2. Brusilov, 1916 (1.6 million casualties)
The Brusilov Offensive, the battle took place between June and August of 1916, this offensive was a major success for the Russians, who had until then mostly suffered large defeats. In February of 1916, the French city of Verdun was attacked by the German forces, other Allied forces joined hands to divert the Germans towards other areas, allowing Verdun to recover. While the British set up their own attacks along the Somme River, the Russians proved extremely battle efficient, and attacked the German forces at Lake Narocz. However, the Russians were highly unsuccessful in this attempt, which resulted in slaughtering of the Russian troops by the German forces. A subsequent attack was planned near Vilna and, while this was put into action, General Alexei Brusilov, an experienced cavalryman and an efficient commander of the Southwestern Army, attempted to convince his superiors to let his forces launch an attack on the Germans. His wish was granted, and thusly Brusilov led his offensive attacks on the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army, defeating them completely. The offensive was so severe with about 1.6 million casualties, that the German forces were forced to withdraw their own plans for future attacks, and instead had to rush to help their newly made Central Powers ally, the Austro-Hungarians. Finally, with Russian resources beginning to run out, the Brusilov Offensive came to a close on September 20th, 1916. When it was all said and done, it became the costliest battle in terms of human lives in modern history.
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