This book unravels the complicated and tragic events of the Eastern Front in the First World War.

The author details Russia's sudden attack on German forces, despite her inadequate resources. A crushing defeat at Tannenberg was followed by Germany inflicting humiliation after humiliation on desperate Russian troops. For a while, those forces led by General Brusilov and facing Austria-Hungary fared better, but in the end this front too collapsed.

In this compact volume, Geoffrey Jukes describes how morale plummeted, the army began to disintegrate, and the Tsar was forced to abdicate - paving the way for the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917.