Preface
Introduction: Imperial Challenge
1: The Outbreak of War and the Transformation of the
Borderlands
2: The Front Migrates
3: Remobilizing the Military: Combat Innovation, POWs, and Forced
Labor
4: Remobilizing Society: Nurses, Doctors, and Social Control
5: Revolution
6: Decolonization
Conclusion: Imperial Apocalypse
Works Cited
Joshua A. Sanborn is the author of two previous books: Drafting the Russian Nation: Military Conscription, Total War, and Mass Politics, 1905-1925 and, with co-author Annette Timm, Gender, Sex, and the Shaping of Modern Europe: A History from the French Revolution to the Present Day. He lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two children.
In this vivid reinterpretation of the Russian Empire's World War I,
Joshua Sanborn provocatively and effectively reframes it as a war
of decolonization and state collapse. Written in crisp and
entertaining prose, this thought-provoking book is the most
interesting and readable book published on Russia's World War I in
recent times.
*Eric Lohr, American University, Washington*
This magnificent book is full of insights, with a robust challenge
to received wisdom. Sanborn's talent as a writer makes the
catastrophic story of imperial state failure a joy to read.
*Alan Kramer, Trinity College Dublin*
He is a well-informed and admirably plain Historian. He clearly
realises the interest his subject holds beyond the acadamey.
*Andre Van Loon, Military History Monthly.*
If the Eastern Front remains the "forgotten front", readers will
have only themselves to blame, as Joshua Sanborn gives us a fresh,
insightful look at the East in these crucial years.
*Michael S. Neiberg, author of Dance of the Furies: Europe and the
Outbreak of War in 1914*
An outstanding contribution to the spate of books marking the
centenary of the Great War.
*P.E. Heineman, CHOICE*
Sanborn's book is thus at once an everyday life history of the
Russian Front, a gripping narrative of the key battles in which the
Russian Empire participated, and a sophisticated conceptual
argument about the stages of decolonization during the First World
War.
*The Russian Review*
a wonderful book. It takes the reader to the heart of the
experience of Russian participants in the Great War in an original
and unprecedented way ... In terms of depth of description,
sensitivity to the subject matter, elegance of expression, and
originality of approach, Joshua A. Sanborn has few rivals. His
breadth of vision not only encompasses crucial but often overlooked
episodes ... he also shows their importance to the story.
*Christopher Read, American Historical Review*
The book was intended for multiple audiences, and it deserves to be
read widely and with interest.
*Evan Mawdsley, War in History Book*
Sanborn's book serves as an admirable blend of the military, social
and political history of the demise of the tsarist state. It offers
much to chew on for specialists in the Russian field.
*J. A. Grant, Slavonic and East European Review*
Sanborn's command of his vast primary source base lends his
narrative authority, his prose is unfailingly engaging, and his
insights numerous. The many personal stories he tells of humble
citizens caught up in this imperial "apocalypse" provide moving
illustrations of the broad processes he charts. Above all, no
previous treatment of Russia's Great War and revolution makes so
palpable the scale of chaos and misery endured by the population as
war-induced violence spun out of anyone's control.
*Journal of Modern History*
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