Background

Ethnicity: Brusilov's father, Aleksi Nikolaevich Brusilov, was Russian, while his mother, Anna Luiza Niestojemska, was of Polish descent.

Aleksei Brusilov was born on August 31, 1853, in Tiflis, Caucasus Viceroyalty, Russian Empire (present-day Tbilisi, Georgia). He was the son of Aleksi Nikolaevich Brusilov and Anna Luiza Niestojemska. Brusilov also had two brothers.

When Aleksei Brusilov was only six years old, his father died of tuberculosis. His mother died soon afterward and the boy, together with his two brothers, was brought up by his uncle, a military engineer.

Education

Aleksei Brusilov was educated at home until the age of 14. In 1867, he joined the Imperial Corps of Pages in Saint Petersburg and graduated in 1872. In 1881, Brusilov was accepted into the Officer Cavalry School in Saint Petersburg where he studied until 1883.

Career

Upon graduation, Aleksei Brusilov began his service in the 15th Tver Dragoon Regiment, where he served as an adjutant. In 1874, he was promoted to lieutenant. From 1877 to 1878, he served in the Russo-Turkish War. His unit operated on the Southern Front in the Caucasus and took part in the assault of the fortress of Ardagan (now Ardahan, Turkey). Between 1878 and 1881, he headed the regimental training detachment. In 1883, Aleksei Brusilov started serving at the Officer Cavalry School in Saint Petersburg as an adjutant. In 1902, having been promoted to major general the previous year, he became the commandant of the Cavalry Officer School. In 1906, Brusilov was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and was appointed head of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division. In 1909, he was named commander of the 14th Army Corps and, in 1912, he became assistant commander of the forces in the Warsaw Military District. He also served as commander of the 12th Army Corps from 1913 to 1914.

The outbreak of World War I brought Brusilov command of the Eighth Army. He fought in Galicia in 1914, and, in grim spring and summer of 1915, led his troops on a 200-mile retreat from the foothills of the Carpathians to Luck, south of the Pripet Marshes. There he turned to fight back. As Austro-Hungarian forces entered Luck in late September, Brusilov jarred them with an enthusiastic counterattack. In March 1916, Brusilov took charge of the Southwest Front. He conducted one of the most significant ground offensives of World War I, in which his troops broke through the Austro-Hungarian defenses to occupy broad expanses of Volynia, Galicia, and Bukovina.

Upon the fall of autocracy in Russia in February 1917, the Russian army rapidly became demoralized. Aleksei Brusilov supported the newly-formed Provisional Government and soon was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army. However, after the unsuccessful offensive in Galicia, he was replaced by General Lavr Georgievich Kornilov. Having left the army, Aleksei Brusilov settled in Moscow. After the October Revolution in 1917, when power passed to the Soviets, dominated by the Bolsheviks, Aleksei Brusilov tried to stay uninvolved in political dealings.

In November 1917, Brusilov was injured by a shell fragment, which accidentally targeted his house. The general underwent several operations and stayed in the hospital for eight months. During this time, he was visited by British diplomat Bruce Lockhart, who offered Brusilov to head the anti-Bolshevik White Guard. The Soviet authorities, having found out about the offer, arrested Aleksei Brusilov for two months. In December 1918, all charges against Brusilov were dropped. He joined the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, becoming a member of the Military Historical Commission for the Study and Implementation of the Experience of the War, 1914-1918. In May 1920, he became chairman of the Special Commission.

In June 1920, Aleksei Brusilov became inspector of the Central Administration of Horse Breeding and Animal Husbandry under the Commissariat of Land. On October 6, 1920, he was appointed a member of the Military Legislative Commission under the Revolutionary Military Council. After the abolition of the Special Commission, Brusilov entered the Red Army reserve. On February 1, 1923, he became inspector of cavalry in the Red Army. He was appointed serviceman for special commissions under the Revolutionary Military Council on March 31, 1924. In spring 1925, he traveled to Czechoslovakia (now two different states - the Czech Republic and Slovakia).

Achievements

• 

  Aleksei Brusilov was a Russian general who was known as the commander of the Eighth Army and as the commander of the Southwest Front. He is considered one of the most outstanding fighting commanders of World War I. Brusilov is also famous for the development of new offensive tactics used in 1916 that is known as the Brusilov Offensive.
  
  Aleksei Brusilov received numerous awards, including the Order of St. Anna, Order of Saint Stanislaus, the Order of Saint Vladimir, and the Order of St. George.
  
  A bust of Aleksei Brusilov was installed on the building of the Syrian Embassy. Streets in Voronezh and Moscow were named after Brusilov. There's a square in St. Petersburg named in his honor.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A Soldier's Note-Book, 1914-1918

    (English edition)

    1930

Politics

At the beginning of the Revolution in Russia, Aleksei Brusilov argued for the Tsar's abdication and proved sympathetic to revolutionary aspirations. He supported the Bolsheviks in the hope that the war would end soon. When he became Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army he introduced capital punishment for soldiers in order to maintain discipline in the army and continue the war. He also advocated the creation of shock and revolutionary units to raise the army's morale.

After the Revolution and the Civil War, he concurred with the need for radical change. However, it was difficult for him to understand the situation and determine whose side was the truth. His values still were more in tune with those of the White faction as Brusilov was a conservative, patriot, and monarchist. Many officers with whom he served moved to the White Guard camp or fled abroad. However, Brusilov did not do the same. He was determined to stay in Soviet Russia to serve his people.

At the beginning of the Polish-Soviet War, Brusilov proposed creating a Special Commission under the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army, made up of professional officers, to organize the struggle against Polish forces effectively. Besides, he twice signed appeals to White officers to join the ranks of the Red Army in order to repulse the external enemy. Brusilov was also the initiator of the decree of the Soviet of People's Commissars of June 2, 1920, "On Former Officers," which freed officers from Soviet Russian prisons and concentration camps.

Personality

Those who knew Aleksei Brusilov said that he was brave and principled. However, he also was very direct and harsh in his assessments. Brusilov often offended his colleagues with harsh reviews and judgments. He was pedantic and demanded from others extreme precision and accuracy.

Physical Characteristics: Aleksei Brusilov died of pneumonia on March 17, 1926.

Quotes from others about the person

• Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim: "He was attentive, strict, demanding to his subordinates and gave very good knowledge. His military games and exercises on the ground on their design and execution were exemplary and certainly interesting."

Connections

Aleksei Brusilov married Anna Nikolaevna von Hagemeister in 1884. The marriage produced a son. In 1908, Anna Nikolaevna died and soon Aleksei Brusilov married Nadezhda Brusilova-Zhelikhova. They had no children.

Father:

Aleksi Nikolaevich Brusilov

Aleksi Nikolaevich Brusilov (1789 – 1859) served as an officer in the tsar's army and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General.

Mother:

Anna Luiza Niestojemska

Brother:

Lev Brusilov

Lev Brusilov (March 11, 1857 – August 4, 1909) was a Russian Vice Admiral.

Wife:

Nadezhda Brusilova-Zhelikhova

(1864 – 1938)

Brother:

Boris Brusilov

(1855 – 1918)

late wife:

Anna Nikolaevna von Hagemeister

(August 28, 1861 – July 19, 1908)

Son:

Aleksei Brusilov

Aleksei Brusilov (1887 – 1919) was an officer of the Life Guards of the Horse Grenadier Regiment.

References

• The Brusilov Offensive Timothy C. Dowling tells the story of this important but little-known battle in the military and political history of the Eastern Front.
  2008
• The Eastern Front 1914-1917 A groundbreaking historical study, Norman Stone's The Eastern Front 1914-1917 was the very first authoritative account of the Russian Front in the First World War to be published in the West.
  1975