The second great battlefront of World War I was on German/s eastern border. There the armies of the three great empires - Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary - clashed in a series of titanic struggles which were to change the face of Europe forever. It was a war of movement, with sweeping offensives, involving millions of men, ebbing and flowing around isolated fortresses. Despite massive bloodshed, the huge Russian army held out until a popular uprising deposed Nicholas II, and the Germans and Austrians finally achieved victory. Russia collapsed into turmoil, but the end of the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires followed soon afterwards.
—W A Mckibben