It was the biggest Russian victory during the First World War, and at the same time
the most costly in terms of human lives.
The Brusilov offensive is one of the most deadly offensives in history, and the only
offensive of the First World War that was named after its commander, general Alexei
Brusilov.
It also showcases the incompetency of some Russian generals, unable to capitalize on
the initial victories Brusilov attained.
And while the Central Powers weren’t expecting a Russian offensive of this magnitude..
Oddly enough Russia’s allies didn’t have much faith in it either.
-intro-
Background
The Eastern Front during the First World War was in a bad state after Russia’s initial
advance under generals Paul von Rennenkampf and Alexander Samsonov.
Samsonov’s army was annihilated by Paul von Hindenburg at the Battle of Tannenberg,
and von Rennenkampff’s army retreated.
The Russian army established a new frontline spanning seven-hundred-and-fifty kilometres,
from Riga, all the way to the Romanian border.
The northern part was facing Chief of staff Erich Ludendorff, and the southern part faced
Archduke Friedrich of Austria-Hungary.
The Russians were split in three groups, the most northern group was under the command
of Aleksey Kuropatkin, whom had made a name for himself by retreating at the wrong time
during the Russo-Japanese war.
The western front (not to be confused with the western-european front, we’re still
on the eastern front here) was manned by General Alexei Evert, not a big fan of offensives,
and to the south General Nikolai Ivanov commanded the troops.
General Mikhail Alekseyev was sent as chief of staff in the name of Tsar Nicholas II and
responsible for the Russian operations.
Alekseyev was one of the more competent Russian generals of the first world war.
Slowly but surely, during the early months of nineteen-sixteen, the Russian army was
restored in its ability to wage war.
The shortages in ammo, guns, shoes, proper clothing and actual well-trained soldiers,
weren’t that prevalent in nineteen-sixteen.
Over ten-thousand guns were manufactured each month and most front units had received multiple
cannons and guns.
Ammo was created at such a pace that, in theory, shortages were nearly non existent and a stock
could be built up to prepare for the summer offensive.
The last battle of nineteen-fifteen was a small Russian offensive in the south.
It was aimed at supporting the Serbians, that were cornered once Bulgaria declared war on
them.
After Russia’s losses it played a minor role at the interallied meeting in Chantilly,
France, during the winter months.
Thing is, the allied powers agreed to the Somme offensive during that meeting, and after
the Germans ruined the initial plan with their Verdun offensive, Russia suddenly had to step
up and help their allies by launching a barely prepared offensive at the Eastern Front in
order to lure German troops from West to East.
Well, in march a Russian army unit attacked the Germans, who were surprised at the ferocity
of the Russian artillery assault.
After mismanagement from the Russian officers, the artillery and air support was withdrawn,
leaving the Russian soldiers to their fate in trenches, subject to poison gas and German
artillery shelling.
Within one day, the Russians were pushed back to their original starting position.
This absolute disaster, the Lake Naroch Offensive, saw the Russians suffering between three to
five times as much casualties as the Germans, even though the Russians had numerical superiority.
Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, as we have come to know that the Russians had an inexhaustible
amount of soldiers, they were already preparing another offensive.
General Ivanov was replaced by general Alexei Brusilov, an army commander that distinguished
himself during the retreat in nineteen-fifteen.
And more to his credit, Brusilov was more in favour of the offensive approach, rather
than retreating.
Brusilov risks his reputation
On the fourteenth of april, a meeting was held between the Russian Tsar and his front-line
commanders.
An offensive at the Western front, instead of the Russian one, was brought up by generals
Evert and Kuropatkin, both stating they preferred to maintain their defensive tactic.
Brusilov disagreed and advised an all-out offensive, spanning the entire Eastern Front.
Brusilov’s reasoning was that the Germans had a better railroad connection and by attacking
the entire frontline, the Germans could not move their troops quick enough towards the
areas under attack, nor could they know what would become the area of the main offensive.
Eventually, the generals agreed that in May an offensive would be held, where Brusilov’s
south-western front would be the first one to move, and shortly thereafter Evert would
lead the main offensive, with Vilnius as their target.
As Brusilov left this meeting, he was approached by a colleague that told him it was unwise
to risk his reputation by launching an offensive.
Brusilov didn’t panic because of this pessimist view of offensive warfare though.
He returned to his southwestern front and attempted to prepare the entire operation
as well as he could during the following six weeks.
He decided it would be best to not merge his troops, but have four army commanders lead
four troops in their own respective offensives.
Preparing attacks on a three-hundred kilometer wide front, the enemy could not pinpoint where
the big hit would be.
Other details of the preparation are peculiar, such as Brusilov refusing to let the Tsarina
Alexandra know when the offensive would take place, as she was known for not being able
to keep secrets.
At any rate, the Austrian-Hungarian frontline that Brusilov had to break through was reinforced
and over most of the frontline it consisted of three defensive lines, between one and
three kilometres apart from each other, and every defensive line consisted of at least
three trenches.
Between every defensive line barbed wire was placed and at some places mines were laid.
Russian aircraft managed to take pictures of the Austro-Hungarian defensive structures
and after the war it was discovered the Russians had an overview of the Austro-Hungarian defenses
that was about the same quality as the Austro-hungarian high command themselves had.
To summarize the defensive lines, though, it was nasty.
Barbed wire, artillery was in place, mines, layers of trenches with soldiers ready to
unload their guns on any enemy soldier that came into sight.
General Evert saw the necessity of a rapid assault after the Austrian defeat against
the Italians at Trentino and the disastrous Verdun offensive in France.
If Russia didn’t act, Italy would have to start peace negotiations with the central
powers, something that would mean more German troops could move to Verdun, and who knows
what would happen if the Germans gained the upper-hand in France.
Thus, it was decided the Brusilov offensive, the first “victory” of the first world
war named after its commander, would take place on the fourth of June.
The Brusilov Offensive (and a ruined birthday party)
In total, it is estimated that during the entirety of the offensive over one point seven
million Russian soldiers participated, whereas a little over a million German and Austro-Hungarian
soldiers participated.
This number takes the entire two months the offensive lasted as an estimate, and at the
beginning, around six-hundred-thousand Russians and four-hundred-fifty-thousand Austro Hungarians
and Germans saw battle - that’s still a sizeable number, to put it mildly.
Three out of the four Russian armies that embarked on the offensive at the south-western
front managed to immediately penetrate the Austro-Hungarian frontline, as soon as the
offensive was launched.
The Russian artillery, shelling the defenses, the element of surprise, and the lack of morale
among the Austro-Hungarian and Czech troops, played a major role in the breakthrough.
The main offensive against Lutsk and Kovel resulted in Lutsk being captured on the eight
of June.
Archduke Friedrich had to cancel the festivities for his birthday, which he celebrated in the
city, due to the Russian shelling.
He had to flee the city, as the Russians were rapidly advancing, capturing thousands of
Austro-Hungarian soldiers along the way.
With three major breaches at their front, the Austro-Hungarians were in full retreat.
But, the Russians wouldn’t be so lucky for the rest of the offensive.
General Evert, even after these successes, refused to take the offensive route and on
the 9th of June, Brusilov was informed that Evert postponed his offensive until the eighteenth.
All the while, Ludendorff was organizing a desperate counter-attack and collected German
troops to send them south.
A whole thirty-five German divisions were taken from France and sent to the Eastern
front, weakening their Verdun offensive.
Fortunately, for the Austro-Hungarians, due to the lack of communication, the Russian
main offensive was set forth in two different directions which resulted in Kovel not falling
to the Russians.
The Austro-Hungarians, who were heavily engaged in Italy, had to quickly transfer troops to
the north, in order to fight the Russians.
The promised assault on the eighteenth was canceled, once again, by General Evert.
He decided to embark on a half hearted, short, badly prepared and definitely not successful
march onto Baranowicze, more to the south.
The Russian general staff now decided to move Evert’s troops southward, to support Brusilov
and hopefully utilize his successes that way.
Now, I previously mentioned Brusilov wanted an offensive that was spread over the entire
frontline because of the superior railway system that allowed the Germans to mobilize
quicker, right?
Exactly what Brusilov predicted, happened - the Germans, once they noticed Evert’s
troops moving to the south, followed suit with their own troops and, because they had
a better connection, they arrived before the Russian reinforcements.
Though Brusilov decided to commit to another assault, on the twenty-eight of July, more
and more German troops arrived as reinforcements and it became more difficult to move forward
for the Russians.
On the tenth of August his offensive came to a standstill, though Brusilov managed to
reach the Carpathian mountains on the twentieth of September.
By that time the Austro-Hungarians had lost over four-hundred-thousand troops as Prisoners
of War, and had another near half a million casualties.
The Russian losses, which weren’t documented as accurate, numbered at least half a million,
but could be as much as a million soldiers.
Eventually, in the middle of August, as the Brusilov offensive lost in momentum, the Russians
decided to abort the operation because Romania, under King Ferdinand the First, had decided
to abandon its neutrality and join the allied powers, but they did not send Romanian troops
to aid Brusilov, and instead embarked on a campaign to the north, to Transylvania.
Aftermath
Brusilov, later on, claimed that Russia could have won the war if his successful offensive
was utilized adequately.
It may have been possible to force Austro-Hungary to cease fighting, had Evert embarked on the
main offensive, as they agreed.
The Brusilov offensive accomplished all goals it had set out, and more: the Austro-hungarian
troops had to cancel their campaign in Italy in order to fight the Russians and the Germans
had to cancel their Verdun campaign and move thirty-five divisions from France to the eastern
Front.
Even though Brusilov didn’t win the war, it may have been thanks to him, in part, the
allied powers at least hadn’t lost it.
Furthermore, in part thanks to the initial successes of the offensive that Romania joined
the allied powers, but how Romania got tangled up in the First World War is a story for another
time.
Thank you for watching this video and what is an event of person surrounding the first
world war that you would like to know more about, and perhaps see a video of?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments and if you enjoyed the video, considering
subscribing to this channel.
See you next time.