ABSTRACT
In the revolutionary year 1917, by casting off authority and abandoning discipline, the Imperial Russian Army carried through a mutiny of such vast proportion that no military or political group could either control it or be held responsible for the final disintegration. The Army, V. I. Lenin was to observe somewhat cynically, voted with its legs. A flourishing trade in Army boots existed. In France the Russian brigade on the Western Front raised shouts of 'Down with the war!' and proceeded to elect a soldier-committee as an expression of solidarity with the Revolution at home. In many simple minds the opposition to the war stiffened. The soldier-peasants, presenting a monotonous picture huddled in their grey army great-coats at meetings of the Petrograd Soviet, followed avidly the schemes for bringing them land. Land and peace were the outstanding issues.
