29 Facts About Aleksei Brusilov

Aleksei Brusilov is one of the prominent Russian commanders in history.

Aleksei Brusilov's father rose to the rank of Lieutenant General before dying of tuberculosis in 1856.

Aleksei Brusilov's mother died shortly afterwards, and the young orphan was raised by relatives in Kutaisi.

Aleksei Brusilov was educated at home until the age of 14.

Aleksei Brusilov joined the Imperial Corps of Pages in Saint Petersburg in 1867.

Aleksei Brusilov joined the Tver Dragoons in August 1872 and was given command of a troop, but it was not long before his aptitude resulted in the appointment as regimental adjutant.

Aleksei Brusilov's unit operated on the Southern Front in the Caucasus, and took part in the assault of the fortress of Ardagan, for which Brusilov was awarded the Order of Saint Stanislav, 3rd Class.

In 1881, Aleksei Brusilov became a student at the Cavalry Officer School in Saint Petersburg and two years later was appointed as a riding instructor there.

On promotion to Major General in 1900, Aleksei Brusilov was added to the list of Household Troops.

Aleksei Brusilov published papers on the use of cavalry and visited France, Austria-Hungary and Germany to study riding tuition and stud management.

Aleksei Brusilov was appointed to command the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division in 1906, but this was not a happy posting for him.

Aleksei Brusilov remarried at this time, to Nadejda Jelihovski.

The failures of the Russo-Japanese War had led to allegations that generals from immigrant families, who made a significant fraction of the Russian Army's senior ranks, were less patriotic than those who traced their origins to within Russia's borders, and Aleksei Brusilov would come into conflict with the Governor-General in Warsaw, Georgi Skalon, and other "Russian-German" generals in that District.

In July 1914, with the Russian army expanding during mobilisation, Aleksei Brusilov was promoted to command the 8th Army, part of the Southwest Front operating in Galicia.

Once again, fortunes on other fronts would determine his actions, and the Central Powers breakthrough at Gorlice-Tarnow forced Aleksei Brusilov to withdraw as part of the general retreat.

However, Aleksei Brusilov's victories cast doubt on Austria-Hungary's ability to defend itself against Russian offensives and forced its senior military ally the German Empire to divert forces from the Western Front to assist it.

In October 1915, Aleksei Brusilov wanted to deport 20,000 German civilians from Volhynia.

On 29 March 1916, Aleksei Brusilov was given command of the Southwest Front and managed to secure a certain degree of freedom of action.

Aleksei Brusilov decided to distribute his attack over the entirety of Southwest Front.

Aleksei Brusilov hoped to disorganise the enemy over such a large area that some point would fatally give way.

Aleksei Brusilov decided not to waste resources by saturation bombardment of worthless areas, but to use interdiction fire against command posts, road networks, and other critically important targets to degrade German command and control over the whole front.

Aleksei Brusilov was not even concerned with securing a tremendous local advantage in manpower, permitting divisions under his command to be transferred to other Fronts.

Aleksei Brusilov was awarded the Sword of Saint George with Diamonds for his greatest victory, one of only 8 Russian commanders to receive this award during the First World War.

From 27 June to 3 July 1916, Aleksei Brusilov carried out, on his own initiative, the deportation of 13,000 German civilians from the Volhynian areas that had been conquered during the offensive.

Aleksei Brusilov moved to Moscow and remained there at the disposal of the Russian Provisional Government.

Aleksei Brusilov gave an excellent praising to Tomas Masaryk for Czechoslovak Legion soldiers after Battle of Zborov in July 1917.

On 30 May 1920, during the Polish Eastern offensive of the Polish-Soviet War Aleksei Brusilov published in Pravda an appeal entitled "To All Former Officers, Wherever They Might Be", encouraging them to forgive past grievances and to join the Red Army.

Aleksei Brusilov considered it as a patriotic duty of all Russian officers to join hands with the Bolshevik government, which in his opinion was defending Russia against foreign invaders.

Aleksei Brusilov retired in 1924 but continued to carry out commissions for the Revolutionary Military Council.