The book of the military writer, participant in the First World War Pyotr Ivanovich Zalessky (1867 - after 1925) was published in 1925, when he was in exile in Germany. Considering the present of Russia in connection with "its past," the author warns against the mistakes of the past and tries to point out:... "what should be done and what should be instead of what was." This work is both a historical review and a lesson... "extracted from long-term experience justified by great events and phenomena of public life" of Russia for a long period, starting from the 9th century. up to the October Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent civil war. P.I. Zalessky defines such a phenomenon as the Russian catastrophe, meaning the revolution and its consequences by this concept, draws cautionary conclusions.