German Perceptions of Military Culture in Tsarist Russia

• In Event: Military Cultures in Eastern Europe: A Reflection of Historical Memory.

Abstract

German military attachés, military plenipotentiaries, politicians and envoys at the Tsar's court served their own political leadership as informants and analysts of the enemy armies from a German perspective. Combining representative, consular and intelligence functions, they provided their government with comparative-critical assessments of the leadership culture, combat value, tactical doctrines, development trends and weaknesses of the Russian armed forces as an expression of experience and memory of earlier wars as well as of persisting traditional power relations between social classes in imperial Russia.

Author

• Luisa Eckert, Bundeswehr Centre of Military History and Social Sciences (Germany)