The Russian people did not respond to the war with real enthusiasm. The government could not overcome its traditional distrust of any public initiative, even in the organization of medical supplies or munitions for the forces.
The Levada Center, Russia's veteran independent pollster, found that respondents who said yes to the direct question of whether they supported the war fluctuated between 74 and 76 percent in April and August, declined to 71–74 percent in September and December, and climbed back to 75–77 percent in January and February.
The decision to go to war in 1914 had catastrophic consequences for Russia. The result was revolution, civil war and famine in 1917–20, followed by decades of Communist rule.
After assassination of the Austrian heir to the throne in June 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on the Russia's ally Serbia, which made Russia enter WW1 in support of Serbia. During the war, Russia had some success against Austria-Hungary, but suffered major defeats by Germany.
The phrases Second Patriotic War (Вторая отечественная война) and Great World Patriotic War (Великая всемирная отечественная война) were also used during World War I in Russia.
Russian heavy industry was not large enough to equip the massive armies that the Tsar could raise, and its reserves of munitions were small. While the German army in 1914 was better equipped than any other man-for-man, the Russian army was severely short on artillery pieces, shells, motorized transports, and boots.
The Brusilov offensive (Russian: Брусиловский прорыв Brusilovskiĭ proryv, literally: "Brusilov's breakthrough"), also known as the "June advance", of June to September 1916 was the Russian Empire's greatest feat of arms during World War I, and among the most lethal offensives in world history.
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic renamed itself as the Russian Federation and became the primary successor state to the Soviet Union.
Russia finally acquired the right bank of the Dnieper and Crimea under Catherine the Great. Peter's major victory, defeating Sweden, opened the window to Europe on the Baltic.
Over the next three years, nearly 2 million Russian soldiers were killed in battle and nearly another 5 million were wounded. The Russian people blamed the Tsar for entering the war and getting so many of their young men killed. The people of Russia first revolted in early 1917.
High casualties, inflation and food shortages, the massive mobilization of workers and peasants, the government's perceived incompetence, and the tsarist family's unpopularity shattered the fragile social peace. Many gradually disconnected patriotism for Russia from loyalty to the regime.
The treaty marked Russia's final withdrawal from World War I and resulted in Russia losing major territorial holdings. In the treaty, Bolshevik Russia ceded the Baltic States to Germany; they were meant to become German vassal states under German princelings.
Many people kept personal accounts of the events during the First World War in diary form, and published them later. In Russia, during the war and for 15 years after it, over 100 accounts were published in journals and as separate books.
There are a number of traits that distinguish Russians from other ethnicities, but by and large, they reflect common characteristics of other Europeans, including fair skin, blond hair, blue eyes, thin lips, and a rounded nose.
Batʹkivshchyna-Maty, "Mother Fatherland") or, and more commonly referred to as, Rodina-Mat (Russian: Родина-мать, tr.
The United States and Soviet Russia established diplomatic relations in November 1933. The United States and the Soviet Union, along with Britain, were the leaders of the Allies against the Axis powers during World War II.
Putin has made no secret of his desire to revive Russian influence throughout his country's former imperial domains, and has publicly lamented the fall of the USSR as the “disintegration of historical Russia under the name of the Soviet Union.”
Peter the Great modernized Russia—which, at the start of his rule, had greatly lagged behind the Western countries—and transformed it into a major power. Through his numerous reforms, Russia made incredible progress in the development of its economy and trade, education, science and culture, and foreign policy.
Peter established a navy and modernized the army. No longer would the czar have to depend on peasant soldiers supplied by the nobility. He established a standing army by introducing conscription (forced service) and equipped it with new weaponry from the west.
In the Russian Tsardom, the word Russia replaced the old name Rus' in official documents, though the names Rus' and Russian land were still common and synonymous to it, and often appeared in the form Great Russia (Russian: Великая Россия), which is more typical of the 17th century, whereas the state was also known as ...
The White armies failed largely because of their inability or unwillingness to communicate and coordinate, meaning their forces were divided. 5. The White armies also failed to provide a political alternative to Bolsheviks, promising little or nothing other than their removal.
In addition, the Russian short form name Советский Союз (transliteration: Sovjetskij Sojuz, which literally means Soviet Union) is also commonly used, but only in its unabbreviated form.
Second World War: fatalities per country 1939-1945. Estimates for the total death count of the Second World War generally range somewhere between 70 and 85 million people. The Soviet Union suffered the highest number of fatalities of any single nation, with estimates mostly falling between 22 and 27 million deaths.
Imperial Russia suffered staggering losses throughout World War I. While many in the Russian Empire initially greeted the war with enthusiasm, within a few years it had become highly unpopular. Food shortages, riots, and general unrest led to Tsar Nicholas II falling out of favor with the Russian people.
The Germans believed that Russia would be more difficult to conquer or defeat than France. Their reasoning? Russia was a massive nation, with more than a million men in their army (a number which would swell to 5 million).