A new book by the famous writer and historian Boris Sokolov is dedicated to the legendary man, who in Bessarabia was called the “last haiduk” and “chieftain of Hell,” Grigory Ivanovich Kotovsky. After 1917, he turned into an equally legendary commander of the Red Army and truly a people's hero of the Civil War. The book shows which of the numerous myths that surround his name are true, and which have little in common with them. It describes in detail such famous episodes from Kotovsky’s life as participation in the capture of Odessa in the winter of 1920 and in the suppression of the Antonov uprising in the Tambov province in the summer of 1921, the reasons for his popularity are explained, and an attempt is made to reveal the motives for his mysterious murder. Kotovsky's biography is presented against the backdrop of the history of Russia in the first quarter of the 20th century, including the so-called “Bessarabian Question”. Sign of information products 16+