This excellent history would be my first recommendation for anyone who would like to understand the Russian experience during this period; it is solid, packed with information, excellent profiles of the key people and makes one wonder how the Russian army held out and together for such as long time in the face of command stupidity, poor planning, lack of food, weapons, and munitions.  The key to any positive found in the book, is due primarily due to the Russian peasant who made up over 90% of the population as well as the army.  Largely illiterate and use to generations of abuse and misuse, millions of men lived in conditions that were primitive and faced death with a steel determination that few modern armies could copy.