Brusilov Alexey Alekseevich (born August 19 (31), 1853 - death March 17, 1926) - general from infantry, took part in the Russian-Turkish (1877-1878) and World War I, commander of the South-Western Front (1916), Supreme Commander of the Russian troops (1917), inspector of the Red Army cavalry (1920)
Origin. Childhood
Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov was a hereditary military man. He was born on August 19, 1853 in the family of a general in Tiflis. By the birthday of the first child, the father was already 60 years old, and the mother was 28. But their marriage was happy. After Alexei, three more boys were born. Alexei's childhood passed in an atmosphere of love and happiness. But when he was six years old, a misfortune happened: his father suddenly died, and after another 4 months his mother died. Further education of children took place in the family of an aunt and an uncle, who, being childless, doted on boys. In their home, with the help of governesses and tutors, the children received an excellent education.
Training. Service
At the age of 14, the future commander was taken to Petersburg, where he successfully passed the exams in the Corps of Pages and was immediately enrolled in the third grade, and in 1872, upon graduation, he was accepted into the service of an ensign in the 15th Dragoon Tver Regiment, which was located in the Transcaucasus, in Kutaisi, and was soon appointed a junior platoon officer in the 1st squadron.
The service of Alexei Brusilov in the regiment was favorable and did not differ in anything special: he did not violate discipline, he was not late for service, he was happy to conduct classes with the dragoons of his platoon. He himself, adoring horses and riding, willingly learned how to handle a horse from veterans. This was noticed, and six months later, the young officer was appointed adjutant of the regiment to a position that required accuracy, discipline and tact, which the young warrant officer had in full measure. 1874, April - Brusilov was promoted to lieutenant.
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Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878
The first war for the future general was the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Brusilov with his regiment went to the southern border. Young officers took the beginning of the war with great enthusiasm, because the salaries were increased and there was an opportunity to receive awards. The Tver Regiment was part of the 1st Cavalry Division of the Caucasian Army, under the command of M. T. Loris-Melikov.
Brusilov was able to distinguish himself already in the first battle, when, commanding a detachment of dragoons, he captured the Turkish barracks and the commander of the Turkish border brigade. For the distinction in the capture of the fortress of Ardahan, he was awarded the first military award - the Order of Stanislav 3rd degree with swords and a bow. Then new awards followed: the Order of Anna 3rd degree, the rank of staff captain and the Order of Stanislav 2nd degree for courage during the assault and capture of Kars. This war gave Brusilov a good fighting temper. At 25, he was already an experienced officer.
A. A. Brusilov commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front
Service after the war
At the end of the war, until the fall of 1881, Brusilov continued to serve in the Caucasus, and then was sent to study at the St. Petersburg Cavalry School. He studied cavalry science with pleasure, visited the best cavalry units of the Russian army. Brusilov graduated from the course with honors and was transferred as an adjutant to the permanent staff of the school.
1884 - Alexei Alekseevich married Anna Nikolaevna Gagenmeister, his uncle's cousin. Three years later, they had a son, Alexei. While working in the cavalry school, Brusilov developed an ebullient energy in improving the organization of training for cavalry officers. His rank is increased and positions are changed: adjutant, senior teacher of riding and dressage, head of the squadron and centenary commanders department, assistant head of the school.
1900 - Brusilov receives the rank of major general and is ranked among the staff of the Life Guards. This was facilitated by the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, who was at that time the chief inspector of the cavalry. Alexei Alekseevich worked a lot, wrote articles on cavalry science, studied the experience of horse riding and the work of stud farms in France, Austria-Hungary, Germany. Two years later, he was appointed head of the St. Petersburg Cavalry School. Relying on the support of the Grand Duke, Brusilov did a lot to improve the work entrusted to him. The school under his leadership became a recognized center for training the command staff of the Russian cavalry.
1906 - Brusilov was appointed commander of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division, where he earned great respect from his subordinates. He paid much attention to training with officers on the map, offensive combat, and maneuver. In the summer, they held corresponding exercises. But at this time, things sharply worsened in the general's family: his wife was seriously ill and was slowly fading away. 1908 - she died. Brusilov was very upset by the loss. Personal drama, as well as the oppressive atmosphere of Petersburg life after the revolution of 1905–1907. pushed him to the decision to leave the guard for the army. He achieved an appointment to the Warsaw Military District in Lublin as commander of the 14th Army Corps. Along with this, he was promoted to lieutenant general. The 14th corps was a large military formation with more than 40 thousand soldiers and officers,so that under the tutelage of Brusilov was a huge and complex economy.
In Lublin, Aleksey Alekseevich met with Nadezhda Vladimirovna Zhelikhovskaya, whom he knew from the Caucasus in his youth and with whom he was secretly in love. With her half-brother, he took part in the Turkish campaign. Brusilov, who at that time was already 57 years old, offered his hand to 45-year-old Nadezhda. 1909, November - a wedding took place in the church of the dragoon regiment.
May 1912 - Brusilov was appointed assistant commander of the Warsaw Military District and promoted to general from the cavalry. But soon friction began with Governor-General Skalon and other "Russian Germans" in the district headquarters, and he was forced to leave Warsaw and take the post of commander of the 12th Army Corps in the Kiev Military District. Meanwhile, peaceful life was coming to an end, a world war was brewing. In June 1914, a general mobilization of the Russian army was announced.
General A. A. Brusilov with officers of the headquarters of the 8th Army
World War I
The beginning of the war found A. Brusilov as commander of the 8th Army, which was part of the Southwestern Front. Under his command were the future leaders of the White movement: Quartermaster General Denikin Anton Ivanovich, the commander of the 12th cavalry division A. Kaledin, the commander of the 48th infantry division Kornilov Lavr Georgievich. In the very first days of hostilities, Brusilov's army took part in the Battle of Galicia. Acting together with the 3rd Army of General Ruzsky, units of the 8th Army advanced 130–150 km deep into Galicia in a week of fighting and in mid-August near the rivers Zolotaya Lipa and Gnilaya Lipa during fierce battles they were able to defeat the Austrians.
Galich and Lvov were taken, Galicia was cleared of the enemy. For these victories, Brusilov was awarded the Orders of George, 4th and 3rd degrees. In the first half of 1915, the fighting took on a positional character. Nevertheless, the 8th Army was able to ensure the preservation of the blockade of the Przemysl fortress, which predetermined its fall. Emperor Nicholas II, who visited Galicia, awarded Brusilov the rank of Adjutant General.
However, in the summer of 1915, the position of the Southwestern Front worsened. As a result of the breakthrough of the German troops at Gorlitsa, the Russian armies left Galicia. 1916, March - Brusilov was appointed commander of the Southwestern Front. In April, at a meeting at the headquarters of Nicholas II, he decided to carry out the offensive by forces of three fronts: Northern, Western and South-Western. Purely defensive tasks were set before Brusilov, but he insisted on an offensive.
Brusilovsky breakthrough
“The first shell, as indicated in the artillery plan, exploded at exactly 4 o'clock in the morning … Every 6 minutes, a heavy gun rumbled, sending a huge shell with an ominous whistle. Lighter guns fired just as measuredly. Cannons fired even faster at the barbed wire. An hour later, the fire intensified. The roaring tornado of fire and steel grew …
At about 10 am the artillery fire noticeably weakened … By all indications, an attack by the Russian infantry was about to begin. Tired and exhausted Austrians, Hungarians and Germans crawled out of their shelters, stood up to the surviving machine guns … But the Russian army did not go on the attack. And again after 15 minutes. an avalanche of bombs and shells fell on the enemy's front line. Shrapnel produced terrible devastation among the enemy soldiers … The enemy soldiers were no longer an organized army. It was a gathering of mentally shaken people thinking only about salvation.
This went on for more than an hour … Exactly at noon, the Russian infantry rose from their trenches and went into a swift attack … - this is how the writer Yu. Weber described the beginning of the famous Brusilov Breakthrough - the only battle during the First World War, named after its developer and leader …
At that time, the Battle of Verdun unfolded in France, the Germans were rushing to Paris. It was then, on May 22, that the offensive of the troops of the Southwestern Front began, which was called "Brusilov Breakthrough". After a strong and effective artillery barrage, the Austro-Hungarian front broke through to a depth of 60 to 150 km for 550 km. The enemy lost up to 1.5 million people killed, wounded and captured, a large number of weapons. Russian troops lost up to 500 thousand people. This victory was of great importance. The French commander-in-chief, General Joffre, wrote in a telegram to Emperor Nicholas:
"The entire French army rejoices over the victory of the valiant Russian army - a victory, the significance and results of which affect every day …" saved! For this victory, Aleksey Alekseevich Brusilov was awarded the Georgievsk weapon, decorated with diamonds.
General A. A. Brusilov - (1916)
Revolutionary years
During the events of February 1917, the commander of the front, A. A. Brusilov, was among those top military leaders of the Russian army who convinced Emperor Nicholas II Romanov to abdicate the throne. By this, the Russian generals hoped to save Russia and the Russian army from destruction.
In February 1917 Brusilov became a military adviser to the Provisional Government. In May of the same year, he was appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army. But he did not manage to hold on to this high post for a long time.
Responding to the greetings of the Mogilev Council, General AA Brusilov defined his role as Supreme Commander-in-Chief as follows: “I am the leader of the revolutionary army, appointed to my responsible post by the revolutionary people and the Provisional Government, by agreement with the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. I was the first to go over to the side of the people, I serve them, I will serve and I will never be separated from them."
But despite all efforts, the new Supreme Commander-in-Chief did not succeed in stopping the revolutionary ferment in the army in the field, and especially in the rear garrisons. A new revolutionary situation was brewing in Russia, against which the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army was powerless. In July of the same 1917, he was replaced by a much more determined General L. Kornilov and recalled to Petrograd as a military adviser to the Provisional Government.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Brusilov remained in Soviet Russia, rejecting an offer to become one of the military leaders of the white movement in the south of the country, where many of his recent colleagues ended up. He settled in Moscow. During the October battles between the Red Guards and the White Junkers, Brusilov was accidentally wounded.
On the side of the Bolsheviks
After the death of his son, who served in the Red Army and was shot by the Whites in 1919, the general sided with the Bolsheviks, where he held a number of high positions. But all of them did not belong to the category of command, and he did not take part directly in the Civil War. The former tsarist general was (successively) chairman of the Special Conference under the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces - created on the initiative of Brusilov himself, an inspector of the Red Army's cavalry, and the chief military inspector of horse breeding and horse breeding. Since March 1924 he was at the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR on especially important assignments.
Brusilov in world military history
Alexei Alekseevich Brusilov died in Moscow on March 17, 1926 at the age of 73 and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery with all military honors.
Brusilov went down in world military history as the author of an offensive strategy of parallel strikes in several sectors of the enemy front breakthrough, separated by unattacked sectors, but forming a single system. This required a high level of military art. In the First World War 1914-1918. Such a strategic operation was only possible for one person - the commander of the Russian Southwestern Front.