Despite a strategically vulnerable position, an ill-prepared army, and questionable promises of military support from the Allied Powers, Romania intervened in World War I in August 1916. In return, it received the Allies' formal sanction for the annexation of the Romanian-inhabited regions of Austria-Hungary. As Glenn Torrey reveals in his pathbreaking study, this soon appeared to have been an impulsive and risky decision for both parties. Torrey details how, by the end of 1916, the armies of the Central Powers, led by German generals Falkenhayn and Mackensen, had administered a crushing defeat and occupied two-thirds of Romanian territory, but at the cost of diverting substantial military forces they needed on other fronts. The Allies, especially the Russians, were forced to do likewise in order to prevent Romania from collapsing completely. Torrey presents the most authoritative account yet of the heavy fighting during the 1916 campaign and of the renewed attempt by Austro-German forces, including the elite Alpine Corps, to subdue the Romanian Army in the summer of 1917. This latter campaign, highlighted here but ignored in non-Romanian accounts, witnessed reorganized and rearmed Romanian soldiers, with help from a disintegrating Russian Army, administer a stunning defeat of their enemies. However, as Torrey also shows, amidst the chaos of the Russian Revolution the Central Powers forced Romania to sign a separate peace early in 1918. Ultimately, this allowed the Romanian Army to reenter the war and occupy the majority of the territory promised in 1916. Torrey's unparalleled familiarity with archival and secondary sources and his long experience with the subject give authority and balance to his account of the military, strategic, diplomatic, and political events on both sides of the battlefront. In addition, his use of personal memoirs provides vivid insights into the human side of the war. Major military leaders in the Second World War, especially Ion Antonescu and Erwin Rommel, made their careers during the First World War and play a prominent role in his book. Torrey's study fosters a genuinely new appreciation and understanding of a long-neglected aspect of World War I that influenced not only the war itself but the peace settlement that followed and, in fact, continues today.

This book examines the international impact of Bolshevism in the period between the two World Wars. It explores both the significance of the ‘Bolshevik threat’ in European countries and colonies, as well as its spread through the circulation of ideas and people during this period. Focusing on the interplay between international relations and domestic politics, the volume analyses the rise of Bolshevism on the international stage, incorporating insights from India and China. The chapters show how the interwar international order was challenged by the ideology, which infiltrated a range of political societies. While it was incapable of overthrowing national systems, Bolshevism constituted a credible threat, which favoured the spread of fascist and nationalist trends. Offering the first detailed account of the Bolshevik danger at an international level, the book draws on multi-national and multiarchival research to examine how the peril of Bolshevism paradoxically allowed a stabilization of the post-World War I Versailles system.

This study provides a comprehensive biography of Russian general Aleksei A. Brusilov (1853–1926), commonly considered Russia’s greatest general in World War I.Following in the footsteps of his military family, he entered the cavalry and quickly rose through ranksto the status of general by 1906. Brusilov’s great fame largely rests on his successful offensive in the summer of 1916, when he inflicted a stinging defeat on Austro-German forces. As commander of the Southwest Front, he initiated his “broad front tactics” and attacked on a 250-mile front, inflicting a million and a half casualties. His successes crippled Austria permanently, making it totally dependent on Germany for the remainder of the war, thus insuring no German victory in the east. When the Revolution began in March 1917, Brusilov readily gave his allegiance to the republican Provisional Government and cooperated with the socialist Petrograd Soviet and their commissars and soldiers’ committees. The government eventually made him commander-in-chief of all Russian forces. He died a hero to the Russian people and remains so to this day. In Russia's Iron General, Jamie H. Cockfield extensively examines all facets of Brusilov’s life that led to his renowned reputation that continues decades after his death. This study analyzes Brusilov’s political positions over several wars and changing political powers, his military history, theories, and tactics, and his personal and familial life.

Written during the First World War, this book describes Romania’s role in World War I during the critical years of 1916 and 1917. The book analyzes the situation of the Romanians living within the borders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time and the causes for Romania’s entry into the war. The author then discusses Romania’s contribution to the war effort during 1916 and the first half of 1917. An important record of events for historians interested in the First World War on the Eastern Front, it includes several essential historical documents that illustrate the author’s account of the events of the time. The book also has a preface by Albert Thomas, French minister of Armaments and War Production at that time, and Maurice Muret. It is a valuable first-hand account of Romania’s involvement in World War I. The author, Nicolae Petrescu-Comnène was an important Romanian diplomat of the interwar period. He served as ambassador to Switzerland, Germany, and the Vatican, as well as a delegate at the League of Nations, before becoming foreign minister from 1938 to 1939. He authored numerous studies on history, law, and politics.

World War I marks a huge break in Central European Jewish history. Not only had the violent wartime events destroyed Jewish life and especially the living space of Eastern European Jews, but the impacts of war, the geopolitical change and a radicalization of anti-Semitism also led to a crisis of Jewish identity. Furthermore, during the process of national self-discovery and the establishing of new states the societal position of the Jews and their relationship to the state had to be redefined. These partially violent processes, which were always accompanied by anti-Semitism, evoked Jewish and Gentile debates, in which questions about Jewish loyalty to the old and/or new states as well as concepts of Jewish identity under the new political circumstances were negotiated. This volume collects articles dealing with these Jewish and gentile debates about military service and war memory in Central Europe.

This book is the first substantial study in any language of one of revolutionary Russia's most distinguished and controversial engineers - Iurii Vladimirovich Lomonosov (1876-1952). Not only does it provide an outline of his remarkable life and career, it also explores the relationship between science, technology and transport that developed in late tsarist and early Soviet Russia. Lomonosov's importance extends well beyond his scientific and engineering achievements thanks to the rich variety and public prominence of his professional and political activities. His generation - Lenin's generation - was inevitably at the forefront of Russian life from the 1910s to the 1930s, and Lomonosov took his place there as one of the country's best known and ultimately notorious engineers. As well as an innovative engineer who campaigned to enhance the role of science, he played a major role in shaping and administering the Russian railways, and undertook several diplomatic and scientific missions to the West during the early years of the Revolution. Falling from political favour during an assignment in Germany (1923-1927), he achieved notoriety in Russia as a 'non-returner' by apparently declining to return home. Thereby escaping probable arrest and execution, he began a new life abroad (1927-1952) which included a research post at the California Institute of Technology in 1929-1930, collaborative projects with the famous physicist P.L. Kapitsa in Cambridge, a long-time association with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London, and work for the British War Office during the Second World War. From Marxist revolutionary to American academic, this study reveals Lomonosov's extraordinary life. Drawing on a wide variety of official Russian sources, as well as Lomonosov's own diaries and memoirs, a vivid portrait of his life is presented, offering a better understanding of how science, technology and politics interacted in early-twentieth-century Russia.

Offering exhaustive coverage, detailed analyses, and the latest historical interpretations of events, this expansive, five-volume encyclopedia is the most comprehensive and detailed reference source on the First World War available today. One hundred years after the beginning of World War I in 1914, this conflict still stands as perhaps the most important event of the 20th century. World War I toppled all of the existing empires at the time, transformed the Middle East, and vaulted the United States to becoming the world's leading economic power. Its effects were profound and lasting—and included outcomes that led to World War II. This multivolume encyclopedia provides a wide-ranging examination of World War I that covers all of the important battles; key individuals, both civilian and military; weapons and technologies; and diplomatic, social, political, cultural, military, and economic developments. Suitable as a reference tool for high school and undergraduate students as well as faculty members and graduate-level researchers, World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection offers accessible, in-depth information and up-to-date analyses in a format that lends itself to quick and easy use. The set comprises alphabetically arranged, cross-referenced entries accompanied by further reading selections as well as a comprehensive bibliography. A fifth volume provides chronologically arranged documents and an A–Z index.

Although civilian internment has become associated with the Second World War in popular memory, it has a longer history. The turning point in this history occurred during the First World War when, in the interests of ‘security’ in a situation of total war, the internment of ‘enemy aliens’ became part of state policy for the belligerent states, resulting in the incarceration, displacement and, in more extreme cases, the death by neglect or deliberate killing of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world. This pioneering book on internment during the First World War brings together international experts to investigate the importance of the conflict for the history of civilian incarceration.

TWENTIETH-CENTURY WAR AND CONFLICT “With rich entries that highlight the political context, strategic significance, and tactical detail of each conflict, this encyclopedia is an essential reference for students of military history and strategic studies.” Theo Farrell, King’s College London Drawn from the award-winning five-volume Encyclopedia ofWar (Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2013), the single-volume Twentieth-Century War and Conflict provides an essential guide to the conflicts and concepts that shaped warfare in the twentieth-century and up to the present day. This concise reference contains a range of entries from 1,000 to 6,000 words long, each written by a leading international scholar. This concise encyclopedia provides full coverage of global conflicts and themes in twentieth-century war. World Wars I and II are covered by 10 separate entries. Lesser conflicts are also incorporated in this volume, including the Russo-Japanese War, the Greco-Turkish War, the Falklands War, the Soviet War in Afghanistan, the Gulf Wars, and more. Issues such as chemical warfare, ethnic cleansing, psychological warfare, and women and war also receive substantial treatment, making this an invaluable resource for students and general readers alike.