Russia and WW1

Question 1

Army Leadership

Answer 1

-Many Russian officers and generals prefered old school methods like cavalry attacks, even against Germany’s machine guns
-Russian Generals sent the army into Germany in 1914 too early so units were left far away from support and supply line

Question 2

Why did poor army leadership affect Russia’s performance

Answer 2

-They would loose battles
-They lost too many things too early on
-caused excessive deaths

Question 3

Role of the Tsar

Answer 3

-In september 1915 the Tsar made himself leader of the army
-Nicholas II had no combat experience
-He rarely challenged the decisions of the general
-he left the German Tsarina in charge

Question 4

Why did the role of the tsar affect Russia’s performance

Answer 4

-They didn’t have an experienced leader
-He wouldn’t challenge any of the poor decisions
-People didn’t trust the tsarina as she was German and close with Rasputin

Question 5

Equipment

Answer 5

-Many soldiers had no boots or winter coats
-2 or 3 soldiers shared the same riffles
-They were short of bullets and always needed more medical supplies

Question 6

Why did lack of equipment affect Russia’s performance

Answer 6

-The soldiers couldn’t perform as well as they needed to
-Soldiers were left defenceless
-Soldiers had no help

Question 7

Infrastructure

Answer 7

-By the end of 1914 the number of trains in Russia amounted to 20,000 units but fell to 9,200 three years later
-Poor roads and disorganisation on the railways stopped many supplies from reaching the front line
-Telegraph lines were outdated so not all messages sent were received

Question 8

Why did poor infrastructure affect Russia’s performance

Answer 8

-The supplies couldn’t reach the soldiers so not enough was provided
-nothing could travel
-they couldn’t communicate effectively

Question 9

How many Russians were killed

Answer 9

Between 900,000 and 250,000 were killed
1,500,000 were wounded and 4,000,000 were captured

Question 10

Problems for Russia

Answer 10

-Up to 2 million men deserted
-The tsar’s god like status was demystified- the country was divided and people blamed him for deaths
-Huge shortages in cities- calorie intake fell 25%
-severe inflation
-suspicions the government was sabotaging the war effort- tsarina and Rasputin