Russia
Aleksei Brusilov
1853–1926 Commander, Southwestern Front, 1916
A cavalry officer from the old Russian aristocracy, Brusilov was one of the few Tsarist generals who thought about how to break the trench stalemate. In 1916, commanding the Southwestern Front, he trained his troops in the new methods, insisted on surprise, short bombardments and attacks on many fronts, and hit the Austro-Hungarians hard in June. His offensive was the greatest Russian victory of the war, and the high point of the Tsarist army. He later served the Provisional Government as commander-in-chief, and then, remarkably for a general of his background, the Red Army, appealing in 1920 for former officers to defend Russia against the Poles. He died in Moscow in 1926.