This book describes the collapse of the Russian Empire during World War One. Drawing material from nine different archives and hundreds of publicized sources, this study ties together state failure, military violence, and decolonization in a single story. The volume moves chronologically from the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 through the fierce battles and massive human dislocations of 1914-17. Imperial Apocalypse is the first major study which treats the demise of the empire as part of the twentieth-century phenomenon of modern decolonization, and it provides an account of military activity and political change throughout this turbulent period of war and revolution.

The outbreak of war and the transformation of the borderlands -- The front migrates -- Remobilizing the military : combat innovation, POWs, and forced labor -- Remobilizing society : nurses, doctors, and social control -- Revolution -- Decolonization -- Conclusion : imperial apocalypse.