General Alexis Brusilov was the outstanding military commander in the
Russian army during World War I. Brusilov's successful offensive against
the Austrians in spring and summer 1916 showed that effectively trained
and well-led Russian forces could win important victories. By the time
Brusilov became commander-in-chief of the army, in June 1917, his undeniable
talents were no longer able to affect the course of events.
Alexis Brusilov was bom on August 31, 1853, in Tiflis. He followed in
the footsteps of his father, a Russian general of aristocratic lineage, by
entering the army in 1872. His career centered in the cavalry, and he rose
steadily. Brusilov fought with distinction in the Russo-Turkish War in
1877-1878 and subsequently commanded the Officers Cavalry School. He
became a major general in 1902. In the years before the outbreak of the war,
he rose to command a succession of army corps in the strategically crucial
Polish portion of the Russian Empire.
The talented and aggressive officer conducted a fighting retreat at the
head of the Eighth Army as German forces pushed the Russians from Poland
in the summer of 1915. The following spring he took charge of the Russian
army's southwestern front. This placed him in command of a group of four
armies containing 600,000 men.
For the bulk of the war, however, the overall command of the army was
in the unimaginative hands of Mikhail Alekseev. Alekseev was a competent
military manager who rebuilt the army after its disastrous retreat from
Poland in 1915. Nonetheless, his most notable policy was to allow Russian
offensive operations to conform to the needs of his country's allies. Alekseev
had agreed to an Allied plan for Russian participation in a general and
coordinated offensive on the eastern and western fronts in 1916. Brusilov
threw himself into preparing for the part his armies would play. Pondering
the problem of breaking the enemy's defenses, he developed plans for
surprise assaults at widely separate points on his front. But events in the
spring altered the overall plan. The Austrian assault in the Trentino on the
Italian front created an emergency in the Allied camp. Russia's partners in
the war asked for quick action on the eastern front. Only Brusilov's forces
were ready to advance so early in the year.
The armies of the southwestern front achieved a rare success for Russian
troops; Brusilov's preparation and leadership made the difference. He
carefully concealed the troops with which he prepared to attack. Widely
separated but well-coordinated assaults broke the Austrian lines at several
points in early June. Russian infantry and artillery now cooperated in an
effective fashion unseen so far in the war. As Russian forces advanced over
the course of the summer, Brusilov's successes diminished German pressure
at Verdun and the Somme and hindered the Austrian effort in Italy. The
influence of a sweeping Russian advance in eastern Europe propelled
neutral Rumania into the war on the Allied side.
But Brusilov failed to get a full-scale Russian effort including other fronts
that might have produced more extensive advances. Alekseev, ineffectual
as usual, proved unable to get generals commanding fronts near Brusilov's
neighbors to launch supporting offensives. Equally important, the Germans
came to the rescue of their less skilled Austrian allies. The Russian offensive
ended in September. Nonetheless, Brusilov's reputation was assured.
Following the Revolution of March 1917, Brusilov, like the other ranking
leaders of the army, abandoned his loyalty to the monarchy and accepted the
authority of the Provisional Government. Brusilov took over as commanderin-
chief from Alekseev in June, but had only a brief time in office. Largely
due to the overall disintegration of the army, the July offensive ordered by
Minister of War Alexander Kerensky could not repeat the success of the
previous year. Brusilov went into retirement. The aging cavalryman had a final
moment of prominence. The civil war following the Bolshevik Revolution of
November 1917 opened the way for a Polish invasion in spring 1920. Brusilov,
a product of the prerevolutionary amiy, nevertheless offered his services to
the Communists. He saw no combat, but his gesture was an important symbol
showing how some traditional military leaders were willing to make their
peace with the Russia of V. I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky.
Brusilov died in Moscow on March 17, 1926.
World History
