However he was removed from the position after printing articles critical of Russian military logistics in the Crimea War.

He became a protégé of Dmitry Milyutin, who in 1863 appointed him secretary of the Military Academic Committee of the Main Staff.

He was then moved to the Balkan front, where his plan for winter operations helped lead to the capitulation of the Ottoman Empire.

Obruchev now played a role in rearming the Russian Army, constructing fortifications on the western military frontier and laying plans for amphibious operation across the Bosphorus.

[3] He attended the Franco-Russian Military Convention of 1892 and persuaded Nicholas II not to intervene in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 - 1895.