Talk:Vladimir Sukhomlinov

A fact from Vladimir Sukhomlinov appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 23 February 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Vladimir Sukhomlinov, who was the Russian Minister of War at the outbreak of WWI, was relieved of duty amid accusations of espionage on behalf of Germany?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/February.

Wikipedia

Lithuania Low‑importance

	Lithuania portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Lithuania, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Lithuania on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LithuaniaWikipedia:WikiProject LithuaniaTemplate:WikiProject LithuaniaLithuania articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Biography: Military

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the military biography work group.

Russia: History / Military Mid‑importance

	Russia portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Russia, a WikiProject dedicated to coverage of Russia on Wikipedia. To participate: Feel free to edit the article attached to this page, join up at the project page, or contribute to the project discussion.RussiaWikipedia:WikiProject RussiaTemplate:WikiProject RussiaRussia articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the history of Russia task force.
	This article is supported by the Russian, Soviet, and CIS military history task force.

Military history: Biography / Russian & Soviet / World War I

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion not met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	Military biography task force
	Russian, Soviet and CIS military history task force
	World War I task force

Untitled

This article is not completely lacking in content but I disagree with much of what there is: "In December of 1908, he became head of General Staff and, in March of 1909, Minister of War. Vladimir Sukhomlinov was responsible for the military stagnation of 1905–1912, which resulted in unpreparedness of the Russian Army at the outbreak of World War I."

Russia was much better prepared for war in 1914 than it had been in 1904, and this is due in large part to Sukhomlinov's efforts. From Nik Cornish The Russian Army 1914-1918: "The period 1910-1914 saw change on a scale unprecedented during peacetime.... Inevitably there was opposition to these reforms, which polarised into hostility between those who supported Sukhomlinov's modernization programme and the more traditionalist adherents of the Grand Duke Nicholas."

From Norman Stone The Eastern Front 1914-1917: "The impression that Sukhomlinov, and not his enemies, was the real promoter of a modern cause is strongly confirmed by the story of his army reforms." Stone acknowledges accusations against Sukhomlinov but regards them as more the product of the latter's peronsonality defects, and his unpopular opposition to investment in fortresses, than an objective view of his work.

From Bruce W. Menning's Bayonets Before Bullets: "There was no doubt that [Sukhomlinov] remained committed to building Russia's defensive and offensive military power." Further: "Thanks to Sukhomlinov's reforms, the peacetime strength of the Imperial Russian Army on the eve of World War I reached 1,423,000 officers and men."

I have no problem inserting these into the article, but I have no idea how to balance the original unsupported critique of the General with the references I have provided. I'd like to avoid weasel words, e.g. "Despite the opinions of Stone, Cornish, and Menning, some still regard Sukhomlinov as responsible for an alleged military stagnation that began three years before his promotion to head of the general staff...."

- Boris B (talk) 11:15, 1 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sukhomlinov effect

Should there be a mention of the so-called "Sukhomlinov effect"? This is the notion that in a war, the side whose generals have the fancier uniforms generally loses. Jhobson1 (talk) 11:20, 15 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]