Book Review: August 1914 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

August 1914 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is a nation that is politically on edge since a failed revolution after a humiliating military defeat, and now it declared war to defend a little nation no one cared about resulting in patriotic fervor and a ticking clock. August 1914 is the first installment of what author Alexander Solzhenitsyn planned to be a cycle of novels following the death of Imperial Russia and birth-pangs of the Soviet Union.

Given the ambitious plan that Solzhenitsyn had in mind, this book does not stand on its own while part of a greater whole. While the main storyline, the destruction of Russian Second Army at the Battle of Tannenberg, is complete and leads to a cliffhanger ending it’s the other storylines that are simply introduced for later in the series especially in view of the various 1917 revolutions and the aftershocks. That said Solzhenitsyn’s characters are interesting and those with introduced storylines would be interesting to follow in future volumes, however the “main character” of the book is Colonel Vorotyntsev whose journey among the units of Second Army essentially shows the unprepared state of the army and how the private soldiers as well as junior officers gave pride to the uniform while dying to no purpose because of the stupidity of the General Staff. While I knew the outcome of the battle and how depressing it would be to see so many soldiers that the reader would meet that I knew were going to be dead by the end of the book, Solzhenitsyn made me care and that was very well done. If I’m ever able to find the other books of this unfinished cycle I’d give my time to reading them.

August 1914 is Alexander Solzhenitsyn opening installment of a cycle of novels that detail the death of Imperial Russia and birth of the Soviet Union, it’s depressing not only because of how little chance Russian soldiers have but also because it’s Russian literature and what else can you expect.

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