Front (Russian)

On mobilisation in 1914 the Russians divided their forces in Europe into two fronts: the North-Western, against the Germans in East Prussia and the Kingdom of Poland, and the South-Western, against Austria-Hungary in Galicia. Each was led by a commander-in-chief of the front's armies, answering to the Stavka, the supreme commander's headquarters. A front usually had three to five armies.

In August 1915, during the Great Retreat from the Polish lands, the North-Western Front was split into the Northern and Western Fronts. The Romanian Front, which also took in the remnants of the Romanian army, was formed at the end of 1916, and the Caucasus Front was created from the Caucasus Army in spring 1917. The fronts lasted until the Russian army disintegrated after the revolution. In this sense a front is not a line of battle or a theatre of war, like the Western Front in France, but a specific command.