This book has long been on my reading list. McMeekin's thesis paints the Russian Empire in a much worse light morally (ruthlessly self-interested instigator vs. puppet of foreign imperialists), but in a much better one as pertains to its leaders' strategic & diplomatic acumen.
McMeekin's The Russian Revolution is my go-to recommendation on the subject. In terms of assumptions overturned, is 2nd only to Tooze's The Wages of Destruction (amongst history books I've read in past ~5 years), and that's even though far from all its takes were novel to me.
Come to think of it, the WW1 history book I most want to read is one about Russia's war effort from economics perspective. Suspect there's many myths in this area, e.g. much made of early shell shortages, but by late 1916
monthly Russian shell production equalled USSR's in 1942.
monthly Russian shell production equalled USSR's in 1942.
And Russia - like Germany in WW2 - continued with large fixed capital investment programs, starting construction on 6 automobile factories in 1916. Obv, almost none of this came online in time to make an impact. But no revolutions, & Germany wouldn't be in a good place come 1918.
