Chapter 417: Russia's Defeat

As time went on, Kaluo finally understood why Tsarist Russia, a superpower that appeared quite formidable, had been defeated by the island nation in this war.

Setting aside the combat effectiveness of the Russian Army and Navy, the Tsarist government's logistics department displayed a rather absurd side during this war; their logistical work indirectly led to the collapse of the Russian forces on the front lines.

Why say this? Simply citing a few jokes caused by the Russian logistics department during the war makes it clear.

At this time, the Russian government's logistics department was already in complete chaos, and corruption related to logistics was practically everywhere; the higher-ups barely paid attention to what the logistics department was transporting to the Far East battlefield, focusing only on whether the supply vehicles arrived in the Far East on time.

This resulted in a motley assortment of supplies being transported to the Far East battlefield. When soldiers were in dire need of weapons and ammunition, the logistics department in the rear transported a Buddhist statue weighing several tons.

When winter was approaching and soldiers needed warmer winter clothing to protect themselves, the logistics department sent a large batch of summer clothing instead, leaving the soldiers with no adequate uniforms to ward off the cold.

Logistical problems were not limited to the army; the naval department also faced severe logistical troubles.

After Vice Admiral Makarov rushed to the Far East to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, he originally planned to lead the Pacific Fleet and the Baltic support fleet to launch a heroic resistance against the island nation's naval blockade.

He had specifically requested a batch of material aid from the Russian government, including large quantities of various types of shells for warships, some medical supplies, and coal.

When the Russian logistics department transported these supplies to the battlefield, Vice Admiral Makarov was quite excited.

But when he sent men to receive these supplies, he quickly discovered something was wrong. Not to mention the quantity—the Russian logistics department was bound to embezzle, and receiving half of the requested supplies would have been quite good.

The problem was that not only was the quantity of supplies sent by the logistics department incorrect, but the types of supplies were also completely wrong.

Shells had indeed been sent, but these were shells for small-caliber artillery used by the army; the artillery on warships generally had a caliber of 10 inches or more, making these small-caliber shells completely unusable.

Although medical supplies had been sent, the embezzlement regarding medical supplies was the most ruthless. These medical supplies were either of substandard quality or were common items that served little purpose on the battlefield; in other words, they were essentially useless.

The chaos in the logistics department not only hindered the counterattack planned by Vice Admiral Makarov but also completely destroyed the morale of the Russian Far East forces.

The Far East region where the soldiers were fighting was quite cold in winter. With the Russian soldiers lacking sufficient winter clothing to ward off the cold, having to fight the island nation's soldiers under such conditions was simply making things difficult for them.

From the chaotic situation of the Russian logistics department, one could see that there were reasons why Russia erupted into revolution during World War I.

Russia and its enemy, the island nation, carried out reforms at almost the same time; the island nation's reforms were very effective, allowing it to successfully board the fast track of the Second Industrial Revolution.

As for Russia, although it also appeared to be a vigorous reform, the reform only existed during the reign of Tsar Alexander II.

After Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, his reforms became a mere shell, which was also the reason why the current Tsarist Russia was so chaotic.

Even if Alexander II had not been assassinated, his reforms could only have barely extended the life of Tsarist Russia. This was because his serfdom reform was incomplete and did not change the living conditions of the Russian commoners at the bottom.

Although it appeared to have liberated tens of millions of Russian serfs, in reality, it only gave them a different name. The nobility and landlords continued to oppress the vast Russian commoner class, and the interests of the newly emerging working class were not given sufficient respect.

Under such circumstances, any tiny spark could potentially ignite the entire situation in Russia.

Regardless of the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War, it was only a matter of time before a revolution broke out within Russia and Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown.

Kaluo did not care about the life or death of the Russian royal family, but the threat posed by Russia after the revolution was something no ordinary European country could compare to.

As everyone knows, after the end of World War I, Britain, France, and Germany suffered extremely significant weakening.

Although the war did not spread to the British mainland, Britain was still greatly affected. More importantly, the potential of the British mainland itself had a ceiling.

With the development of technology, the British mainland could no longer support Britain in remaining the world hegemon, which also meant that Britain would sooner or later have to make way for a country with greater potential.

So, which countries had greater potential?

At the end of World War I, there were only two countries left with the real potential to become world hegemons: Russia, which had just erupted into revolution, and the United States, which had not been affected by the war.

These two countries shared a common characteristic: vast territory and a large population.

Although post-revolutionary Russia had a relatively late start, compared to the United States, Russia did not have problems with racial discrimination or partisan opposition.

This led to the United States and Russia experiencing extremely rapid development over the long period following World War I, and they became the two poles of the world after the end of World War II.

The development of the United States could be slowed down, and one could even find opportunities to resolve the United States directly. After all, there were many problems within the United States; the conflict between Black and White people alone was enough to cause the country's interior to fall into fragmentation.

But Russia was different. Once Russia completed its revolution, European countries would face a brand-new Russia. Most of the corruption and bribery in post-revolutionary Russia would cease to exist, and because the army would have conviction, its combat effectiveness would also significantly increase.

This was also the reason why Kaluo did not want the post-revolutionary Russia to be born too early. Or rather, the post-revolutionary Russia could be born, but this new Russia about to be born had to be subjected to certain restrictions.

How to restrict it? In fact, the simplest way was to preserve the current Russian royal family and let Russia fall into a state of division.

Kaluo was not yet sure which side he would stand on, but what Kaluo was certain of was that the Russian royal family must be preserved, and the future Russia must be divided.

With the arrival of winter, the war between Russia and the island nation gradually entered a stalemate. Although Russia displayed some jaw-dropping operations in this war, its comprehensive strength was still within the range of a superpower, and it would not collapse so easily.

The island nation also had to slow down its offensive due to the arrival of winter. Whether it was Korea or the Russian Far East, it was quite cold in winter.

The Russians were still able to adapt to such cold, but the people of the island nation were relatively less able to adapt to the cold.

The good news was that the chaos in the Russian logistics department was no longer a secret, and the island nation's government was also clear about the current state of the Russian army.

For every day the war dragged on, Russia had to expend more energy on logistical supplies. They needed to requisition supplies from far-off Europe to transport to the Far East, and the logistical expenses were several times those of the island nation.

Under such circumstances, even though Russia was a superpower, they could not hold out for too long.

Unless Tsar Nicholas II, in order to defeat the island nation, completely disregarded the economic and industrial development of the Russian mainland, Russia would have to find a suitable opportunity for peace talks to end this war before its economy collapsed.

Although winter delayed the army's offensive, the navy could not stop its operations just because of winter.