How was it the Tsar could manage to lose to an outnumbered Japanese Army with fewer artillery pieces that was essentially German trained; and then not realize his officer quality was in a state of crises and either try to avoid war at all cost or try and reform the army so the appalling loses against German Trained Japanese wouldn't be repeated against actual Germans?
I know that it was different officers who led Russia in WW1 but they did exactly the same mistakes and got exactly the same results; I guess I am asking why did the Tsar allow that state of affairs? Was he capable of learning any lessons when it came to war?
Russian officer quality Russo-Japanese War/WW1
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MagnusStultus
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James A Pratt III
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Re: Russian officer quality Russo-Japanese War/WW1
In Nicholas II defense he did not want a war against the Japanese in 1904 and he had just started a major army expansion and reorganization when WW I broke out in 1914 which he did not want either. He stated around 1912 he want to avoid trouble until 1917 when the reorganization and expansion plan would be finished.
In the book "Tide at Sunrise" The Russian Imperial army comes across as being commanded by mostly incompentant and corrupt officers leading a bunch of untrained, demoralized peasant conscripts. The Russian navy comes across just the same. When the RJ war ended the Russian Army had learned some lessons and if the war had continued their army would have been big enough and experienced enough to have defeated the Japanese.
books to read: The Russian Imperial Army 1796-1917 Editor Roger Resse there is an article in it "The Tsarist Officer Corps 1881-1914 Customs, Duties, Ineffiency" by John Busnell which gives you a good look at the officer corps and why it did so badly.
It mentions the Alexander Kurpin Novel "the Duel" which is on archive.org
See also "The End of the Russian Imperial Army" by Alan Wildman
One should also point out that officers were promoted to General rank in the Russian Imperial army only if they were considered loyal to the regime. In defense of Nicholas II to have got Russia through the RJ War and WW I he would have had to have been another Peter the Great which he wasn't. There are a number of bios of him out there including Nicholas and Alexandra, The Last Tsar, Nicholas II. The site Alexanderpalace.org has some information on him and his family.
At dtic.mil there is online "The Effectiveness of Military Institutions volume 1 World War I which has a good chapter on the Russian army
In the book "Tide at Sunrise" The Russian Imperial army comes across as being commanded by mostly incompentant and corrupt officers leading a bunch of untrained, demoralized peasant conscripts. The Russian navy comes across just the same. When the RJ war ended the Russian Army had learned some lessons and if the war had continued their army would have been big enough and experienced enough to have defeated the Japanese.
books to read: The Russian Imperial Army 1796-1917 Editor Roger Resse there is an article in it "The Tsarist Officer Corps 1881-1914 Customs, Duties, Ineffiency" by John Busnell which gives you a good look at the officer corps and why it did so badly.
It mentions the Alexander Kurpin Novel "the Duel" which is on archive.org
See also "The End of the Russian Imperial Army" by Alan Wildman
One should also point out that officers were promoted to General rank in the Russian Imperial army only if they were considered loyal to the regime. In defense of Nicholas II to have got Russia through the RJ War and WW I he would have had to have been another Peter the Great which he wasn't. There are a number of bios of him out there including Nicholas and Alexandra, The Last Tsar, Nicholas II. The site Alexanderpalace.org has some information on him and his family.
At dtic.mil there is online "The Effectiveness of Military Institutions volume 1 World War I which has a good chapter on the Russian army