Background
Under the terms of the Chantilly Agreement of December 1915 Russia, France, Britain and Italy were committed to simultaneous attacks against the Central Powers in the summer of 1916. Russia felt the need to lend troops to fight in France and Salonika (against her own wishes), and to attack on the Eastern Front, in the hope of obtaining munitions from Britain and France. The Russians also initiated the disastrous Lake Naroch Offensive in the Vilno area, during which the Germans suffered only one-fifth as many casualties as the Russians, which was launched at French request, in the hope that the Germans would transfer more units to the East after their attack on Verdun. Gen. Aleksei Brusilov presented his plan to Stavka, the Russian high command, proposing a massive offensive by his Southwestern Front against the Austro-Hungarian forces in Galicia. The main purpose of Brusilov's operation was to take some of the pressure off French and British armies in France and the Italian Army along the Isonzo Front and, if possible, to knock Austria-Hungary out of the war.
Read more about this topic: Brusilov Offensive
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