Editing Brusilov offensive (section)

{{Short description|1916 Russian offensive during World War I}}
{{Citation style|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Brusilov offensive<br>(Fourth Battle of Galicia)
| partof            = the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] of [[World War I]]
| image             = File:EasternFront1916b.jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Left: Plan of May. Right: Frontline at the end of Brusilov offensive in September 1916.
| date              = 4 June{{snd}}20{{nbsp}}September 1916{{efn|Brusilov writes about this in his memoirs{{sfn|Брусилов|2023|p=271}}}}
| place             = [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]], present-day western [[Ukraine]]
| result            = <!-- Not to put "decisive", "pyrrhic", "strategic", etc. to "Russian victory". See WP:MILMOS#INFOBOX. -->Russian victory{{Collapsible list|bullets=yes|title=Full results|Launch of the [[Romanian campaign (1916)|Romanian campaign]]|Entente forces seize strategic initiative on Eastern Front|[[Austria-Hungary]] loses offensive potential before the end of the war|Almost complete destruction of the 4th and 7th Austro-Hungarian armies{{sfn|Tunstall|2008}}}}
| territory         = Russia captures all of [[Eastern Galicia]] and a portion of northern [[Bukovina]].
Russia occupies the city of [[Chernivtsi|Czernowitz]] until [[Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers|its exit]] from the war.
| combatant1        = {{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} [[Russian Empire]]
| combatant2        = {{flag|Austria-Hungary}}<br />{{flag|German Empire}}<br />{{flag|Ottoman Empire}}
| commander1        = {{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} '''[[Aleksei Brusilov]]'''<br />{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} [[Nicholas II]]{{efn|[[Supreme Commander–in–Chief]]}}<br />{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} [[Mikhail Alekseyev]]{{efn|Deputy Commander-in-Chief}}<br>{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} [[Alexey Kaledin]]<br>{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} [[Vladimir Sakharov (general)|Vladimir Sakharov]]<br />{{nowrap|{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} [[Dmitry Shcherbachev]]}}<br />{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} [[Platon Lechitsky]]<br />{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} [[Mikhail Diterikhs]]
| commander2        = {{flagdeco|Austria-Hungary}} [[Franz Graf Conrad von Hötzendorf|Conrad von Hötzendorf]]<br />{{flagdeco|Austria-Hungary}} [[Archduke Joseph Ferdinand of Austria|Joseph Ferdinand]]<br />{{flagdeco|Austria-Hungary}} [[Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli|Eduard von Böhm]]<br />{{nowrap|{{flagdeco|German Empire}} [[Alexander von Linsingen]]}}<br />{{Flagicon|German Empire}} [[Paul von Hindenburg]]<br />{{flagdeco|German Empire}} [[Felix von Bothmer]]<br />{{flagdeco|Ottoman Empire}} [[Cevat Pasha]]
| strength1         = '''Initial:''' 40+ infantry divisions (573,000 men)<br />15 cavalry divisions (60,000 men)<br />'''Overall:'''<br />{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} 1,732,000 in 61 divisions
| strength2         = '''Initial:'''<br />39 infantry divisions (450,000 men)<br />10 cavalry divisions (30,000 men){{sfn|Брусилов|2023|p=241}}<br /> '''Overall:'''<br />2,500,000 in 54 Austrian divisions, 24 German divisions and 2 Ottoman divisions{{sfn|Брусилов|2023|p=271}}{{efn|All reinforcements deployed against the actions of the southwestern front}}<ref>Edward J. Erickson: ''[http://books.google.de/books?id=XUlsP0YuI1AC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Ordered To Die. A history of the Ottoman army in the First World War].'' Greenwood Press, Westport 2000, ISBN 0-313-31516-7, S.&nbsp;142 und 169.</ref>
| casualties1       = {{flagicon image|Flag_of_Russia_(1914-1917).svg}} '''Russian Empire''': <br />Only from May to July 13:{{sfn|Zayonchkovski|2002|p=563}}<br /> 440,000 dead or wounded<br />60,000 prisoners<br />497,000–500,000<ref name="ReferenceA">''Мерников А. Г., Спектор А.А.'' Всемирная история войн. – Минск., 2005. – стр. 428</ref>{{sfn|Ruhlin|2019|p=2}}
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'''Total: 1,000,000{{sfn|Gilbert|2023|p=398}}{{sfn|Oleynikov|2016|p=242}}<ref>Кузнецов Б.И Кампания 1916 гг. С.72</ref> – 1,440,000{{sfn|Tucker|2002|p=119}}{{sfn|Golovin|2014|p=438}} casualties'''
| casualties2       = {{flagdeco|Austria-Hungary}} '''Austria-Hungary:'''<br />200,000 dead or wounded<br />420,000–470,000 prisoners<br />670,000 estimated casualties<br />{{flagdeco|German Empire}} '''Germany:'''<br />184,000{{sfn|Haeften|1936|p=566}}–500,000 all casualties{{sfn|Keegan|2000|p=435}}<ref name="ReferenceA" /><br />{{flagdeco|Ottoman Empire}} '''Ottoman Empire:'''<br />12,000 all casualties<ref>[http://www.turkeyswar.com/campaigns/galicia.html Turkey In The First World War: Galicia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320210251/http://www.turkeyswar.com/campaigns/galicia.html |date=20 March 2017 }}. Turkish losses for September were: unknown on the action of September 2. 7,000 on the actions of September 16/17. 5,000 on the actions of September 30.</ref>
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'''Total: 1,000,000{{sfn|Oleynikov|2016|p=259}} – 1,500,000 casualties'''<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=D. R. |chapter=The Imperial Army in World War I, 1914—1917 |title=The Military History of Tsarist Russia |editor1=F. W. Kagan |editor2=R. Higham |location=New York |publisher=Palgrave |date=2002 |pages=227–248 |isbn=978-0-230-10822-6}}</ref>{{sfn|Брусилов|2023|p=271}}{{sfn|Ruhlin|2019|p=2}}{{sfn|Miltatuli|2017|p=154}}{{sfn|Borisyuk|2024|p=440}}
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Brusilov Offensive}}
{{Campaignbox Eastern Front (World War I)}}
}}
[[File:EasternFront1916a2.jpg|300px|thumb|Blue and red lines: Eastern Front in 1916. Brusilov offensive takes place in lower right corner.]]
The '''Brusilov offensive''' ({{langx|ru|Брусиловский прорыв}} ''Brusilovskiĭ proryv'', literally: "Brusilov's breakthrough"), also known as the '''June advance''',<ref>[http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_k/kvecinski.html Biography of one of the participants] {{in lang|ru}}</ref> or '''Battle of Galicia-Volhynia''',{{sfn|Borisyuk|2024|p=163}} of June to September 1916 was the [[Russian Empire]]'s greatest feat of arms during [[World War I]], and among the [[list of battles by casualties#Major operations|most lethal offensives in world history]]. The historian Graydon Tunstall called the Brusilov offensive the worst crisis of World War I for [[Austria-Hungary]] and the [[Triple Entente]]'s greatest victory, but it came at a tremendous loss of life.{{sfn|Tunstall|2008|pp=30–53}} It was arguably the most successful offensive in the entirety of the First World War.<ref name=":1022">{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=Encyclopedia of Russian History |publisher=Macmillan Reference |year=2004 |isbn=0-02-865693-8 |editor-last=Millar |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Millar |location=New York |pages=932, 1680 |language=en}}</ref> The victory contributed to a morale upsurge among the Russian troops. In 1917, [[Nicholas II]] planned a general offensive along the entire front in order to end the [[Central Powers]].{{sfn|Oldenburg|2022|p=614}} After the victory, the {{ill|Petrograd conference|ru|Петроградская конференция}} was held at which the post-war structure of the world was discussed.{{Sfn|Борисюк|2023|p=96}} Even despite the losses, the Russian armies were still being reinforced with new forces, the number of weapons increased, and new railways were being built.{{sfn|Gilbert|2023|p=410}}
The offensive's success led Russia's allies to reconsider their positions on postwar territorial concessions, including the status of [[Anatolia]] and the [[Bosporus|Bosphorus Strait]].{{sfn|Utkin|2002|p=324}}

The offensive involved a major Russian attack against the armies of the [[Central Powers]] on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]]. Launched on 4 June 1916, it lasted until late September. It took place in eastern [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] (present-day northwestern [[Ukraine]]), in the [[Lviv Oblast|Lviv]] and [[Volyn Oblast]]s. The offensive is named after the commander in charge of the [[Southwestern Front (Russian Empire)|Southwestern Front]] of the Imperial Russian Army, General [[Aleksei Brusilov]]. The largest and most lethal offensive of the war, the effects of the Brusilov offensive were far-reaching. It relieved German pressure on French forces at [[Battle of Verdun|Verdun]], and helped to relieve the Austro-Hungarian pressure on the [[Italian front (World War I)|Italians]]. It inflicted irreparable losses on the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]], and induced [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]] to finally enter the war on the side of the Entente. The human and material losses on the Russian side also greatly contributed to the onset of the [[Russian Revolution]] the following year.{{sfn|Tucker|2002|p=119}} It was the largest battle in [[World War I]] according to the total losses and forces of the parties.