Retribution. Causes of the Russian catastrophe

The book of the military writer and participant of the First World War, Petr Ivanovich Zalesky (1867 - after 1925), was published in 1925 when he was in emigration in Germany. Examining the present of Russia in connection with "its past," the author warns against the mistakes of the past and tries to indicate "…how to act correctly and what should be instead of what was." This work simultaneously serves as a historical overview and a lesson, "…extracted from long experience, justified by major events and phenomena of public life" in Russia over a long period, starting from the 9th century up to the October Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent civil war. P. I. Zalesky defines the phenomenon of the Russian catastrophe, implying by this term the revolution and its consequences, and draws cautionary conclusions.