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1914 The Russian army entered Prussia
and then over ran most of the Austro-
Hungarian province of Galicia. This forced
Germany to amend their war plan (Shlieffen
plan) where their army units destined for
France were diverted to the Eastern Front.At the end of August/start of
September the Russian advance
was stopped at the battle of
Tannenburg, in which German
generals Hindenburg and
Ludendorf presented a crushing
victory over the Russian generals
Rennenkampf and Samsonov.By the time the battle ended
30,000 Russian troops were
killed/injured and 95,000
were captured. Only 10,000
managed to escape. Whereas
the Germans suffered less than
20,000 casualties and captured
over 500 guns.Samsonov shot himself
on August the 29th 1914
rather than report the
loss of his army to the
Tsar.At the end of september
the Russians surrounded
austro-Hungarian fortress
town of Przemysl.After a seige lasting four months,
the Russians captured the town
and 100,000 prisoners.
Military developments had a
mixed effect on the population of
the war at home.After the victory at the battle of
Tannenburgthe Germans defeated
the Russians in theBattle of Lodz in
December 1914.Austro-German forces launch of the
Gorlice-Tarnow offensive.By the end of 1915, Russian forces
had been completely driven out
out of Russian Poland.In september 1915, Tsar Nicholas II
after the loss of Poland he dismissed his Uncle
Nikolai as commander-in-chief of the Russian
army and took command himself.Incase you weren't aware, Nicholas II
was terribly unqualified to command
a military unit, let alone a literal army
of several millions.Additionally, the Tsar left the running government
and the administration to his wife Tsarina Alexandra.Due to the retreat associated with
the Brusilov Offensive, the Russian
army was facing major shortages of
war material and a fall in morale.The Russians produced 4.5 million artillery
shells compared to the German level of 7
million per month.Russian artillery units were limited to firing
three shells per day because of equipment
shortages.1.6million Russian Soldiers were dead,
3.9 million were wounded and 2.4
million were taken as prisoners.The country mobilised 5.3 million men (9% of the
population) in 1914.15.3 million men had experienced military service.The national budget rode between 1913 and 1916
and financed out of higher taxes, loans and
borrowing from Britain and France.The loss of agricultural workers and horses
to the army put a great strain on the production of food.
This combined with the takeover of railway lines by the
army led to food shortages in towns and cities.Central War Industries Committee was created
under the Octobrist Guchkov to help stimulate
production of weapons and ammunition.The Zemstva and town dumas formed
ZEMGOR to aid the care of war casualties.
But the governement failed to use the
organisation effectively and led to liberal disconentRasputin, a personal confident in Tsarina
Alexandra (a German by birth). Alexandra was
accused of being in sympathy with the
enemy. A group of nobles murdered Rasputin
in hopes of aiding the Russian war effort, which
'surprisingly' it didn't.Periods
From June to August 1916 the Russian forces
launched their last major offensive of the war
The Brusilov Offensive. initially it was a success,
even prompting Romania toenter the war on
Russias side, yet by August it had run out of
momentum. The Russian forces had to retreat
from the Baltic sea to the Black sea.Why did it fail? Well Nicholas II was a very
poor commander-in-chief. Also poor internal
communications (mainly with the railways)
led to a shortage of military equipment at the
front.In order to pay for the war Russian government printed more money, which led to inflation with prices rising
over 200 per cent.
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