“ His pronounced gifts and energy ensured his promotion. In 1916 he was commander of an army, and at the end of 1916, during Gen. Alexeiev’s illness, he fulfilled the duties of chief of staff to the supreme commander-in-chief. Later, after the revolution, he was deprived of his appointment as commander-in-chief by Kerensky, owing both to his objections to risking an offensive with the army in its then condition of ferment and to his outspoken opinions as to the causes of this condition. ”