This groundbreaking study was the first authoritative account of the Russian Front in the First World War to be published in the West and is now reissued with a new introduction by the author. The battles fought on the Eastern Front were decisive to the course of the war. As well as reconstructing these events, Norman Stone explores the factors that influenced their outcome and draws some unexpected conclusions. Dispelling the popular myth of an economically crippled Russia, he argues that the country was, in fact, going through a period of unprecedented economic growth. Tsarist Russia's weakness lay in its outdated administration which resulted in war shortages and an inefficient army. In a fascinating reinterpretation of the connection between the war and the revolution that followed, he shows that although military events had almost ceased by the end of 1916, Russia was still in turmoil, undergoing a period of modernization which opened the way towards revolution. - Back cover.