August 1914 ~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn

August 1914 ~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Small paperback novel
Plastic protective cover
Very good condition

A sweeping historical novel that opens his ambitious Red Wheel cycle, chronicling Russias descent into revolution. Set during the early days of World War I, it centers on Colonel Georgii Vorotyntsev, a General Staff officer dispatched to assess the crumbling Russian Second Army under General Samsonov. As the Battle of Tannenberg unfolds, Vorotyntsev witnesses firsthand the chaos, miscommunication, and tragic incompetence that lead to Russias devastating defeat. The novel interweaves battlefield drama with philosophical reflections, political intrigue, and personal disillusionment, including the haunting suicide of Samsonov and the assassination of reformist Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin. Solzhenitsyn blends fiction with historiography, portraying the collapse of Tsarist Russia as both a military failure and a moral reckoning, foreshadowing the revolutionary upheaval to come.