Why does it seem like Russia has always underperformed relative

>>3295233
Geography and railroads

Russia lacked both for a good opening

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There was a huge shortage in rifles and rifle ammunition. About a 350,000 Rifle deficiency at the start of the war. There was a monthly need of about 200,000 rifles, but production averaged about 75,000. Also only three factories produced rifle munition in Russia in 1914. In short it was generallly the "undersupplied" meme being true.
This obligatory >>3295241
Also IIRC there was a lot of conflict among Russian generals which didn't help with organisation.
Source for munition shit: Jukes, Geoffrey, The First World War/ The Eastern Front 1914-1918,

>>3295233

It was mostly because of Tannenberg, which Germany won mostly by pure luck.

>>3295233
>By sheer numbers
>Germany population was just 2 times smaller than Russia+ has more money and better industry

>>3295357

Germany was fighting on two fronts.

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>>3295233
Fear Russia
Whenever you invade them, you know they'll be zerging your capital with human waves two years later

Russia was doing well at the beginning of the war, it was only after the battle of Tannenburg that the tide really turned. That was due to the Russians being careless and the Germans very clever with their tactics.

Also don't forget that Imperial Russia wasn't always shit, it took on almost the whole of Europe in the Crimea and won.

>>3295233
"Always" isn't fair. Look at the Russo-Ottoman Wars, there Russia often won even if they were outnumbered.

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>>3295233
"Russia is never as strong as she looks; Russia is never as weak as she looks."
>>3295439
>The Russians were doing well until they came into contact with the enemy
Nice one.
>it took on almost the whole of Europe in the Crimea and won.
Russia lost the Crimean war tho.

>>3295233
Economy and logistics.
Russia was not able to supply big army on front line, so actually didn't have any advantage over Germany.

>>3295255

What caused the rifle shortage?

>>3295407
German had bigger army than Russia and Austro-Hungary was fighting Russia as well

>>3295473
Russia wasnt prepared for that big war/conscription, Russian industry was just too weak.

>>3295475

Austro-Hungary was also fighting on two fronts. Germany was devoting most of their troops to France, and Austria-Hungary was devoting most of their troops to Serbia.

>>3295490
Then its half of army and half of army against one army.

>>3295233
Why was there always some sort of "Ultimate Boss" in the East that threatens the West?

Is it geography determinism? Is Alexander Dugin right?

Is it really impossible for it to be an actual democracy with muh freedumbs?

>>3295482

But wasn't everybody expecting a war at this point? Why weren't they prepared?

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>>3295482
Looks like they pretty fucking hulked up during those few years, since Red Army inherited something like 20 million nuggets.

What's the secret of Russian military buildup insanity?

>>3295548

At the beginning of the war, the Russian government had very serious corruption problems in the war ministry, perhaps the natural result of a system where positions are earned through family connections rather than a proven record of competence. Late in the war, the Russian government finally replaced the guy in charge, and the new guy quickly proved that he was far more capable than his predecessor. By then, however, the damage was already done and it was simply too little, too late.

>>3295540
I would think that the sheer size of Russia would have forced them to keep troops deployed elsewhere instead of throwing them all into Europe.

I mean they did lose to Japan only 10 years before WW1 and most of Central Asia had been under Russian control for less than ~60 years.

>>3295565
who was that guy in charge who replaced the incompetent one?

>>3295540
Russia was primitive as fuck compared to the rest of europe. It took the communists to really make them modernize.

>>3295598

My source is "A World Undone" by G.J. Meyer but I do not remember the names. What I do remember is that the Tsarina hated the new guy because he was seen as a "liberal" or "reformer" which she hated with a passion that was frankly unreasonably given the gravity of the situation. In her mind, nothing less than absolutely autocracy was acceptable, and the slightest suggestion of reform was a direct challenge to the Tsar's authority that had to be punished. The first guy would have been replaced much more quickly if not for her meddling.

>>3295233

HUGE SWATS OF NOTHING

theres a reason why siberian towns look like mars settlements, built up on composite hollow fondations that wont sink as the permafrost shifts

it took them till the 1970is to develop the basic technology necesary to exploit the place economicaly, why you think before that it was all done by forced labor

>>3295682
>theres a reason why siberian towns look like mars settlements, built up on composite hollow fondations that wont sink as the permafrost shifts

largest town that even comes close to what you're describing is Norilsk and that one has population 200,000
Siberia is home to 1/6th of Russian population and save to northern parts, it's actually fucking beautiful land. Far east and especially Yakutia is another fucking story.

>>3295540
Russia was expecting the War closer to 1920, they got caught in the middle of a reformation of the armies and it took them a couple of years to catch up which is when you got the Brusilov Offensive and Austria-Hungary getting BTFO.

>>3295233
You're talking about a country so stupid and backwards that they went for Communism. It shouldn't be a surprise.

>>3295779
>Far east and especially Yakutia is another fucking story.

Do tell

>>3296271
place that's bigger than France, Germany and England put together with population 1 million, two week summer, negative billion degrees in 8 month winter
don't get me wrong, the nature there looks fucking fantastic, but you wouldn't get me to live there even if you paid me good money for the rest of my life

the problem with Russia is that the command structure hardly changed after the Napoleonic war,with modernization becoming something that's hard to do in Russia but they were projected to become the strongest military in the future,not least due to her meteoric economic rise (10% in 1911)
Also her services such as the dukes and ministry of war had petty squabbling over command,that's why Brusilov was partially successful,if the two Russian armies North and South were there to assist him Austria-h*ngary would be finished

>>3295233
Ivan can't shoot if he does not have a rifle. Ivan can't fight if he has no food to eat. Ivan is a little tired after walking a thousand miles.

>>3296172
There's nothing wrong with communism.

>>3295271
>Air survailence, train transport and having an opponent whose the generals would prefer to fight each other is pure luck.

>>3295540
There's also a certain bonehead move they made at the beginning:

All available men were called up right at the beginning, much more than they could train or equip. This not only saddled the army with immediate supply and organizational problems, but robbed the civilian economy of manpower that could have been better used on farms and in factories.

>>3297909
lel