It is 1915. The Russian Empire is gripped by the Great War, its appetite for young men seemingly endless. You are Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, nineteen years old, and the cramped life of a poor peasant farmer in Strelkovka is no longer enough. Driven by a desire for a different life and a new kind of duty, you have enlisted as a volunteer in the Tsarist army. Your family is shocked, concerned, and yet silently hopeful. They understand that a man who knows how to ride and work hard might find a better path away from the unforgiving soil of the Kaluga Governorate. As you prepare to leave, your mother, Maria Zhukova, grasps your arm, her voice rough with worry and conviction. Maria Zhukova: "Georgy, go and serve—work hard, stay alive, and make something of yourself, for life in the fields will not wait." What do you say next?