The period when Brusilov was commander in chief. General Brusilov (short biography)

According to the evening news on Saturday, various TV channels reported on the anniversary of the Brusilov breakthrough.

But no one mentioned that Brusilov sided with the Bolsheviks after October, essentially becoming a general of the Red Army. He became the head of the Special Meeting under the Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces of the Soviet Republic, which developed recommendations for strengthening the Red Army.

On May 30, 1920, when the situation on the Polish front became threatening for Russia, the Russian officers issued an appeal “to all former officers, wherever they are” to come out in defense of the Motherland in the ranks of the Red Army. The remarkable words of this address, perhaps, fully reflect the moral position of the best part of the Russian aristocracy, real Russian patriots:

« At this critical historical moment in our national life, we, your senior comrades, appeal to your feelings of love and devotion to the Motherland and appeal to you with an urgent request to forget all insults, no matter who and wherever inflicted them on you, and voluntarily go with full selflessness and desire to join the Red Army at the front or to the rear, wherever the government of Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Russia appoints you and serve there not out of fear, but out of conscience, so that through your honest service, not sparing your life, you can defend at all costs Russia, dear to us, and not allow it to be plundered, because, in the latter case, it may be lost irretrievably and then our descendants will rightly curse us and rightly blame us for the fact that, due to selfish feelings of class struggle, we did not use our military knowledge and experience, they forgot their native Russian people and ruined their Mother Russia».

The appeal bore the signatures of Cavalry General Alexei Alekseevich Brusilov, Infantry General Alexei Andreevich Polivanov, Infantry General Andrei Meandrovich Zayonchkovsky and many other generals of the Russian Army.

In 1921, Brusilov was the chairman of the commission for organizing pre-conscription cavalry training, from 1923 he was attached to the Revolutionary Military Council for especially important assignments, and in 1923-1924 he was the chief inspector of the Red Army cavalry.

The white emigration rained curses on Brusilov's head. In the lists of “traitors who sold out to the Bolsheviks,” he was in proud first place. The general himself reacted to this rather ironically, noting: “The Bolsheviks obviously respect me more, because none of them ever even hinted at promising me anything.”

This should also be discussed in reports dedicated to the great Brusilov, a true patriot of his Fatherland. But this does not fit into the definition of patriotism imposed by the modern system.

General Brusilov in the service of Russia alone

And we will do this in connection with another upcoming centennial anniversary - the Russian Revolution. And here's why. We like to lament that October was the collapse of “old Russia”, that from it the country lost its “best people” who were scattered in exile. Of course, it is a great pity for those who, due to tragic circumstances, have erased themselves from their homeland. Among them there were worthy people and very worthy people. It’s a shame that many, many never had the chance to become the pride of Russia, the flower of the nation.

But those of our great ancestors who served the Motherland before October 1917 and continued to serve the same Motherland after October 1917 had the opportunity to become the pride of Russia and the flower of the nation.

Today is the time to remember the glorious life of one of them.

Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov comes from an old noble family, many of whose representatives connected their lives with military labor. His father Alexei Nikolaevich participated in the Patriotic War of 1812, the foreign campaigns of the Russian army of 1813-1814, for which he received several military awards, and ended his career as a lieutenant general. And in 1853, in Tiflis, where he was then serving, the future commander was born.

How to become a general

Alexey lost his parents early (his 70-year-old father died in 1859, and his mother died a few months later) and was raised in his aunt’s family. At the age of 14, he passed the exams for the 4th grade of the Corps of Pages, the most privileged military educational institution of the Russian Empire. The student showed a penchant for military disciplines, and in drill training he preferred cavalry riding.

Upon completion of his studies in 1872, Alexey Alekseevich entered the 15th Tver Dragoon Regiment, stationed in Transcaucasia. The young warrant officer enthusiastically worked with the soldiers of his platoon, which was the beginning of communication with the soldiers, which later gave him a lot.

Lieutenant Brusilov received his baptism of fire during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878 at the Asian Theater of Military Operations, near Kars. He took part in the assault on the Ardahan fortress, the battle at the Aladzhin Heights, went into cavalry attacks, several times found himself under targeted fire, and in one of the battles a horse was killed under him. In 1877, the brave officer was promoted to rank, which few could achieve in one campaign, and his chest was decorated with military orders. But the main thing is that the untested newcomer emerged from the war as a battle-hardened commander.

“Until 1881, I continued to pull my weight in the regiment,” Alexey Alekseevich later recalled, “whose life in peacetime with its everyday gossip and squabbles, of course, was of little interest.” Therefore, he willingly accepted the offer to take a course at the newly opened Officer Cavalry School in St. Petersburg. He studied diligently: having completed his studies with an “excellent” grade, Brusilov received the rank of captain, another order, and remained at school as a teacher. In 1884, Brusilov married Anna Nikolaevna Gagemeister, and three years later they had a son, named Alexei in honor of his grandfather and father.

And in 1891, already as a lieutenant colonel, the capable officer headed the department of squadron and hundred commanders of this school. By that time, he was well known in the capital’s military circles: over the years of teaching, almost the entire cavalry chief officer had passed before him.

In 1900, Brusilov was promoted to major general, and two years later he was appointed head of the school. In this post, he tried in every possible way to improve the training of students in accordance with the requirements of modern combat, thanks to which the educational institution he led soon took a prominent place in the military education system.

Theory and practice of new military science

However, Major General Brusilov not only taught, but also studied. The twentieth century had already arrived, and with it came a new type of war - and Brusilov understood that Russia, firstly, would have to fight and, secondly, in a new way.

At the same time, in the “Bulletin of the Russian Cavalry” published at the Officer Cavalry School, as well as in the “Military Collection” and other magazines, he published several works in which he developed views that were progressive for his time on the role and methods of using cavalry in battle. The author especially emphasized the importance of its massive use and proposed creating large formations such as cavalry armies for this purpose.

However, the prospect of finishing his service as head of the school did not appeal to Brusilov. During frequent conversations with the cavalry inspector, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (the Younger), he repeatedly expressed a desire to return to combat service. And in the spring of 1906, the general parted with the educational institution, to which he had devoted almost a quarter of a century, accepting the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division, one of the best in Russia, stationed in St. Petersburg.

Here Alexey Alekseevich also constantly cared about improving the training of commanders, for which he considered tactical training to be the best means, and often led them personally. In addition, he carefully studied the experience of the just ended Russian-Japanese War and saw one of the reasons for its defeat in the low level of education of the officer corps. “We,” the commander wrote, “as always, know how to die valiantly, but, unfortunately, not always bringing tangible benefit to the cause with our death, since very often we lacked the knowledge and ability to apply in practice the knowledge that we had.” .

This period of Brusilov’s service was overshadowed by the death of his wife in 1908. The son, having graduated from the Corps of Pages, plunged headlong into secular life, which outraged the ascetic and demanding commander. The relationship between father and son became strained, and the general was painfully aware of this. He submitted a transfer report from St. Petersburg and at the end of the same year took up the post of commander of the 14th Army Corps, stationed in the Vistula region near Lublin.

On the way to war

Already at the very first acquaintance with the state of affairs in the new place, Brusilov became convinced of the disorder of the military economy and the severe neglect of officer training. They did not know how to work with a map, evaluate the location of their own and enemy troops from it, understand the assigned task, make a decision that corresponded to the combat situation, and when it changed abruptly, they showed confusion. And what especially worried the general was that this situation had developed precisely in the Warsaw Military District, bordering Germany and Austria-Hungary.

The new corps commander organized tactical training, obliged officers to make scientific reports on current theoretical issues, and held war games that allowed them to demonstrate their skills in working with a map and improve their combat training. Brusilov himself was often present at company, regimental, and division exercises, led corps exercises, trying to bring them closer in nature to real combat, closely monitored the actions of the troops, and gave the most valuable instructions on improving military skill and developing an offensive impulse. Like Generalissimo Suvorov, Brusilov placed initiative and a conscious attitude towards military duty at the forefront.

At the end of 1910, Alexey Alekseevich entered into his second marriage - with Nadezhda Vladimirovna Zhelikhovskaya, whom he knew during his years of service in the Caucasus. During the Russo-Japanese War, she organized sanitary and charitable institutions, and collaborated on the editorial board of the military magazine “Brotherly Help.”

Much later, the general would write about this period of his military career: “I lived in Lublin for three years... everyone knows that I was very strict towards my corps, but in injustice or lack of concern for my colleagues, generals, officers, and especially No one could blame me among the soldiers.”

As a result, the enormous work he did in a relatively short period of time to improve the combat training of the corps was appreciated by his superiors. In May 1912, Brusilov took the post of assistant commander of the Warsaw Military District, and in August-December, with interruptions, he temporarily acted as commander of the district. In December of the same year, for his distinguished service, he was promoted to the highest rank of the Russian army - cavalry general. In May-June 1913, he again served as commander of the Warsaw district.

But despite his rapid career growth, Alexey Alekseevich saw himself not as a military official, albeit a high-ranking one, but as a combat commander, so he turned to the Ministry of War with a request to return him to the troops. And soon, in August 1913, Brusilov headed the 12th Army Corps (Kiev Military District), whose headquarters were located in Vinnitsa. As in his previous posts, the general used every opportunity here to improve the training of the units and formations entrusted to him.

How to become pioneers in military science

With the outbreak of World War I, Brusilov became commander of the 8th Army, which occupied the left flank of the Southwestern Front (from Proskurov to the Romanian border) and opposed the troops of Austria-Hungary. Having received the order to attack, his corps set out on a campaign on August 5. Three days later they reached the state border on the Zbruch River and crossed it. The enemy's attempts to delay the advance of the 8th Army were unsuccessful. And as a result of a continuous 150-kilometer march, she approached the ancient Slavic city of Galich.

Meanwhile, in the zone of the neighboring 3rd Army, the situation was less favorable, and the general changed his plan of action. Leaving one of his corps as a barrier near Galich, he led the rest to Lvov, covering it from the south. Having covered more than 50 kilometers, the 8th Army on the Rotten Lipa River gave a counter battle to the enemy, as a result of which the latter began to retreat, which developed into a stampede. Then both Russian armies headed for Lvov, so quickly that the enemy, fearing encirclement, abandoned the city. Our troops also captured Galich, opening the way for further advancement. Thus, the Galich-Lvov operation of the left wing of the Southwestern Front, an integral part of the Battle of Galicia, one of the largest in the First World War, ended victoriously. Brusilov's merits were awarded the Order of St. George, 4th and 3rd degree, the highest military awards in Russia.

However, in May 1915, the enemy struck on the right flank of the Southwestern Front - in the Gorlice area, and the 8th Army had to retreat with heavy fighting. To the credit of the commander, it should be said that she retreated in an orderly manner, under the cover of strong rearguards. For the first time in combat practice, on a large scale, Brusilov’s troops used the destruction of bridges, ferry crossings, railroad tracks and other transport facilities along the enemy’s path, which significantly reduced the pace of his advance. In addition, they captured many prisoners and even carried out a counterattack, temporarily returning Lutsk and holding Rivne.

Alexey Alekseevich actively used the techniques that he taught his subordinates in peacetime: wide maneuver, entering the enemy’s flank and rear, persistent movement forward, as well as changes in tactics dictated by the combat situation - the transition to a tough defense, an organized retreat. As a result, the 8th Army demonstrated in practice its ability to act in any situation. The army commander also showed truly Suvorov-like concern for the soldiers, which gained him great popularity. His order of that time “On providing troops with hot food” is typical, which emphasized: “Those commanders whose soldiers are hungry must be immediately removed from their positions.” And the commander gave many similar orders throughout the war.

“Completely unexpectedly, in mid-March 1916,” Brusilov recalled, “I received an encrypted telegram from Headquarters... which stated that I had been elected... Commander-in-Chief of the Southwestern Front...”. A new period has begun in the life of the general. According to the general plan of the 1916 campaign, the task of his front was reduced to defense and preparation of a strike after the deployment of hostilities in the neighboring Western Front. However, Alexey Alekseevich insisted: the armies entrusted to him can and must attack. There are few examples in history when a military leader, putting his authority on the line, sought to complicate the task. Supreme Commander-in-Chief Nicholas II generally did not object, although he warned that Brusilov should rely only on his own strength.

Returning from Headquarters, the general outlined his plan to the army commanders: to strike in four directions at once in order to disperse the enemy’s attention, forces and means, and prevent him from maneuvering his reserves. And its units remaining in the “dead” zones will inevitably abandon their positions under the threat of falling into encirclement “cauldrons” or surrendering. As a result, the Austro-Hungarian front, opposing the South-Western, will completely “collapse”, which is what the innovative general achieved during the offensive of the South-Western Front, which went down in history as the Brusilov breakthrough (May 22 - October 18, 1916). Its organizer, during the hostilities, on June 20, was awarded the St. George weapon - a saber decorated with diamonds.

The enemy, according to our Headquarters, lost up to 1.5 million people killed, wounded and captured, while the Southwestern Front lost three times less. Let us emphasize: the world has witnessed a major achievement of military art, a new form of breaking through a positional front, and without numerical and fire superiority over the enemy.

Crisis and February

It would seem that Brusilov could be generally satisfied with the result of the offensive. “All of Russia rejoiced,” he noted enthusiastically. However, the general was extremely upset that the Headquarters did not use the exceptionally favorable situation to inflict a decisive defeat on the enemy, and therefore the operation of the Southwestern Front did not receive strategic development.

The general considered the figure of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief to be a particularly negative factor: “Those people are criminal,” he wrote, “who did not dissuade Emperor Nicholas II in the most decisive manner, even by force, from assuming the responsibilities that he, by his knowledge, abilities, mental makeup and In no case could I bear flabbiness of will.”

During the February Revolution of 1917, Brusilov, along with other major military leaders, put pressure on Nicholas II, convincing him of the need to abdicate the throne. And in March, the headquarters of the Southwestern Front swore allegiance to the Provisional Government, and Aleksey Alekseevich was the first to take the oath. When the country’s leadership faced the question of a new Supreme Commander-in-Chief, everyone agreed: the only one who combined, according to the Chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Rodzianko, “brilliant strategic talents..., a broad understanding of Russia’s political tasks and the ability to quickly assess the current situation, this is precisely... Brusilov.”

The talented commander, who enjoyed enormous popularity and an impeccable reputation in Russia, was appointed to the highest military position on his memorable day, May 22, 1917, the anniversary of the start of the famous breakthrough. He defined his role this way: “I am the leader of the revolutionary army, appointed to my responsible post by the revolutionary people... I was the first to serve on the side of the people, I serve them, I will serve them and I will never separate from them.”

However, due to disagreements with Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky over strengthening discipline in the armed forces, Brusilov was replaced two months later by General Lavr Kornilov and recalled to Petrograd as a government adviser. Soon Alexey Alekseevich left for Moscow, where he settled near the center.

Commander of the Red Commanders

During the October armed uprising of 1917, when many Moscow districts became the scene of fierce fighting between Red Guards and supporters of the Provisional Government, one of the artillery shells hit the general’s apartment, seriously wounding him in the leg. After a major operation, he spent 8 months in the hospital.

In addition to his relatives, representatives of various underground anti-Bolshevik organizations visited him there, trying to win him over to their side. But Alexey Alekseevich answered everyone with a firm refusal.

In May 1918, Brusilov left the hospital, but he was not left alone at home. The leaders of the White movement did not lose hope of seeing the famous commander in their ranks. And soon the security officers intercepted a letter from British diplomat Robert Bruce Lockhart, which, in particular, discussed plans to involve him in the anti-Soviet underground, and the general was immediately arrested. However, after two months they were forced to release him for lack of evidence. And again, proposals from opponents of the Bolsheviks rained down from all sides, but Alexey Alekseevich never went over to their camp, and did not approve of the military intervention of the former Entente allies, because he believed that any outside interference was unacceptable.

Finally, in April 1920, Brusilov returned to military service: he became a member of the Military Historical Commission for the study and use of the experience of the World War at the All-Russian General Staff. Poland's attack on Soviet Russia on April 25 deeply alarmed the old commander. He turned to the All-Russian General Headquarters with a proposal to organize a meeting “of people with combat and life experience for a detailed discussion of the present situation in Russia and the most appropriate measures to get rid of foreign invasion.” And soon, by order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, a Special Meeting was formed under the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, which was headed by Alexey Alekseevich.

He considered the massive recruitment of former officers into the Red Army to be one of the most effective measures to combat intervention, so he composed the famous appeal “To all former officers, wherever they are,” which played an important role in strengthening the armed forces.

In October of the same 1920, Brusilov was appointed a member of the Military Legislative Conference of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic as a cavalry specialist, and in November 1921 - also chairman of the Commission for the organization of cavalry pre-conscription training, in July 1922 - chief military inspector of the Main Directorate of Horse Breeding and horse breeding of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture of the RSFSR. In February 1923, he took the position of inspector of the Red Army cavalry. Finally, in March 1924, the old general retired due to health reasons and remained at the disposal of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR “for especially important assignments.”

Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov died on March 17, 1926 from cardiac paralysis and was buried with general honors on the territory of the Novodevichy Convent, remaining in people's memory as the personification of all the best that was in the Russian army at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, becoming a symbol of the continuity and continuity of its glorious martial traditions.

Literature:

Bazanov S.N. Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov. M., 2006.

Brusilov A.A. Breakthrough of the Austro-German front in 1916 // War and Revolution, 1927, No. 4, 5.

Brusilov A.A. My memories. M., 2001.

Vetoshnikov L.V. Brusilovsky breakthrough. Operational-strategic essay. M., 1940.

Zayonchkovsky A.M. World War 1914-1918, vol. 1-3. M., 1938.

Portuguese R.M., Alekseev P.D., Runov V.A. The First World War in the biographies of Russian military leaders. M., 1994.

Rostunov I. I. General Brusilov. M., 1964.

Rostunov I.I. Russian front of the First World War. M., 1976.

Semanov S.N. Brusilov. M., 1980.

Brusilov Alexey Alekseevich (1853-1926) - cavalry general (1912), adjutant general (1915). He studied in the Corps of Pages. Served in the 15th Tver Dragoon Regiment. Participant in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. From 1883 he served in the Officer Cavalry School, assistant to its chief (1898) and chief (1902). Commander of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division (1906) and the 14th Army Corps (1909), assistant commander of the Warsaw Military District (1912), commander of the 12th Army Corps (1913). During the First World War, commander of the 8th Army of the Southwestern Front (1914), commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front (1916), supreme commander (May-July 1917), then military adviser to the Provisional Government. Since 1919 he collaborated with the Red Army.

The name index of the book was used: V.B. Lopukhin. Notes of the former director of the department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. St. Petersburg, 2008.

Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov (1853-1926) was born into the family of a general. Graduated from the Corps of Pages. A participant in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, he served for more than 15 years in the cavalry officer school, starting as a riding instructor and ending as its chief. In 1906 - 1912 commanded various military units. In 1912 he received the rank of general from the cavalry. From the beginning of the First World War he was appointed commander of the 8th Army, and from March 1916 - commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front. He became one of the best commanders of the First World War, and gained particular fame for developing and leading the offensive of the Russian army in the summer of 1916. After February Revolution - supporter of continuing the war to a victorious end. In May 1917 he was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army. After being removed from this post in July 1917, he remained at the disposal of the Provisional Government. In 1920 he joined the Red Army.

One of the military operations he developed during the First World War is named after Brusilov - the Brusilov breakthrough: on May 22, 1916, after a massive artillery strike, Russian troops went on the offensive and immediately broke through the Austrian positions in a number of places. On May 25, Russian troops occupied Lutsk, and on June 5 they captured Chernivtsi. The front was broken through for 340 km, the depth of the breakthrough reached 120 km. In these battles, the Austrians suffered heavy losses - about 1.5 million killed, wounded and prisoners.

The Brusilov breakthrough brought Austria-Hungary to the brink of military and political disaster. To save the Austrian front from complete collapse, Germany transferred large forces from the west, stopping the offensive at Verdun.

However, the success of the Southwestern Front did not produce decisive strategic results, since it was not supported by offensive operations of other fronts. And after the arrival of large enemy reserves, the war here again acquired a positional character.

Brusilov Alexey Alekseevich (1853, Tiflis - 1926, Moscow) - military leader. Genus. in the noble family of a lieutenant general. He lost his parents early and was raised by relatives. Received a good home education. In 1867 he was sent to St. Petersburg, the page corps, and in 1872 he was accepted into service as an ensign in the 15th Tver Dragoon Regiment. He took part in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, earning three military orders. He distinguished himself during the storming of the Ardahan fortress and the capture of Kars. In 1881-1906, Brusilov continued to serve in the cavalry officer school in St. Petersburg, which he completed with the rank of lieutenant general. In 1908 he became a corps commander. In 1912 he was appointed assistant to the commander of the Warsaw Military District and was promoted to cavalry general for service distinction. From the beginning of the First World War he commanded the 8th Army. On the very first day of the offensive, his troops completely defeated the Austrian cavalry division and, advancing to the west, took a large number of prisoners. Brusilov's tactics consisted of active defense and rapid attack. Brusilov was appointed commander-in-chief of the South-West. front, which allowed him to act relatively independently. “We have every chance of success, of which I am personally convinced,” he argued Nicholas II . Brusilov designated Lutsk as the site of the main attack. On May 22, 1916, thanks to careful preparation, a relatively small force broke through the defense of the Austro-German troops (later called the “Brusilovsky breakthrough”), which became one of the largest operations on the Russian-German front, inflicting enormous losses on the enemy (up to 1.5 million killed , wounded and prisoners) and forced the Germans to transfer from the West. front to the east 17 divisions. But this brilliant maneuver was not developed strategically. The headquarters of Nicholas II was unable to fulfill its purpose. After the February Revolution of 1917, Brusilov, as a supporter of continuing the war to a victorious end, was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief, but due to the untimeliness of his demand for the introduction of the death penalty at the front and the failure of the June offensive, he was replaced by Kornilov. In the first years of the civil war he was out of work: " At the very beginning of the revolution, I firmly decided not to separate from the soldiers and to remain in the army as long as it existed or until I was replaced. Later I told everyone that I consider it the duty of every citizen not to abandon his people and live by them, no matter what the cost"During the fighting in Moscow, Brusilov was wounded in the leg by a shell fragment that hit his washing apartment. Brusilov refused to go to the Don and join M.V. Alekseev , A.I. Dutov , A.M. Kaledin . The brief arrest of the Cheka in 1918 did not turn Brusilov away from the Bolsheviks. It was not easy for him, a monarchist and a believer, to accept the new government, but he was convinced of the necessity of everything that had happened. Brusilov's only son Alexei, who served in the Red Cavalry, was captured by the Whites and shot. In 1920, Brusilov began serving in the Red Army: he led pre-conscription cavalry training and was a cavalry inspector; from 1924 he carried out particularly important assignments for the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR. He died of pneumonia. Author of valuable memoirs.

Book materials used: Shikman A.P. Figures of Russian history. Biographical reference book. Moscow, 1997

During the revolution

Brusilov Alexey Alekseevich (August 19, 1853, Tiflis - March 17, 1926, Moscow). From the nobles. In 1872 he graduated from the junior specialist class of the Corps of Pages: to be transferred to the senior specialist class. the class was not admitted based on academic results. Participant of the Russian tour. wars of 1877-78. After graduating from the Officer Cavalry. school (1883), taught there (in 1902-06, head of the school). In 1906-1912, commander of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division, commander of the 14th Army Corps; gene. from the cavalry (1912). During the 1st world. war in 1914-1916 commands, 8th Army; adjutant general (1915). Since March 17, 1916 commanders-in-chief. armies of the South-Western Front; in May - Aug. led the offensive, which later received the name. " Brusilovsky breakthrough "- one of the largest operations on the Russian-German front. He believed in the inevitable predetermination of events (he was interested in occultism and mysticism; he was strongly influenced by the ideas of the founder of the Theosophical Society, E.L. Blavatsky).

Essays:

Brusilov A.A. My memories. [Ch. 1] / Preface P.A. Zilina. - M.: Voenizdat, 1983. - 256 p.

Brusilov A.A. My memories, M.. 1963;

Brusilov A.A. My memories. [Ch. 2] // Military History. magazine - 1989.-No.10,12;- 1990.-No.2;- 1991.-No.2.

Literature:

Cavalry General A.A. Brusilov // Portuguese R.M., Alekseev P.D., Runov V.A. The First World War in the biographies of Russian military leaders / Under the general. ed. V.P. Mayatsky. - M.: Elakos, 1994. - P. 113-158.

Kersnovsky A.A. The Fourth Battle of Galicia (Brusilov’s Offensive) // Kersnovsky A.A. History of the Russian Army: In 4 vols. T. 4. - M.: Golos, 1994. -S. 32-64.

Kuznetsov F.E. Brusil's breakthrough. - M.: Gospolitizdat, 1944. - 38 p.

First World War: Sat. / Comp., preface, commentary. S.N. Semanova. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1989. - 606 p. - (History of the Fatherland in novels, stories, documents. XX century).

Rostunov I.I. General Brusilov. - M.: Voenizdat, 1964. - 245 p.: ill.

Semanov S.N. Brusilov / Preface. K.S. Moskalenko. - M.: Mol. Guard, 1980. - 318 pp.: ill.- (Life of remarkable people. Ser. biogr.; Issue 8(604)).

Sokolov Yu.V. Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov // Issues. history. - 1988.- No. 11.- P. 80-97.

Shabanov V.M. A.A. Brusilov: [The fate of the general. rus. army, later the Soviets. military leader A.A. Brusilova] // Military History. magazine - 1989. - No. 10.- P. 63-65.

D.L., Brusilov about himself and his judges, “The Will of Russia”, 1924, N 18/19;

There are many different opinions about the personality of this person and his actions. In the Soviet Union, he was extolled as a great military strategist, then his name was consigned to oblivion, only to once again be included in the list of Russia’s most outstanding commanders a decade and a half later. The white emigration cursed him, and then they themselves found an explanation and justification for his actions. Name Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov to this day on the lips of teachers and students of Russian military universities and academies.

First victory

He was born in Tiflis on August 31, 1853 in the family of a lieutenant general in the Russian army. Having lost his parents early, the boy was raised by relatives, and in 1867, at the age of 14, he entered the most elite military educational institution in Tsarist Russia - the Corps of Pages.

Brusilov himself called his studies in the corps “strange”: he mastered the subjects that he liked easily and quickly, but struggled with the rest, mastering them only as much as was necessary so as not to stay for the second year.

In 1872, after graduating from the Corps of Pages, he was enlisted in the 15th Tver Dragoon Regiment, where he served as the regiment's adjutant.

The future general's baptism of fire was the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. He distinguished himself not only in the first days, but in the first hours of the war: on the night of April 12, at the head of a small detachment, Lieutenant Brusilov crossed the Turkish border, fording the Arpachay River, and forced the Turkish outpost to surrender.

Brusilov fought in the Caucasian theater of military operations and took part in the capture of the Turkish fortresses of Ardagan and Kars.

Protege of the Grand Duke

For this campaign he was awarded, but his career did not develop rapidly. For three post-war years, Brusilov was the head of the regimental training team, and in 1883 he was sent to serve at the Officer Cavalry School. Over the next 19 years, he went from adjutant to head of school, becoming a major authority in Russian military pedagogy. Both in Russia and in Europe, Brusilov was known primarily as an outstanding expert in cavalry riding and equestrian sports. In 1900 he was awarded the rank of major general.

General Brusilov, who spent more than 20 years in classrooms, was treated with respect, but no one saw him as a commander of large formations of the regular army. And here Brusilov was helped by high patronage: the great Prince Nikolai Nikolaevich was a great expert in cavalry, supervised the Officer Cavalry School, so he knew its chief and had a high opinion of his capabilities.

It was thanks to the Grand Duke that in April 1906 General Brusilov became the head of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division. By August 1912, Brusilov received the rank of cavalry general and the position of commander of the 12th Army Corps.

A new word in military science

When World War I began, Brusilov was the commander of the 8th Army of the Southwestern Front. Those who considered him a “parquet general” very soon had to realize that their judgments were wrong. In the Battle of Galicia, the first major battle of the Russian army in the new war, Brusilov's troops defeated the 2nd Austro-Hungarian Army, only capturing 20 thousand prisoners. Brusilov's army successfully repelled the enemy's attempts to relieve Przemysl, besieged by Russian troops. In the most difficult year for the Russian army, 1915, when defeats followed one after another, General Brusilov’s troops successfully defended themselves, carrying out an organized retreat and inflicting serious damage on the enemy.

Brusilov's successes could not go unnoticed. In March 1916, the general was appointed commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front. It was in this position that he would develop and carry out an operation that would immortalize his name - “Brusilovsky breakthrough”.

Brusilov’s main “know-how” was that his offensive plan included not one, but several multidirectional strikes to break through the enemy’s front. Before this operation, no one in Russia or in the world had attacked like this.

Initially, the breakthrough, according to the tradition of that time, was called Lutsk on a territorial basis, but then, out of respect for the general who developed the brilliant operation, it began to be called “Brusilovsky”.

The offensive began on June 3, 1916. The 8th Army, the same one that Brusilov himself had recently commanded, decisively moved towards Lutsk and captured it four days later. Five days later, the 4th Austro-Hungarian Army Archduke Joseph Ferdinand was completely defeated, and Russian troops advanced 65 kilometers along the front.

The general offensive lasted until the twentieth of August. The enemy was driven back to a distance of 120 kilometers, Russian troops occupied Volyn, almost all of Bukovina and part of Galicia. The enemy lost up to 800 thousand people killed, wounded and missing, and the combat effectiveness of the Austro-Hungarian army was completely undermined. Germany and its allies had to urgently transfer new forces to the East, which saved Italy from defeat and eased the position of the Anglo-French troops on the Western Front.

Victim of the revolution

For this success, General Brusilov was nominated for the Order of St. George, 2nd degree, however Nicholas II limited himself to awarding the commander the Arms of St. George with diamonds.

It is unknown whether this decision influenced Brusilov's views, but in February 1917 he was among those who supported the abdication of the emperor.

In May 1917, the Provisional Government appointed General Brusilov as commander-in-chief of the Russian army, hoping that this would bring success, but the summer offensive ended in failure. The army is drained of blood, confusion and vacillation reign in it, which Brusilov, as a career military man, categorically does not like. He is a supporter of tough measures to restore order and has an extremely negative attitude towards the activities of the Bolsheviks.

In July 1917 head of the Provisional Government Alexander Kerensky decides that to restore order at the front and in the rear, a tougher person than Brusilov is needed, and replaces him with General Kornilov.

The general leaves for Moscow, and here he is approached by Kornilov’s envoy, who is preparing a military coup and counting on the support of the popular commander. And here a surprise awaits the Kornilov envoy - the general sharply replies that the coup is an adventure, Kornilov himself is a traitor, and Brusilov is not going to participate in this.

Kornilov's plan really failed miserably. Events in the country flashed like in a kaleidoscope - the October Revolution broke out. Brusilov took part in it, without wanting to - during the battles of the Red Guards and cadets in Moscow, the general was seriously wounded in the leg.

Brusilov did not forgive the whites for the death of his son?

From this moment on, historians differ in their assessments of the general’s actions. Some are inclined to consider him, if not a traitor, then a hostage of the Reds, others believe that Brusilov made his choice voluntarily and consciously.

One way or another, the Bolsheviks took Brusilov under protection and provided him with treatment and rehabilitation. During the outbreak of the Civil War, white emissaries made their way to Moscow with a call to join their ranks, but the general sent them back.

Many are inclined to connect Brusilov’s loyalty to the Reds with the fate of his only son, Alexey Brusilov Jr., officer of the Life Guards Horse Grenadier Regiment. A career military man, in the summer of 1918 he was arrested by the Cheka, but then not only gained freedom, but also joined the ranks of the Red Army. Red cavalry commander Alexei Brusilov in 1919 during the offensive Denikin on Moscow he was captured and shot by the White Guards. According to another version, which, however, does not have convincing evidence, Brusilov Jr. went over to the side of the whites as a private and soon either died of typhus or was killed. However, these stories are more like tales of those who are irritated by the very idea that a tsarist officer could serve as a Red.

After the death of his son, Brusilov not only remained loyal to the Bolsheviks, he enlisted in the Red Army, becoming the head of a Special Meeting under the Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces of the Soviet Republic, which developed recommendations for strengthening the Red Army. The general writes appeals calling on former officers of the tsarist army to enlist in the service of the Bolsheviks. In 1921, Brusilov was the chairman of the commission for organizing pre-conscription cavalry training, from 1923 he was attached to the Revolutionary Military Council for especially important assignments, and in 1923-1924 he was the chief inspector of the Red Army cavalry.

The white emigration rained curses on Brusilov's head. In the lists of “traitors who sold out to the Bolsheviks,” he was in proud first place. The general himself reacted to this rather ironically, noting: “The Bolsheviks obviously respect me more, because none of them ever even hinted at promising me anything.”

Brusilov never declared that he shared all the political positions of the Soviet government, but he believed that he was fulfilling his duty by serving the Motherland.

In 1924, 70-year-old Brusilov, after 50 years of military service, finally retired. His health raises serious concerns, and in 1925 the Soviet government sent the general to Karlovy Vary for treatment. However, this does not help for long - on the night of March 17, 1926 in Moscow, he dies from cardiac paralysis following lobar pneumonia.

General Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov was buried with military honors at the walls of the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent.

Who wrote the general's memoirs?

But passions around the general’s name did not subside even after his death. In 1929, Brusilov’s memoirs entitled “My Memoirs” were published in the USSR.

Meanwhile, after some time, the second volume of memoirs surfaced among the emigrants, in which Brusilov allegedly criticizes the Bolsheviks in extremely harsh terms. In 1932, it was transferred to the White emigrant archive along with other papers of his general widow N.V. Brusilova-Zhelikhovskaya, who left the USSR after the death of her husband.

It should be noted that Brusilova-Zhelikhovskaya was the second wife of the general, and Alexei Brusilov Jr., who died at the hands of the White Guards, was the stepmother.

The story of the second volume of Brusilov’s memoirs is as follows: he allegedly dictated it to his wife during treatment in Karlovy Vary, and then left it for safekeeping in Prague.

The second volume of memoirs came to the Soviet Union after the war, and its appearance led to the fact that Brusilov’s name disappeared from all military textbooks and history books until 1961. The general was “rehabilitated” only in 1961.

As already mentioned, the general did not have any particular sympathy for Soviet power. But just as some have doubts about Brusilov’s motivation for joining the Red Army, others have doubts about the authenticity of the second volume of the general’s memoirs. Many experts believe that this part of the memoirs was fabricated by Brusilov’s widow in order to justify her husband before the white emigration.

One thing is certain - General Brusilov had a huge influence on domestic and world military art. Soviet commanders, crushing the Wehrmacht generals during the Great Patriotic War, will build their tactics based on the experience of the brilliant Brusilov breakthrough.

Brusilov

Alexey Alekseevich

Battles and victories

Russian and Soviet military leader, hero of the First World War, cavalry general. After the revolution he went over to the side of the Soviet regime.

It was this person who was most often remembered in Soviet times and is remembered now when it comes to the history of the First World War. One of the most striking operations of this period, the “Brusilovsky breakthrough” of 1916, was named after the general.

The biography of Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov is quite typical for military people of his generation. He was born immediately after the Crimean War (1853-1856), which was tragic for Russia, and received a military education during the reforms of the Minister of War D.I. Milyutin (1874), distinguished himself on the fields of the Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878), which became his only combat experience, and with this baggage he came to the First World War. In the lists of Russian generals of the early twentieth century, A.A. Brusilov was distinguished by the fact that he was one of the few generals who reached a high rank without having a higher military education.

Brusilov was born on August 19, 1853 in Tiflis in the family of a general. In his memoirs, he describes his parents and childhood years as follows:

“My father was a lieutenant general and was recently the chairman of the field auditorium of the Caucasian army. He came from the nobility of the Oryol province. When I was born, he was 66 years old, but my mother was only 27 - 28 years old. I was the eldest of the children. After me, my brother Boris was born, followed by Alexander, who soon died, and the last brother Lev. My father died in 1859 from lobar pneumonia. At that time I was six years old, Boris was four years old and Lev was two years old. Following my father, a few months later my mother died of consumption, and we, all three brothers, were taken in by our aunt, Henrietta Antonovna Gagemeister, who had no children. Her husband, Karl Maksimovich, loved us very much, and they both replaced our father and mother in the full sense of the word.

My uncle and aunt spared no expense in raising us. In the beginning, their main focus was on teaching us various foreign languages. At first we had governesses, and then, when we grew up, tutors. The last of them, a certain Beckman, had a tremendous influence on us. He was a well-educated man who graduated from university; Beckmann knew French, German and English perfectly and was an excellent pianist. Unfortunately, all three of us showed no talent for music and made little use of his music lessons. But French was like a native language to us; I also spoke German quite well, but soon, from a young age, I forgot English due to lack of practice.”

The son of a hereditary military man was predetermined by the typical fate of young people of his circle - an officer's career. The doors of any military school were open to a hereditary nobleman. Having received a good education at home, Brusilov was enrolled in the elite Corps of Pages for senior courses, and in 1872 he was released as an ensign in the 15th Tver Dragoon Regiment, stationed in the Caucasus. This regiment had special traditions. Founded in 1798 as the Tver Cuirassier, it was soon reorganized into a dragoon and took part in the Napoleonic wars. The regiment distinguished itself in the Battle of Austerlitz and in the Russian-Turkish War of 1806-1812; for excellent actions in the Crimean War (the case at Kyuryuk-Dara in 1854) it was awarded the St. George Standard. Since 1849, the chief of the regiment was the brother of Emperor Nicholas I, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Sr., and the officers of the regiment constantly experienced the highest attention, which often affected their career advancement.

Brusilov took part in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, distinguished himself during the storming of the Ardahan fortress and the capture of Kars, having earned three military orders. Since 1881, he continues to serve in the cavalry officer school in St. Petersburg, rises in rank to colonel, and is appointed deputy head of the school. Under the patronage of the commander of the guard, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Jr. (son of the chief of the Tver Dragoon Regiment), Brusilov was promoted to major general in 1901, and a year later became head of the school. During the Russian-Japanese War (1904-1905), Alexey Alekseevich successfully led the educational process and in 1906 was promoted to lieutenant general.

His comrades in the general society, who graduated from the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff and gained combat experience on the fields of Manchuria, had an extremely negative attitude towards such a quick career. They whispered that Brusilov owed his general rank to his closeness to the highest circles of society and called him a “bereitor” behind his back, although at that time it was rare for anyone to reach heights without patronage.

It was difficult for Alexei Alekseevich to experience such obstruction, and he sought to move to a combat position in order to be able to prove his ability to command not only the school, but also the regular troops. In 1906, under the patronage of the commander of the Guard troops, Lieutenant General Brusilov received command of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division. From this moment on, he returns to combat service.

However, the command of the guards division, which was an exemplary military unit, cannot suit Alexei Alekseevich; he wants to be assigned specifically to the field troops. In 1909, V.A., who became Minister of War. Sukhomlinov remembers his former deputy at the Officer School, and Brusilov receives command of the 14th Army Corps, stationed in the Warsaw Military District.

Despite the good command of the corps, Brusilov’s service in Warsaw did not go well. The reason for this was a scandal that broke out among the high district command and reached the walls of the General Staff and the sovereign personally. This is how a direct participant in the events, Lieutenant General A.A., talks about it. Brusilov:

“I was surrounded by the following people. My closest superior, commander of the troops of the Warsaw Military District, Adjutant General Skalon. He was a kind and relatively honest man, more of a courtier than a military man, a German to the core. All his sympathies were corresponding. He believed that Russia should be in unbreakable friendship with Germany, and he was convinced that Germany should command Russia. Accordingly, he was in great friendship with the Germans, and in particular with the Consul General in Warsaw, Baron Brück, from whom, as many told me, he had no secrets. Baron Brück was a great patriot of his fatherland and a very subtle and intelligent diplomat.

I considered this friendship inconvenient in relation to Russia, especially since Skalon, without hiding, said that Germany must command Russia, but we must obey it. I thought it was completely inappropriate, to say the least. I knew that our war with Germany was not far off, and I found the situation created in Warsaw threatening, which I considered necessary to inform Minister of War Sukhomlinov about in a private letter. My letter, sent by mail, fell into the hands of General Utgof (chief of the Warsaw gendarme department). Their perlusration was intense, but I naively believed that it could not affect the great Russian generals. Utgof, also a German, read my letter and reported it to Skalon for information.

In this letter, I wrote to Sukhomlinov that, bearing in mind the threatening situation in which Russia and Germany find themselves, I consider such a situation to be very abnormal and I do not find it possible to remain an assistant commander of the troops, which is why I ask to be demoted and reappointed as commander of a corps, but in another district, if possible - in Kiev.

Sukhomlinov answered me that he completely shared my opinion regarding Skalon and would ask for my appointment as commander of the 12th Army Corps, located in the Kiev Military District, which was fulfilled some time later.

I cannot help but note the strange impression that the entire Warsaw high administration made on me at that time. The Germans were in charge everywhere: Governor-General Skalon, married to Baroness Korff, the governor - her relative Baron Korff, assistant to the Governor-General Essen, chief of gendarmes Utgof, manager of the state bank office Baron Tizenhausen, head of the palace department Tisdel, Chief of Police Meyer, the president of the city Miller, the prosecutor of the Hesse chamber, the manager of the control chamber von Mintzlow, the vice-governor Gresser, the prosecutor of the court Leywin, the staff officers under the governor Egelstrom and Fechtner, the head of the Privislinsky railway Hesketh, etc. A bouquet to choose from! I was appointed after Gershelman left and there was some sharp dissonance: “Brusilov.” But after me, Baron Rausch von Traubenberg received this position. Scalon's love for German surnames was amazing.

The chief of staff, however, was the Russian general Nikolai Alekseevich Klyuev, very smart, knowledgeable, but who wanted to make his personal career, which he put above the interests of Russia. Then, in wartime, it turned out that Klyuev did not have military courage. But at that time, of course, I could not know this.

In the winter of 1912, I was sent to the Minister of War with a report on the need to prevent reserve soldiers from being discharged from active service. In St. Petersburg, I reported to the Minister of War on the state of affairs in the Warsaw district, and he found it necessary that I report this personally to the Tsar. I told Sukhomlinov that I considered this inconvenient for myself. But when he began to insist on this, I told him that if the Tsar himself asks me about this, I, out of duty as a Russian person, will tell him what I think, but I will not speak out myself. Sukhomlinov assured that the tsar would definitely ask me about the situation in the Warsaw district. But when I came to Nicholas II, he did not ask me anything, but only instructed me to bow to Skalon. This surprised and offended me greatly. I couldn’t understand what was going on here.”

Through the efforts of the Minister of War, Aleksey Alekseevich was transferred to the Kiev Military District in 1913 to the post of commander of the 12th Army Corps with promotion to cavalry general. In this position, Brusilov met the events of the summer of 1914, which turned into the tragedy of the First World War for the Russian Empire. This period will mark the rise of his military career.

On June 15 (28), 1914, the world was shocked by the news: during maneuvers of the Austrian army in the city of Sarajevo, a member of the Bosnian nationalist organization “Mlada Bosna” Gavrilo Princip killed the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This event briefly drew attention to the problems of the ruling Austrian house of Habsburg, but after a quick funeral the unfortunate heir was forgotten. No one could have guessed that the Sarajevo shots would turn out to be the prologue to a world war.

July 15 (28), Tuesday. In the evening, the telegraph spread the news: Serbia rejected the ultimatum (with the obviously unacceptable demands of Austria-Hungary, violating Serbian sovereignty), and the Austrians bombed Belgrade. War was declared. Nobody believed in the possibility of Russian non-interference in the conflict and peaceful mediation on the part of Great Britain. The diplomatic confrontation escalated into war. Russia's reaction was not long in coming. Serbia was immediately granted a loan of 20 million francs for three months. In the future, Russia provided the Serbs with the most active financial assistance.

At midnight from 18 (31) to 19 (1), the German Ambassador Pourtales presented the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia S.D. An ultimatum to Sazonov. Germany demanded that all military preparations be suspended. It was no longer possible to stop the mobilization machine that had been launched. On the evening of Saturday, August 19 (1), 1914, Germany declared war on Russia. Two days later, the Kaiser declared war on France, and on August 22 (4), German troops invaded Belgium. Austria-Hungary followed the example of its ally, and on August 24 (6) declared a state of war with Russia. The First World War has begun.

Across the vast expanses of the Russian Empire, telegraph wires carried urgent orders from superiors to bring troops to combat readiness. Dispatches with orders from the head of the mobilization department of the GUGS went from St. Petersburg to the headquarters of the military districts, from there commands went to the division headquarters, and soon the regimental commanders were handed packages with the same content: “Secret. The regiment has been mobilized." In an instant, the usual flow of time was disrupted. The world seemed to be divided into two halves: now and “before the war.”

The entire huge military machine of the Russian Empire began to move. The railways were clogged with trains moving in all directions. They transported those called up for royal service from the reserve, transported mobilized horses and supplies of fodder. Ammunition, ammunition and equipment were urgently issued from warehouses.

During mobilization events, cavalry general Brusilov was appointed to the post of commander of the 8th Army. The army becomes part of the Southwestern Front and is sent to the theater of military operations in Galicia.

According to Plan A, the Austrian front was chosen as the main direction of attack of the Russian armies. The operation in East Prussia was supposed to divert the attention of Austria-Hungary's ally and provide an opportunity to concentrate the main forces to deliver a crushing blow to the armed forces of the Dual Empire. The Austrians could field only three field armies against the Russians: the 1st, 3rd and 4th (the 2nd Army was transferred from the Serbian front to Galicia during the fighting). The Austro-Hungarian troops were led by the former Inspector General of the Austrian Armed Forces, Archduke Friedrich. According to contemporaries, he was a man of rather mediocre talents, therefore, as in the Russian army, the entire burden of operational planning fell on the shoulders of the chief of staff, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorff.

In accordance with the offensive plan, four Russian armies were to defeat the Austro-Hungarian troops, preventing them from retreating south beyond the Dniester and west to Krakow. As in East Prussia, it was planned to defeat the enemy with an enveloping blow, which was supposed to end with the encirclement of the Austrian group in Eastern Galicia. However, the Austrian headquarters also developed offensive actions with the goal of defeating the Russian armies. As a result, the Battle of Galicia turned into a series of oncoming battles, which, although they took place independently of each other, formed a single background of the overall military operations.

Taking advantage of the extended position of the corps of the Russian 5th Army, which was supposed to close on one flank with the troops of Evert's 4th Army, and on the other with the 3rd Army of General Ruzsky, the Austrians managed to hold back the first attacks of the Russians and push back the XXV Corps of General D. P. Zuev and the XIX Corps of General V.N. Gorbatovsky. At the same time, the 15th Austrian Division, which had taken the lead, came under attack from the V Corps, commanded by General A.I. Litvinov. With a counter strike, his corps completely destroyed the Austrian division, but, unfortunately, the retreat of the flank corps forced P.A. Plehve pull all the troops of the 5th Army to their original positions. In this situation, the chief of staff of the Southwestern Front issued a directive to launch an offensive by the 3rd and 8th armies in the general direction of Lvov.

Army commanders are generals N.V. Ruzsky and A.A. Brusilov - sought to get ahead of each other in capturing this operationally important city. The generals we knew from pre-war service in the Kiev Military District were the complete opposite of each other. N.V. Ruzsky, who had academic knowledge and combat experience behind him and successfully combined these qualities while working as part of the Military Council, adhered to the method of a consistent offensive, ensured by the presence of reserves in the rear, while A.A. Brusilov held opposing views. Considering the weakness of the opposing Austrian group (the enemy held only one army on a wide front), Army Commander 8 wanted active offensive actions.

On August 6 (19) and 8 (21), both armies, having double superiority in strength, launched an offensive over a vast area from Lutsk to Kamenets-Podolsk. The direction of the main attack was determined for Ruzsky’s army, which considered its main task to capture Lvov. In contrast to the wooded northern regions, where the 4th and 5th armies operated, the right flank of the Southwestern Front was dominated by flat terrain, which became the scene of fierce cavalry battles. The initial stage of the Battle of Galicia can be called the swan song of the Russian imperial cavalry. Here, in the vastness of Galicia, for the last time large masses of cavalry clashed chest to chest, as if resurrecting the memory of the famous cavalry attacks of the Napoleonic wars.

On August 8 (21), 1914, near the village of Yaroslavitsy, the 10th Cavalry Division of Lieutenant General Count F.A. Keller, while on a reconnaissance search, discovered a concentration of Austrian troops threatening their neighbor, the 9th Cavalry Division. Count Keller decided to attack the enemy on horseback with 16 squadrons and hundreds. The enemy - the 4th Cavalry Division under the command of Major General Edmund Zaremba - had no choice but to accept a counter battle. Although the Austrians had a numerical advantage, the more flexible formation of Russian squadrons quickly made it possible to reduce this factor to nothing. There was a head-on collision of the cavalry masses, built in deployed and closed formations.

General Brusilov, encountering almost no resistance - the main Austro-Hungarian forces were thrown against Ruzsky - advanced in the direction of Galich. Having broken the enemy's barrier on the Rotten Lipa River, the 8th Army, together with the right wing of the 3rd, forced the Austrians to retreat along the entire front. Ruzsky, after a day's rest, abandoned the IX Corps of Infantry General D.G. on September 19 (1). Shcherbachev in the direction of the northern outskirts of Lvov. At the same time, A.A. Brusilov, on the one hand, fulfilling the directive of the front headquarters to help Ruzsky, and on the other, carried away by the pursuit of the retreating Austrians, advances southwest of the corps of the 3rd Army and captures Galich.

At the headquarters of Konrad von Hötzendorff, the situation around Lvov was assessed as critical. The Chief of the Field Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army gave the order to hold back the onslaught of the 3rd and 8th Russian armies and at the same time begin the transfer of the 2nd Austrian Army under the command of General Böhm-Ermoli from the Serbian front to Galicia. But this could no longer have much influence on the course of the battles in the southern sector of the Southwestern Front.

Two Austrian divisions left to cover Lvov were defeated by the troops of the XXI Corps of General Ya.F. Shkinsky and left the city in panic. September 21 (3) IX Corps D.G. Shcherbachev entered Lvov abandoned by the enemy.

As a result, the front rolled back to the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. The military strength of Austria-Hungary, Germany's main ally on the Eastern Front, was undermined. Austrian losses during the Battle of Galicia ranged from 336 thousand to 400 thousand people, of which 100 thousand were prisoners, and up to 400 guns. The Southwestern Front lost about 233 thousand soldiers and officers, with 44 thousand people captured.

During the Battle of Galicia, Brusilov showed himself to be a master of maneuver warfare. It was the troops of his army who achieved maximum success in the ongoing operation due to skillful maneuvering and timely introduction of reserves into battle. For the successful leadership of the troops of the 8th Army in the Battle of Galicia A.A. Brusilov was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th and 3rd degrees, and at the beginning of 1915 he was included in the imperial retinue with the rank of adjutant general. The general’s military merits and ability to lead a large number of troops forced the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Emperor Nicholas II, to pay the highest attention to Brusilov’s personality when searching for a candidate for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Southwestern Front in March 1916.

Just at this time, the conference of representatives of the high command of the Entente countries in Chantilly ended, at which it was decided to crush the military power of Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1916 with joint strikes. According to the plan of the Russian command, a grand offensive of the fronts was planned for the summer. At a meeting at Headquarters in April 1916, Brusilov insisted that his Southwestern Front strike the first blow against the enemy.

In his memoirs, he dwells in detail on the events that preceded the offensive: “On May 11, I received a telegram from the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, in which he informed me that the Italian troops had suffered such a severe defeat that the Italian high command did not hope to keep the enemy on its front and was urgently asking for us to go on the offensive in order to pull part of the forces from the Italian front to ours; therefore, by order of the sovereign, he asks me if I can go on the offensive and when. I immediately answered him that the armies of the front entrusted to me were ready and that, as I had said before, they could go on the offensive a week after the notification. On this basis, I report that I gave the order on May 19 to go on the offensive with all armies, but on one condition, on which I especially insist, that the Western Front also move forward at the same time in order to pin down the troops positioned against it. Following this, Alekseev invited me to talk via direct wire. He told me that he was asking me to start the attack not on May 19, but on the 22nd, since Evert could only begin his offensive in 1 June. To this I replied that such a gap was somewhat long, but it could be tolerated provided that there would be no further delays. To this Alekseev answered me that he guarantees me that there will be no further delays. And he immediately sent telegrams of orders to the army commanders that the start of the attack should be on May 22 at dawn, and not on the 19th.

On the evening of May 21, Alekseev again invited me to the direct line. He told me that he had some doubts about the success of my active actions due to the unusual way in which I was undertaking it, that is, attacking the enemy simultaneously in many places instead of one strike with all the assembled forces and all the artillery that I had distributed among the armies. Alekseev expressed the opinion whether it would be better to postpone my attack for several days in order to arrange only one strike area, as has already been developed by the practice of real war. The king himself wants such a change in the plan of action, and on his behalf he proposes this modification to me. To this I objected to him that I flatly refuse to change my plan of attack and in this case I ask him to change me. I do not find it possible to postpone the day and hour of the offensive a second time, because all the troops are in the starting position for the attack, and until my orders to cancel reach the front, artillery preparation will begin. With frequent cancellations of orders, troops inevitably lose confidence in their leaders, and therefore I urgently ask you to replace me. Alekseev answered me that the Supreme Commander had already gone to bed and it was inconvenient for him to wake him up, and he asked me to think about it. I became so angry that I sharply replied: “The Supreme’s dream does not concern me, and I have nothing more to think about. I ask for an answer now." To this, General Alekseev said: “Well, God be with you, do as you know, and I will report to the Emperor tomorrow about our conversation.” This is where our conversation ended. I must explain that all such interfering negotiations by telegraph, letters, etc., which I do not cite here, greatly bothered me and irritated me. I knew very well that if I yielded to the issue of organizing one strike, this strike would undoubtedly end in failure, since the enemy would certainly detect it and concentrate strong reserves for a counterstrike, as in all previous cases. Of course, the tsar had nothing to do with it, and this was the system of Headquarters with Alekseev at the head - take a step forward, and then immediately take a step back.”

In total, by the beginning of the offensive in the 7th, 8th, 9th and 11th armies of the Southwestern Front, there were 603,184 bayonets, 62,836 sabers, 223 thousand trained reserve soldiers and 115 thousand unarmed soldiers (there were not enough rifles ). It was armed with 2,480 machine guns and 2,017 field and heavy artillery pieces. The front troops had 2 armored trains, 1 division and 13 platoons of armored vehicles, 20 aviation detachments and 2 Ilya Muromets bombers. The enemy had 592,330 infantry soldiers and 29,764 cavalry soldiers, 757 mortars, 107 flamethrowers, 2,731 field and heavy artillery guns, 8 armored trains, 11 aviation divisions and companies. Thus, the offensive began in conditions of enemy superiority in artillery (although the Austro-Hungarian troops did not have enough shells). The main trump cards were the surprise of the attack, its scale, and superiority in manpower, especially pronounced on the front of the 8th Army. Russian intelligence was able to reveal the enemy's location, but was mistaken in calculating his forces. Despite the fact that the Austro-Hungarian command intercepted Brusilov’s order to go on the offensive, it was unable to take any countermeasures.

On May 22-23 (June 4-5), 1916, after a long artillery preparation (two days in the 7th Army), Russian troops attacked the enemy. On May 23-24 (June 5-6), the 8th Army broke through the positions of the Austro-Hungarian armies: the 1st at Sapanov, and the 4th at Olyka. The artillery shelling was of exceptional importance for success, forcing the enemy not to leave the shelter for hours. In a number of places, enemy artillery and shelters were effectively hit by Russian chemical shells. By the evening of the fourth day of the offensive, Lutsk was liberated. The commander of the 4th Army, Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, was removed.

The 11th Russian Army was unable to break through the Austro-Hungarian positions and counter the transfer of troops from this area to Lutsk. However, further south, success accompanied the 7th Army at Yazlovets, and the 9th at Okna. Troops of Infantry General P.A. Lechitsky split the 7th Army of the Austro-Hungarians in two and forced it to retreat to Stanislavov and the Carpathians.

The losses of the 8th Army in the first three days of the offensive reached 33.5 thousand people, the 9th Army lost more than 10 thousand people on the first day of the breakthrough, the 7th Army lost 20.2 thousand in the first week, and the 11th Army also in the first week - 22.2 thousand people. The huge losses of the attackers and the lack of reserves (the front reserve was brought into battle on the third day of the operation, and the four corps sent from the Northern and Western Fronts had not yet been transported) did not make it possible to develop the success in the south.

Meanwhile, the enemy received the first reinforcements and began counterattacks on the river. Stokhod. June 3 (16), 1916 decided the fate of the further development of the breakthrough of the Southwestern Front. If at a meeting in Teschen, the Chief of the General Staff of Austria-Hungary, Colonel-General F. Konrad von Hötzendorff, called on the Germans to transfer everything they could to the front from Brest to the Dniester in order to avoid the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian army, then a new directive from the Russian Headquarters confirmed the offensive of the South-Hungarian army. The Western Front to Kovel and Brest, and the Western Front to Kobrin and Slonim. On the same day, it was announced that the offensive of the Austro-Hungarian troops in South Tyrol had ceased.

As a result of the successful actions of the armies of the Southwestern Front under the command of cavalry general A.A. Brusilov, Austrian troops were forced to leave significant territory. Germany had to provide military assistance to its ally, abandoning active operations on the Western and Eastern fronts. As for the Austrians, after the defeat in the summer of 1916, they no longer took active action against Russian troops until the end of the campaign.

The breakthrough of the troops of the Southwestern Front was the last striking strategic operation of the Russian Imperial Army in the First World War. For the successful leadership of the front troops, General A.A. Brusilov was awarded the golden Arms of St. George with diamonds, and his name was included in the lists of the best commanders of the World War of 1914 - 1918.

With the beginning of the February Revolution A.A. Brusilov, along with other commanders-in-chief of the fronts, supported the abdication of Nicholas II, sincerely believing that a change in the leadership of the state would allow Russia to end the war victoriously. Having accepted the revolution, Brusilov tried to combine military affairs with the new reality. He was one of the first generals to accept the existence of soldiers' committees and tried to establish working relations with them. Despite the revolutionary whirlwind that shook the country, Brusilov continued to prepare his troops for combat operations.

In May 1917, cavalry general Brusilov was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian armies. Before him, this post was held during the war years by representatives of the reigning house (Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich and Emperor Nicholas II himself), and from February to May 1917 - Infantry General M.V. Alekseev. Now the revolutionary Provisional Government set the new commander-in-chief the task of conducting a front-line operation to break through the enemy front.

However, the offensive of the Southwestern Front, which began in June 1917, turned into a disaster for the Russian armies. The disintegrated troops refused to go on the offensive and replace their comrades in the battle lines. Initially successful actions turned into a general flight. It was even necessary to reintroduce the death penalty at the front, which had been abolished immediately after the overthrow of the autocracy.

Seeing the defeat of his troops and realizing the impossibility of further leading armies that were completely incapable of combat, Brusilov resigned. However, the head of the Provisional Government A.F. Kerensky had his own designs on the talented general. Brusilov was appointed military adviser to the government. In Petrograd, Alexey Alekseevich found himself in a whirlpool of revolutionary crises. Having no interest in politics and not wanting to be involved in party intrigues, Brusilov resigned and moved to Moscow.

There he indifferently bears the news of the October Revolution. During the days of the armed struggle in Moscow, Brusilov rejected the offer to lead parts of the garrison loyal to the Provisional Government and remained an outside observer. During an artillery attack, he was wounded in his house by a shrapnel fragment. Recovering from his wound for a long time, Alexey Alekseevich led the life of a recluse, rarely meeting with old colleagues.

The thoughts of those days are reflected in his memories: “I have been serving the Russian people and Russia for more than 50 years, I know the Russian soldier well and I do not blame him for the devastation in the army. I affirm that the Russian soldier is an excellent warrior and, as soon as the rational principles of military discipline and the laws governing the troops are restored, this same soldier will again rise to the occasion of his military duty, especially if he is inspired by slogans that are understandable and dear to him. But this takes time.

Returning mentally to the past, I often now think that our references to order No. 1, to the declaration of the rights of a soldier, which allegedly mainly destroyed the army, are not entirely correct. Well, if these two documents had not been published, would the army not have collapsed? Of course, in the course of historical events and in view of the mood of the masses, it would still have collapsed, only at a quieter pace. Hindenburg was right when he said that the one whose nerves are stronger will win the war. Ours turned out to be the weakest, because we had to make up for the lack of equipment with excessively shed blood. You cannot fight with impunity almost with your bare hands against an enemy well armed with modern technology and inspired by patriotism. And all the government confusion and mistakes contributed to the general collapse. It must also be remembered that the revolution of 1905-1906 was only the first act of this great drama. How did the government take advantage of these warnings? Yes, in essence, nothing at all: the old slogan was only put forward again: “Hold and don’t let go,” but everything remained as before. What you sow is what you reap!..

... Of all the former commanders-in-chief, I am the only one left alive on the territory of the former Russia. I consider it my sacred duty to write the truth for the history of this great era. Remaining in Russia, despite the fact that I suffered a lot of grief and adversity, I tried to impartially observe everything that was happening, remaining, as before, non-partisan. All the good and bad sides were more noticeable to me. At the very beginning of the revolution, I firmly decided not to separate from the soldiers and to remain in the army as long as it existed or until I was replaced. Later, I told everyone that I consider it the duty of every citizen not to abandon his people and live with them, no matter what the cost. At one time, under the influence of great family experiences and the persuasion of friends, I was inclined to leave for Ukraine and then abroad, but these hesitations were short-lived. I quickly returned to my deeply held beliefs. After all, not every nation experiences such a great and difficult revolution as Russia had to endure. It’s hard, of course, but I couldn’t do otherwise, even if it cost my life. I did not and do not consider it possible and worthy to wander abroad as an emigrant.”

The general's past was the reason for Brusilov's arrest by the Cheka in August 1918. Thanks to the petition of the general's colleagues who were already serving in the Red Army, Brusilov was soon released, but until December 1918 he was under house arrest. At this time, his son, a former cavalry officer, was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. Having fought honestly on the fronts of the Civil War, in 1919, during the offensive of General Denikin’s troops on Moscow, he was captured and hanged.

Apparently, the death of his son forced Brusilov to take a decisive step, and he voluntarily joined the Red Army. Considering the former general’s extensive strategic and teaching experience, he was appointed chairman of the “Military Historical Commission for the Study and Use of the Experience of the War of 1914-1918.” In this post, Brusilov contributed to the publication of a number of teaching aids and analytical works for the commanders of the young army of the Soviet Republic. In 1920, trying with all his might to end the fratricidal civil war, he issued an appeal to the officers of Baron Wrangel’s army, and then to all officers of the former Russian army with a call to fight together against the common enemy of the Russian people - lordly Poland. In 1922 A.A. Brusilov is appointed to the post of chief cavalry inspector of the Red Army and is intensively engaged in the revival of the Russian cavalry. He worked in this post until his death in 1926.

Outstanding commander of the First World War, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army and brilliant military teacher and theorist A.A. Brusilov is buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow next to the grave of the chief of staff of his Southwestern Front, General V.N. Klembovsky.

KOPYLOV N.A., candidate of historical sciences, associate professor at MGIMO (U), member of the Russian Military Historical Society

Literature

Memories. M., 1963

Zalessky K.A. Who was who in the First World War. M., 2003

Bazanov S.N. Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov. Tseykhgauz, 2006

Sokolov Yu.V. Red star or cross? The life and fate of General Brusilov. M., 1994

Internet

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The name of the Russian cavalry general Alexei Alekseevich Brusilov (1853-1926) is revered mainly by enthusiasts of Soviet Russia. Admirers of Tsarist Russia cannot forgive Brusilov for the fact that he spoke very unflatteringly in his memoirs about the last royal couple, especially about the Empress, and mainly that during the Civil War he served the Bolsheviks politically.

Authority in World War I

During the First World War, Brusilov became famous for his successful breakthrough of the front of the Austro-Hungarian army in the summer of 1916 (Brusilovsky breakthrough). Given the then dominance of trench warfare, this was an impressive success. Brusilov took an innovative approach to the task of overcoming the enemy’s fortified defense line, and his methods were adopted in the last year of the war - 1918 - by strategists of the German and allied armies.

Brusilov himself considered the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and personally Nicholas II himself to be guilty of the fact that in the summer of 1916 he was not given enough reserves to victoriously end the war that year by capturing Berlin or Vienna.

Brusilov received less flattering fame a year earlier - in the summer of 1915. Then, as commander of the 8th Army, for the first time in the history of the Russian Army, he introduced barrage detachments in the rear. They had to open fire to kill their troops fleeing from positions or surrendering. “If necessary, do not stop before a general execution,” Brusilov emphasized in his order. “The weak-hearted have no place among us, and they must be exterminated.”

Historians do not indicate cases of application of this order, so it was given, rather, as a warning. It is possible, however, that it was this order that the Bolsheviks remembered during the Great Patriotic War and then brought it to its literal implementation.

In May 1917, the Provisional Government appointed the renowned 63-year-old commander as Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, but dismissed him just two months later. There he tried to engage in political activity against the Bolsheviks threatening the collapse of the army and the country, but an accidental serious injury during the October battles in Moscow put an end to the general’s activity for a long time.

Outside of politics

During the Civil War, Brusilov tried to stay away from politics. This did not save him from arrest in August 1918, and he was personally interrogated by Dzerzhinsky. Brusilov was released after his wife petitioned the head of the Council of People's Commissars, Vladimir Bonch-Bruevich, whose brother, a general in the tsarist army, helped build the Red Army at that time.

Secret emissaries of the White Guards repeatedly came to Brusilov and tried to enlist his “blessing”, as the most popular military leader in the country, to create the White Army. But the sick Brusilov refused. On the one hand, he feared for the fate of himself and his loved ones under the rule of the Bolsheviks, on the other hand, he did not feel personal sympathy for the leaders and methods of the White movement. He saw in the White Guards just another version of the revolution that destroyed old Russia. In this, Patriarch Tikhon, with whom Brusilov became closely acquainted at that time, agreed with him.

Appeals to officers

Brusilov's service to the Bolsheviks began in 1920. During the Polish offensive on Ukraine and Belarus, Trotsky came up with the idea of ​​appealing to the patriotic feelings of the country and using the authority of the old military leaders for this. On May 2, 1920, an order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic was published on the creation of a “Special Meeting on increasing forces and means to combat the advance of the Polish counter-revolution.” Brusilov was appointed Chairman of the Meeting. The Conference included such famous generals as the former Tsarist Minister of War Polivanov, the former Minister of War of the Provisional Government Verkhovsky, Zayonchkovsky, Gutor, Klembovsky, Tsurikov, Parsky and others.

Soon, in all Soviet newspapers, signed by the chairman and members of the said Conference, “An Appeal to all former officers, wherever they may be,” appeared in all Soviet newspapers. It stated that the goal of the Polish offensive was to seize “Lithuania, Belarus and the separation of part of Ukraine and Novorossiya with a port on the Black Sea.” Brusilov and his colleagues called on Russian officers to “forget all grievances... and voluntarily go with complete selflessness and eagerness to the Red Army... so that with their honest service, not sparing their lives, they will defend our dear Russia at all costs.”

In September 1920, Brusilov, together with Lenin, Trotsky, Kalinin and the commander-in-chief of the Red Army Sergei Kamenev, signed an appeal “To the officers of Baron Wrangel’s army.” In it, the White Guards were accused of serving the interests of the Polish lords and Anglo-French imperialists. They were called upon to lay down their arms and surrender. “Those who honestly and voluntarily went over to the side of Soviet power will not suffer punishment. We guarantee a complete amnesty to everyone who goes over to the side of Soviet power,” the appeal stated.

Is his personal role great?

Brusilov did not leave his service in the Red Army at the end of the Civil War. In 1921-23 he was appointed chairman of the commission for cavalry training of pre-conscripts in 1923-24. held the position of inspector of the cavalry of the Red Army, and after that he was attached to the Revolutionary Military Council “for special assignments.”

In 1925, Brusilov and his wife went to Karlovy Vary for treatment. Brusilov returned alone and died in Moscow in 1926. He left the second part of his memoirs abroad with instructions to publish them after his death (it was only published in the 1990s).

There he spoke very impartially about the Bolsheviks and all their policies. However, some believe that much of this part was added by Brusilov’s wife in order to present him in a more favorable light to the Russian emigration, where many considered him a traitor.

Did Brusilov’s signatures under the two mentioned appeals really greatly undermine the spirit of the White Army at the end of its existence? If so, then Brusilov undoubtedly brought the victorious end of the Civil War closer for the Red Army. In this case, he is also guilty of monstrous treachery. After all, almost all - more than 50 thousand people - officers of the white troops who surrendered in Crimea, who believed in the promise of amnesty, were killed by the Bolsheviks.

On the other hand, the end of the resistance of the white troops was greatly influenced by the general situation of hopelessness. It is unlikely that Brusilov’s name at that moment had such great and decisive weight.