THE RUSSIAN ARMY IN THE GREAT WAR: The Eastern Front, 1914-1917

1-207760

This book corrects widespread misperceptions of the WWI Russian Army and the war in the east even as it deepens and extends our understanding of the broader conflict by offering a more judicious view of Russia's war on the home front as well as on the front lines.

Of the four empires at war by the end of 1914 - the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, German, and Russian - none survived. But specific political, social, and economic weaknesses shaped the way Russia collapsed and returned as a radically new Soviet regime. One key and fateful difference in the Russian experience emerges here: its failure to systematically and comprehensively reorganize its society for war, while the three westernmost powers embarked on programs of total mobilization.

Context is also vital to understanding the particular rhythm of the war in the east. Drawing on recent and newly available scholarship in Russian and in English, Stone offers a nuanced account of Russia's military operations, concentrating on the uninterrupted sequence of campaigns in the first 18 months of war. The eastern empires' race to collapse underlines the critical importance of contingency in the complete story of World War I. Precisely when and how Russia lost the war was influenced by the structural strengths and weaknesses of its social and economic system, but also by the outcome of events on the battlefield.