Editing Brusilov offensive (section)

==Background==
Under the terms of the [[Chantilly Agreement]] of December 1915, Russia, [[French Third Republic|France]], [[History of the United Kingdom during the First World War|Britain]] and [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] committed to simultaneous attacks against the Central Powers in the summer of 1916. Russia felt reluctantly obliged to lend troops to fight in France and [[Macedonian front|Salonika]], and to attack on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]], in the hope of obtaining munitions from Britain and France.{{sfn|Stone|1998|pp=221, 252}}

In March 1916 the Russians initiated the disastrous [[Lake Naroch offensive]] in the [[Vilnius]] area, during which the Germans suffered only one-fifth as many casualties as the Russians. This offensive took place at French request – General [[Joseph Joffre]] had hoped that the [[Imperial German Army]] would transfer more units to the east after the [[Battle of Verdun]] began in February 1916.{{sfn|Keegan|2000|p=325}}

Besides the complacency felt by the Germans and Austro-Hungarians after their successful defense of Russian attacks that winter and March, the Austro-Hungarians were in the midst of implementing their plans to knock Italy out of the war. [[Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf]] had transferred [[Hermann Kövess von Kövessháza|Kövess]]' troops from the [[Balkans]] as well as four [[Division (military)|divisions]] from the Eastern Front. According to [[Prit Buttar]], "To make matters worse, many of the experienced divisions on the Eastern Front were withdrawn and sent to the Alps, and replaced by formations largely composed of new inexperienced recruits."<ref name="rlg">{{cite book |last1=Buttar |first1=Prit |title=Russia's Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916-17 |date=2017 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-4728-2489-9 |pages=132–134}}</ref>