Download or read book Drafting the Russian Nation written by Joshua A. Sanborn and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The process of nation-building set in motion by military reformers culminated in World War I, when ethnically diverse conscripts fought together in total war to preserve their national territory. In the ensuing Civil War, the army's effort was directed mainly toward killing the political opposition within the "nation." While these complex conflicts enabled the Bolsheviks to rise to power, the massive violence of war even more fundamentally constituted national political life.".