"The Tsar's Colonels" weaves together several levels of narrative to show how the increasingly sophisticated, scientific and positivistic work attitudes and habits of the Russian general staff acculturated younger officers, redefining their relationship with and responsibilities to the state. In time, this new generation of officers projected their characteristic notions onto the state and onto autocracy itself; professional concern for the security of the state eclipsed traditional unquestioning loyalty to the regime.