Chapter 75 - The Asian Front
Primarily posting to remind myself that I need to go work on Sudan later.
The Asian Front
Emboldened by total success against the Ottoman Empire and their British allies in Anatolia, the Russians were remarkably confident of victory in tri-pronged offensive against the Celestial Powers. Whereas Russian War Minister Pyotr Vannovsky was placed in charge of the Russian Army in the Ottoman Empire, the planning for the offensive against British India and Qing Xinjiang was given to Aleksey Kuropatkin, then in charge of Russian Turkestan, while the planning for the offensive against Qing Manchuria and Korea was given to Alexander Samsonov and Paul von Rennenkampf.
The problem for the Russians began to pile up. First, Ayub Khan proved to be a determined opponent of the Russians. Given pretty much everything a ruler could ever want by the British, who had long feared that the Russians would threaten British India, Ayub Khan developed one of the most advanced armies in Central Asia and South Asia. Kuropatkin, having deftly developed rail links from Turkestan to the rest of the Russian Empire, was able to ship in and march a surprisingly large army of roughly 25,000 men into Afghanistan, including 64 artillery pieces, in the direction of Herat, marching down the Murghab River. On their way, Ayub Khan had 45,000 soldiers, including 30,000 Afghan tribesmen waiting to intercept them in Yoloten, armed with 12 artillery pieces. Kuropatkin had not expected the Afghans to themselves go on the offensive (Yoloten was in Russian territory, on the Russian side of the Oxus River). Kuropatkin's Army was attacked while it was still marching in columns and although they quickly dispersed into lines, the chaos made it difficult to deploy Russia's elite cossack cavalry, which could have saved the day.
Ultimately, Ayub Khan's soldiers were able to deploy a surprising amount of fire with their British-supplied Lee–Metford and Martini–Henry rifles. Only a few elite troops were armed with the Lee-Metford (coincidentally also the primary firearm of the Canadian Army), but almost all of Ayub Khan's troops were at least armed with Martini-Henry rifles, making Ayub Khan's army one of the few non-Western armies to be armed entirely with firearms (this could not even be said about the Qing Army). The confusion meant that the Afghan tribesmen were able to close into hand-to-hand to combat, which sparked a total Russian collapse. Kuropatkin himself fought a sword duel with several Afghan tribesman, and actually managed to cut down two before the third one got him (amusingly enough, onlookers noted that the Afghans waited their turn patiently to attack Kuropatkin one-by-one due to both sides engaging in some sense of chivalry). The Russian Army routed, leaving behind most of its supplies and artillery. By the end of the battle, 8,000 Russians were dead or wounded, with 4,000 captured by the Afghans. In contrast, 10,000 Afghans were dead or wounded. The catastrophe at Yoloten would crush any Russian hope of quickly overrunning Afghanistan and British India. Ayub Khan was clever enough not to advance too far, realizing that a siege of Merv was fool-hardy due to strong fortress in Merv, linked as it was to the Transcaspian Railroad. In fact, realizing that Russian reinforcements would be arriving and that he wouldn't get the drop on the Russians again, Ayub Khan quickly retreated across the Oxus River, hoping to use the natural fortifications of the river to make the Russians bleed for every inch.
On the Xinjiang Front, the Russian attempt to batter through Xinjiang saw the Qing Army collapse, as Cossack cavalry, backed up by Dungan militants, defeated underprepared and underarmed Qing soldiers, organized under the traditional model. Quickly herding them towards oasis cities, the Russians under cavalry officer Aleksei Brusilov quickly forced most of the major cities into a major surrender. By the end of the year, Brusilov's troops had killed or wounded 9,000 Qing troops and forced 27,000 to surrender, themselves only suffering under 5,000 dead or wounded. In the process, they had overrun all of Xinjiang and begun fortifying the Yumen Pass, creating fortifications that no sane Qing commander believed they could penetrate.
In contrast, Qing forces in Manchuria fared much better. As the Trans-Siberian Railroad had not been yet completed, Russian forces on the Pacific Front were arguably worse armed than the Qing Army. Worst of all, the Qing Army in the Pacific Front had been trained by the Viceroy of the Three Northeastern Provinces, Charles Gordon, and were likely the most well-drilled troops in the Empire. Finally, the Russians inspired disgust across Northeast China when troops under Samsonov and Rennenkampf massacred most of the Manchu villagers living across the Amur River, almost as if the two were competing with each other to maximize their body count (the two were bitter rivals, so this theory was considered plausible). The Russian winter offensive across the Amur River was one of the most catastrophic defeats for Imperial Russia in the entire war. Hearing of both triumphs in the Ottoman Empire and Xinjiang, the Russians severely underestimated the capabilities of the Qing Army, marching into foreign territory in the middle of a freezing winter, supplied, exhausted (due to marching directly across many segments of the Trans-Siberian Railroad that weren't built yet to get back onto the Trans-Siberian Railroad), and most likely worse equipped than the Qing Army, which also happened to outnumber them. Having sparked outraged in Manchuria itself, Manchu Honghuzi bandits worked closely with the Qing Army to harrass the invading Russians.
The difficulty of bringing artillery across siberia meant that the Russian Army was remarkably short on artillery and what artillery they had was totally destroyed by raiding bandits. The Battle of Harbin saw the final collapse of the Russian Army, as an advance through the snow against Qing artillery immediately collapsed once it hit Qing fortifications. By the end of the Winter Offensive, 20,000 Qing soldiers had been killed or wounded (mostly wounded), compared to 42,000 Russian soldiers (mostly killed due to high rates of disease and frostbite). Although outrage had rocked the Qing Court after the total failure of the Qing Army in Xinjiang, two ideas simultaneously began floating in the Qing Court. First, the idea that British influence and ideas needed to be adopted at an even more rapid speed. Second was the idea that any Qing Army, having adopted the British method of warfare, could naturally prove invincible.
The saving grace of the Pacific Front for Imperial Russia was that many fleeing Russian soldiers had a place to escape towards. The Donghak rebels had established themselves in the mountains of Northeast Korea, where they had moved into a makeshift fortress on the sides of Mount Baekdu, whereupon they shattered advancing Joseon Army troops. Most irritatingly to the Qing Empire, Baekdu was coincidentally the mythical home of the Manchu people, which politically necessitated a Qing offensive that the Donghak rebels in turn also defeated. Charles Gordon was thus ordered to attack Baekdu with his "invincible army", an attempt that aroused Imperial fury when his armies were unsurprisingly unable to defeat the Russo-Donghak Army in Eastern Korea, suffering 6,000 dead or wounded (compared to 1,500 Donghak and Russian combined losses).
As a result, the Donghak only continued to grow in strength and size, especially as hundreds, if not thousands of Japanese samurai, inspired by the Donghak defense of "Asiatic civilization from the Manchu hordes" began arriving in Vladivostok to volunteer for the Donghaks. Instead, the Qing Army plotted on an offensive to cut off both the Russians and Donghak with an offensive aimed at Vladivostok, something that the Russians surmised as they began desperately fortifying the port city. Although Manchuria itself seemed safe, the Qing weren't so sure about the fate of the Joseon Dynasty, which grew increasingly worried about the Donghak Movement that only seemed to gain strength due to both Russian and Japanese support.
The Asian Front
The problem for the Russians began to pile up. First, Ayub Khan proved to be a determined opponent of the Russians. Given pretty much everything a ruler could ever want by the British, who had long feared that the Russians would threaten British India, Ayub Khan developed one of the most advanced armies in Central Asia and South Asia. Kuropatkin, having deftly developed rail links from Turkestan to the rest of the Russian Empire, was able to ship in and march a surprisingly large army of roughly 25,000 men into Afghanistan, including 64 artillery pieces, in the direction of Herat, marching down the Murghab River. On their way, Ayub Khan had 45,000 soldiers, including 30,000 Afghan tribesmen waiting to intercept them in Yoloten, armed with 12 artillery pieces. Kuropatkin had not expected the Afghans to themselves go on the offensive (Yoloten was in Russian territory, on the Russian side of the Oxus River). Kuropatkin's Army was attacked while it was still marching in columns and although they quickly dispersed into lines, the chaos made it difficult to deploy Russia's elite cossack cavalry, which could have saved the day.
Ultimately, Ayub Khan's soldiers were able to deploy a surprising amount of fire with their British-supplied Lee–Metford and Martini–Henry rifles. Only a few elite troops were armed with the Lee-Metford (coincidentally also the primary firearm of the Canadian Army), but almost all of Ayub Khan's troops were at least armed with Martini-Henry rifles, making Ayub Khan's army one of the few non-Western armies to be armed entirely with firearms (this could not even be said about the Qing Army). The confusion meant that the Afghan tribesmen were able to close into hand-to-hand to combat, which sparked a total Russian collapse. Kuropatkin himself fought a sword duel with several Afghan tribesman, and actually managed to cut down two before the third one got him (amusingly enough, onlookers noted that the Afghans waited their turn patiently to attack Kuropatkin one-by-one due to both sides engaging in some sense of chivalry). The Russian Army routed, leaving behind most of its supplies and artillery. By the end of the battle, 8,000 Russians were dead or wounded, with 4,000 captured by the Afghans. In contrast, 10,000 Afghans were dead or wounded. The catastrophe at Yoloten would crush any Russian hope of quickly overrunning Afghanistan and British India. Ayub Khan was clever enough not to advance too far, realizing that a siege of Merv was fool-hardy due to strong fortress in Merv, linked as it was to the Transcaspian Railroad. In fact, realizing that Russian reinforcements would be arriving and that he wouldn't get the drop on the Russians again, Ayub Khan quickly retreated across the Oxus River, hoping to use the natural fortifications of the river to make the Russians bleed for every inch.
On the Xinjiang Front, the Russian attempt to batter through Xinjiang saw the Qing Army collapse, as Cossack cavalry, backed up by Dungan militants, defeated underprepared and underarmed Qing soldiers, organized under the traditional model. Quickly herding them towards oasis cities, the Russians under cavalry officer Aleksei Brusilov quickly forced most of the major cities into a major surrender. By the end of the year, Brusilov's troops had killed or wounded 9,000 Qing troops and forced 27,000 to surrender, themselves only suffering under 5,000 dead or wounded. In the process, they had overrun all of Xinjiang and begun fortifying the Yumen Pass, creating fortifications that no sane Qing commander believed they could penetrate.
In contrast, Qing forces in Manchuria fared much better. As the Trans-Siberian Railroad had not been yet completed, Russian forces on the Pacific Front were arguably worse armed than the Qing Army. Worst of all, the Qing Army in the Pacific Front had been trained by the Viceroy of the Three Northeastern Provinces, Charles Gordon, and were likely the most well-drilled troops in the Empire. Finally, the Russians inspired disgust across Northeast China when troops under Samsonov and Rennenkampf massacred most of the Manchu villagers living across the Amur River, almost as if the two were competing with each other to maximize their body count (the two were bitter rivals, so this theory was considered plausible). The Russian winter offensive across the Amur River was one of the most catastrophic defeats for Imperial Russia in the entire war. Hearing of both triumphs in the Ottoman Empire and Xinjiang, the Russians severely underestimated the capabilities of the Qing Army, marching into foreign territory in the middle of a freezing winter, supplied, exhausted (due to marching directly across many segments of the Trans-Siberian Railroad that weren't built yet to get back onto the Trans-Siberian Railroad), and most likely worse equipped than the Qing Army, which also happened to outnumber them. Having sparked outraged in Manchuria itself, Manchu Honghuzi bandits worked closely with the Qing Army to harrass the invading Russians.
The difficulty of bringing artillery across siberia meant that the Russian Army was remarkably short on artillery and what artillery they had was totally destroyed by raiding bandits. The Battle of Harbin saw the final collapse of the Russian Army, as an advance through the snow against Qing artillery immediately collapsed once it hit Qing fortifications. By the end of the Winter Offensive, 20,000 Qing soldiers had been killed or wounded (mostly wounded), compared to 42,000 Russian soldiers (mostly killed due to high rates of disease and frostbite). Although outrage had rocked the Qing Court after the total failure of the Qing Army in Xinjiang, two ideas simultaneously began floating in the Qing Court. First, the idea that British influence and ideas needed to be adopted at an even more rapid speed. Second was the idea that any Qing Army, having adopted the British method of warfare, could naturally prove invincible.
The saving grace of the Pacific Front for Imperial Russia was that many fleeing Russian soldiers had a place to escape towards. The Donghak rebels had established themselves in the mountains of Northeast Korea, where they had moved into a makeshift fortress on the sides of Mount Baekdu, whereupon they shattered advancing Joseon Army troops. Most irritatingly to the Qing Empire, Baekdu was coincidentally the mythical home of the Manchu people, which politically necessitated a Qing offensive that the Donghak rebels in turn also defeated. Charles Gordon was thus ordered to attack Baekdu with his "invincible army", an attempt that aroused Imperial fury when his armies were unsurprisingly unable to defeat the Russo-Donghak Army in Eastern Korea, suffering 6,000 dead or wounded (compared to 1,500 Donghak and Russian combined losses).
As a result, the Donghak only continued to grow in strength and size, especially as hundreds, if not thousands of Japanese samurai, inspired by the Donghak defense of "Asiatic civilization from the Manchu hordes" began arriving in Vladivostok to volunteer for the Donghaks. Instead, the Qing Army plotted on an offensive to cut off both the Russians and Donghak with an offensive aimed at Vladivostok, something that the Russians surmised as they began desperately fortifying the port city. Although Manchuria itself seemed safe, the Qing weren't so sure about the fate of the Joseon Dynasty, which grew increasingly worried about the Donghak Movement that only seemed to gain strength due to both Russian and Japanese support.
