The book of the famous Moscow researcher and scientist O.R. Airapetov is dedicated to one of the unread pages of Russian history - the fate and biography of an outstanding Russian military leader, creator of the General Staff, an outstanding strategist and tactician Nikolai Nikolaevich Obruchev (1830-1904). Russian history of the late XIX - early XX centuries is not only unthinkable without this name, but many of its events can be re-comprehended taking into account the facts that are presented in this book.