Who's Who - Dmitry Shuvaev
Dmitry Savelich Shuvaev (1854-1937)
served as Russia's Minister of War from March 1916 to January 1917 during
World War One.
A serving member of the Russian army, Shuvaev's background was primarily in staff positions with an emphasis on logistics. He therefore proved well-suited to his appointment in 1909 as the army's Quartermaster General, serving in this capacity until the close of 1915, when he was transferred to the battlefield in the same capacity.
Aside from its notoriously inefficient system of communications Tsar Nicholas II's army suffered a corollary in its management of supplies: armies in the field were often without key supplies such as food and armaments, despite the fact that such items were often available awaiting shipment.
March 1916 brought Shuvaev promotion as Minister of War, replacing Polivanov, ostensibly to address the above difficulties. Shuvaev was handicapped from the start however. His proven logistical expertise was rendered nought when set against the baleful influence of the Tsarina Alexandra, who took against the new Minister from the very first.
Without political influence therefore - and the Tsarina ensured he lacked this crucial aspect of his new role - his impact on the supply problem was negligible. His willingness to work with the Duma (for a change) found adamant opposition at the royal court. His eventual dismissal in January 1917 was therefore predictable.
One of relatively few senior officers to escape imprisonment, exile or execution at the hands of the Bolsheviks, Shuvaev subsequently played a role in the education of the newly-formed Red Army.
He died in 1937.
'Kitchener's Army' comprised Men recruited into the British Army a result of Lord Kitchener's appeal for volunteers.
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