The son of a serf, he served the Provisional Government as commander of the Western Front in 1917. After the October Revolution (see russian revolution (1917) he assumed command of a “white” army, the “Armed Forces of the South”, gaining control of a large part of southern Russia. In May 1919 Denikin launched an offensive against Moscow which the Red Army repulsed at Orel. He retreated to the Caucasus, where in 1920 his army disintegrated and he fled to France.