Serbia – Russia relations
Serbia and Russia have had close relationships dating back way before the outbreak of World War One. In 1807, there was a russian-serbian alliance during the first Serbian uprising due to mutual wants and needs. Russia wanted Serbian military protection, and Serbia wanted to establish a nation state with the help of Russia. From then on, although they were not formally allied, Serbia and Russia had continuing close relations and interests in each other which is why, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, they entered the war in Serbia’s defence, which then evolved into what we know today as World War One.
Russia in the First World War
Russia entered the war in the three days after the 28th of July 1914 and Germany, threated by Russia, quickly followed suit. Then France and the UK entered due to the two pre-established alliances between Russia and UK and the UK and France.
Although there were some reforms in the decade before, in 1914 the russian army was very badly equipped and did not really have a strong political or military leader.
In August 1914, the russian invasion of East Prussia was crushingly defeated at the Battle of Tannenberg (26th to 30th). This was only a month into the conflict and almost foreshadowed the rest of Russia’s experience in this war. Despite this major failing, they did manage to force Germany to send some troops from the Western front to the Eastern one, which provided France with some much-needed relief – in fact it could be argued that this relief for France was the reason Grand Duke Nicholas had urged the armies to invade before they seemed to be truly ready.
1915 and 1916 brought terrible casualties for Russian forces which further drained and good public opinion the Russian people had of the war – this was not helped by the fact that the Russian Government still had a distrust of any sort of public initiative or collective, which meant that the people were not involved in the organisation of munitions or medical supplies. There was no ‘at home’ war effort comparable to what we know there was in the United Kingdom.
The Government in the War
At the time of the war, the country was still being operated by tsar Nicholas II and the Duma. The Duma did propose that there should be a national coalition formed which could weather all the challenges of war time, but this was swiftly shot down on the 16th of September 1915 by the tsar, who still maintain absolute power. 11 days prior to this, Emperor Nicholas had made the decision to take on the role of commander of the armies in the field, despite having no military background; this was a mistake for several reasons
reason one – who was left behind?? With the emperor in the field, the country was left in the hands of the empress, who herself was very much in the hand of, or at least closely tied to, Grigori Rasputin, who held absolutely no good public opinion. A combination of massive casualties at the front lines, and the massive and growing economic hardship the people were facing, and the fact that the empress was a woman, meant that the people and the nobility alike were starting to believe the Russia was being run by the incompetent.
29th to 30th of December 1916 – Rasputin was murdered in a rather confusing tale, but by then it was too late. The system was already damaged beyond help
reason two – how will the army react?? Becoming Commander-in-chief of the armed forces in 1915 was a terrible decision for Tsar Nicholas II. Not only did it make him a suitable target for the publics discontent with the ongoing impact of the war, but it also led to him falling out of favour with the army – bear in mind that the army was the only reason he survived previous attempts at revolution. While the Tsar almost religiously wore an army uniform, he had absolutely no practical experience with the military and so, unsurprisingly, his army faced a lot of defeats. The structure of the Russian army and the organisation of it crumbled, and the troops faced massive shortages of equipment, medical supplies, and ammunition. Needless to say, the Tsar was quickly falling from their graces.