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Why did the Russian army suffer so many defeats?

Why did the Russian army suffer so many defeats?. Key defeats in 1914-Battle of Tannenberg . 18 th of August 1914 Tannenberg was in Poland First battle of Russia Russian casualties 130,000 Russian POW over 100,000. Key defeats in 1914-Battle of Masurian lake.

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Why did the Russian army suffer so many defeats?

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  1. Why did the Russian army suffer so many defeats?

  2. Key defeats in 1914-Battle of Tannenberg • 18th of August 1914 • Tannenberg was in Poland • First battle of Russia • Russian casualties 130,000 • Russian POW over 100,000

  3. Key defeats in 1914-Battle of Masurian lake • Russian generals began immediate offensives in Eastern Prussia • They experienced some early success when The Four armies broke through the Austrians and defeated one- third of Austria – Hungary army by capturing many prisoners and artillery • But the second battle of Masurian on second September where on whole army unit surrounded and forced to surrender • In the first 12 months war, the Russian army lost 4million soldiers and 16 million civilians in region captured by enemy

  4. Lack of ammunition • Russia was in no position to fight a large scale war • This was due to lack of rifles and ammunition • The minister of war General Sukhomlinov favored using bayonets in traditional warfare • He encouraged the generals to storm enemy trenches engaging in hand to hand combat • This was a failure because the Germans equipped with barbed wire and modern machine guns

  5. Poor internal organization • Witte had developed a railway system by the 1890 • However the trains was so poorly organized that the troops often went hungry • There were adequate meat and grain supplies in the Ukraine and Siberia but were not delivered on time • This was compounded by skilled men being sent to fight the war, leaving locomotive without driver, mechanics and farmers

  6. Demoralisationwithin the army • By 1916 Russia has witnessed four and a half times more men captured than killed • 1916 Killed: 270,000 • 1916 POW 1.2 million • The British had contrasting figures 5 times more dead than captured • By 1917 Russian POW’s dramatically outnumbered the dead 16 to 1 • 1917 Killed 58,000 • 1917 POW over 900,000 • The high POW number was due to the Russians preference of being captured

  7. Impact of socialist propaganda • By December 1916 Bolshivek ideas were spreading rapidly • Desertion in times of war had been traditionally viewed as selfish and cowardly • However as Bolshivek ideas became more widely accepted surrendering to the enemy became more common • A popular tactic was prompting entire companies to wound themselves in the finger or cheek and then race to a hospital train to return home honorably wounded in battle

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