Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was an empire that joined the war in 1914. Due to it's problems and poor leadership, it collapse in 1917 and left Romania to get annexed.

History
On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo, and Tsar Nicholas II vacillated as to Russia's course of action. A relatively-new factor influencing Russian policy was the growth of Pan-Slavism, which identified Russia's duty to all Slavs, especially those who practised Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The growth of that impulse shifted attention away from the Ottoman Empire and toward the threat posed to the Slavic people by the Austria-Hungary. Serbia identified itself as the champion of the Pan-Slavic ideal, and Austria-Hungary planned to destroy Serbia for that reason. Nicholas wanted to defend Serbia but not to fight a war with Germany. In a series of letters exchanged with Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany (the so-called "Willy and Nicky correspondence"), both cousins proclaimed their desire for peace, and each attempted to get the other to back down. Nicholas desired Russia's mobilization to be only against Austria-Hungary in the hopes of avoiding war with Germany. The Kaiser, however, had pledged to support Austria-Hungary. On 25 July 1914, Nicholas decided to intervene in the Austro-Serbian conflict, a step toward general war. He put the Russian army on "alert" on 25 July. Although it was not general mobilisation, the German and Austro-Hungarian borders were threatened and looked like military preparation for war. However, the Russian Amy had few workable plans and no contingency plans for a partial mobilisation. On 30 July 1914, Nicholas took the fateful step of confirming the order for general mobilisation, despite being very reluctant.

On 28 July, Austria-Hungary formally declared war against Serbia. Count Witte told the French Ambassador, Maurice Paléologue that the Russian point of view considered the war to be madness, Slavic solidarity to be simply nonsense and nothing could be hoped by war.

Russian prisoners at the Battle of Tannenberg, where the Russian Second Army was annihilated by German forces

On 30 July, Russia ordered general mobilisation but still maintained that it would not attack if peace talks began. Germany, reacting to the discovery of Russian partial mobilisation ordered on 25 July, announced its own pre-mobilisation posture, the imminent danger of war. Germany told Russia to demobilise within twelve hours. In Saint Petersburg at 7 p.m., the German ultimatum to Russia expired. The German ambassador to Russia met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov; asked three times if Russia would reconsider; and, with shaking hands, delivered the note accepting Russia's war challenge and declaring war on 1 August. On 6 August, Franz Joseph I of Austria signed the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war against Russia.

At the outbreak of war, each of the European powers began to publish selected, and sometimes misleading, compendia of diplomatic correspondence, seeking to establish justification for their own entry into the war, and to cast blame on other actors. The first of these color books to appear was the German White Book which appeared on 4 August 1914, the same day as Britain's war declaration. The British Blue Book came out two days later, followed by the Russian Orange Book in mid-August. The outbreak of war on 1 August 1914 found Russia grossly unprepared. The Allies placed their faith in the Russian army, the famous 'Russian steamroller'. Its prewar regular strength was 1,400,000, mobilisation added 3,100,000 reserves and millions more stood ready behind them. In every other respect, however, Russia was unprepared for war. Germany had ten times as much railway track per square kilometre, and Russian soldiers travelled an average of 1,290 kilometres (800 mi) to reach the front, but German soldiers travelled less than a quarter of that distance. Russian heavy industry was still too small to equip the massive armies that the Tsar could raise, and its reserves of munitions were pitifully small. The German army in 1914 was better equipped than any other man for man, the Russian army was severely short on artillery pieces, shells, motorised transports and even boots.

Before the war, Russian planners had completely neglected the critical logistical issue of how the Allies could ship supplies and munitions to Russia. With the Baltic Sea barred by German U-boats and surface ships and the Dardanelles by the guns of Germany's ally, the Ottoman Empire, Russia initially could receive help only via Archangel, which was frozen solid in winter, or via Vladivostok, which was over 6,400 kilometres (4,000 mi) from the front line. By 1915, a new rail line was begun which gave access to the ice-free port of Murmansk by 1917. The Russian High Command was greatly weakened by the mutual contempt between War Minister Vladimir Sukhomlinov and the experienced warrior Grand Duke Nicholas, who commanded the armies in the field. However, an immediate attack was ordered against the German province of East Prussia. The Germans mobilised there with great efficiency and completely defeated the two Russian armies that had invaded. The Battle of Tannenberg, where the entire Russian Second Army was annihilated, cast an ominous shadow over the empire's future. The loyal officers lost were the very ones that were needed to protect the dynasty. The Russian armies had some success against both the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman Armies, but they were steadily pushed back by the German Army. In September 1914, to relieve pressure on France, the Russians were forced to halt a successful offensive against Austria-Hungary in Galicia to attack German-held Silesia. The main Russian goal was focused on the Balkans and especially taking control of Constantinople. The Ottoman entry into the war opened up new opportunities, but Russia was much too hard pressed to take advantage of them. Instead, the government incited Britain and France into to the action at Gallipoli, which failed very badly. Russia then incited a rebellion by the Armenians, who were massacred in one of the great atrocities of the war, the Armenian Genocide. The combination of poor preparation and poor planning destroyed the morale of Russian troops and set the stage for the collapse of the entire regime in early 1917. Gradually, a war of attrition set in on the vast Eastern Front; the Russians were facing the combined forces of Germany and Austria-Hungary and suffered staggering losses. General Anton Denikin, retreating from Galicia wrote:

The German heavy artillery swept away whole lines of trenches, and their defenders with them. We hardly replied. There was nothing with which we could reply. Our regiments, although completely exhausted, were beating off one attack after another by bayonet.... Blood flowed unendingly, the ranks became thinner and thinner and thinner. The number of graves multiplied.