ABSTRACT

Nineteenth-century Russia, it has been said, most closely resembled not a country, but a vast military academy. The most immediate consequence of the unprecedented series of defeats in the Russo-Japanese War was an outbreak of rioting, mutiny, strikes and terrorism that threatened to destroy the whole fabric of the Russian autocracy. The majority of those who actually went to the front served in the chief component of the steamroller – the infantry. They went because the Law of 1874 declared that 'the defence of the throne and the country is the sacred duty of every Russian subject'. The Russian Army of 1914, from the wreckage of which the White Generals tried to forge a fighting force, was compounded of contradictions. The remnants of the Imperial Army provided the nucleus of both Bolshevik and White forces. The polarisation was accomplished by the events of 1917.