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The Military Reforms of Nicholas I: The Origins of the Modern Russian Army. By Frederick W. Kagan. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. ISBN 0-- 312-21928-8. Archival sources. Notes. Index. Pp. xii, 337. $49.95.
The image of Nicholas I, Tsar of Russia 1825-55, as a "world-renowned martinet" and a "drillmaster" undergoes critical scrutiny in this admirably researched and solidly reasoned book, the first devoted to this topic, by Frederick W. Kagan, assistant professor of military history at West Point. Kagan shows that Nicholas inherited from his brother, Alexander I, a military administration near collapse and a state near bankruptcy. Nicholas addressed these interrelated problems in strict secrecy based on his perception of them at the time and of the best means for their solution, given policy constraints.