The Russian Turmoil; Memoirs: Military, Social, and Political

Having outlined a whole series of conditions which exercised an influence on the life, spirit, and military efficiency of the once famous Russian Army, I shall now pass to the s...

In the late World War, along with aeroplanes, tanks, poison gases and other marvels of military _technique_, a new and powerful weapon came to the fore, viz: _propaganda_. Stric...

Upon my return from the Front to Minsk I was summoned to the Stavka at Moghilev, where a Conference was to be held on July 16th. Kerensky suggested that Brussilov should invite,...

The ill-famed law, emanating from the Polivanov Committee and known as the "Declaration of the Rights of the Soldier," was confirmed by Kerensky on May 9th. I will give the main...

History will not soon give us a picture of the Revolution in a broad, impartial light. Those prospects which are now opening out to our view are sufficient only to enable us to...

A telegram, unnumbered, and signed "Kerensky," requested General Kornilov to transfer the Supreme Command temporarily to General Lukomsky, and, without awaiting the latter's arr...

The DUMA, which, as I have already said, unquestionably enjoyed the confidence of the country, refused, after lengthy and heated discussions, to head the Revolutionary power. Te...

In the early spring of 1917 the deficiency in supplies for the Army and for the towns was rapidly growing. In one of its appeals to the peasants the Soviet said: "The enemies of...

The Russian offensive which had been planned for the month of May was being delayed. At first a simultaneous advance on all fronts had been contemplated; later, however, owing t...

The inevitable historical process which culminated in the Revolution of March, 1917, has resulted in the collapse of the Russian State. Philosophers, historians and sociologists...

In the early days of April the idea arose among the Headquarters' officers of organising a "Union of the Officers of the Army and the Navy." The initiators of the Union[28] star...

I will deal in this and in the subsequent chapters with the internal condition of Russia in the first period of the Revolution only in so far as it affected the conduct of the W...

Two days after the Moghilev Conference General Brussilov was relieved of the Supreme Command. The attempt to give the leadership of the Russian Armies to a person who had not on...

The Russo-Japanese war had a very great influence upon the development of the Russian army. The bitterness of defeat and the clear consciousness that the policy governing milita...

"My thoughts are with you in your new appointment. I consider that you have been sent to perform a superhuman task. Much has been said, but apparently little has been done there...

On May 1st the Minister of War, Gutchkov, left his post. "We wished," so he explained the meaning of the "democratisation" of the Army which he tried to introduce, "to give orga...

The first and fundamental question with which I was confronted at the Stavka was _the objective of our Front_. The condition of the enemy did not appear to us as particularly br...

In the first period--from the beginning of the Revolution until the _coup d'état_ of November--the Bolsheviks were engaged in struggling to seize power by destroying the Bourgeo...

Elective bodies from the Military Section of the Soviet to Committees and Soviets of various denominations in regimental units and in the Departments of the Army, the Fleet and...

Alone in the Governor's old Palace at Mohilev the Czar suffered in silence; his wife and children were far away, and there was no one with him in whom he was able or willing to...

These events found me far away from the Capital, in Roumania, where I was commanding the Eighth Army Corps. In our remoteness from the Mother Country we felt a certain tension i...

I did not learn of the course of events in Petrograd and at G.H.Q. until some time had elapsed, and I will refer to these events briefly in order to preserve the continuity of m...

The guilt of these men lay in their expression of solidarity with my telegram No. 145, and of the last, moreover, in his fulfilment of my orders for the isolation of the frontal...

Built up historically, in the course of several centuries, the relations of the Cossacks with the Central Government, common to Russia, were of a dual character. The Government...

On March 27th the Provisional Government issued a proclamation "To the Citizens" on the subject of war aims. The Stavka could not detect any definite instructions for governing...

I took over the Command from General Gourko. His removal had already been decided on May 5th, and an Order of the Day had been drafted at the War Ministry. Gourko, however, sent...

On March 25th I arrived at the Stavka, and was immediately received by General Alexeiev. Of course he was offended. "Well," he said, "if such are the orders, what's to be done?"...

In the old Russian Army the national question scarcely existed. Among the soldiery the representatives of the races inhabiting Russia experienced somewhat greater hardships in t...

In August, 1915, the Emperor, influenced by the entourage of the Empress and of Rasputin, decided to take the Supreme Command of the Army. Eight Cabinet Ministers and some polit...

Preparations for the advance continued alongside of the so-called "Democratisation." These phenomena must be here recorded, as they had a decisive effect upon the issue of the s...

Before his abdication the Emperor signed two ukazes--appointing Prince Lvov President of the Council of Ministers and the Grand-Duke Nicholas Supreme Commander-in-Chief. "In vie...

The next measure for the democratisation of the Army was the introduction of the Institution of Commissars. The idea was derived from the history of the French Revolutionary War...

In order to carry out the democratisation of the Army and the reform of the War Ministry in accordance with the new régime, Gutchkov established a Commission under the Chairmans...

The duties of the Quartermaster-General in the Stavka were many-sided and complex. As in the European Army, it proved therefore necessary to create the office of a second Quarte...

In the midst of the turmoil and bloodshed in Russia people perish and the real outlines of historical events are obliterated. It is for this reason that I have decided to publis...