| Russia In World War I | |||||||||||
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Serbia sought shelter from Austria's implied hostilities in Russia. Being the revered idol amungst Slavic nations, Russia responded; Czar Nicholas II began mobilizing his military for the inevidable skirmish. Germany took note of this, and declared war on Russia. Not willing to face Germany alone, Russia asked that France assist them. France agreed; prompting Germany to declare war on them as well. Germany decided to attack France first because they expected Russia's army to mobilize more slowly.
Confusing enough for you? Even the countries bickered over who to blame!
Though this did ring of some truth, Russia's military mobilized much more quickly than anticipated, and had mobilized the largest military of the war; that of twelve million men. With this military, Russia was able to earn a number of victories in Prussia against the unsuspecting German military. Frantically, Germany whisked more men to its eastern front to defend itself from the now obviously present Russian forces, but this made Germany more vunerable on its western front. The Russian armies marched on in to easternmost Germany and made an occasional victory there. However, when it came to the battle of Tannenberg, Russia suffered a monstrous loss. Russia had insufficient supplies to support such a vast army. Even rifles, which would seem somewhat a necessity, were not avaliable to all Russian troops. However, if you think about this problem logically, you may realize that in wars of this nature, not everybody will be shooting in the same moment. So, what was done about this was the rifleless men were put in the back of the charging forces, and if by chance a man with a gun was killed before him, he would claim the dead man's gun, and fire away. Overall, actual fighting efficiency was not affected too greatly by this. War for Russia with an army it could barely support was destructive within the country as well. After three years of fighting, Russia's people were unhappy and her military was much like any other European army during the war: exhausted and with their morale shattered. In turn, the country began to be dotted with revolutions that would drastically change the country. Soldiers began to desert the war to go home and support the revolution. The remaining Allied forces were, however, happy with this revolution, as they belived Russia would finally be rid of its monarchy and join them in a democracy. Persons familiar with the Soviet Union are fully aware as to why this is ironic. Having inner problems of its own, Russia made peace with Germany and pulled out of the war. This allowed Germany to concentrate fully on the western front, and surely this would allow them their planned titanic victory. Almost immediately after Russia pulled out, however, America got fed up with Germany 'sinking their trade ships', and so the US entered the war. The timing in contrast to Russia's withdrawal is pretty lucky... almost ironic, even. STEEN'S CHART OF BIG AND UNCOMPREHENSIBLE NUMBERS OF THE NATURE THAT YOUR HISTORY TEACHER/PROFESSOR WOULD BE VERY HAPPY IF YOU FILLED YOUR COMPOSITION WITH THEM! (Steen is not to be held accountable in the case that your educator is unhappy with plain old numbers bulking up your composition)
What happened next? The Russian Revolution! Come on back to the main page! (I know you are anxious to see what happens next!) | ||||||||||
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