Aleksandr Vasilyevich Samsonov was a career officer in the cavalry of the Imperial Russian Army and a general during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. He was the commander of the Russian Second Army which was surrounded and defeated by the German Eighth Army in the Battle of Tannenberg, one of the early battles of World War I. Ashamed by his loss of the Army, Samsonov committed suicide while retreating from the battlefield.
Alexander Samsonov
Samsonov at the outbreak of the war
The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 23 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov. A series of follow-up battles destroyed most of the First Army as well and kept the Russians off balance until the spring of 1915.
Russian prisoners of war after the battle
Vivat ribbon commemorating the Battle of Tannenberg, showing Wilhelm II and "Hindenburg the victor of Tannenberg"
Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg
Movements of 23–26 August 1914, with Germans in red and Russians in blue