The Russian Empire vs. the Soviet Union - a geographic/territorial comparison

[Leadified]

barneystinson69 said:

Leadified said:

I have no love for communism but there is no denying that Russia was a superpower during the Soviet Union and transformed the country into an industral powerhouse. The Russian Empire was backwards, in a constant state of financial crisis and just as corrupt as the Soviets, it started to get better towards the end but it was too little too late.

As someone with roots in Austria-Hungary, I can't think of a reason why you would shit your pants, unless if you meant shit your pants laughing on how much of a trainwreck that whole experiment was.

That too. Seriously though, Germany and Austria-Hungary were not to be fucked with. If the German's were actually competant, and the Ottomans not stuck in the 16th century, it is likely WW1 would have been a central power victory.

Germany had some street cred, they beat France (and Austria-Hungary) which at the time was considered to be strongest continental power and had a powerful economic backbone.

The main problem I have with AH and the earlier Austrian Empire is it's poor record, Austria was crushed by Prussia during the Brothers War and the country almost collapsed in 1848. Ironically I think you should give the Ottomans more credit for opening up another front against the Russians and winning some major victories against the British.

The problem in WW1 was the lack of resources for the Central Powers (similar problem with the later Axis). Britain, France and Russia controlled a large part of the world at the time while the Central Powers had colonies only on paper and by the time they managed to force Russia out of the war, it was already too late.

Last edited by Leadified - on 04 November 2017