Vasily Boldyrev came from a peasant family. He graduated from the Moscow School of Military Topography in 1895 and the Nicholas General Staff Academy in 1903. Since 1911, he taught at the General Staff Academy. A participant of the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.

In March 1917, as the Quartermaster General of the Northern Front headquarters, he was present at the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne. Since April 1917, Boldyrev was Lieutenant General and since September was Commander of the 5th Army of the Northern Front.

In his convictions, he was close to Social Revolutionaries (SRs), after October 1917 he became an opponent of the Bolsheviks. In March 1918, he joined the leadership of the Russian Revival Union and became a member of the National Center. In September 1918, Boldyrev took part in the Ufa State Conference. From September 23 to November 18, 1918, he held the post of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of all land and naval armed forces of the Provisional All-Russian Government (Ufa Directorate).

After the Omsk military coup of November 18, 1918, Boldyrev refused to recognize Aleksander Kolchak as the Supreme Ruler of the Russian State and left for Japan (formally on a business trip).

In January 1920, he arrived in Vladivostok, and became Commander of the land and naval forces of the Far East, and managed the naval agency of the Provisional Government of the Far East. In 1921–1922, he was Deputy Chairman of the People’s Assembly of the Far East.

He stayed in the Far Eastern Republic (DVR) and the Russian SFSR. After Boldyrev was arrested, he declared his willingness to cooperate with the Bolsheviks. He was amnestied and employed in Soviet research institutions. In 1933, in Novosibirsk, he was accused over the case of the “White Guard conspiracy” and executed. He was rehabilitated in 1958.