Nikolai Petrovich Linevich /Николай Петрович Линевич; 5 January 1839 [O.S. 24 December 1838] – 23 April [O.S. 10 April] 1908/ was a career military officer, General of Infantry (1903) and Adjutant general in the Imperial Russian Army in the Far East during the latter part of the Russo-Japanese War. During the Boxer Rebellion, Linevich was commander of the 1st Siberian Army Corps. He participated in the Battle of Peking in 1900. In 1903, he was appointed commander of the Amur Military District as Governor-General of Dauria. At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Linevich was temporarily in charge of the Russian Manchurian Army until the arrival of General Aleksey Kuropatkin on March 15, 1904. He was again placed in command of the First Manchurian Army from October 1904 to March 3, 1905. After the Russian defeat at the Battle of Mukden, General Kuropatkin was relieved of his command, and Linevich was promoted to succeed him as commander in chief of the Russian armies in the Far East. However, once promoted, Linevich procrastinated, irking Tsar Nicholas II with never-ending demands for reinforcements, insisting that he had to have a 1.5:1 numerical superiority before he would be able to go on the offensive against the Japanese positions. He opposed peace negotiations with Japan, advising Tsar Nicholas that victory on land was certain once the requisite reinforcements arrived. After the Treaty of Portsmouth ended the war, Linevich oversaw the evacuation of Russian forces from Manchuria, hampered by strikes and revolutionary agitation by the railroad workers. He refused to take action against the workers, and when a portion of his troops revolted as part of the Russian Revolution of 1905, he was in no hurry to put down the risings. As a result, he was relieved of his duties in February 1906. Linevich spent the rest of his life in retirement.
