General Protopopov was appointed as assistant to General Iosif Mrozovsky who was in charge of the Moscow military region. Although apolitical, General Protopopov was not trusted by the Provisional Government and was relieved of his duties on grounds of illness in 1917.