The impact of the first world war
- Created by: Tori
- Created on: 21-05-20 06:59
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- The Impact of the First World War
- The armies strengths
- The Russian army was the largest in Europe.
- 1.4 million soldiers, and 3 million reservists.
- Military reforms in 1908 were based on an extensive 10-year programme to modernise the army, including the introduction of military aircraft.
- In 1913 the Minister of War, Vladimir Sukhomlinov, adopted the 'Grand Plan'.
- The new plan was a response to increased tensions in the Balkans.
- The plan proposed an offensive strategy in order to secure Russia's western borders.
- The Russian army was the largest in Europe.
- On the eve of WW1, Russia's army was superficially impressive.
- However, at a deeper level, it had serious weaknesses
- Problems in the army
- Long-term problems included:
- -Incompetent generals who had senior positions due to their family connections, not their ability to lead.
- -Russian soldiers were the least educated of any European army.
- -Russian industry was still underdeveloped relative to other European countries.
- Thus, Russian arms production was comparatively inefficient.
- Additionally, military reforms were not entirely effective:
- -The modernisation plans were designed to ensure the army was ready for war in 1917.
- Therefore, the army was not ready for the outbreak of war in 1914.
- -The Tsar authorised a massive programme of naval expansion in 1907 which took up a large part of the military budget.
- However, Russia faced no major threats from other naval powers this did almost nothing to defend the country.
- -The modernisation plans were designed to ensure the army was ready for war in 1917.
- Long-term problems included:
- The course of WW1
- WW1 exposed the weaknesses of the Russian army.
- Initial victories were short-lived.
- Russia's defeat at the Battle of Tannenberg led to the 'Great Retreat' of 1915.
- Attempts to regain the initiative through the 'Brusilov Offensive' of 1916 also ended in failure.
- WW1 exposed the weaknesses of the Russian army.
- Economic problems including inflation and supplies for cities
- WW1 had a catastrophic economic impact for Russia.
- Inflation and food shortages
- Growing inflation was a major problem during WW1.
- Inflation had a major impact on food prices.
- By 1917, inflation had reached 200%.
- Food prices went up even faster.
- Eg. the price of flour rose by 500%.
- Food prices went up even faster.
- By January 1917 Petrograd was receiving only 48% of its total grain requirements.
- The army was also forced to reduce rations from 4,000 to 2,000 calories a day.
- Growing inflation was a major problem during WW1.
- Urbanisation
- The growth of the war economy meant more workers were employed in factories in the cities.
- Between 1914-17, Petrograd's population rose from 2.1 to 2.7 million.
- The growth of the war economy meant more workers were employed in factories in the cities.
- Munitions Crisis
- Russia's military planners had assumed that modern wars would be relatively short.
- Thus, the army had not stockpiled enough weapons to keep fighting.
- Russian military also lacked the capacity to produce sufficient quantites of munitions.
- By mid-1915 the munitions crisis was so bad that Russian industry also lacked the capacity to produce sufficient quanitities of munitions.
- Thus, Russia experiences severe shortages of munitions in the spring of 1915, which led to military setbacks.
- Russia's military planners had assumed that modern wars would be relatively short.
- Transport Crisis
- Russia's transport networks struggled to cope with the need to transport troops, munitions and food.
- This exacerbated food shortages in the cities and muntions shortages on the front line.
- Russia's transport networks struggled to cope with the need to transport troops, munitions and food.
- The armies strengths
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