Aleksei Brusilov

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Aleksei Alekseyevich Brusilov is a renowned Russian general celebrated for pioneering novel offensive strategies employed during the pivotal 1916 Brusilov Offensive, which stands as his crowning achievement. The innovative and relatively successful tactics he devised were later emulated by the Germans. Born into the aristocracy to a father who was also a decorated general, Brusilov initially trained as a cavalry officer but soon realized that cavalry had become obsolete in modern warfare due to its vulnerability to machine guns and artillery. Historians uniformly portray him as the only First World War Russian general capable of winning major battles. Nonetheless, his troops suffered heavy casualties, severely weakening the Russian army, which struggled to replace its losses. During the offensive, Brusilov's forces had a slight numerical advantage (600,000 to 500,000) but in just 72 hours advanced 50 miles, took 200,000 prisoners, and seized 700 heavy guns.