This unique study sheds light on the General Staff, the most important military institution in Putin's Russia
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 shed light on the importance of understanding the Russian military, but also revealed how understudied and misunderstood it is. In The Russian General Staff, Oscar Jonsson analyzes and explains the role of the Russian General Staff—the brain of the Russian military. By understanding the functioning of the military's leadership and its relation to policy, the reasons for Russia's poor performance in the war become clear.
The Russian General Staff provides an anatomy of this institution and its three core functions: developing military theory, commanding the Armed Forces, and itself playing the role of a political actor. Jonsson's analysis is rooted in over a dozen years of research, fieldwork, and interviews on the Russian military. Moreover, he provides an empirical investigation into all recent Russian wars, from the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979 to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Getting a better grasp of the Russian military's machinery is critical for both scholars and practitioners to better explain and manage the threats other nations face from Russia. This book is pertinent for all defense universities and courses in Russian area studies and security studies, which will benefit from its unique contribution to Russian military studies.
Reviews
"How Russia thinks about and wages war is one of the most important questions of our time. Jonsson has written an authoritative and comprehensive study of Russia's General Staff. His assessment of its roles in terms of military command and how the Russian armed forces think about war—and how this has evolved since 2022—make it essential reading for everyone interested in how Moscow makes strategy, how the Russian armed forces work, and what this all means for Euro-Atlantic security."—Andrew Monaghan, author, Blitzkrieg and the Russian Art of War
"Jonsson deftly explores the disconnect between theory and practice in Russia's exercise of military power. The book helps us understand why Russia can get war as a political decision so badly wrong despite endless study of how to fight it right."—Keir Giles, former senior consulting fellow, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House
About the Author
Oscar Jonsson is director of Phronesis Analysis, senior associate fellow at the NATO Defense College, and associate senior lecturer at the Swedish Defence University. He is the author of three books, including The Russian Understanding of War, and he received a PhD from the Department of War Studies at King's College London.
