Brusilov Offensive, the largest Russian assault during World War I, and one of the deadliest in history. It occurred from June 4 to August 10, 1916. Following several stinging defeats, including the Battle of Tannenberg, the Russians found a capable commander, General Aleksey Brusilov. Leading the offensive that bears his name, he inflicted a defeat on Austro-Hungarian forces from which their empire never recovered. It came, however, at a heavy price in terms of casualties, and Russia lacked the resources to exploit or repeat this success.
Brusilov, a cavalry officer who commanded the Southwestern Army, was possessed of common sense and a willingness to learn from past failures, but unlike other Tsarist generals, he was not so cautious as to avoid action. He also had an army that had recovered astonishingly quickly from the Gorlice-Tarnow defeat, which was the Central Powers’ major victory on the Eastern Front in 1915. Its troops were rested and supply problems eased. Where many Russian generals felt an offensive would be futile, Brusilov insisted that with surprise and adequate preparation, it could succeed. His troops were trained in full-size replicas of the positions they were to attack, artillery was sighted using air reconnaissance, and secrecy was strictly maintained.
The blow, when it fell on June 4, appalled the Austrians, who were unable to believe the Russians capable of such a massive and accurate assault. Following an intensive artillery barrage along a 200-mile-long front in what is now Ukraine, Russian shock troops led attacks that broke the Austrian lines on the first day. Soon the Austrians collapsed, even though they far outnumbered the attacking Russians, and many Slav units, who had no love for their Habsburg rulers, deserted en masse. So many Austrian guns were captured that Russian factories were converted to manufacture shells for them.
As Russian forces pushed into the Carpathian Mountains, it appeared that Austria-Hungary would collapse, and the emperor was forced to beg for German help. Russian commanders in the north did not maintain the pressure on the Germans that Brusilov expected, so the Germans were able to send assistance that stabilized the front. However, the blow to Habsburg prestige was irreversible, especially among the Slavic minorities within the empire. Romania, hitherto neutral, entered the war on the side of the Allies, while Germany was forced to divert critical forces from the Western Front to the East.
Losses: Russian, 500,000–1,000,000 dead, wounded, or captured; Central Powers, some 1.5 million casualties (Austrian, 1,000,000–1,500,000 dead, wounded, or captured; German, 350,000 casualties; Ottoman, 12,000 casualties.