Russia's First World War

Did you know that over 1 million Russian lives were lost during the first world war? However, the Russian experience of the Great Warhas not been explored and understood to the same extent as its western counterparts.  This book asks why.

Shows that war is itself 'revolutionary' - rupturing established social and economic ties, but also creating new social and economic relationships, affiliations, practices and opportunities. This work looks at the First World War in Russia for its own sake, not just as the seedbed of the Revolution.

The story of Russia’s First World War remains largely unknown, neglected by historians who have been more interested in the grand drama that unfolded in 1917. In Russia’s First World War: A Social and Economic History Peter Gatrell shows that war is itself ‘revolutionary’ – rupturing established social and economic ties, but also creating new social and economic relationships, affiliations, practices and opportunities.

Russia’s First World War brings together the findings of Russian and non-Russian historians, and draws upon fresh research. It turns the spotlight on what Churchill called the ‘unknown war’, providing an authoritative account that finally does justice to the impact of war on Russia’s home front