SanAndreasX said:
The opposite is actually true: Russia has a spotty track record in war. They lost badly in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, against a newly industrialized Asian country with a fraction of the military power. They lost World War I and their victory in World War II was pyrrhic, with the German invasion only being turned back mere miles from Moscow. If Germany hadn't been fighting on two fronts they might very well have sacked Moscow and taken Russia. They couldn't handle Afghanistan when they were far more powerful than they are now. And Soviet leadership from Stalin onward was actually scared shitless of the United States as was discovered after the USSR dissolved. The Soviet leaders believed that there was almost no scenario in which the USSR would win in direct conflict with the United States and that the US would destroy them with nukes. They were afraid of China as well. They knew China could overwhelm the Russian army through sheer force of numbers. And that was back when the disparity between the US and the USSR was far less than it is now. Russia is a shell of the former Soviet Union. One other factor that is against the Russians is the fact that the United States Armed Forces have far more actual recent combat experience than the Russian military. Experience counts on the battlefield. |
Except that, as I mentioned, those examples happened at the worst time imaginable...
1. The Japan campaign took place under the cloud of the British Imperial plans to keep Russia out of Asia. In fact, they were blockaded by the Brits from going Eastwards. Had the actual fleets made it to Sakhalin, Japan would've been terminated and none of the Fascist Imperial bullshit would have started. France wanted to help, but it might lead to the UK attacking and neither were in a position to stand up to them at the time. The Tsar was bleeding Russia dry and the Empire was annoyed.
2. The Russian theater falls after peace negotiations. The people want the government out and the military falls apart as factions grow more powerful and start staking claims upon Russia. It ends when the government asks for support and they end up booted off the country instead.
3. Hitler sent the vast majority of his forces to Russia. The contribution from the other front was negligible. It was Stalin who rolled them back and chased them off Poland. It was they who marched in and seized the city. Every single important thing in that war was the Soviet Union's doing...
4. No military in the world has ever defeated guerrillas and it's believed it's impossible. The US also had to leave Iraq and were powerless in Syria. Never mind them trying their hand at bringing peace to the exact same dirtball with predictably hopeless results...
5. Even then, you seem to forget the politicians in Washington running around and yelling "We're all gonna die!" during the JFK era and how the commies were outperforming your technology with outdated equipment. Or how they are outperforming anything with less than half the enemy forces since the Georgia raid...
6. And it seems they both have a lot. Didn't I mention during the Georgian affair the invaders were outnumbered and they still outsmarted the Georgians?
Don't underestimate the enemy because it doesn't plays on your team. These guys seized most of Korea from Japan, kicked Napoleon in his family jewels, turned Hitler's dreams on his head and told the British Empire to lay off Egypt.
You don't mess with Russia without paying a high price.
