| Peter von Baranoff | |
| Birth Place: | Reval, Harrien County, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire (in present-day Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia) |
| Death Place: | Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia |
| Placeofburial: | Alexander Nevsky Cemetery, Tallinn |
| Branch: | Imperial Russian Army |
| Serviceyears: | 18611917 |
| Rank: | General of the Cavalry |
| Commands: | 1st Sumy Hussar Regiment Her Majesty’s Ulan Guards Regiment 1st brigade, 2nd Guards Cavalry Division |
| Battles: | January Uprising Russo-Turkish War World War I |
| Children: | 2 children |
Peter Paul Alexander von Baranoff (Russian: Пётр Петро́вич Бара́нов, tr. ; 22 December 1924) was a Baltic German military officer and statesman. During the First World War, Baranoff was known for his investigations, most notably his investigation of fellow general Paul von Rennenkampf's actions during the Battle of Łódź.
Peter was born in in Reval in the Governorate of Estonia (present-day Tallinn, Estonia), to Peter Hermann von Baranoff and Marie Louise Simplicie Pauline von Nicolay (ru).[1]
Peter was from the Baltic German and Swedish noble of Swedish and Russian descent. The Baranoffs was originally Russian boyar who entered Swedish service after Estonia was ceased to the Swedish under the conclusion of the Treaty of Teusina at the end of the Russo-Swedish War From 1590 to 1595. And many of them, quickly adapted to the Germanic traditions, converted to Lutheranism, and quickly became Baltic German subjects, including the Baranoffs, which was headed by four brothers: Voin, Fyodor, Kasyan and Menshik Baranov,[2] which they changed their surname from Baranov to Baranoff to be better suited into Germanic name. The descendants of Voin and Fyodor quickly died out in the late-17th Century, while the descendants of Kasyan survived they died out in the late-19th Century, but the descendants of Menshik, which Peter was directly descended from, are still surviving til today.[3] The family was enrolled into Swedish nobility in 1666. In 1745, the Estonian high count gave an appeal the "Attestatum nobilitaris", that under the conclusion "that from 1592 on the Baranoff family was to be brought under local nobility". So the family was enrolled into the Estonian Knighthood that same year, the family was also enrolled into the Livonian and Oesel Knighthoods (de) following the years 1830 and 1843 simultaneously.[4]
Peter belonged to the Arroküll-Waetz branch,[5] a subdivided branch of the family founded by Peter's great-grandfather Peter Karl von Baranoff, who was married to Johanna Juliane von Hastfer (de). Some of the most famous members of the Baranoffs also belonged to this branch, including Peter's uncles Johann, Nikolai, Paul von Baranoff, who were all high-ranked Russian military officers and statesmans.
On his mother's side was the Nicolays, his mother's father was Paul von Nicolay, who was the son of the famous German poet Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay, making Peter von Baranoff the great-grandson of him.
Baranoff has 4 siblings. He himself was married to Olga Valerianovna Bibikova (1846–1933), they had 2 children, Olga (1883–1972) and Peter von Baranoff (1885–1973), who was a captain in the army and participant of the First World War.[6] [7]