Aleksei Brusilov (1858-1926)
Undoubtedly one of the best commanders of the war, General Brusilov was also one of the rare Russians able to successfully bridge between the old Tsarist regime and the Bolsheviks.
The Russian military does not look very impressive in the annals of World War One. The record of its General Brusilov, however, shows that Russian soldiers, when properly equipped and led, were a match for their German and Austrian foes. Brusilov was born in Tiflis in 1858, the son of an aristocratic family. Like many young nobles, he started a career in the cavalry, fighting against the Turks in the 1877 war.
Promoted to general in 1906, Brusilov was on holiday in Germany in the summer of 1914. He only barely made it back to Russia before hostilities began. Few officers knew how lucky they were not to have him interned. Unlike many other cavalrymen, Brusilov had paid careful attention to changes in military technology, and was aware of what machine-guns and modern artillery would do to war. Handed commanded of an army in 1914, he made sure that all attacks were precisely prepared and supported by big guns, while retaining tactical flexibility. His Eight Army quickly became the most successful unit under Russian arms.
Brusilov was one of very few Russian generals to emerge from 1914 and 1915 looking good. Therefore in March 1916 he was given command of Russia’s Southwestern Army Front, and charged with leading an offensive that would relieve pressure from Italy and France in the west. The Brusilov Offensive, which kicked off on June 4, 1916, was one of the most brilliant victories of the war. Finally attacking with enough artillery support and supplies, Brusilov’s soldiers inflicted a severe blow on the Austrians. Their general carefully coordinated artillery time-tables, and used radio to communicate with observers in the air. Stormtrooper shock tactics, often attributed to the Germans, were actually first used here by the Russians. Soon they had broken three Austrian armies and opened a colossal hole in the Eastern Front. Only the eventual drying up of replacements, as well as the need to help other commanders and the Romanians, stemmed Brusilov’s tide.
When revolution broke out in February 1917, Brusilov urged the Tsar to abdicate. Although a monarchist and a patriot, Brusilov was generally sympathetic to the revolutionaries. He had seen first-hand the ineptitude and callousness of Russia’s autocratic government. His progressive politics helped him become the chief of the Russian army for the Provisional Government. Unfortunately, Brusilov was asked to replicate his offensive again in 1917. This time, attacking without proper reinforcements or artillery, and with badly motivated troops, the attack failed immediately. Brusilov was replaced as Russian commander by the reactionary soldier Lavr Kornilov.
Brusilov tried to ride out the rest of the Russian Revolution without taking sides. When the Provisional Government was toppled and civil war broke out in November 1917, he remained neutral. Although personally inclined to the Whites, he knew most of his former troops were fighting with the Reds, and he believed in the need for radical change. In 1920, when the Red Army invaded Poland, he wrote a pamphlet encouraging former Tsarist officers to enlist and help command. He himself took a staff job with the Red Army in Warsaw, before retiring in 1924. He spent the brief remainder of his life in a shared apartment in Moscow, dying in 1926 at the age of 72. His funeral was an odd one, attended both by old Tsarist officers and Bolshevik politicians.
