ABSTRACT
The double status of the Russian soldier as citizen and combatant is evident in these demands, but not his social origin, even though most of the troops came from the peasantry. The soldiers of non-Russian extraction sometimes exhibited ethnic concerns. An important minority of junior officers adopted a different attitude. This group seems to have been composed mainly of sergeant-majors and lieutenants who lived with the soldiers in the trenches and ran the same risks. A kind of "spirit of the front" was able to draw together men who had nothing in common in civilian life. The fact remains, however, that for the great majority of officers— revolution or not—relations with the troops were of the simplest. The soldier was judged by his capacity to obey, to salute, and to stand at attention. The hostility of most officers toward the democratization of the army and the liberalization of military institutions and their campaign in favour of war.
