The Grand Duke. Nicholas of -Russia, the uncle of the
Tsar, whose death at the age of seventy-two we regret to record,' will be remembered in: history as having com-, mandecl the. Rtissian Army during the first two years of the War. He had justly won a reputation as one of the. few military reformers, and although not much is known. in detail of the causes of the Russian reverses on the Eastern front, they were in the main due to a bad Staff system. (for which .the Grand Duke had no responsibility as it had been imposed upon him) and to a lack of sup-. plies and ammunition. He was the victim of a regime: of cynical self-seeking and profiteering. What he could do to counteract these influences by energy and by an honourable personal example -he, certainly did. When the Tsar took over the command of the Russian. Army in person, the Grand Duke was sent to command the Army of the Caucasus, where he .conducted a successful campaign. The last official decree of the Tsar in March,' 1917, was to reinstate him as Commander-in-Chief' but the appointment was cancelled by the revolutionaries, within twenty-four hours. Since the ReYolution the. Grand Duke had lived in Fiance, enduring poverty 'and • content with obscurity.
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