The Brusilov Offensive

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The story of the World War I battle that marked the turning point for the Central Powers on the Eastern Front “In an innovative examination of Russia’s tactics on the Eastern Front, Dowling puts the ‘Brusilov Enigma’ into the context of the zeitgeist of WWI. A truly novel perspective on one of the most intriguing battles of WWI.” —Eva-Marie Stolberg, Institute of Russian History, University of Bonn “This is a superb book, one that goes a long way to help us understand what Winston Churchill in 1932 famously called The Unknown War. Using the Austrian military archives to great advantage, Dowling through the lens of a single campaign—the Brusilov Offensive of 1916—explicates the significance of the Eastern Front from the trilateral perspective of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia. The offensive marked both the height of Russia’s wartime achievement and the path to revolution. It featured Brusilov as the military innovator of ‘primitive’ unified arms combat in June and July, who by August reverted to the traditional and disastrous Russian methods of massed infantry assaults. It showed the Russian commander as a tactical genius with limited strategic vision. In the end, the Brusilov Offensive destroyed the military capacity of the Habsburg Empire, brought Romania into the war, forced Vienna to accept Berlin’s almost total control in the East, and relieved the fronts in both Italy and France from enemy pressure. Thanks to Dowling, Brusilov will no longer remain the ‘lost’ personage of the history of the World War.” —Holger H. Herwig, author of The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914–1918 http://iupress.indiana.edu 1-800-842-6796 The Brusilov Offensive Timothy C. Dowling Brusilov Offensive The Dowling The Brusilov Offensive Timothy C. Dowling In the summer of 1915, the Central Powers launched an offensive on the Eastern Front that they hoped would decide the war. It did not, of course. In June 1916, an Allied army under the command of Aleksei A. Brusilov decimated the Central Powers’ gains of 1915. Brusilov’s success brought Romania into the war, extinguished the offensive ability of the Habsburg armies, and forced Austria-Hungary into military dependence on and political subservience to Germany. The results were astonishing in military terms, but the political consequences were perhaps even more significant . More than any other action, the BrusilovOffensivebroughttheHabsburg Empire to the brink of a separate peace, while creating conditions for revolution within the Russian Imperial Army. This book tells the story of this important but little known battle in the military and political history of the Eastern Front. Jacket illustration: Russian lines as captured German cannon are brought in. (From The Great War: The Standard History of the All Europe Conflict, H. W. Wilson and J. A. Hammerton, eds. [London, 1915]). INDIANA INDIANA University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis War & Military World War I Timothy C. Dowling worked in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow before earning his doctorate from Tulane University. Dowling taught at the Vienna International School in Austria before taking an appointment at the Virginia Military Institute. A specialist in modern German and Russian history, he is the editor of two volumes of personal perspectives on the world wars. Twentieth-Century Battles Spencer C. Tucker, editor $24.95 The Brusilov Offensive Twentieth-Century Battles Spencer C. Tucker, Editor The Battle of An Loc James H. Willbanks The Battle of Heligoland Bight Eric W. Osborne The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action H.P. Willmott The Battle of the Otranto Straits: Controlling the Gateway to the Adriatic in World War I Paul G. Halpern D-Day in the Pacific: The Battle of Saipan Harold J. Goldberg The Dieppe Raid: The Story of the Disastrous 1942 Expedition Robin Neillands Midway Inquest: Why the Japanese Lost the Battle of Midway Dallas Woodbury Isom Operation Albion: The German Conquest of the Baltic Islands Michael B. Barrett General Aleksei A. Brusilov Indiana University Press bloomington and indianapolis timothy c. dowling the brusilov offensive This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail iuporder@indiana.edu© 2008 by Timothy C. Dowling All rights reserved No part of...