Rotation of Elites: Military Time

Soon we’ll celebrate the 100th anniversary from the end of the First World War. To a large extent this war is still considered as a political, not a historical event, but it is already far enough in the past and can become the subject of an impartial research. In the present situation, of particular interest are the details of unleashing the war and specifics of its institutionalization, that is, its turning into a bloody conflict for years, the cost of which — in human lives, in money terms, and in social deformations — has repeatedly exceeded the value of disputed territories and assets. The authors are interested in a slightly different problem, though closely related to the above-mentioned: mechanisms of changing military and political leaders who demonstrated their inadequacy in wartime conditions.