What should Russia have done?

[marcusjm]

For all the armchair generals out there.

Russia failed miserably in the WW1, resulting in almost total destruction of their armed forces.

As the commander of Russia, what would you have done to change the course. Could they have done anything decisive at all or were the Germans simply too strong for them?

[Sol Invictus]

Hindsight being twenty-twenty, I guess it might have been best to stay on the defense against Germany and tear into the Austrians. The Russians simply couldn't stand up well against the German Army but were able to consistently perform well against the creaky Austrian Army. A successful offensive against Austria would have both taken pressure off of the Serbs; though they held their own against Austria in any event; and would probably also have forced the switching of German forces from the West to the East in order to shore up the Austrians. This would have helped relieve some of the pressure on the French; for which the early offensive against the Germans was meant to do in the first place.

[Tamas]

I agree with Sol, and as the Russia player, it is probably the best bet in the game as well. However, do remember that the Russian initial attack decreased the German forces against France. It maybe wasnt decisive, but important for sure.

[marcusjm]

Would the Germans have stayed put in that case? Couldn't they just have moved the bulk of their eastern forces to the Austrian areas?

I just realised that the Russians tried this very thing in Tamas AAR. Is this common in the game?

[Bo Rearguard]

Is it possible for Russia in the game to bring a certain amount of pressure to bear on Turkey? The terrain in the Caucasus Mountains is lousy of course but a Russian offensive there did throw the Turks back quite a distance in 1915, before events elsewhere forced Russia to pull back their troops.

[Feralkoala]

Historically, the Russians did beat the hell out of the Austrians in Galicia in 1914, causing nearly a million casualties in the first three months of operations and pushing the Austrians back to the gates of Przemysl and the foothills of the Carpathians. The Austrians did call off reinforcements from the Serb front (where they would have been useful) and send them against Russia (where they were too late). The Russian Armies against Germany might have defended, but if attack was decided on they should have waited until the 2nd Army mobilization was complete and the attack should have been better coordinated by the Front commander.

Deploying more troops to the Caucasus might have been possible, but supporting them there was another matter. The Russians had some good commanders there and that theater went relatively well for them.

For my money, the Russians went wrong when the Czar took command of the army personally. Another strike against them was their willingness to launch assaults when the Western Allies demanded it; unfortunately for the Russians, this willingness wasn't often reciprocated by the Western Allies.

[Tamas]

Is it possible for Russia in the game to bring a certain amount of pressure to bear on Turkey? The terrain in the Caucasus Mountains is lousy of course but a Russian offensive there did throw the Turks back quite a distance in 1915, before events elsewhere forced Russia to pull back their troops.

It is your decision, but terrain and logistics are a big hindrance there.

[tagwyn]

I would, as Russia, launch a series of feints or Reconnaissance in force type actions along the entire front with no serious offensive anywhere. Tsar was on shaky political ground and could not risk turning his back on anyone. t

[rogs]

The problem was not so much the Germans as the poor economic and political management of the Tsarist regime.

Due to the reactionary nature of the regime, the fiscal system and level of industrialisation in 1914 were primitive. The government was simply incapable of managing a crash program of industrialisation betwen 1914-17, bottlenecks and shortages crippled key war industries and the railway system couldn't cope with rising military and economic demands. The armies were chronically undersupplied and poorly armed. By 1917 the economic system pretty much collapsed. Confidence evaporated and the peasants started hoarding food. The cities and soldiers started starving.

Politically the Tsar had reneged on the liberalisation of 1905-06, something he was coerced into anyway, shackling the Duma and suppressing opposition parties. Thereafter many felt betrayed by the regime. The revolutionary opposition was filtering vast amounts of viotriolic anti-Tsarist literature throughout society and the army. The government was itself riven by warring liberal and reactionary factions. On top of it all, Nicholas II was a dull and incompetent leader. Politically the country was dysfunctional and ripe for revolution.

If economic and political systems had functioned effectively and enjoyed popular support there is no reason why Russia should not have prevailed in WW1. Noting that only 24 years later the Soviet regime was able to do so, in spades.

[ambien]

Russia should have avoided war like the plague. It should have learned from the disastrous Russo-Japanese War that the political and military apparatus of the state could not support a war effort against a first-rate army.

[CSS]

Russia,

Should strategicaly defend and slowly pull back forcing the CP in to low to bad supply, while building thier corps and coming closer to thier own supply points. As a retreating bear she should take oppertunistic strikes on the German, nd NEVER miss an oppertunity to smash Austrio Hungarian or Ottoman troops. Russia's main purpose it to stay alive, maitain near contact with German troops and put great pressure on CP 2nd rate powers.

[keith]

the problem for russia is not without but within, just pulling back and waiting does not negate the social and political problems, always the problem is when does the revolution happen, does a defensive attitude delay or hasten the the uprisings indeed how does the game handle the russian revolution is it a fixed event or is it flexible according to events

[keith]

just thinking about the revolution, as i recall lenin was transported from switzerland through sweden to russia by the germans, ( at least thats how i think it happened, but my memory is not what it was !! anyway i always supported martov and the mensheviks), to hasten the revolution, with hindsight would i as the kaiser still allow that and within the game could i stop him and delay the revolution

[Sol Invictus]

Remember also that the French were putting alot of pressure on the Russians to launch an early offensive to take some of the pressure off in the west. The Russians initially never intended to take the offensive at such an early date as they simply weren't ready. Taking that situation as a given, I think an offensive against the Austrians is the best course, while staying on the defense against the Germans.