Could Russia have knocked Austria-HUngary out of WWI?

From what I understand, there was a point in the war at which the Russian offensives nearly broke Austria-Hungary. Was it at all possible for Russia to inflict a sufficiently disastrous defeat on the Austro-Hungarians that the empire would either break up or require even more direct German intervention (perhaps even full occupation) to avoid complete collapse?
 
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Maybe if Russian didn't wasted their armies in Prussia in 1914 but stayed on defensive there and went mostly after Austrians? Would the logistic allow them to break through Carpathians into Slovakia and Hungarian lowlands? But probably German divisions stiffening Austrian lines would be enough to stop Russians somewhere in Slovakia. From Polish border to almost today Hungarian border there are hills after hills. Would be troubling but probably not enough to break them so early.
 
I can't see it being possible because the Russian military at the time was very poorly equipped to the point where they had to restort to using pitchforks in many cases which resulted in them being mowed down by machine guns. They could have possibly advanced further but with the resources and the better quality of the military that Austria-Hungary had and with the Germans intervening it would have been nearly impossible for Russia to have knocked them off.
 
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I'm also unclear just how this differs from OTL. Iirc Germany had to intervene quite a few times to save AH from disaster, as she would always have to do given its strategic importance for her. So AH would fall when Germany did, but only then.
 
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I'm also unclear just how this differs from OTL. Iirc Germay had to intervene quite a few times to save AH from disaster, as she would always have to do given the its strategic importance for her. So AH would fall when Germany did, but only then.

Having Britain and France do better during the initial invasion of France and The Race to the Sea could help. If France has access to all of it's industry and part or Belgium's, they might be able to put enough pressure on Germany to prevent them from reinforcing the East after the Brusilov Offensive. Russia would then be free to do much more damage to AH.
 
I'm also unclear just how this differs from OTL. Iirc Germay had to intervene quite a few times to save AH from disaster, as she would always have to do given the its strategic importance for her. So AH would fall when Germany did, but only then.
The proposed scenario differs essentially in the possible severity of stress put on the empire. Since German assistance was necessary to prevent toital defeat on several fronts, shouldn't a more serious predicament means more resources diverted from the German war effort?
 

BlondieBC

Banned
From what I understand, there was a point in the war at which the Russian offensives nearly broke Austria-Hungary. Was it at all possible for Russia to inflict a sufficiently disastrous defeat on the Austro-Hungarians that the empire would either break up or require even more direct German intervention (perhaps even full occupation) to avoid complete collapse?

Well, that is largely OTL. WW1 was won by the Russians and lost by the Hungarians, to a large extent. Germany had to attack in May 1915 to save A-H. Again, they had to send troops to help stop the Brusilov offensive in 1916. Germany and A-H will basically fall at the same point in most ATL since the Germans will simply send troops to save A-H from defeat.

And German units were on occupation duty in small scale from the very beginning. German units were sent to the Southern Slavic areas to ensure they did not revolt.
 
Maybe if Russian didn't wasted their armies in Prussia in 1914 but stayed on defensive there and went mostly after Austrians?
Whilst they certainly had some large supply issues the main problem with the Russian invasion of East Prussia seems to of been more to do with bad leadership. IIRC the German pre-war strategy had already written the area off with plan being to withdraw and take up positions behind the Vistula river. If you can unfuck the command problems the Russians suffered from then they could do a lot better.

There was an old thread that I can't find at the moment that had the Polish rebels successfully assassinating Governor-General Skalon with General Brusilov his deputy replacing him. He carries on the exercises and combat training that he ran in our timeline but as Governor-General he's able to do even more and also takes the opportunity to knock some heads together regarding unprofessional behaviour and personal rivalries. Come the war the Russians do a lot better than in our timeline and he uses his cavalry as part of maneuver warfare so that East Prussia is captured and a fair number of German prisoners are taken. IIRC that's as far as the timeline got. If they could avoid the disasters of the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of the Masurian Lakes but instead capture up to the Vistula that would give them a solid defensive position in the northern third of the front making it much easier to go on to the defensive and concentrate on Austria-Hungary.
 
Well, that is largely OTL. WW1 was won by the Russians and lost by the Hungarians, to a large extent. Germany had to attack in May 1915 to save A-H. Again, they had to send troops to help stop the Brusilov offensive in 1916. Germany and A-H will basically fall at the same point in most ATL since the Germans will simply send troops to save A-H from defeat.

And German units were on occupation duty in small scale from the very beginning. German units were sent to the Southern Slavic areas to ensure they did not revolt.
I'll definitely admit, it wasn't a particularly ambitious question. I had originally wanted to ask a few seperate and more interesting questions the first and foremost being whether Russia could break AH once and for all in the Brusilov offensive and if it did, whether that would be the end of the central powers or not. Since Germany was so involved in bailing AH out, it looks like a defeat of Austria is by extension going to be largely a direct defeat of Germany as well. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that the CP couldn't have been knocked out by a more successful Russian offensive in Austria Hungary (provided that such an offensive could succeed in the first place).
 
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