He was considered to be[clarification needed] one of the main culprits of the failure of the East Prussian Campaign in the early stages of the First World War.

[1] : 225 His family were nobility from the Smolensk Governorate, and he was born to Colonel Grigori I. Zhilinsky and Catherine Petrovna (née Muromtseva).

After serving as a senior aide to the staff of the 1st Grenadier Division, he served from 14 February 1894 on the Military Scientific Committee of the General Staff, a military intelligence organization responsible for the study of foreign countries.

[1]: 438  He remained in the combat zone to serve the Minister of War, Aleksey Kuropatkin until the end of the conflict.

Zhilinsky also served from 22 February 1911 to 4 March 1914 as Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Russian Army.