With the Armies of the Tsar: A Nurse at the Russian Front in War and Revolution, 1914-1918

By Florence Farmborough

Book Overview

This is a compelling firsthand account of an extraordinary woman's experiences with the Russian Army in WWI. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0815410905
• ISBN13: 9780815410904
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Cooper Square Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.9" x 1.0" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

World War One historical excellence

Florence Farmborough was a gutsy and intelligent English girl teaching a couple of aristocratic Russian gals how to speak English when WWI broke out. She loved Russia and, as England was a Russian ally, she applied herself to learning nurses' training and subsequently assisting doctors in attempting to save the lives of soldiers (from both sides) on the very front of the war action where under-trained Russians endlessly battled against their better-equipped Austrian and German counterparts. The book, with its appurtenant excellent photos and maps, spun out of Farmborough's daily diary during her period all over the war front. She also spent furloughs in Moscow and in Kiev during the period, from whence she yields excellent information in regard to the ever-changing Russian political situation and the tenoned consequences of those events. The writing is excellent and precise, documenting both the progress of the war and the incredible level of misery and slaughter that transpired. This is not a "peephole" at the war -- Farmborough gives us the full perspective and I have to say, I've never read a more revealing account of WWI. Perhaps more importantly, she presents an accurate and comprehensible narrative of how the Russian Revolution by the Bolsheviks (Lenin) came about and she absolutely nails the "whys" of how the situation leapt, over a short period and in several steps, from a Tsarist dictatorship, to a short-lived democracy, to the ultimate brutal Bolshevik (Communist) regieme. In the final chapter, Farmborough tells of her "escape" by rail, over thousands of excrutiating miles of Siberian tundra, along with her fellow countrymen and other refugees, from the iron grasp of the brutal Red Communist minions. She ends her tale at the port city of Vladivostok, at the far eastern edge of Russia. Rarely have I read an historical account of any event or incident which was so revealing as is this fine work. If you have the slightest interest in either Russian history and culture, or in World War One, do not bypass this incredible piece of historical documentation. This fine work reads as smoothly as a popular novel.

Well worth every penny!

Ms. Farmborough's personal diaries (and the many photographs taken by herself and friends.) form the basis of this memoir. Which gives a riviting and often touchingly graphic portrail of life for this brittish born nurse and her colleagues in Russian Red Cross in the trenches on the Eastern Front in WWI and during the revolution the followed.Laced with equal doses of drama, tragedy, and humor it is an emensly enjoyable book. And I recommend it to anyone looking for a good page turner. And it is a must read for everyone interested in Russian and/or WWI history.