History of the World War, Volume 1 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest warMarch, Francis A., Jr.
History
History of the World War, Volume 1 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest war
March, Francis A., Jr.
World War, 1914-1918
But the Austrian armies had not been annihilated. An army of nearly
a million men cannot be destroyed in so short a time. The Austrian
failure was due in part to the disaffection of some of the elements
of the army, and in part to the poor Austrian generalship. They had
underestimated their foe, and ventured on a most perilous plan of
campaign.
Russian generalship had been most admirable, and the Russian generals
were men of ability and experience. Brussilov had seen service in the
Turkish War of 1877. Ruzsky was a professor in the Russian War Academy.
In the Japanese war he had been chief of staff to General Kaulbars,
the commander of the Second Manchurian army. Associated with him was
General Radko Dmitrieff, an able officer with a most interesting
career. General Dmitrieff was born in Bulgaria, when it was a Turkish
province. He graduated at the Military School at Sofia, and afterwards
at the War Academy at Petrograd. On his return to Bulgaria he commanded
a regiment in the Serbian-Bulgarian war. Later he became mixed up
in the conspiracy against Prince Alexander, and was forced to leave
Bulgaria. For ten years he served in the Russian army, returning to
Bulgaria on the accession of Prince Ferdinand. Later on he became Chief
of the General Staff, and when the Balkan war broke out he commanded
one of the Bulgarian armies, won several important victories, and
became a popular hero of the war. Disgusted with the political
squabbles which followed the war, he returned to Russia as a general in
the Russian army. With men like these in command, the Russian Empire
was well served.
After the decisive defeat of the Austrian army under General Dankl,
certain changes were made in the Russian High Command. General Ruzsky
was made commander of the center, which was largely reinforced. General
Ivanov was put in command of the armies operating in Galicia with
Dmitrieff and Brussilov as his chief lieutenants. Brussilov’s business
was to seize the deep passes in the Carpathians and to threaten
Hungary. Dmitrieff’s duty was to press the Austrian retreat, and
capture the main fortresses of central Galicia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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