Last summer, Russia had nearly knocked Austria-Hungary out of the war with the Brusilov Offensive,
but since then had seen political turmoil that culminated in a revolution and the abdication
of the Tsar.
The Allies were seriously concerned about Russia’s ability to continue the war, but
this week, Russia and Alexei Brusilov are back.
I’m Indy Neidell: welcome to the Great War.
Last week the fighting on Mount Ortigara finally ended, with heavy Italian losses for no gain,
the first American troops - 14,000 of them - arrived in France, Greece officially joined
the Allies in the war, and Russia was preparing a big new offensive in the Southeast.
And that offensive kicked off this week.
Thing is, power in Russia had still been kind of split between the Provisional government,
who wanted to create a liberal democratic system, and the Soviets and their revolutionary
doctrines.
A couple weeks ago, the Congress of Workers and Soldiers Soviets had begun, where the
Bolsheviks had 100 of the 1000+ delegates.
They were pretty emphatic about ending the war.
The Congress as a whole though, which would end July 7th, gave its support to the Provisional
Government as the supreme authority in Russia.
Alexander Kerensky was Minister of War in the Provisional Government and he was all
about renewing the offensive, as we saw last week.
So two things happened at once on July 1st.
There was a huge peace demonstration in Petrograd, and General Alexei Brusilov went on the offensive
in Galicia.
31 Russian divisions - over 200,000 men, supported by 1,328 heavy guns - launched the attack,
aimed at Lemberg, some 80 kilometers to the west.
Brusilov had his main artillery and his most reliable troops packed in a 48km zone that
was the main axis of advance, though diversionary and backups attacks extended this to nearly
160km total.
Kerensky toured the front line positions for days, telling the men to fight for their land
and their freedom, and also personally giving the order that began the offensive.
(The Eastern Front) “Kerensky moved along the line... putting heart into some of the
army’s least willing units.
When one regiment refused to advance, Kerensky stood on the trench line in plain view of
the Austro-Hungarians and told the men that if they would not attack, he would fight the
enemy alone.
The speech inspired the men and they went over the top, with many soldiers pausing to
embrace Kerensky...
Kerensky as swept away by the emotion and tried to join the attack... a journalist who
saw the feat said it promised to go on record as one of the historic feats in war operations.”
Thing is, though there were exceptions, most of the soldiers were still willing to go over
the top.
The 11th and 7th Russian armies were the vanguard, with the 8th army in reserve and the offensive
began with great success.
On the 1st, they took three lines of enemy trenches and 12,000 prisoners, on the second
they were advancing again, taking another 6,300 prisoners.
That day in a secondary action, the Czechoslovak Rifleman Brigade, part of the Czech Legion,
a volunteer fighting force for the Allies-, went into action near Zborov against a far
larger Austro-Hungarian force.
In spite of that, they advanced deep into enemy territory, breaking through the entire
trench system, and took 3,300 prisoners.
From what I understand, they even convinced many Czech soldiers of the Austrian 19th Division
to desert.
(Gilbert).
In general, the Austro-Hungarian defenses collapsed and men fled in panic.
A gap opened in their lines dozens of kilometers long and more than 30 deep and it seemed the
Russian had designed another masterpiece and as the week progressed they pushed the Austrians
ever back.
This might be a crisis for Austria in the field, but there was a crisis at home in Germany
this week.
On the 6th, Matthias Erzberger, the leader of Germany’s Catholic Center Party, a moderate
monarchist, shocked the nation with a speech in the Reichstag.
He had gotten information from international contacts through the Vatican, and he persuasively
demonstrated that the unrestricted submarine campaign in effect for half a year had failed.
Britain was nowhere near to being starved out of the war.
He demanded reforms, among them a stronger role for the Reichstag, but also that Germany
renounce all territorial gains for a “peace of reconciliation”.
This outraged the conservatives, and there was actually kind of a war over policy with
a bunch of factions involved.
Those in favor of annexations of conquered territory vehemently attacked Chancellor Theobald
von Bethmann-Hollweg.
The Chancellor was supposed to be in control, but since in Germany the government leaders
didn’t have their own power base, since they weren’t chosen by the legislature,
the long war had taken control from the Chancellor’s hands and the system had broken down.
Army Chief of Staff Paul von Hindenburg, whom the nation loved and trusted, had no interest
in creating a new system, and the only guy who had an interest and who could get Hindenburg
to do what he wanted was Quartermaster General Erich Ludendorff, who was not elected by anyone
or responsible to anyone.
In fact, the Kaiser hated him, but by this time Germany was in many ways a military dictatorship
run by Ludendorff.
Here’s how that worked in action: On July 12th- so, next week - a telegram from army
headquarters announced the resignations of both Hindenburg and Ludendorff.
The reason given was that it was impossible to work with Bethmann-Hollweg.
This was just plain blackmail - either he goes or we do, right?
Funny enough, if this had happened in, say, France or Britain, any general behaving like
this would’ve had his resignation accepted, I’m pretty sure, but what could the Kaiser
do?
He was furious but he had to give in.
Bethmann-Hollweg resigned.
This was never going to come at a good time, but this was specifically bad because Monseigneur
Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII had recently called on Bethmann-Hollweg with
an offer from the current Pope Benedict XV to try to mediate an end to the war.
Now, you might think “well, that sort of thing hasn’t come to anything yet, why would
it now?”
Well, Pacelli figured the first step was for Berlin to specify its intention with regards
to Belgium.
Everyone in the world pretty much knew peace talks were useless until Germany showed some
willingness to restore Belgium to its pre-war status.
The Kaiser had long said that for reasons of national security, Germany would have to
maintain control over at least part of Belgium, but he was now seeing that that might be pretty
unrealistic.
So Bethmann-Hollweg, without the army’s consent, of course, had told Pacelli that
Germany was up for Belgian autonomy if France and Britain were as well.
The Reichstag’s liberal majority would’ve supported this too, but with Bethmann-Hollweg
gone, the opportunity was also gone.
The new Chancellor would be Georg Michaelis, who was so obscure that the Kaiser had not
only never met him, he had never even heard of him.
Michaelis would prove completely ineffective and Ludendorff really was responsible for
everything with no support from anyone either diplomatically or politically.
But someone who was getting some support this week was the Arab Revolt.
On July 6th, Arab Revolt forces working with Lawrence of Arabia occupied Aqaba without
opposition after several days of fighting in the region.
This is at the top of the Gulf of Aqaba, at the head of the Red Sea.
The Arab forces were now 200km from the British front in Sinai, from where General Edmund
Allenby was under instructions to take Jerusalem by the end of the year.
The Arabs would receive 16,000 pounds worth of gold as a reward - that’s about 650,000
dollars today (Gilbert).
Aqaba was an attractive target because it provided a base closer to Suez and Syria than
Al Wajh down the coast, to which British explosives, ammunition, and gold could now be funneled.
This was a pretty big achievement for the Revolt.
And here are some notes to end the week.
On July 2nd, the first regular convoy of merchant ships sails from Hampton Roads, VA.
A concerted attack by German submarines on US transports was defeated the 4th, and also
on the 4th came a German raid on Harwich, 17 were killed and 30 injured.
And that was the week.
Allied success in the Middle East and on the Eastern Front, and a political crisis in Berlin.
This Russian offensive wasn’t as big as the one last summer, but it was still a heck
of a lot of men, and the Allies were optimistic with the successes this week.
I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but remember, the huge success of last summer’s
offensive came at a price - some two million casualties all told, with perhaps as many
as one million dead.
Could Russia afford another “success” like that?
Could anyone?
If you want to know more about the man behind the Russian offensives of 1916 and 1917, check
out our bio episode about Alexsei Brusilov right here.
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