The war between Russia and the Chechen forces, from December 1994 to August 1996, was a key moment in Russian and even world history, shedding a stark light on the end of Russia as a great military and imperial power.

The book offers both history' and analysis in a riveting eyewitness account of the war itself and multifaceted explanation of the Russian defeat. Highlighting the numerous ways in which Russian society and culture differ today from the simplistic stereotypes still common in much of Western analysis, Lieven explores the reasons for the current weakness of Russian nationalism both within the country and among the Russian diaspora.

In the final part of the book Lieven goes beyond all other accounts of the war to examine the Chechen tradition and the character of the Chechen nation.