Brock’s body was first interred at Fort George and
later removed to a monument built in his honor at
Queenstown Heights. However, in 1840, an Irishman
blew it up to protest English rule over Ireland. The mon-
ument was replaced, and it now stands at Queenstown
Heights with a statue of Brock topping it. Another me-
morial was erected at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
References: Eayrs, Hugh S., Sir Isaac Brock (Toronto: The
Macmillan Company of Canada, 1918); Read, David
Breakinridge, Life and Times of Major-General Sir Isaac
Brock (Toronto: William Briggs, 1894); Nursey, Walter
R., The Story of Isaac Brock, Hero, Defender and Saviour
of Upper Canada, 1812 (Toronto: William Briggs, 1908);
Symons, John, The Battle of Queenston Heights: Being a
Narrative of the Opening of the War of 1812, with Notices of
the Life of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K.B., and a De-
scription of the Monument Erected to his Memory (Toronto:
Thompson & Co., Printers, 1859); Brock, Sir Isaac, The
Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock,
K.B.... , edited by Ferdinand Brock Tupper. (London:
Simpkin, Marshall, 1845).
Bruce, Robert the See robert the bruce.
Brusilov, Alexei Alexseievich (1853–1926)
Russian general
Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1853, Alexei Alexseievich
Brusilov was the son of an aristocrat and received an
excellent education. He was enrolled in His Majesty’s
Imperial Corps of Pages, a regimental school for military
training in St. Petersburg founded by Russian emperor
Alexander I in 1802. After finishing his training, Brusi-
lov was sent to the Caucusus region, where he started
his career in the Russian army as a cavalry officer. In
1877, when he was just 24, he distinguished himself in
the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Although little is
known of his career after this period, he must have made
an impression on his superiors because he was promoted
steadily, reaching the rank of general in 1906.
In 1914, Europe was ripe for conflict. Serious so-
cial conditions, nationalist rebellions, belligerent lead-
ers, and an expansive arms race gave rise to the war that
became one of the deadliest in world history. Following
Russian entry into the First World War, Brusilov was
given command of the Russian Eighth Army in Galicia.
By September 1915, his troops had marched westward
and taken control of Rovno (now in the Ukraine) and
were near Lutsk (also Luck) on the Styr River (now in
Poland) on 4–6 June 1916.
On 14 April 1916, Czar Nicholas II ordered that
Brusilov replace the elderly and infirm general Nikolai
Yudovich iVanoV as commander of the combined 7th,
8th, 9th and 11th Russian divisions. It was at this time
that Brusilov pushed his idea for a major offensive against
the Austro-Hungarian army. Although the other Russian
generals disagreed and felt a more defensive posture was
a better plan for action, the czar agreed with Brusilov and
gave his permission for the movement, which became
known as the Brusilov Offensive. Its key component
was a massive drive to force the Austro-Hungarians to
move troops to meet the Russian advance, thus relieving
Italian forces in the south. The attack began on 4 June
1916: Three large Russian armies, all under Brusilov’s
command, attacked the Austro-Hungarian Fourth and
Seventh Army lines and broke through, utilizing the ele-
ment of surprise to gain important ground and capture
the key city of Lutsk. However, a second wave of at-
tack, with men under the command of General Alexei
Evert, was delayed, and Brusilov could not follow up his
apparent victory. The Germans, under General Erich
Ludendorff, pushed reinforcements toward the Russian
line, and the key Russian goal of taking the city of Kovel
was finished. The offensive ground on, but it became
a stalemate rather than a victory for either side. In the
end, the Austrians lost some 1.5 million men, with over
1.1 million dead and wounded; Russian losses were esti-
mated at nearly 500,000. Even though the Russians had
not won a clear-cut victory, the offensive had destroyed
any chance the Austro-Hungarians had to end the war in
the East quickly, and it forced the Germans to fight the
war on two fronts. Romania, having sat on the sidelines
between the two powers, entered the war on the side of
the Allies on 27 August 1916.
On 20 June 1916, an interview with Brusilov by
Stanley Washburn, correspondent for The Times of
London, appeared in that paper. In it, the Russian com-
mander noted that “the Russian success is due to the
absolute co-ordination of all the armies involved, the
carefully planned cooperation of all branches of the ser-
vice, and, most important of all, the fact that over the
whole front the attack began at the same hour.” Though
Brusilov was vain about his “successes,” his words ap-
peared to be motivating to the Russian troops:bRuSilov, Alexei AlexSeievich