Part 3: Chapter 21 Summary and Analysis

The Tsar wanted to command the army himself once the war began but his ministers advised against it. The field headquarters was at a camp called Stavka that was along the Polish railway with the supreme command headed by Grand Duke Nicholas. This was the Russian headquarters for World War I until the Tsar's abdication. Moreover, it was where the British military attaché, General Sir John Hanbury-Williams, to Petrogad was based. The Emperor Nicholas II visited these headquarters but left the commanding to the Grand Duke.

In November 1914, Nicholas went to visit troops who were fighting in the Caucasus and in fall of 1915, he brought Alexis to live with him at the headquarters. Nicholas hoped that the eleven year old would help bolster troop morale and also that the experience would be educational for the future heir. He himself...