Great Retreat (Russia)

Great Retreat
Part of the Eastern Front of World War I
Russian withdrawal in 1915.
Date 13 July – 19 September 1915 Location Galicia and Lodomeria, Congress Poland and Western Krai Result Central Powers victory Territorial changes Central Powers capture Congress Poland and most of Galicia, Lithuania and Courland and Semigallia Establishment of the Government General of Warsaw by Germany Establishment of the Military General Government of Lublin by Austria-Hungary Establishment of the Kingdom of Poland in 1917
Belligerents
German Empire Polish Legion  Austria-Hungary	Russian Empire Congress Poland
Commanders and leaders
Wilhelm II Erich von Falkenhayn Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff August von Mackensen Prince Leopold of Bavaria Franz Joseph I Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf Arthur Arz von Straußenburg Józef Piłsudski	Nicholas II Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhail Alekseyev Pavel Yengalychev Nikolai Ivanov Aleksei Brusilov
Strength
Initially: Central Powers 2,411,353 men[1] Including: 1,165,352 Germans[2]	Initially: 2,975,695 men[1]
Casualties and losses
13 July – 28 August 1915: 358,634 KIA, MIA, WIA[3] lost:[4] 38 machine guns 203 guns German Empire: 239,975 KIA, MIA, WIA Austria-Hungary: 118,659 KIA, MIA, WIA	13 July – 28 August 1915: Total: 1,005,911 [3] 96,820 KIA 429,742 WIA 479,349 MIA lost: [4] 1,115 machine guns 3,205 guns

The Great Retreat was a strategic withdrawal and evacuation on the Eastern Front of World War I in 1915. The Imperial Russian Army gave up the salient in Galicia and the Polish Congress Kingdom. The Russian Empire's critically under-equipped military suffered great losses in the Central Powers' July–September summer offensive operations, which led to the Stavka ordering a withdrawal to shorten the front lines and avoid the potential encirclement of large Russian forces in the salient. While the withdrawal itself was relatively well-conducted, it was a severe blow to Russian morale.