The Final Decades of the Army of the Tsars

Prof. Reese (Texas A&M), author of Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought and other works on Russian military history, gives us an in-depth view of the final decades of the Tsarist army, from the end of the Crimean War through the collapse of 1917.

Reese argues that the officer corps failed to adjust to changing political, social, and technological conditions. Most notable among these was the failure to adjust to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and the introduction of universal military service. Although many company officers came up through the ranks, the change did not dent the dent the domination of the middle and especially higher ranks of officer corps by aristocratic families, to a degree that was even more marked than in the German and other armies of the day. This froze able men of middle class, working class, or peasant origins out of attaining regimental or higher command. And the army hardly changed the traditional brutal treatment of enlisted personnel that had existed from the days of Peter the Great.

This domination of the army by the aristocracy also mean that the service learned little from the experience of war in the Crimea (1854-1856), the Balkans (1877-1878), and the Far East (1904-1905), leading to a disastrous performance in World War I, which in turn fueled the collapse of the army and the regime. Perhaps Reese’s most valuable point is that the disintegration of the army in 1917 “had its roots in the way the army adapted to the end of serfdom” (pp. ix-x), and the continuing ill-treatment of the troops by their officers.

Oddly, Reese does not mention that the aristocracy also marginalized the influence of the general staff corps, among the most well trained as any in Europe, although he does list some of the work Bruce Menning has done on this in his bibliography. Despite this, The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, a volume in the Kansas series “Modern War Studies”, is an important read for those with an interest in Russian military history, the Great War, or what makes armies tick.

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Note: The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution is also available in several e-editions.

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