The Imperial Russian Army In Peace, War, And Revolution, 1856-1917 (modern War Studies)

In December 1917, nine months after the disintegration of the Russian monarchy, the army officer corps, one of the dynasty's prime pillars, finally fell--a collapse that, in light of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution, historians often treat as inevitable. The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, 1856-1917 contests this assumption. By expanding our view of the Imperial Russian Army to include the experience of the enlisted ranks, Roger R. Reese reveals that the soldier's revolt in 1917 was more social revolution than anti-war movement--and a revolution based on social distinctions within the officer corps as well as between the ranks. Reese's account begins in the aftermath of the Crimean War, when the emancipation of the serfs and consequent introduction of universal military service altered the composition of the officer corps as well as the relationship between officers and soldiers. More catalyst than cause, World War I exacerbated a pervasive discontent among soldiers at their ill treatment by officers, a condition that reached all the way back to the founding of the Russian army by Peter I. It was the officers' refusal to change their behavior toward the soldiers and each other over a fifty-year period, Reese argues, capped by their attack on the Provisional Government in 1917, that fatally weakened the officer corps in advance of the Bolshevik seizure of power. As he details the evolution of Russian Imperial Army over that period, Reese explains its concrete workings--from the conscription and discipline of soldiers to the recruitment and education of officers to the operation of unit economies, honor courts, and wartime reserves. Marshaling newly available materials, his book corrects distortions in both Soviet and Western views of the events of 1917 and adds welcome nuance and depth to our understanding of a critical turning point in Russian history. "This book is a social history of the Russian Army of the late imperial period that exposes the myths and corrects misinformation and misconceptions that have grown up around the history of the Imperial Russian Army. Through the use of recently available primary sources, Roger Reese demonstrates that the existing works of history provide a one-sided view of army life from the perspective of the most conservative officers, who were ignorant to the reality of the soldiers' lives. Reese argues that the existing explanations for the collapse of the Imperial Russian Army are either inadequate or inaccurate: World War One itself was not the only catalyst for the army's collapse; the officer corps failed to learn from the 1905 Revolution, which gave them all the information that they needed to avoid another revolt by soldiers; and the mutinies of the soldiers and heightened disaffection of Russian society in general should have been a wake-up call for the military to drastically change the relationship between officers and men, yet it went unheeded." --Provided by publisher Contents Preface Acknowledgments A Note on Transliteration and Names Terms and Abbreviations Introduction Part One: Personnel Policy, Everyday Life, and the Mentality of the Imperial Army 1. Officer Manning Policies, 1856–1914 2. Educating the Imperial Russian Officer Corps, 1856–1903 3. The Officers’ Regiment 4. The Soldiers’ Lives and the Regiment, 1856–1904 5. The Transition from an Army of Honor to an Army of Virtue, 1874–1904 6. The Political Nature of the Officer Corps Part Two: War, Revolution, and Their Aftermath 7. The Russo-Turkish War, 1877– 1878 8. The Russo-Japanese War, 1904– 1905 9. The Revolution of 1905 10. The Constitutional Period, 1906– 1914 Part Three: The First World War and Revolution 11. The First World War: Officers at War, July 1914–March 1917 12. The Soldiers at War, July 1914–March 13. Wartime Officer-Enlisted Relations 14. The February Revolution 15. Officer-Enlisted Relations, March–October 1917 Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index In December 1917, nine months after the disintegration of the Russian monarchy, the army officer corps, one of the dynasty's prime pillars, finally fell - a collapse that, in light of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution, historians often treat as inevitable. Roger Reese contests this assumption in this fascinating book.