ABSTRACT
The officers in Western Europe, possessing the social prestige, values and traditions of military aristocracies, could dismiss contemptuously the attacks of socialists and pacifists. The Russian officers, however, were deeply hurt by criticism. In their press they complained not so much about poor living conditions as about being misunderstood. A few students and about half a dozen professors at the Academy in the years immediately preceding the First World War became increasingly aware of the backwardness of the Russian army and of the aridity of Russian military science. They referred to themselves and were called by others "Young Turks". The moving spirit among them was Colonel N. N. Golovin, who after the Revolution, in emigration, achieved international recognition for his writings. In the 1905 revolution the government never collapsed but remained a protective umbrella for the officers. The challenge of 1917 was much greater; tsarism disintegrated and the officers had to fend for themselves.
