Aleksei brusilov biography of michael

In addition to being one of the great innovative commanders of the war, Alexei Alekseevich Brusilov (1853-1926) was one of relatively few commanders to flourish during both Romanov and Bolshevik periods.

Born in Tiflis the son of an aristocrat, Brusilov was educated in the Imperial Corps of Pages before beginning his military career as a cavalry officer in the Caucasus.  Brusilov served with distinction during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78; and in 1906 was promoted General.

With the onset of war in August 1914 Brusilov was handed command of the Russian Eighth Army in Galicia (having barely managed to return from a July holiday in Germany).

Notwithstanding his experience with the cavalry Brusilov quickly came to appreciate the value that modern artillery, including machine gunnery, brought to the modern battlefield.

Brusilov's offensives were marked by a devotion to minute planning, with every possible detail