The First World War bleeds the Russian Empire to collapse
Roughly 1.7 million Russian soldiers die and the strain breaks the monarchy
Quick facts
- Russia enters the war
- August 1914
- Soldiers killed
- Approx. 1.7 million (estimate)
- Prisoners of war
- Approx. 3 million
- War ends for Russia
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918
What happened
Russia entered the First World War in August 1914 in support of Serbia against Austria-Hungary, opening an Eastern Front that ran from the Baltic to the Black Sea and saw greater movement and higher casualties than the trench stalemate in the west. An early invasion of East Prussia ended in disaster at Tannenberg in September 1914, and while Russia had more success against Austria-Hungary, the war's total toll was catastrophic: out of roughly 16 million soldiers mobilized, about 1.7 million were killed, alongside 3 million taken prisoner and 1.1 million left disabled, plus 6 million refugees. By 1917, food shortages and military strain triggered the February Revolution that forced Nicholas II to abdicate.
Why it matters
Russia's WWI losses catalyzed the political fracture that produced the two revolutions of 1917. The Bolsheviks, once in power, ended Russia's participation in the war outright through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, trading enormous territorial losses for an exit from a war the old regime could no longer sustain.
How we know
Wartime Russian military and government records, cross-checked by later demographic historians, provide these casualty estimates, though the true figures remain uncertain given wartime record-keeping gaps and the chaos of the following civil war.
Sources
- Alexandre Sumpf, 1914-1918-Online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War. War Losses (Russian Empire) · General sourceencyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Imperial War Museums. The Eastern Front in the First World War · Reputable sourceiwm.org.uk · The domain "iwm.org.uk" is on our Reputable source registry.
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Related timelines
- World War I → · See the dedicated World War I timeline for the full Eastern Front campaign alongside the Western Front and the war's global course.