MILITARY THOUGHT (USSR): THE BRUSILOV CASE -- HOW AN HISTORICAL ERROR WAS CORRECTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP10-00105R000202110001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 18
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 9, 1976
• Content Type: MEMO

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COUNTRYUSSR
DATE 9 J,:11;; 7 c 7
MILITARY THOUGHT (USSR): How an Historical Error Was Corrected
N
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How an Historical Error Was Corrected
by
General-Ma or A. Guskov
Colonel V. Severin
Soviet military historians before 1948 regarded A. A. Brusilov as an
outstanding military leader of World War I and a Russian patriot who
loyally embraced the Great October Socialist Revolution. The activities of
A. A. Brusilov also were positively depicted in belles-lettres and in
periodical literature.
In 1948, a change occurred in the evaluation of the activities of A.
A. Brusilov. The basis for this change was the manuscript ` Memoirs,
which is the second part of his repeatedly published book Memoirs,
supposedly written by A. A. Brusilov in 1925 during his sojourn with
members of his family in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia, to take the waters.
The manuscript was found in the archives of Hitler's Germany.
In addition to the manuscript there was a German translation of
individual parts of it done by the Second Department of the Ministry of
Affairs for the Occupied Eastern Areas of Hilter's Germany. In the
translation there is a postscript by Bettikher, the department's reviewer:
"I hope that with these brief excerpts from General Brusilov's memoirs, i
will arouse interest in this important manuscript."
The Main Archives Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
of the USSR, on the basis of this specialist's opinion alone, without
conducting other research, drew the conclusion that "the manuscript was
written by A. A. Brusilov personally and that he used his stay in Karlovy
Vary expressly in order to write this part of his Memoirs, which he had
designated be published abroad after his death.
"The Memoirs reflect his sharply anti-Soviet views and are an attempt
to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of White emigres who had accused him of
collaborating with the Soviet government.
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"He took his appointment to serve in the Red Army (1920-1924)
specifically in order to demoralize the army from within. By exploiting
his official position, he hoped to cultivate officers in the Red Army in
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order to indoctrinate it along the lines of fighting against the Soviet
regime. Brusilov's Memoirs contain slanderous attacks against the
Bolshevik Party, V. I .Lenin, the Soviet regime and the Soviet people."
In this evaluation the only thing that is indisputable is that the
manuscript r. Memoirs is actually anti-Soviet and slanderous. But, at the
same time, there has not been convincing evidence attesting that this
manuscript was written by the pen of A. A. Brusilov.
Consequently, the main problem which must be solved is to obtain
sufficiently weif,nty evidence attesting to A. A. Brusilov's relation to the
manuscript 1't, Memoirs..
Research Connected with the Manuscript Inky Memoirs
Upon attentive study of the manuscript My Memoirs in juxtaposition
with A. A. Brusilc,r's book M Memoirs, which gad been repeatedly published
by the `Military Publishing House and which the author describes events
prior to 1918, it comes to our attention that there are many places in the
manuscript written from the viewpoint of the man in the street, rather than
that of a prominent military leader, as A. A. Brusilov was. In addition to
this, in the manuscript there are allusions that it supposedly was written
by N. V. Brusilova, as dictated by A. A. Brusilov.
In connection with this, it was decided to check the correctness of
the conclusion of handwriting analysis, on the basis of which in 1948 the
conclusion was drawn that the manuscript was written by A. A. Brusilov.
Measures were taken to find handwriting samples unquestionably
belonging to A. A. Brusilov in order to check the analysis. The samples
used were: letters of A. A. Brusilov to his wife, N. V. Brusilova, which
were found in the archives; his petition to the Chairman of the All-Russian
Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counterrevolution and Sabotage about
the return of his diamond-studded saber which had been confiscated; as well
as handwriting samples of his wife N. V. Brusilova.
The following questions were posed for the analysis. Was the
manuscript My Memoirs written by Brusilov? In the text of the manuscript
there are many corrections. Among these, are there corrections made by A.
A. Brusilov? In the forward to the manuscript My Memoirs, it is stated
that A. A. Brusilov dictated his memoirs to his wife N. V. Brusilova. Did
his wife write the Memoirs? 50X1-HUM
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A three-man commission of experts concluded that the manuscript was
written by N. V. Brusilova and not A. A. Brusilov. Also, there are no
corrections, insertions or additions in the manuscript made by A. A.
Brusilov himself.
Inasmuch as this conclusion of the experts contradicted the one made
earlier, two more analyses, monitored by the commission, were performed by
other criminal institutions. These analyses also produced conclusions
affirming that the manuscript My Memoirs was not written by Brusilov, but
by his wife. The corrections in the text were not made by Brusilov,
either.
Besides handwriting analysis of the text of the manuscript ~Ty Memoirs,
the signatures of A. A. Brusilov appearing at the end of the forwar an on
the last page were also analyzed. The experts again came to the conclusion
that these signatures were not written by A. A. Brusilov. Thus, the data
of the handwriting analysis provide the basis to conclude that the
manuscript A Memoirs was written by N. V. Brusilova and not A. A.
Brusilov.
It would seem now that we should examine the reasons for the errors
made by the expert in 1948 and let the matter end here. But, such an
investigation would also be insufficient. In the forward to the manuscript
it is stated that A. A. Brusilov dictated the memoirs to his wife, and
further that the manuscript was left abroad for safekeeping when they were
in Czechoslovakia to take the waters. At that time, beginning in 1.923, the
so-called 'Russian Historical Overseas Archive", established by White
emigres with money from the bourgeois government of Czechoslovakia, was
operating in Prague. It was assumed that if the manuscript was written
abroad, then it might have been left in this archive for safekeeping. That
this supposition was correct was reinforced still further by the fact that
the archive even accepted papers for storage that were sealed.
A check showed that the inventory of material received by the archive
mentions that materials of N. V. Brusilova, nee Zhelikhovskaya, were first
received by the archive only on 25 October 1932.* Materials of A. A.
Brusilov were never received by the archive. Consequently, in 1925 neither
A. A. Brusilov nor his wife gave materials to the archive.
* N. V. Brusilova, nee Zhelikhovskaya, daughter of the children's writer
7helikhovskaya. N. V. Brusilova wrote her own Memoirs. Many of her 50X1-HUM
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Then, the following version was checked. Was the manuscript
iv Memoirs written by N. V. Brusilova as dictated by A. A. Brusilov? To
check this supposition a linguistic analysis was conducted by specialists
from the Russian-Language Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
The task set before the experts was, on the basis of a linguistic and
stylistic analysis of the manuscript My Memoirs, to draw a conclusion as to
who is the author -- A. A. Brusilov, his wife, or other persons.
On the basis of a study of the printed works and manuscripts of A. A.
Brusilov, as well as the manuscripts of his wife, a commission of experts
headed b' the well-known linguist and doctor of philological sciences S. I.
0zhegov came to the conclusion that "separate drafts written down as
dictated by A. A. Brusilov were used in preparing the manuscript
My Memoirs. The stylistic similarity between the manuscript and the book
is especially noticeable in those parts of the manuscript where facts about
his personal life are set forth, or where socio-political events are
described objectively (without any anti-Soviet bias).
"However, in many parts of the manuscript there appear places,
descriptions of people, assessments of events and so forth, which are not
characteristic of A. A. Brusilov. A comparison of these places with the
manuscript of N. V. Brusilova's Memoirs shows that they are very similar in
language and style, to the point that certain expressions and evaluations
coincide. This allows us to maintain that N. V. Brusilova, while compiling
the manuscript, inserted her own socio-political assessments and a
considerable portion of her own work, thus having violated and distorted
the characteristic 'hand' of A. A. Brusilov."
Thus, the linguistic specialists also concluded that the drafts and
individual fragments of the Memoirs which A. A. Brusilov had written were
"reworked" in an anti-Soviet vein. Somewhat later this conclusion found
confirmation in materials of the KGB held by the Council of Ministers of
the USSR, which related to 1927.
It is obvious from these materials that, after A. A. Brusilov's death,
only incomplete notes for the Memoirs remained, and that his wife actively
undertook measures to edit these materials. In one of the documents it
states: ...The late Brusilov left these manuscripts in a very rudimentary
state, in the form of individual sentences, notes, and summaries. After
Brusilov's death his widow gave this material to three people for
editing..." 50X1-HUM
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The director of this group was N. V. Brusilova herself who, in the
words of one who participated in preparing the materials, was "not a woman,
but a veritable devil in skirts." Everything had to be edited for foreign
countries in the spirit of English "diehards" and German monarchists. Upon
the successful conclusion of the entire matter Brusilova promised to pay
the participants a certain percentage of the assumed high profits. This
enticed all the partners. N. V. Brusilova bluntly told the persons who had
edited the material: "Without you idiots, I could have 'recollected'
everything which Aleksey Alekseyevich wanted to express; but I need you,
whose names are still somewhat familiar to the foreign military, to attest
that these are actually the memoirs of Aleksey Alekseyevich Trusilov..."
Thus, the data of the handwriting and linguistic analyses, and also
the available materials, attest to the fact that My Memoirs are not a
manuscript by A. A. Brusilov.
In addition to the research connected with the manuscript My Memoirs,
work was conducted to study the official activities of A. A. Brusilov an3
the attitude toward him of enemies of the Soviet regime. Special attention
was devoted to the study of his activities after the Great October
Socialist Revolution.
In the socio-political sense, A. A. Brusilov had a complex and
contradictory personality. This was determined by the environment in which
he lived and by his position within the ruling circles of Russia.
He was born on 19 August 1853, into a family of the nobility. In 1872
he finished the Corps of Pages. In May 1900 A. A. Brusilov was promoted to
the rank of general-mayor. Before World War I A. A. Brusilov, holding the
rank of general-le tenant, successively held the posts of Commander of the
14th Army Corps, sistant Commander of the Warsaw District, and Commander
of the 12th Army Corps.
As we see from the documents, at this time Brusilov devoted
considerable attention to the combat training of units of the Russian army.
As a supporter of decisive offensive actions, he regarded defense as a type
of actions he was compelled to use and recognized only aggressive defense.
Thus, not long before the war, Brusilov categorically required of the
officers of the 12th Army Corps: "Once and for all I forbid you not only
to conduct, but even to think of passive defense."*
* Central State Archives of Military History, archive 2206, inventory list
1, file 180, sheets 172-180.
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In World War I A. A. Brusilov manifested the qualities of a military
leader at his best. The most outstanding operation during the course of
the war was the famous offensive of troops of the Southwestern Front.
After successful battles in Galicia at the end of 1914 and the egg-inning of
1915, the Russian Army, for a number of reasons, began to withdraw. On 17
March 1916 A. A. Brusilov was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the
Southwestern Front. Shortly thereafter, under his leadership a plan for an
offensive was worked out and implemented. The plan was distinguished by
originality and boldness; the offensive was well prepared organizationally.
The novelty of the plan was that fortified positions were to be breached in
several sectors of the front simultaneously, in order to to dispe-se the
attention and forces of the enemy, put him in a difficult situation,
confuse him in determining the axis of the main strike, and pzevent him
from transferring reserves to the threatened sector. The breakthrough of
the enemy's front, which in literature received the name "Brusilov's
breakthrough", had considerable impact on the entire subsequent course of
events in World War I.
A. A. Brusilov constantly devoted attention to the combat training and
indoctrination of personnel of the Russian Army. He required that officers
constantly increase their military knowledge even under the difficult
conditions of a combat situation.
For evaluating the opinions of A. A. Brusilov on the training and
indoctrination of soldiers, his order No. S79 of 5 August 1915 is
characteristic. The order forbade reinforcing field units with persons who
"have not acquired at least the most elementary lmowledge of military
science."* Brusilov was an opponent of excessive forced drilling and a
supporter of intelligent discipline. He required that his chiefs recommend
the lower ranks for decorations in a timely and just manner, "while
negligent officers should by no means be recommended for any decorations
and should be assigned positions with a lower rate of pay and without the
right of promotion."`*
* Central State Archives of Military History, archive 2134, inventory list
1, file 1087, sheets 47-48, collotype facsimile of Brusilov.
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In May 1917, the Provisional Government appointed Brusilov Supreme
Commander-in-Chief. The Provisional Government needed a supreme
commander-in-chief who would fulfil unquestioningly all orders connected
with suppressing the revolutionary movement and who would not criticize the
state of affairs in the country. A. A. Brusilov was not such a man. He
saw the flaws of both the Provisional Government and of the autocracy. He
wrote about this in particular in letters to his wife. "The disorder is
really awful; there is no coal; the locomotives are poor and there are not
enough of them, the same goes for the cars; in general, the railroad system
in is total disarray. This is no wonder with the frequent changes of
ministers... Here there is general disorder of state control in all
ministries, not only in the railroad system."*
In July 1937, he was removed from the post of supreme
commander-in-chief and replaced by the double-dyed reactionary Kornilov.
After his removal Brusilov published a letter in the newspaper Birzhevyye
Vedomosti, in which he wrote: "For myself, I am seeking and asking
a so ut~ly nothing. I require only one recompense -- the truth; I think
that I have the right to wish that Russia know that I never resigned, I did
not abandon my post in a difficult moment, and.up until the last minute of
my life I would not quit the army and the Russian soldier. I am not a
deserter."**
After the Great October Socialist Revolution Brusilov did not desert
to the enemy, but remained a loyal citizen of the Soviet Republic.
In 1918 on the instructions of the Soviet Government he conducted the
disbanding of the Czarist army. In 1920 he was appointed Chairman of the
Special Commission under the Commander-in-Chief of All Armed Forces of the
Republic. In 1922 he was appointed chief inspector of the cavalry and
representative for horsebreeding and stud farming under the People's
Commission of Agriculture of the RSFSR.
On 30 May 1920, in connection with the war of the White Poles against
Soviet Russia, members of the Special Commission headed by Brusilov
published the "Appeal to All Former Officers Wherever They Might Be". In
order to strengthen the effectiveness of this appeal, the Soviet government
published a special Decree on 2 June 1920 concerning former officers who
were still on the side of the Whites. It was stated in this Decree: "All
those former officers who in one form or another help to eliminate as
quickly as possible the White Guard detachments still remaining in the
* Central State Archives of Military History, archive 162, file 17, shee*
189. 50X1-HUM
** Ibid., file 4, inventory list 16.
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Crimea, the Caucasus and Siberia, and who thus facilitate and hasten the
victory of worker-peasant Russia over the Polish gentry, will he freed of
responsibility for those acts which they carried out when they were in the
White Guard armies of Vrangel, Denikin, Kolchak, Semenov, etc."*
This appeal played an important role in mobilizing the patriotic
forces to fight against the interventionists.
Following this appeal and Decree an address was published -- "Officers
of the Armies of Baron Vrangel". This address stated: 'Whatever your
initial intentions may have been, you are now nothing other than mercenary
troops in the service of market capital and an auxiliary c:etachment of the
bloodthirsty and plundering Polish gentry, which despises the laboring
Russian people."** This address was signed by the Chairman of the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee M. I. Kalinin, Chairman of the
Council of People's Commissars V. I. Lenin, and Chairman of the Special
Commission under the Commander-in-Chief A. A. Brusilov.
Brusilov retired due to old age in 1924, but he remained in the
Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR for special assignments.
Brusilov strove to serve the Soviet regime. Even before his
appointment as Chairman of the Special Commission under the
Commander-in-Chief of All Armed Forces of the Republic, he addressed an
appeal to the Chairman of the Military History Committee about enlisting
him in the staff of co-workers who were involved in researching and
exploiting the experience of the war of 1914-1918. His request was
granted. %
Brusilov was accused of "hoping, by using his position, to cultivate
officers in the Red Army in order to indoctrinate it along the lines of
fighting against the Soviet regime..." But, the archive materials do not
show that Brusilov strove to hold a leading position in the Armed Forces of
Soviet Russia. The documents show otherwise.
* Central State Archives of Military History, archive 198, inventory list
2, file 193, sheets 19 and 19 (verso). 50X1-HUM
** Ibid., sheet 43.
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Thus, during the offensive of the White Poles against the young Soviet
Republic, A. A. Brusilov wrote, regarding the role of the Special
Commission, on 1 May 1920 about the need "to form the commission from
people with the military and life experience to discuss in detail the
present situation of Russia and the most advisable measures for delivering
us from foreign invasion."*
He did not look for ways to interfere in the operational affairs of
the troops. Specifically, in the letter mentioned he wrote: "As it seems
to me, this commission must exist under the Commander-in-Chief in order to
discuss supplying the troops with provisions, ammunition and uniforms.
Regarding operational instructions and the plan of war, in particular, the
Commission cannot under any circumstances interfere in this area."** Thus,
not aspiring to high posts or participation in operational activities, he
strove to assist the Soviet regime with his knowledge and experience.
Upon study of the available materials, no compromising data relating
to A. A. Brusilov have been found.
There also are no data regarding A. A. Brusilov in the materials of
the personal archive of Nikolai Valter, the former Chief of Intelligence of
the General Staff of the German Army.
In the course of work on the material, an investigation of persons who
knew the family of A. A. Brusilov was carried out. Olga Ivanovna
Bessonova, who was a close friend of Brusilov's family from 1918 to 1930,
said that he was loyal to the Soviet regime. To substantiate this
statement she cited a number of his views on various matters, after
pointing out that, regardless of definite material hardships during that
period, he never expressed the intention to emigrate abroad and reacted
negatively to conversations of his wife or her sister about this. On these
occasions A. A. Brusilov said that it was difficult now not only for them
but for the entire Russian people, and that he, as a Russian patriot, could
not desert his Motherland no matter how hard his life may be.
Central State Archives of the Soviet Army, archive 33988, inventory list
1, file 267, sheet 1 (verso).
** Ibid.
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0. I. Bessonova characterized N. V. Brusilova and her sister Ye. V.
Zhelikhovskaya as unbalanced women who repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction
with the material conditions of their life and the yearning to go abroad.
After A. A. Brusilov's death they were granted permisson to emigrate.
In 1930 N. V. Brusilova and her sister Ye. V. Zhelikhovskaya were
allowed to go to Czechoslovakia, where they lived out their lives. The
Czechoslovak government paid them a pension, and N. V. Brusilova was also
given a pension by the Soviet government. Until the last days of their
lives the sisters corresponded with 0. I. Bessonova.
Thus, the study of archive materials and the story of 0. I. Bessonova,
who personally knew A. A. Brusilov well, do not give any grounds to
conclude that he was disloyal to the Soviet state. Concerning the conduct
of his wife and her sister, that does not warrant comment.
Further, we should examine the question of the attitude of the enemies
of the Soviet regime towards A. A. Brusilov.
White emigres and other enemies of our Motherland tried to win A. A.
Brusilov over to their side, and when this failed, they came to hate him
with a black hatred for serving the Soviet regime and took vengeance on
him. His only son was shot by the Whites.
The newspaper Boyevaya Pravda, an organ of the political department of
the 7th Army, wrote on 20 ece Pr 1919: "In Kiev, according to the
sentence of the field court martial, Cornet Brusilov, son of the famous
Czarist general, was shot by the Whites. He commanded Red Cavalry and was
captured by the Whites in fighting near Orel."
In 1931 in Paris the White emigre Nesterovich-Berg, a bitter enemy of
the Soviet state, published her memoirs Struggle Against the Bolsheviks.
In this libel against the Great October Socialist Revolution she wrote in
regard to A. A. Brusilov: "...At a meeting (of the counterrevolutionary
committee Union of Escaped Prisoners -- author's note) it was decided to
join with officers located at that time in Moscow, carry out a military
coup, seize power and declare General Kcrnilov dictator.
"But who would lead our soldiers? And mainly, who would lead this
entire coup? They decided to appeal to General Brusilov, who was then in
Moscow. No one suspected what Brusilov would turn out to be subsequently:
a traitor... Brusilov's close acquaintance Captain Bernasovskiy, Chairman 1-HUM
of the Union Krylov, and two officers set off with me. We sat for about
50X1-HUM
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half an hour in the living room with Mrs. Brusilova... Then he entered,
dressed in a black Circassian coat, and invited us into his office. To the
explanation of the purpose of our visit he replied: You are not the first
to come to me with such a proposition, but I must tell you, as I have told
all your predecessors, that I consider this entire venture shady, and I,
General Brusilov, do not intend to head it."*
Nesterovich-Berg visited A. A. Brusilov a second time, when he was in
the hospital after being wounded by a shell fragment which had accidently
struck his home during the October armed uprisings in Moscow. At that time
Nesterovich-Berg was fulfilling a messenger role. She traveled to Dutov,
Kaledin, and Alekseyev, and from them to Moscow.
About this visit she writes: "...We went to General Brusilov, lying
in the hospital at Rudnev ...he was lying down but felt well. He said that
he had not been wounded seriously, but that the wound was not allowed to
heal on purpose so that Bolsheviks and non-Bolsheviks alike would leave him
alone. I gave him a letter sent from Novocherkassk, which proposed that
the general escape to the Don with the help of our committee.
"Brusilov read the letter through, put it under his pillow and said,
distinctly uttering each word:
-- 'I will go nowhere. It is time for us all to forget about the
tricolored banner and unite under the red one.'
This struck me like thunder.
-- 'What should I relay from you to the Don?'
-- 'Tell them what I have just told you.'
-- 'In that case, there is nothing more to be said,' I declared, and
hastened to leave.
I was downcast. My God; There, on the Don, they had urged me so to
bring Brusilov back!"**
* Nesterovich-Berg. Struggle Against the Bolsheviks, Paris, 1931, pp.
23-24.
** Ibid., pp. 43-44.
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The attempts of enemies of the Soviet regime to win A. A. Brusilov
over to their camp were unsuccessful. However, they did not leave him
alone. German intelligence with the assistance of White emigres decided to
use the name of A. A. Brusilov for purposes of political sabotage against
the young workers' state.
In 1920-1921 the Soviet government conducted trade negotiations with
the British government. These negotiations were one of the most important
stages in the struggle of the Soviet state for peace and the assurance of
favorable conditions in order to successfully reconstruct the national
economy, which had been exhausted by the wars, and prepare conditions for
the building of socialism. The Soviet government strove to emerge from
diplomatic isolation and the blockade organized by the Western powers
during the years of civil war and foreign intervention, and to establish
normal diplomatic and economic relations with the capitalist countries.
V. I. Lenin, addressing a faction of the Russian Communist Party
(Bolshevik) of the Eighth Congress of Soviets on 21 December 1920 pointed
out: "Our goal now is to obtain a trade agreement with England in order to
begin trading more properly, so that we can buy as quickly as possible the
machinery necessary for our extensive plan for reconstructing the national
economy. The sooner we do this, the larger foundations we will have for
economic independence from the capitalist countries." (Works, vol. 31, p.
442).
The negotiations progressed very slowly. England openly avoided
ratifying the commitments agreed upon in June-July 1920. At the end of
1920 the Soviet government had to recall its delegation from London
temporarily. But, not only Soviet Russia but also the industrial circles
of England, which were in need of a market, were interested in the
Anglo-Soviet trade agreement.
On 4 February 1921, the Soviet delegation returned to London and
negotiations were resumed.
Germany also did not want to lose the Russian market or to have a
major competitor such as England in it. On 28 January 1921, the Latvian
General Consul in Berlin, Shvede, informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Latvia that on 26 January a meeting had been held in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Germany about developing trade relations between Germany
and Latvia. He wrote that a desire for German trade and industrial
relations with Latvia had been expressed at the meeting, since "Germany 50X1-HUM
fears nothing so much as being left out, that is, being late in taking
50X1-HUM
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50X1-HUM
positions from which it could begin the conquest of Russia by peaceful
means."* Not only political figures and diplomats, but also intelligence,
were involved in fulfilling this task.
German intelligence with the assistance of leading figures from among
the White emigres strove to exert its influence also on the course of
Soviet-British negotiations. For this purpose they falsified a "Plan for
Preparing for the March of Soviet Troops into India". The authorship of
this "report", supposedly compiled at a meeting of the Council of People's
Commissars of the RSFSR, was attributed by intelligence to A. A. Brusilov.
This plan was legitimatized, apparently, through a Ukrainian
bourgeois-nationalist newspaper.
On 1 July 1921 the Polish military attache in Paris in report No.
5091/731 informed the Second Department of the General Staff of the Polish
Armed Forces: "...Brusilov's report, which was attached to my report No.
3535/542 of 14 May of this year, is a forgery. I discovered this with the
help of two different persons. It was compiled in Berlin by a reactionary
Russian (monarchist emigre) group working together with the Germans, and
was disseminated as an intercepted Bolshevik radio broadcast. In Berlin
members of the right wing gave this document to the Ukrainian Smeltotskiy
for publication in the press, which, in all probability, was reported in
the Ukrainian press."**
When evaluating the Anglo-Soviet agreement, V. I. Lenin pointed out:
"Only now have we concluded a trade agreement with England which has
world-wide significance, only now has England been forced to enter into
trade relations with us." (vol. 32, p. 267). ?
We must assume that the imperialist circles of Germany, which attached
great importance to measures for preventing an Anglo-Soviet trade
agreement, strove to use the most reliable means to do this. And, they
selected the name of A. A. Brusilov for this high-stakes game.
Consequently, they could not but believe that he sincerely served the
Soviet regime, and that the Soviet government trusted him.
* Historical-Diplomatic Archive, archive 38g, inventory list 2, file 12.
** Special Archive of the Main Archives Administration, archive of the
Second Department of the General Staff of Poland.
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This circumstance also is not without interest. When Brusilov was in
Karlovy Vary with members of his family to take the waters, the President
of bourgeois Czechoslovakia, Masaryk, offered him every courtesy, but at
the same time appointed police agent Vimper to look after him.
Judging from the materials available in the archive of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the USSR, A. A. Brusilov conducted himself with dignity
and strove to be of benefit to the Soviet state when he was in
Czechoslovakia. The plenipotentiary representative of the Soviet Union in
Czechoslovakia, Antonov-Ovseyenko, in his report of 9 July 1925, No. 213/s,
to the People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR and the
People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs wrote: "According to our
information, Brusilov made a very good impression on Masaryk and won the
President over to us."*
It is extremely interesting how representatives of the international
workers' movement appraised the role of A. A. Brusilov in organizing forces
for the struggle against Polish intervention. At that time in Moscow there
was a delegation of Italian socialists. The Polish embassy in Switzerland
wrote on 10 June 1920 in report No. 2285/20, to the Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Poland, "On Italian Socialists and International
Propaganda Against Poland": "...the Italians are propagandizing that one
should not rejoice at the successes of the Poles. In Moscow, decisive
measures are being taken to counteract these successes. Brusilov sincerely
serves the Soviet government and now is conducting the preparation for all
operations himself."**
A. A. Brusilov died on 17 March 1926 in Moscow. He was buried in
Novodevichiy Cemetery with full military honors.
On 18 March 1926 an obituary "In memory of A. A. Brusilov" was
published in Pravda. In the obituary it said: "...After the October
Revolution A.A. Brusilov remained a loyal citizen of the Soviet Republic.
He did not go over to the side of the enemies of the worker-peasant regime.
On the contrary, during the terrible time of the attack of the White Poles
he raised his voice and addressed the people with a request and passionate
appeal to help the Red Army repulse the enemy." The leadership of the
armed forces of the country acknowledged the services of A. A. Brusilov and
favorably evaluated his activities. All this taken together allows us to
draw the following conclusions.
* Foreign Policy Archives of the USSR, archive 1038a, shelf 105, file 167,
sheet 1. 50X1-HUM
** Special Archive of the Main Archives Administration, archive of the
Second Department of the General Staff of Poland.
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Brusilov did not leave behind any kind of finished memoirs manuscript
relating to the Soviet period. There were only separate rough drafts and
incomplete notes, which did not have an anti-Soviet slant. Several years
after his death, they were compiled into the manuscript Memoirs by other
persons, with the direct participation of his wife. It was these people
who gave the anti-Soviet slant to the memoirs.
Brusilov was, undoubtedly, a progressive military figure and a Russian
patriot. While belonging to the highest strata of the old social order and
occupying high posts in the army, after the Great October Socialist
Revolution he did not stay in the enemy's camp, but joined the side of the
Soviet regime and participated in mobilizing the armed forces to fight
against the forces of the interventionists and counterrevolution.
How can we explain the error made in 1948 regarding the assessment of
the activity of A. A. Brusilov in the Soviet period?
First of all, it can be explained because the activity of A. A.
Brusilov was assessed only on the basis of the manuscript Memoirs, the
origin of which has not been established with sufficient authenticity.
Handwriting analysis of the manuscript was performed without the
necessary material for comparison. The entire manuscript was not presented
for investigation, but only the first and last pages. The handwriting
samples of A. A. Brusilov which were collected were limited to brief texts.
Samples of N. V. Brusilova's handwriting were not provided at all. In
addition to this, the possibilities of linguistic analysis, archive
materials, and the testimony of people who had known A. A. Brusilov and his
family, were not utilized.
All this led to the erroneous conclusion that the manuscript was
written by A. A. Brusilov himself.
In the history of our Motherland, A. A. Brusilov should be given a 50X1-HUM
place worthy of his service to the people.
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