Maybe, but then Britain and France enter the scene. In some ways the late 19th and early 20th century can be seen as Britain and France taking a break from worrying about Russia gaining hegemony in Europe to worry about German hegemony for a while. I doubt either one (Britain especially) would be particularly happy about allowing Russia to basically take over another of the great powers. If you have the leverage to get that done, there are probably other things you can get out of the post-war settlement.
Could Czarist Russia have "won" World War One?
- Thread starter The_Shrike
- Start date
That "land on the frontiers" could eventually amount to a good bit of the A-H Empire. Russia did organize an Oblast with a provisional government while they occupied East Galicia, no doubt as a prelude to outright annexation...
Fair enough. I didn’t want to say without knowing for sure what was included.
Last edited:
A lot of Russian contracts were made with the U.S for weapons, like the famous Winchester 1895, where ~33,000 went to Russian service. Alot of work being done before war, so these trade links existed. If those contracts go out earlier, and with more of a focus on buying American guns rather than having them produced in the Russian Empire (how this works with U.S law / neutrality policy I'm not sure) and ramping up American production, this could alleviate some supply issues they had early on. As another user pointed out, taking things into the hands of more efficient local war councils/manufacturing earlier on could do wonders for Imperial logistics.
I think one issue which caused far more dissent than was worth were the repressive measures against internal "enemy nations" which caused food issues and riots in the interior of the Empire far from the front. Refugees are probably unavoidable, but deportations are just adding fuel to the fire.
Frankly, I don't know how a "Russian victory" is possible unless they sweep the Central Powers militarily fairly rapidly and easily for the Russians to keep their Empire. "Russia" was a multinational Empire as much as the Ottomans or Austria-Hungary. If Galicia and parts of Silesia and/or the corridor is annexed to the Empire, more Poles and Ukrainians will only cause more and more troubles for an Empire which is running on fumes. Once Pilsudski's Polish legions and the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen take up arms, it becomes clear that Russia has major nationality problems that probably will have lasting repressions. America does not want to be on the side of Russia and their repressive Empire. It's embarrassing enough for the Entente as it was, if they end up annexing Polish and Ukrainian territory, it will cause internal friction with the Entente and I can see Britain being obtuse about it, worried about Russia as it traditionally is.
Can Russia "win"? Probably. Can they win and maintain their pre-war system? I don't think so.
The_Shrike
Banned
Thats the scenario that I am hoping to create. An overambitious Russia high on the fumes of victory builds a nice buffer zone of client states in Eastern Europe only to soon after collapse underneath its own weight.
I don't see how. It would require far-reaching economic planning and prudent allocation of resources, neither of which is a particular strength of Russian Imperial bureaucracy. It took the Russian state until 1915 to realize it should not conscript workers in crucial occupations, and with 80% of the labor force engaged in war production, everything else went to Hell. Transport, roads and anything else we may call infrastructure got worse with each passing year. It's not the peasants were not producing foodstuffs, it's that they were not getting to the markets due to little to no incentive for the producers to sell their things when there were no tools or goods to be had in exchange. Rapid industrialization and urbanization combined with incompetence and zero clue how to plan meant more people were flooding into the cities with less and less food. So there went the home front. Out on the frontlines, with the shortage of officers and noncoms, incompetent and untested were put into positions of power and proceeded to flunk.
Yes, Austria and Hungary were not shining beacons of progress, but short of them walking into Russian machine guns, or German deciding to somehow say "screw it" to East Prussia and concentrating on taking Paris, leaving the Eastern Front bare, I don't see how Russians can win.
Yes, Austria and Hungary were not shining beacons of progress, but short of them walking into Russian machine guns, or German deciding to somehow say "screw it" to East Prussia and concentrating on taking Paris, leaving the Eastern Front bare, I don't see how Russians can win.