DOCUMENT 8 “Breakdown of Discipline on the Front"
M. V. Alekseev, General Alekseev to War Minister Guchkov. April 16, 1917
The situation in the army grows worse every day: information coming in from all sides indicates that the army is
systematically falling apart.
(1) Desertions continue unabated: in the armies of the Northern and Western fronts between April 1 and 7, 7,688 soldiers
are reported as deserters ... a number manifestly and considerably underestimated ...
(2) Discipline declines with each passing day; those guilty of violating military duty are completely indifferent to possible
criminal punishments, convinced of the extreme unlikelihood of enforcement.
(3) The authority of officers and commanders has collapsed and cannot be restored by present methods. Owing to
undeserved humiliations and assaults, the de facto removal of their authority over subordinates, and the surrender of such
control to soldiers' committees ... the morale of the officer corps has sunk to a new low.
(4) A pacifist mood has developed in the ranks. Among the soldier mass, not only is the idea of offensive operations
rejected, but even preparations for such, on which basis major violations of discipline have occurred ...
(5) Defeatist literature and propaganda has built itself a firm nest in the army. This propaganda comes from two sides -
from the enemy and from the rear ... and obviously stems from the same source.
8. According to this document, how did World War I cause the Russian Revolution?