ABSTRACT
The strength of an army depends to a large extent upon the quality of its frontline officers. In an examination of the Russian Imperial Officer Corps during the years of the First World War and the Revolution one of the most serious obstacles has been the scarcity of data on which estimates of the size and composition of this body, and changes therein, can be based. Regarding the general outlines of the problem there is overall agreement, and few historians would take exception to the opinion that in the "flood of new war officers, the old cadres were nearly drowned". The statistical gap has been to some extent filled by the interesting work of two emigre military historians. The present study deals with the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment, or Life Grenadiers, as it is usually known, and is based primarily on a regimental history published in New York to mark the regiment's bicentenary.
