Russian Counterattack

The Prussian Army's attempt to open up the situation on the southwestern front did not affect the Tsarist Government's strategic arrangements. Marshal Ivanov continued with the previous strategy.

In a war involving over a million participants, gains and losses on local battlefields were no longer all that important.

As long as the southwestern front had not collapsed completely, it remained within the Tsarist Government's acceptable limits. They now had a more important target—Smolensk.

No matter how thoroughly the Prussian Army had prepared, war always meant people would die.

Smolensk had become a meat grinder. At least a thousand men fell every day. Such brutal casualties were a grueling test for both the Russian Army and the Prussian Army.

After one month of war, the Russian Army had already suffered more than a hundred thousand casualties in the struggle for Smolensk. The defending Prussian Army had gained little advantage either, with casualties exceeding seventy thousand.

Half of those were either dead or crippled, permanently removed from the battlefield. It could be said that both Prussia and Russia had suffered devastating losses.

The cold figures in the reports did not shake Marshal Ivanov's resolve. Instead, they only strengthened his earlier judgment.

A war of attrition was the cruelest kind of war, but also the surest. If things continued as they were, Russia certainly would not be the first to fail to hold on.

Marshal Ivanov's acceptance did not mean everyone else could accept it as well. The heavy casualties still sparked doubts within the Tsarist Government.

Winter Palace, at a meeting of the government's senior officials.

Minister of Internal Affairs Mikhail was the first to strike. "Marshal, it has only been a little over a month since the war began, yet we have already suffered more than a hundred thousand casualties, while