impact of WWI on Russia

a.       Lost twice as many troops as the enemy

b.       8 million casualties, 1,7 million deaths and 2.4 million captured

a.       Tannenberg and Masurian lakes resulted in the lowering of morale of the Russian troops

b.       Soldiers fought well but brought down by poor generals

c.       Russian army blamed shell crisis for lack of military progress but it was the incompetence of military administrators not being able to cope with the logistical challenges of war

a.       Economy was geared up for war effort, but industry and agriculture couldn’t cope with the demands of war

b.       Affected Russian people lives negatively

a.       Average output of cereals increased during war

b.       Rising population, requisitioning of food fall of availability of Fertilizers and transport problems created food shortages esp. after 1916.

a.       Stockpiling of supplies

b.       Piles of food rotted away, at Archangel (northern Russia) the ‘mountains’ of hardware so heavy they started to sink into the ground

c.       Incomplete trans-Siberian railway line

a.       £3 billion roubles- cost of war

b.       Partly from borrowing increases in tax and printing more money

c.       This caused inflation, by 1917 prices risen by 400% from start of war

d.    Those with fixed income (low-paid and elderly) suffered the most