Armies of The World~Russia

Having the largest army in the world, Russia has outlasted a lot of wars with its superior manpower, however, for Russia it hasn't always worked and the army also has a history of fighting factions from within Russia's own borders. This page will tell you the history of Russia's army and how they won (and lost) their wars.

## Ivan the 4th/Ivan The Terrible

Since the 13th century, the kingdoms in Russia were occupied by the Mongol Hordes, it wasn't until the 16th century when the first recorded battles of the Russian Army (under the leader Ivan The 4th, B.K.A. Ivan The Terrible)after uniting the Russian Lands and becoming Tsar in 1533, he conquered the Mongol occupied Kazan in 1552 and the region of Astrakhan in 1556. Securing the reign of his family; the Rurik Dynasty.

## Russo-Turkish Wars

Beginning in 1568, the new power in the Middle East; The Ottoman Empire wanted some land that Russia had, what this did is spark a conflict that will come up on an occasion for the next 4 centuries. The reason for Russia and the Ottoman Empire to fight varies between times and the victor usually varies as well between this time period. Though their conflict in 1710 to 1711 is considered to be the few wars Russia and the Ottoman Empire had that were separate, as is the Crimean War (which the page will talk about later).

## Russo-Persian Wars

Beginning in 1651, Russia would also have a few occasional wars against Persia (modern-day Iran) as it was over land disputes between the 2 nations. Though in the first war, the Persians were victorious, but in the other conflicts, Russia would get their revenge, and Russia's victory in the war from 1826 to 1828 that will help Russia gain the Caucuses and eventually that region's oil.

## Great Northern War

Russia had tensions with it's northern rival; Sweden for centuries prior to this war, but it wasn't until the Great Northern War when the rivalry reached its Apex. One of the reasons is that the Russian Tsar Peter the 1st, (B.K.A. Peter the Great) wanted access to the Baltic Sea so he can not only built a navy for his country, but also try to establish diplomatic relations and trade with the rest of Europe, and Sweden stands in his way. This war would last for 21 years, but in the end Peter got what he wanted; access to the sea, and Russia would also turn into an Empire.

## Finnish War

Russia and Sweden would be at each other's throats again nearly a century after the Great Northern War, this time it was over the region which would be known as Finland. The war would last for just a year, but Russia would gain Finland in a decisive victory over Sweden.

## Napoleonic Wars

During the first several coalitions against France (and eventually Napoleon Bonaparte) Russia has aided Great Britain, Prussia, and Austria in their fight during the Napoleonic Wars. But with every Napoleon victory, there was a treaty to be signed, and Russia (as it was defeated) signed a treaty to agree to blockade Britain. By 1812, Russia had "secretly' been aiding Britain in giving them money to help their economy, this did not go unnoticed by Napoleon who declared war on Russia. On July 12, Napoleon would invade Russia with over 800,000 men and would suffer massive casualties as they went as Russia would not only flank Napoleon's forces but also use Scorched Earth tactics so Napoleon's army couldn't live off the land and have to rely on their supply trains. Eventually by the fall, Napoleon would invade Moscow, but Russia would had everybody evacuate from the city and then burn it to the ground. After just a few months in a ruined Moscow, Napoleon's forces would leave the city and then winter came and decimated what was left of his army. Russia would go on to aid the other European nations in the 6th and 7th coalitions and helped in bringing down Napoleon.

## Crimean War

With its ongoing feud with the Ottoman Empire, Russia wanted to take the island in the northern Black Sea called the Crimea but the Ottomans controlled the island, so again the 2 nations went to war. This time however, the Ottoman Empire had help from Great Britain and France. After 2 years of fighting the Russian Army would lose and suffer over 450,000 casualties.

## Second Opium War

During the Opium Wars, Russia wanted to negotiate some treaties with the large Qing Dynasty, but the Dynasty wouldn't cooperate which led to the beginning of the Second Opium War now its unknown how Russia contributed to the war, but it's known that they agreed to some treaties with the Qing Dynasty to get the outer regions of Manchuria, eventually they signed other treaties with the Qing Dynasty which opened up trade between the 2 nations.

## Russo-Japanese War

As Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War it was situating itself as a huge military power, which worries Russia and especially that Japan won the Korean Peninsula which Russia wanted so they can build a railroad in the region to build a naval base. In 1904, the Japanese would invade Port Arthur which Russia didn't like. At the time, Russia had the largest army in the world, but large numbers doesn't mean best firepower however as the Japanese proved in this war. After a year of fighting, the Japanese would defeat Russia who took the defeat in this war hard as Russia would have a first revolution by 1905.

## World War 1

By 1914, World War 1 began, and with a treaty obligation it had with France, Russia goes to war against the Central Powers. Russia's first action was to have its forces go after Germany, this was "Plan 19" which is similar to Germany's Schlieffen Plan. But Plan 19 was altered when Russian commanders agreed that Austria-Hungary could be a bigger threat than Germany, so the army was split to attack both Germany and Austria-Hungary. But whatever had the bigger effect, either altering Plan 19 or the inferiority of the Russian Army, the war went south for Russia (except when it comes to the Brusilov Offensive against Austria-Hungary. Though the Russian Army had an easier time with the Ottoman Empire has they fought them in the Caucuses. Nevertheless, Russia would lose badly to Germany and eventually Austria-Hungary. By 1917, the Tsar Nicholas the 2nd was forced to abdicate the throne in what would be known as the February Revolution, but as the Tsar was replaced by a provisional government, it decided to stay in the war which didn't go down well with the Russian population as the war was already taking its toll in the country with a food shortage and a workers strike. It wouldn't be until the October Revolution where the Bolsheviks took over the government where the Russians would sign a treaty with Germany; the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which forced Russia to recognize independence of some states, including Poland and Ukraine. But the worst was yet to come.

## Russian Civil War

Almost immediately after the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Russians would begin to fight over supremacy over the nation, thus the Russian Civil War would begin. The Russian Army would be split into numerous factions, there was the Red Army (the Bolsheviks), the White Army (an anti-Bolshevik movement) and the Green and Black armies too. In the early stages of the war, the Red Army quickly took over Russia's European cities such as Moscow and Petrograd (renaming it Leningrad), the war would eventually come to a stalemate, it wouldn't be until 1919 where the Red Army would gain the initiative and push the White Army back into Siberia, the war would continue through the next 4 years (even after the creation of the Soviet Union) the Red Army would eventually be victorious over the White Army.

## Winter War

The Soviet Union's first taste of actual war was against Finland as they were settling some land disputes with the nation. The Soviet Army had difficulties fighting on the Finnish terrain and the harsh winter weather despite their superior numbers and technology. The war would last for about 3 months until the Treaty of Moscow gave the USSR the islands that once belonged to Finland.

## World War 2

On September 1, 1939, the Nazis would invade Poland, the Soviets would also invade the country and then later would sign a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. But in 1941, after the Nazis failed to bring down Britain, the Nazis would turn their attention to the Soviet Union, thus Operation: Barbarossa begins and the Soviets were caught by complete surprise as they would lose battle after battle against the seemingly invincible Nazi force, though once the Nazis were inching closer to Moscow, the Soviets stood their ground and even stalled the Nazi advance. By 1942 the Nazis had their eyes on the city of Stalingrad which if taken would allow the Nazi army to head south and take the rich oil regions of the Caucuses. On August 23, the Nazis invade the city, and the battle immediately became horrific, close quarter fighting on the streets and even in the same building, it wouldn't be until the Soviets launched Operation: Uranus which had the entire city surrounded, the Soviets also had the advantage of fighting on their home turf which they knew the sewer system and used it to bring in troops from underground to surprise the Nazis, they even sent in inexperienced troops or troops that were unarmed (almost as like a game a chess). Despite all this however, the fighting would last for around 5 months, as winter came harsh conditions came down on all in the city, but because it was too much for the Nazis, they had no choice but to surrender, this was a huge victory for not just the Soviets, but the Allies as well. By 1943, the Nazis were looking to regain the initiative on the eastern front they had their eyes set on a town called Kursk which would be the site of the biggest tank battle in the history of war, because of the Soviets' sheer number of tanks, they were able to beat back the Nazis and maintain the initiative on the Eastern front. The Soviets would chase the Nazis all the way back to Germany until eventually they invaded the German capital of Berlin in 1945, thus winning the war on the eastern front.

## Soviet-Afghan War

After unrest gripped the nation of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union (who were deeply involved in Afghanistan at the time) decided to invade the country to help out the government in the country. What went on in Afghanistan is that they were fighting a group of radical terrorists named the Mujahideen which had some weapons that the west gave to them, giving the Mujahideen an advantage over the Soviets. The war would go on for 9 years which resulted in a victory for the Mujahideen as the Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev decided to pull out of Afghanistan, the war was one of the leading factors of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

## Russian Invasion of Georgia

Even after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia still has land disputes with its former Soviet Republics, one of which was Georgia. On August 7, 2008 Russia invades Georgia and after a 5day conflict, Russia occupies some areas of Georgia.

## Russia and Ukraine

In 2014, Russia invades the Donbas region in Ukraine which would only be a prelude to what was yet to come. In 2022, Russia would invade more of Ukraine in hopes to dominate the country. This conflict is still ongoing and it's still anybody's war.

That'll do it for this page. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis too. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.