Imperial Russian Field Uniforms and Equipment 1907-1917

Excellent book. The book isn’t heavy due to the high quality pages. The images are sharp. The information is diverse and well thought out. It is a must have for military enthusiasts.

GOOD

Excellent book but poorly packaged for shipping- dumped in an oversized box with zero padding so the cover was all beat up when I got it. Fail.

IMPERIAL RUSSIAN FIELD UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENT, 1907-1917JOHAN SOMERSSCHIFFER PUBLISHING, 2010HARDCOVER, $89.99, 354 PAGES, PHOTOGRAPHS, CHARTS, TABLES, MAPSArguably the most influential effect of World War I was the abdication of Czar Nicholas II, which not only removed from power one of the world's oldest dynasties, but introduced to power a political philosophy which had the most profound effect upon the remainder of the 20th Century. According to the authors of The Russian Army, 1914 To 1917, Nik Cornish and Andrei Karachtchouk write that "The Russian Imperial Army of the First World War had for decades suffered an image problem compounded by politics, secrecy, and ignorance. The memoirs of those commanders who survived to write them often tend to be aologist or self-seeking. Russia's withdrawal from the war is blamed upon politicians of varying shades of opinion." But in spite of this, the individual Russian soldier still exhibited those characteristics which were evident in the wars of the previous century: resolution, endurance, and loyalty. It was the resulting inepititude of higher leadership which caused the immense losses which would lead inevitably towards the eventual collapse of morale,the disintegration of the army, and revolt. The immense territory of the Russian empire provided a resource of manpower superior to that of all other combatants. In 1911-1912, it was estimated that the fit male population of military age numbered in excess of 26 million, although the number of different nationalities within the empire, the difficulty of supply, and the vast distances which had to be travelled to reach the area of operations to some degree megated the numerical superiority. During World War One, the total mobilization was about 12 million, with probably more then 6.5 million casualties (1.7 million dead and close to 2 million civilian dead); of combatant troops, the maximum on the Eastern Front was probably about 2,240,000 in late May, 1916. The Russian soldier exhibited those characteristics which were evident in the wars of the previous century: resolution, endurance, and loyalty; but the ineptitude of higher leadership, resulting in immense losses, led inevitably towards the eventual collapse of morale, disintegration of the army, and revolt. So enormous were the early losses, that General Alexei A. Brusilov (probably the best Russian commander of the war) noted that after a year's combat the trained, regular army had almost ceased to exist,and had been replaced by dunces. In IMPERIAL RUSSIAN FIELD UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENT, 1907-1917, author Johan Somers provides a detailed look into the wide range of uniforms, weapons, and field equipment used by the Russian Imperial Army between 1907 and 1917. Information on Russian uniforms and equipment is scarce, and many valuable sources are only available in Russian or other foreign languages. This excellant book gives the reader the variety and romance of the Imperial Russian Army's uniforms-both enlisted and officer: infantry and cavalry, Guards and Line, Cossacks, artillery, and militia and volunteer troops. They are all splendidly captured here in over 800 rare period photographs and superb color photographs of a wide range of artifacts from both private and museum collections. Further enhancing this book are chapters on the Russian alphabet and shoulder strap insignia, numbers, and ciphers. Published just in time for the upcoming centennial of World War One in 2014, IMPERIAL RUSSIAN FIELD UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENT, 1907-1917, will be the standard by which all other books on this subject will be judged.Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida GuardOrlando, Florida

The book itself is fantastic has very good research great photographs in colour and black and white.

Light on the uniforms and too heavy on the equipment.

I buy a lot of books.This is the most expensive book I have ever bought but it was worth every penny.There is no better publication on this subject.It is without equal.On a few pages (p.201+ ) some shoulder-board illustrations have been either "flipped" or "mirrored" at the design/layout stage.In any book, especially at this price this error should have been picked up by the editor or proof reader.Imperial Russian books in English are very hard to find.This very heavy book (2.5kg or 5.5 lbs) is a must for anyone with an interest in WW1 Eastern Front.

The best book what you can bossibly find about imperial russian uniform and qeuipment. Good folor photos and lots of usefull information . I recommend this book for collectors