The reason people poked fun at the French for their collapse in 1940 was because at the time they had objectively the best equipped military in Europe. Their tanks were armed and armored, albeit not quite as mobile, and they had just as many of them. The enormous lapse in doctrine, and things like the French high command refusing to use telephones for frontline comms because of the "intelligence risk" that resulted in their stunning defeat are what people tend to freak out over. Hell, even the Germans were churning out barbed wire and equipment for another Western Front deadlock and had to completely retool their industry for 2 years for the things they actually needed after the shocking success of the drive through the Ardennes.
Russia: loses 2.9-3.3 million, takes the pressure off France by engaging Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans at the same time, gets a revolution and a civil war.
KanekiKaddin on November 21st, 2019 at 05:10 UTC »
Sure they get a bad rep for WWII, but their military record still looks pretty sick for their entire existence before that.
charlie0198 on November 21st, 2019 at 06:57 UTC »
The reason people poked fun at the French for their collapse in 1940 was because at the time they had objectively the best equipped military in Europe. Their tanks were armed and armored, albeit not quite as mobile, and they had just as many of them. The enormous lapse in doctrine, and things like the French high command refusing to use telephones for frontline comms because of the "intelligence risk" that resulted in their stunning defeat are what people tend to freak out over. Hell, even the Germans were churning out barbed wire and equipment for another Western Front deadlock and had to completely retool their industry for 2 years for the things they actually needed after the shocking success of the drive through the Ardennes.
veekay45 on November 21st, 2019 at 08:28 UTC »
Russia: loses 2.9-3.3 million, takes the pressure off France by engaging Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans at the same time, gets a revolution and a civil war.
The world today: "Eastern Front in WWI???"