The Brusilov Offensive was a major Russian offensive against the Central Powers which was launched from 4 June to 20 September 1916 during the Eastern Front campaign of World War I. Nearly 2 million Imperial Russian Army troops under General Alexei Brusilov launched a massive counterattack against the German and Austro-Hungarian forces which had advanced deep into the Russian Empire's Eastern European lands amid the Great Retreat of 1915. The Russian offensive was one of the greatest Entente victories of the war and Austria-Hungary's worst military disaster, but it came at great cost to the Russians.
Background[]
Despite massive losses of men and territory in campaigns on the Eastern Front in 1915, Russia was committed to a major offensive in 1916. At the Chantilly Conference in December 1915, the Allies had pledged to launch diversionary offensives if one of the allied countries came under pressure. When Germany attacked the French at Verdun in February 1916, France appealed to Russia fro assistance. Russian commanders agreed to launch an attack towards Vilnius at the northern end of the Eastern Front in March 1916.
Russian supplies of equipment had greatly improved, and thanks to the arrival of fresh conscripts and the transfer of German troops to Verdun, the Russians had a large numerical advantage. But the Lake Naroch Offensive, on 18 March, was a disaster. Russia lost 100,000 men compared to German casualties of 20,000. The little ground gained was retaken by the Germans in April.
Offensive[]
In mid-April 1916, Russia's senior commanders held a meeting with their commander-in-chief Czar Nicholas II to discuss military plans for the summer. The czar and his chief of staff, General Mikhail Alekseyev, were committed to a summer offensive that would coincide with an Allied attack at the Somme on the Western Front.
The generals commanding the northern sector of the Russian front, chosen as the location for the offensive, were appalled at the prospect of leading an attack they believed could not succeed. Only when promised large-scale reinforcements did they agree to the plan. To their surprise, General Alexei Brusilov, who was commanding the Southwest Army Group facing Austro-Hungarian forces in Galicia, also volunteered to mount an offensive. Since he was not asking for reinforcements, Alekseyev allowed him to go ahead, viewing his operation as a harmless diversion from the main Russian attack in the north.
Brusilov had made a careful study of available trench warfare techniques and analyzed the reasons for previous failures. The offensive tactics so far adopted by Russia had been based on concentrating a large mass of intanry and artillery upon a small sector of the front. This sledgehammer approach, he concluded, produced small initial gains at heavy cost, before enemy reserves delivered crushing counterattacks.
New Russian tactics[]
Brusilov planned an offensive delivered by four armies at points across his entire front, thus preventing the enemy from concentrating reserves at any point. He intended to seize enemy trenches wihtout using substantial numerical superiority of infantry or artillery. Aerial reconnaissance would be used to locate Austro-Hungarian artillery batteries and other key targets for the Russian guns, which for once were adequately supplied with shells. Soldiers were thoroughly trained for the operation and, unlike in the previous year, all had rifles. Saps (short trenches) were dug forward into no man's land to serve as launch pads for surprise attacks. Farther back, huge dugouts were excavated to shelter reserves within range of enemy guns.
The offensive begins[]
Launched on 4 June, the offensive was a total surprise to Austro-Hungarian forces. The preliminary bombardment was brief and accurate. Waves of Russian infantry occupied enemy frontline trenches with only light casualties. Brusilov then poured in his reserves to sustain the offensive. Unable to mount a viable resistance, the Austro-Hungarians were soon falling back in disarray. Their fortified position at Lutsk fell in two days. Within a week, Russian forces had advanced up to 40 miles from their start lines. Austro-Hungarian soldiers surrendered in vast numbers - some 200,000 prisoners were taken during the first nine days alone.
Austro-Hungarian Chief of the General Staff Conrad von Hotzendorf was forced to transfer troops from the Italian front and plead for help from Germany. Heavily engaged at Verdun and aware of an imminent Allied offensive on the Somme, the Germans had limited support to offer. By mid-June, supply and transportation problems had halted the Russian advance, but an Austro-Hungarian and German counterattack largely failed. Brusilov was able to renew his offensive in July, achieving further advances - Russian troops at the southern end of the front reached the Carpathians.
But these gains were made at mounting cost. The glow of triumph for the Russians gradually faded. Brusilov's efforts were poorly supported by Russian central command and the generals to the north. The arrival of increasing numbers of German troops stiffened defenses, so that Russian gains diminished and losses increased. By the time the offensive petered out in the autumn, Russian troops were suffering as many casualties as their enemies. Austria-Hungary was the chief loser in the fighting. From September 1916, the Germans took command of Austro-Hungarian forces on the Eastern Front. Without control of its own army, Austria-Hungary had effectively ceased to be a fully independent country.
Aftermath[]
The Brusilov Offensive had important political and military consequences both in the short and longer term. The setback on the Eastern Front contributed to the resignation of German Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn at the end of August 1916. At the same time, the Russian successes persuaded Romania to enter the war against the Central Powers - an ill-advised decision as the country was swiftly defeated. In Russia, the strain of the war led to popular discontent and the overthrow of the czarist regime in March 1917. In Austria-Hungary, Emperor Franz Joseph I died in November 1916 and was succeeded by Emperor Charles I, who began a vain search for a peace agreement with the Allies.