The Ice March

'The Ice March' is the story of Mikhail Petrov, an impoverished peasant from a small village near Moscow who is drafted into the Imperial Russian Army at the beginning of World War I in 1914. The belligerent nations all believe that the war will be short, glorious and victorious. But for men like Mikhail the grim reality is one of privations, defeats and death on the battlefield in a war that seemingly has no end.
Weeks turn into months and then years as the Imperial Army is bled white on the Eastern Front. For Mikhail and his friends the aim is just to survive but he and they are caught up in tumultuous events as Russia collapses into revolution and then civil war. Mikhail's fate becomes entwined with that of a beautiful young princess and together they flee south to the Cossack lands of the Don. There they join a fledging movement dedicated to fighting the Bolsheviks who have seized control of the country.
But the White Army is weak and soon it is fighting for its life on the icy steppe, battling against massive odds as Bolshevik Red Guards close in to wipe out the 'counter-revolutionaries' and all those who fight for them.