to the lines from which the Russian invasion of Galicia began in August 1914. Almost all the replenishment that came to the front was destroyed in the battles. The Russian Imperial army for the first time completely switched to strategic defense. The armies of the Central Powers failed to encircle the Russian armies and withdraw the Russian Empire from the war, but such a goal was not set before the start of the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive. The planning of the operation in Galicia by the Austria-Hungary's Army Higher Command and the Supreme Commander of All German Forces in the East (Ober Ost), proceeded in stages, depending on the result achieved. At first, the goal was to oust the Russian armies from the Carpathian ridge, which was achieved after the retreat of the Russian troops behind the San and Dniester rivers; then the task of recapturing central Galicia and Przemysl was set, followed by the capture of Lemberg and the liberation of eastern Galicia. Finally, the goal was set to push the Russian troops as far north as possible between the Vistula and the Bug (therefore, A. von Mackensen considered the offensive of his army group in July-August 1915 to be a continuation of the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive ). The last goal, not achieved as a result of the Russian counterattack at Kraśnik, became the limit of the development of the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive, since, firstly, the further actions of the Central Powers against Russia became a general offensive along the entire front, and secondly, from the Russian side they received the character of a targeted defense, and not attempts to turn the tide of the struggle and seize the offensive initiative, thirdly, they demanded that the enemy conduct separate preparations for the operation, including the redeployment of two armies. The reasons for the defeat of the Russian armies in the 1915 campaign, which became the most important operation, were usually called the overwhelming numerical superiority of the enemy, insufficient technical equipment and lack of artillery ammunition, and the excessive persistence of the Russia Headquarters in defending the conquered Galicia. One of the first researchers of the First World War in Russia, Andrei Zayonchkovski, saw the causes of defeats primarily in the shortcomings of the Russian troops command and control system: the lack of a single plan of action (and as a result, the initiative was ceded to the enemy), neglect of assessing the