The Revolutionary Russian Army and Romania, 1917

Abstract

The growth of

the  revolutionary movement in the ranks of the Russian army on the Romanian front in 1917 has attracted the attention of a number of Soviet historians. M.M. Gitsiu, Deiatel 'nost' soldatskikh sovetov i komitetov na rumynskom fronte i v Moldavii v 1917 g. (Kishinev, 1985), concentrates on the soldier's organizations and the growth of Bolshevik influence among them. E.N. Istrati, Demokraticheskoe dvizhenie za mir na rumynskom fronte v. 1917 gody (Kishinev, 1973), has a broader perspective emphasizing the question of war or peace. M.S. Frenkin, Revoliutsionnoe dvizhenie na rumynskom fronte 1917 g. - mart  1918 (Moscow, 1965), is the best of this genre but despite the title, covers only one of four Russian armies attached to the Romanian front, and the one which was not on Romanian soil. Frenkin's second book, Russkaia armiia i revoliutsiia  1917-1918 (Munich, 1978), written after his emigration to Israel, is a welcome corrective to all Soviet accounts, including his earlier one. But in covering all four fronts, Frenkin devotes limited attention to the Romanian. By far the best general survey of the impact of the Revolution at the front is Allan Wildman, The End of the Russian Imperial Army, 2 vols. (Princeton, 1980, 1987), which is distinguished by balance and insight. However, neither Wildman nor the others mentioned deal with the Romanian response to Russian revolutionary agitation or with Russo-Romanian relations.