The book of the military historian E.V. Bey, prepared on a wide archival and memoir material, presents a biography of one of the controversial figures of Russian military history - the Minister of War of the Russian Empire, General Adjutant Vladimir Alexandrovich Sukhomlinov from the cavalry. The study covers the time of his childhood and youth, the formation as a Russian military and statesman during the reign of Alexander III and the rise of his career during the reign of Nicholas II. Against the background of a personal portrait, the author examined a wide range of issues related to the reform of the Russian armed forces and their preparation for the Great War. The main reasons for military failures are reflected, as well as the conditions under which the military supply crisis erupted, the so-called "shell famine" in the first years of the confrontation. Particular attention in the work is paid to the events that influenced the fall of the Minister of War V.A. Sukhomlinov, who in the eyes of the public turned into a symbol of corruption and treason in the highest echelons of power.