Timothy C. Dowling
Autor de The Brusilov Offensive (Twentieth-Century Battles)
Sobre El Autor
Timothy C. Dowling taught at the Vienna International School in Austria before taking an appointment at the Virginia Military Institute.
Obras de Timothy C. Dowling
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Género
- male
Miembros
Reseñas
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 4
- Miembros
- 58
- Popularidad
- #284,346
- Valoración
- 3.6
- Reseñas
- 2
- ISBNs
- 8
Though the combat record of Russia’s armies during the war is a lamentable one, one operation stands out apart from this. In the summer of 1916 Russian forces under the command of Alexei Brusilov launched a massive offensive in Galicia. For over three months, a series of assaults drove back the Austro-German forces, seizing territory on a scale not seen in Europe since the first months of the war. Though Austro-Hungarian armies came close to collapse and Romania soon joined the war in response, German reinforcements eventually stabilized the front, leaving the Russians exhausted and ripe for revolution.
Despite its scale and overall significance to the history of the war, the Brusilov Offensive has not received its due from English language historians. Because of this, as Timothy Dowling makes clear in his account of the battle, a number of misconceptions have accrued around it. Foremost among them is the belief that the offensive played a vital role in curtailing German and Austro-Hungarian operations in France and Italy. As Dowling demonstrates, though, both offensives were already over by the time the Russians began their assault. Simply put, the Brusilov Offensive was not needed to achieve its stated goals.
This is not to say, however, that the offensive was insignificant. On the contrary, Dowling makes an excellent case for its enormous legacy for the overall conflict. As he explains, it was a battle with considerable political stakes; had it succeeded in its aims, it would have fractured the Austro-German alliance and compelled Austria-Hungary to withdraw from the war. That the Germans prevented this by infusing the Austro-Hungarian armies with German forces reflects their success in this regard, as the offensive utterly destroyed the military capacity of the Austro-Hungarian empire and completed their subordination to the Germans. Though the Germans saved their ally, doing so strained their finite resources further still, though much of the benefit of this for the Russians was offset by the rapid collapse of Romania and the need to extend their own exhausted forces to protect a now-widened front.
Dowling describes all of this in an account heavy with operational details. Brusilov emerges as the hero of his tale, as Dowling credits the achievements of his offensive to his leadership, his preparations, and his willingness to innovate. That his offensive hastened the collapse of the Russian war effort and the end of the Romanov dynasty is viewed more as a testament to the general failings of an army characterized by inept commanders and an inability to overcome the logistical constraints that hobbled most offensives during the war. Had Brusilov been more capably supported he might have achieved more, but that he was the great exception among Russian commanders in terms of ability was in the end yet another symptom of a regime on borrowed time.… (más)