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Soviet Union [USSR] Russia at War, 1914-16
Russia's large population enabled it to field a greater number
of troops than Austria-Hungary and Germany combined, but its
underdeveloped industrial base meant that its soldiers were as
poorly armed as those of the Austrian army. Russian forces were
inferior to Germany's in every respect except numbers. Generally,
the larger Russian armies defeated the Austro-Hungarians but
suffered reverses against German or combined German-Austrian forces
unless the latter were overextended.
In the initial phase of the war, Russia's offensives into East
Prussia drew enough German troops from the Western Front to allow
the French, Belgians, and British to stabilize it. One of Russia's
two invading armies was almost totally destroyed, however.
Meanwhile, the Russians turned back an Austrian offensive and
pushed into eastern Galicia. The Russians halted a combined GermanAustrian winter counteroffensive into Russian Poland, and in early
1915 they pushed more deeply into Galicia. Then in the spring and
summer of that year, a German-Austrian offensive drove the Russians
out of Galicia and Poland and destroyed several Russian army corps.
In 1916 the Germans planned to drive France out of the war with a
large-scale attack in the Verdun area, but a new Russian offensive
against Austria-Hungary once again drew German troops from the
west. These actions left both major fronts stable and both Russia
and Germany despairing of victory: Russia because of exhaustion,
Germany because of its opponents' superior resources. Toward the
end of 1916, Russia came to the rescue of Romania, which had just
entered the war, and extended the Eastern Front south to the Black
Sea. Russia had between 4 and 5 million casualties in World War I.
Wartime agreements among the Allies reflected the imperialist
aims of the Triple Entente and the Russia Empire's relative
weakness outside of eastern Europe. Russia nonetheless expected
impressive gains from a victory: territorial acquisitions in
eastern Galicia from Austria, in East Prussia from Germany, and in
Armenia from the Ottoman Empire; control of Constantinople and the
Bosporus and Dardanelles straits; and territorial and political
alteration of Austria-Hungary in the interests of Romania and the
Slavic peoples of the region. Britain was to acquire the middle
zone of Iran and share much of the Arab Middle East with France;
Italy--not Russia's ally Serbia--was to acquire Dalmatia; Japan was
to control more territory in China; and France was to regain
Alsace-Lorraine and to have increased influence in western Germany.
Data as of May 1989
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