Can shipping through the Turkish Straights save Russia?

If the Ottoman Empire was neutral and allowed Russian supplies through the Dardanelles and Bosporus, would this be enough to save the Tsarist government? Or would it at least be enough to keep Russia from becoming communist? If the Russians hung in to the bitter end of the war, what kind of gains would they want at Versailles?
 
It would certainly help a great deal, the Bosphorus and the southern cities were the main ports for their exports of wheat - which made up something like a third of world supply. With the straits closed the Russians were unable to export their normal commodities of grain to raise funds or import supplies in return, being able to buy in arms and materiel would certainly take the pressure off somewhat. One of the other major weaknesses for the Russians was that they were chronically short of both railway engines and rolling stock, the majority of which they imported IIRC. If they can get more of these then they can move about and manage the supplies they already had more efficiently, plus get the new supplies they're importing where they're needed at the front or to the cities.
 
No.
It may prolong the Tsarist regime, although not by much. There would be a revolution of sorts regardless. If the war goes better then it's likely to be Menshevik rather than Bolshevik, but the political system in Russia that caused all the resentment, the appalling treatment of the soldiers and sailors happened anyway.
A "win" against the Germans won't really change that.
About the only thing that could reroute the revolution would if the emancipation of the serfs had been as much as most Russians could imagine rather than the watered down version they got.
 
A "win" against the Germans won't really change that.
About the only thing that could reroute the revolution would if the emancipation of the serfs had been as much as most Russians could imagine rather than the watered down version they got.

The Emancipation happened nearly half a century before, and the problems of the Russian peasantry were tied to tradition and culture as much as legal status. Of course if you include the urban poor, then that was basic problems of being the underclass in a developing industrial economy.

Russia, however, was less well equipped to handle the sheer numbers of people in bad situations in this transitional period than anywhere else in Europe. So I do agree that a revolution of some sort would come almost inevitably.
 

Hoist40

Banned
Russia would also be able to ship wheat to Britain and France in exchange for weapons and machinery. The imports of Russian wheat would mean that Britain and France would not need to use as much of their foreign exchange money to buy wheat and other food from the USA which would allow increased tooling, raw material and weapon purchase from the USA.
 
Russia would also be able to ship wheat to Britain and France in exchange for weapons and machinery. The imports of Russian wheat would mean that Britain and France would not need to use as much of their foreign exchange money to buy wheat and other food from the USA which would allow increased tooling, raw material and weapon purchase from the USA.

it cant get the wheat to the ports.

crappy railways, and they were used at overcapacity mostly for the military. they couldnt even distribute the food they had at hand.
 
it cant get the wheat to the ports.

crappy railways, and they were used at overcapacity mostly for the military. they couldnt even distribute the food they had at hand.

The idea was to import stock and engines from the allies. As well as military supplies. In exchange for grain.

So 1915 would still be awful but it would get better from there, at least in theory.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Keep in mind that Turkish neutrality doesn't just mean that the Dardanelles are open to shipping. It also means that a large portion of the forces the Russians committed to the Caucasus Campaign against the Ottomans would be free to be deployed against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians on the Eastern Front. Perhaps equally important, General Nikolai Yudenich (who, excepting only Brusilov, was the best Russian general of the war) would also probably be sent to command one of the armies on the Eastern front.
 
Top