we launched our own historical streaming platform just two weeks ago join today and use code history 50 for 50% off a monthly subscription and gain access to over 100 exclusive videos made by historical content creators including us and gain access to our active Discord Community where you can interact with myself and other like-minded history Buffs in 1905 Russia suffered a significant defeat in the Russo Japanese war which we the government's position and exposed the limitations of its military and Industry this was the first time a European great power had been decisively defeated by an Asian one and it was a huge blow to Russian Prestige this and the substantial amount of casualties that the Russians suffered contributed to Growing domestic unrest which culminated in the 1905 Russian Revolution while the Revolution was unsuccessful ful in stopping Zar Nicholas it severely damaged the reputation of the Russian autocracy as a result when the austr Hungarian Arch Duke France Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb in June of 1914 the Russians were quick to act though Austria Hungary couldn't find evidence that the Serbian state had sponsored the assassination it issued an ultimatum the Russians who had declared themselves Protectors of Christian in the Balkans for centuries now were afraid of austr Hungarian domination in the region this alongside pans Slavic sentiment convinced the Russians to back Serbia even if they had no formal treaty obligation France who had an alliance with Russia also reassured their support if War sparked tensions boiled over and Austria Hungary declared war on July 28th Russia came to Serbia's defense and days after alliances had been drawn in Germany France and Britain what had begun as a Balkan crisis had evolved into a worldwide conflict with the central powers on one side and the triple anant on the other I'd like to thank the sponsor of today's video Opus clip the number one generative AI video tool that turns long form videos into shorts with one click editing our videos is an expensive and timec consuming part of what we do here at the armchair historian which is why we've turned to Opus clip to help us edit down the best moments from all of our videos for you to enjoy as YouTube shorts Opus clip is really affordable and is a great tool for creators of all sizes who want to get the most out of their content so whether you're already a successful Creator or have always wanted to create a channel start transforming your videos into short form content in moments by using our Link in the description to get a 50% discount on an annual plan and keep an eye out for more armchair historian shorts made with Opus clip Russia did not enter the war from a position of strength while it had an advantage in Manpower its resources were not fully exploited the reforms they had enacted after the Russo Japanese war had not been enough to completely revamp their military industrial complex which was still weak most notably in the state of their railroads Russia's vast territory presented logistical challenges making it difficult to maintain a continuous supply of men and resources to the front lines poor Transportation infrastructure hindered effective mobilization and troop movements the Russian army was IL prepared for Modern Warfare relying on outdated strategies and Equipment the rigid hierarchical structure and lack of proper training and Leadership further hampered the military's performance nonetheless Russia launched offensives into East Prussia and Austria Hungary initially the Russians were successful with the first and second armies advancing into East Prussia and even achieving victory at the Battle of gumin on August 20th although the Russians wanted to threaten coxburg the Russian second Army would be annihilated at the Battle of taner with the Germans capturing over 100,000 prisoners in the conflict's aftermath the Russian army would be defeated once again at the Battle of missan lakes being kicked out of East Prussia for good after their successes in East Prussia the Germans aimed to take Warsaw and fought the Russians at the Battle of the Vistula River but were repelled building on this defensive success the Russians attacked Silesia aiming to take the city of breau but were repulsed and retreated to Wood which would fall by the end of November the first 4 months of the war had taken its toll not only on the morale of the Russians but also on material as they were already low on guns and ammunition against the austr hungarians Russia started with defeats first with the Battle of kashik and later kamarov however at Gila Lipa they drove away the Ostro hun hungarians and captured Lamberg the Russian push into Gala was quite successful taking much land and capturing tens of thousands of austr Hungarian prisoners many of them were austr Hungarian Slavs Czechs slovaks croats and bosnians and Russia portrayed itself as a liberator of subjugated people soon after the Russians laid Siege to The Fortress of pishu which they captured along with more than 100,000 prisoners in March of 1915 Russia's third adversary the Ottoman Empire would join the war in October of 1914 after bombarding Russian Black Sea ports the initial Russian casis belli had been defending their fellow slaves but as the dead mounted this wasn't an especially sellable cause to the Russian public the involvement of the Ottoman Empire which historically had been akin to an arch rival to the Russians made the war more logical to public perception furthermore Russian officials managed to extract a commitment from Britain and France that Russia would take Constantinople at the end of the war formerly the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire which Russia claimed to be the successor of the city would also give Russia access to the Mediterranean the fighting between the Ottomans and Russians would mostly take place in the Caucasus a region rif with ethnic and religious tension both sides would exploit these tensions with the Russians vaguely promising Independence for the Armenians in exchange for assistance against the Ottoman Empire the ottoman Sultan would also use his religious position to leverage support for the war proclaiming a Jihad against the anant in December the Ottomans crossed into Russian Georgia and captured ardahan murdering many Christians in response when the Russians retook it in early 1950 they retaliated killing many in the Muslim Community later the Russians alongside their Armenian allies would achieve a massive victory at sari kames in January of 1915 in response the ottoman violence against the Armenians began to spiral out of control eventually leading to The Armenian genocide in April of 1915 the Germans and austr hungarians launched the gorita tarnoff offensive achiev aing a major breakthrough reversing the Russian gains in Gala and capturing over 140,000 Men by June both pishu and lenberg were in the hands of the Central Powers again the Germans would continue to build on their success seizing Warsaw rest lovk and vus the Russians had suffered heavily as a result of these offensives in July assistant minister of War General Mikel bov pleaded with the French Ambassador for help and revealed that in some infantry regiments one man in three had no rifle the poor fellows wait patiently under the hail of shrapnel for their comrades to fall so they can collect their weapons faced with insurmountable pressure the Russians began the great retreat in which they relinquished over 100,000 square km to the Central Powers while the withdrawal did shorten their front lines and allow for a much needed respit it was a huge blow to morale disillusioned with the constant military struggles Zar Nicholas decided to make himself the supreme commander of the Russian forces tying his regime to success in the war while a large part of Russia's involvement in the war had been due to its role as the preeminent Slavic power the Russian Empire was incredibly diverse large minorities of poles ukrainians Germans Baltic and Central Asian people lived within the Russian borders while the Russians retreated the Germans continued to advance capturing the fortresses at kovno and Novo geores that being said the Germans would be routed at The Fortress of oves in an action that would later be immortalized as the attack of the dead men after their initial bombardment and assault was repelled by the Russians the Germans would surround the Fortress for months on August 6th the Germans decided to use poison gas to root the maskless Russians out the gas proved deadly leading to extremely heavy casualties on the Russian side as the Germans Advanced to take the Russian positions in what they expected to be an unimpeded assault the surviving Russians bloody with chemical burns wrapped up in rags and spitting out blood counterattacked in a bayonet charge shocked by the sight of what appeared to be dead men charging against them the Germans retreated the newspaper would later call this Counterattack the attack of the dead men nonetheless this heroic action would be in vain as the Russians would later abandon the Fortress to the Germans as the war continued its impact on Russia's society and economy was profound and destabilizing the cost of financing the war effort strained the economy leading to inflation scarcity of goods and food shortages the hardships faced by the Russian people during the war fueled discontent and social unrest strikes protest test and bread riots became more prevalent as the war dragged on further weakening the government's ability to maintain control the harsh living conditions and lack of faith in the ruling class created an environment ripe for revolutionary sentiments among the most notorious figures in the Russian court at the time was gregori Rasputin a Mystic holy man who had befriended the royal family and acted as a faith healer for Zar Nicholas's only son Al who suffered from hemophilia many in the court saw him as little more than a religious charlatan that discredited the Zar as Russian military defeats mounted on both the royal family and Ras Putin continued to become increasingly unpopular and eventually Rasputin was assassinated by a group of conservative Russian noblemen who opposed his influence over the Imperial family nonetheless Rasputin's association with the royal family left its mark discrediting the government in the eyes of many in March 1916 the Russians initiated the disastrous Lake narch offensive in the vus area during which the Germans suffered only 1th as many casualties as the Russians many of the Russian casualties would come at the hand of the cold with thousands of soldiers succumbing to hypothermia due to Dreadful Supply conditions the offensive had taken place at the west of France who had hoped it would force the Germans to transfer more units to the East and relieve some pressure from the Battle of Verdan the Germans and austr hungarians fell into complacency after repelling the Russian attacks with the austr Hungarian leadership transferring units from both the Balkan and Russian front to the Italian one many of the experienced divisions on the Eastern Front were withdrawn and sent to the Alps and replaced by formations largely composed of new inexperienced recruits this reshuffling presented an opportunity to the Russians at a war council held with senior commanders and thear in April of 1916 General Alexi bruil presented a plan to the Russian high command proposing a massive offensive against the austr Hungarian forces in Galicia bruff's plan aimed to take some of the pressure off the French and British armies in France and the Italian Army along the isanzo his plan had a mixed reception with some commanders favoring a more defensive strategy but the Zar would nonetheless approve the plan although he did deny brail's request for supporting offensives on June 4th 1916 the Russians opened the offensive with heavy artillery fire brusilov's troops made quick work of the austr hungarians within 4 days of the offensive the austr Hungarian fourth Army had its strength fall from 11 17,800 men to just 35,000 a fall of nearly 70% braila used smaller specialized units to attack weak points in the austr Hungarian trench lines and blow open holes for the rest of the army to advance into these tactics were a remarkable departure from the human wave tactics that had dominated the strategy of all major armies until that point in the first world war soon the Germans began sending reinforcements to prevent the austr hungarians from collapsing and the Russian Advance was slowed but not stopped while the Russians still outnumbered their Germanic opponents their Advance became more and more costly until they were ultimately stopped in the outskirts of the Galician town of Koval attacks continued until the Autumn rains turned the roads to Mud but other than adding to the already terrible casualty list nothing substantial was achieved the damage the brila offensive inflicted meant that the austr Hungarian Army increasing ly had to rely on the support of the Germans it also achieved its original goal disrupting Germany's attack on Verdun and having them transfer forces to the east the early success of the offensive also convinced Romania to join the war on the side of the anant but they would soon be defeated and occupied by the Central Powers the units commanded by brila directly performed very well but the overall campaign was tremendously costly for the Imperial Army with more than half a million men becoming casualties continuing the war was an especially costly Affair for the Russian Empire as a result Zar Nicholas declared a draft of Central Asian men which was unprecedented the Muslim Central Asians had not heeded the ottoman call for Jihad but the draft alongside the rampant Corruption of the Russian regime was too much to bear soon the Kix and kgis were up in arms and thousands of Russian troops were dispatched to put them down the suppression of the Revolt was brutal and led to over 100,000 deaths due to violence disease and the famine that followed hundreds of thousands of central Asians fled into China and the Russian Empire never managed to fully restore order to the region the mounting discontent and frustration with the government's handling of the war culminated in a revolution in February 1917 the February Revolution led to the abdication of Zar Nicholas II and the establishment of a provincial government led by liberal politicians who aimed to continue the war effort and Implement Democratic reforms however the provisional government shared power with the petrograd Soviet a body representing workers and soldiers this Arrangement led to a state of dual power and political instability as the two bodies had conflicting interests and goals while the provisional government's decision to continue the war was unpopular it was the catastrophic kinsky offensive in July 197 that destroyed any morale left in the Russian army along with the image of the provisional government the Army by now was plagued with desertion and Disobedience with many soldiers alluding ignoring officers orders or even outright attacking them amid the chaos and disillusionment the Bolshevik party led by Vladimir Lenin capitalized I ized on popular discontent and actively promoted slogans of Peace land and bread the Bolsheviks aimed to end Russia's involvement in the war redistribute land to The Peasants and provide food to the starving population the October revolution of 1917 spearheaded by the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and established a communist one keeping to their word the Bolsheviks would end Russia's participation in the war negotiating with Germany and signing the Treaty of breast Lov ending the fighting on December 16th 1917 the price for peace was a heavy one not only did Russia have to concede vast swaths of land to the Central Powers but they also lost millions of men in combat and decimated their economy unfortunately peace with these Central Powers did not mean an end to Russian suffering as soon after the country would devolve into Civil War Russia's participation in the first world war had profound consequences that transformed the country's political and social landscape the war exposed Russia's weaknesses exacerbated internal divisions and led to the downfall of the Imperial regime ultimately Paving the way for the rise of Communism the Russian experience during the war serves as a stark reminder of the human cost and complexity of global conflicts leaving an enduring impact on the nation's history the tragic transformation of Russia during the first world war and the subsequent Russian Revolution left an indelible mark on the 20th century and significantly shaped the course of the world's political and social developments