Russian Army (1917)

The Provisional Government shared power with the Petrograd Soviet, which issued Order No. 1 to the military garrison of Petrograd.^[2] When it reached the front lines it was misinterpreted to mean that soldiers no longer had to follow orders from officers and could elect their own commanders. The Soviet later clarified that military discipline had to be maintained, but the order began a decline in discipline and army effectiveness over the course of 1917. Still, the army remained intact and the majority of troops stayed at the front lines, with rear-echelon units in the Russian interior being more affected by revolutionary sentiment.^[3][4][5][6]


Order No. 1 changed the relationship between officer corps and the ordinary soldiers, with the cooperation of elected soldiers' committees becoming necessary for army operations. The Russian Army was still capable of launching an offensive in July [O.S. June] 1917, though it was defeated and reversed despite some initial success. The Provisional Government had promised to continue Russia's obligations to its Western allies in the Triple Entente. After the failure of the offensive, and despite the political machinations in Petrograd, the army was still an effective force at the front, though it was unwilling to go on the attack.^[6][7]


The Bolsheviks began taking control of the army in November 1917, after the October Revolution, and abolished the officer corps in December 1917. This began the process of disintegration, but the army did not cease existing at the front until February 1918, when negotiations between Germany and the Bolsheviks broke down. The Germans did not start transferring divisions from the Eastern Front to the west until the Bolsheviks agreed to an armistice in late 1917.^[7] The Bolsheviks still wanted to maintain the Russian Army at the front while talks with Germany were ongoing, and the army was formally demobilized when the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in March 1918.^[8]