Alexander von Kaulbars

Coat of arms of the barons of the of 1751, in the Baltic Coat of arms book by Carl Arvid von Klingspor in 1882.

Alexander Wilhelm Andreas Freiherr von Kaulbars (; 25 January 1929) was a Baltic German military leader who served in the Imperial Russian Army during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A noted explorer of Central Asia, he was also regarded as one of the original organisers of the Russian Air Force.

Biography Mõdriku Mansion in present-day Estonia, where Alexander von Kaulbars was born.

Kaulbars was born in Mödders in the Governorate of Estonia to Baron Hermann Wilhelm von Kaulbars and Alexandrine Emilie and had an older brother, Nikolai Reinhold Friedrich. Alexander and Nikolai grew up in Saint Petersburg and was of Lutheran faith. He came from the Baltic German noble of Pomeranian origin. The family was of Swedish nobility. Both his father and his brother rose to the rank of general in the Imperial Russian Army. He was educated at the . His first experience in combat was in 1861, while serving with the Egersky Guards Regiment in the suppression of the Polish Uprising. After graduating from the Nicholas General Staff Academy, Kaulbars was commissioned as a lieutenant, and was assigned to serve on the staff of the Turkestan Military District. He was promoted to senior aide in 1870, to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1871, and to colonel in 1872. Soon after his arrival in Russian Turkestan, he explored the country beyond the Issyk-Kul into the Tien Shan mountains. His report was published as "Materials on the Geography of the Tien Shan", and was awarded the gold medal by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society

With the start of World War I, he was assigned as a commander of the Northwestern Front, and from October 1914 was placed in charge of all Russian military aviation activities. However, at the end of 1915, he was dismissed from military service. In 1916 he was appointed military governor of Odessa.

After the October Revolution, he moved to South Russia, where he joined an anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army on 15 October 1918, despite his advanced age (then 74). He entered the reserves in 1919. With the collapse of the Armed Forces of South Russia, he was evacuated to Constantinople, and subsequently lived in exile in Bulgaria and France. He worked as an employee of a telegraph company in Paris until his death in 1929. His grave is at the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery.

Honors link=Order of St. Stanislav Order of St. Stanislaus 2nd class, 1870 link=Order of St. Vladimir Order of St Vladimir, 4th class with swords and bow, 1871

Golden Sword of St George, 1874. link=Order of St. Vladimir Order of St Vladimir, 3rd class with swords, 1877 link=Order of St. Stanislav Order of St. Stanislaus 1st class, 1882 link=Order of St. Anna Order of St. Anne 1st class with sword, 1886 link=Order of St. Vladimir Order of St Vladimir, 2nd class, 1890

link= Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, 1901, with diamonds, 12 June 1907 link=Order of St. Vladimir Order of St Vladimir, 1st class, 12 June 1914