Eastern Front, 1914–1917
The Eastern Front was a theatre of vast, frozen emptiness.
Unlike the muddy trenches of the West, this front was dominated by endless plains and forests.
Here, men marched until their boots sank into the snow, while artillery echoed like thunder in the vast, open expanse.
At first, the Russian Empire had the numbers.
Tsar Nicholas II believed that with sheer force, Russia could hold back the Central Powers—Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.
1914. Galicia.
Russian armies pushed into Austrian-held Galicia, gaining ground quickly.
General Brusilov, leading the Russian forces, was hailed as a hero, and hopes surged in St. Petersburg.
But Russia's supply lines were weak, and the men were poorly equipped.
By 1915, the Germans struck back with a vengeance.
Operation Sommernacht pushed the Russians back, and the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914 became a symbol of Russia's failures.
The German Hindenburg Line cut through Russian defenses like a hot knife through butter.
The Russian losses were staggering, with over 100,000 men taken prisoner, and another 200,000 dead or wounded.
Tsar Nicholas II had to face the grim reality:
Russia's front was falling apart, and his empire was on the brink.
The soldiers, suffering from hunger, cold, and disease, began to lose faith in their leaders.
Meanwhile, in the rear, discontent spread like wildfire.
A growing number of revolutionaries whispered of the Bolshevik Revolution, of overthrowing the Tsar and his royal family.
By 1916, Russia's soldiers were being ground down in an attritional war that seemed never-ending.
The Brusilov Offensive, the most successful Russian campaign of the war, saw gains in the East but cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of men.
A brief victory was overshadowed by the continued pain and suffering of the soldiers who had no winter coats, no boots, and no food.
The Russian winter—the harshest the soldiers had seen in decades—came.
The Tsar's soldiers, already worn thin by months of battle, had to fight not only their enemies but also the elements.
A Russian infantryman wrote home:
"We march in snow, sleep in snow, and die in snow."
At the same time, Tsar Nicholas II was also facing crises at home.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was brewing, with protests erupting in Petrograd (modern-day St. Petersburg).
Strikes, demonstrations, and revolutionary factions—led by figures like Vladimir Lenin—sought to topple the monarchy.
In February 1917, a massive revolution erupted, and the Tsar abdicated under the pressure of the people and his generals.
The Romanov dynasty, which had ruled Russia for over 300 years, came to an abrupt end.
In October 1917, the Bolshevik forces, led by Lenin, seized control of Russia in the October Revolution, leaving the once mighty empire in tatters.
For the soldiers on the Eastern Front, the collapse of the monarchy was an end to their cause.
Many deserted, and those who remained felt betrayed, for they had fought and died for a nation that was falling apart at the seams.
Russia's war on the Eastern Front ended not with a treaty, but with revolution, chaos, and a new order.