Military Issues

•  Russian government managed to mobilise around 15 million men between 1914 and 1917, mainly conscript peasants but it proved unable to provide for them. The problems of the early years grew steadily worse so that soldiers were sent to fight not only without suitable weaponry, but also lacking basic warm :clothing and properly fitting, waterproof footwear.
• In 1914, the infantry had only two rifles for every three soldiers and in these early years, the soldiers had to rely on the weapons of fallen comrades to fight at all. 
• The winter months of 1915-16 were relatively quiet for the Russians, allowing more time for training and the production of ammunition, and by the time of the Brusilov offensive in June 1916, most front line units had a reasonable complement of machine guns and artillery shells. However, by then the army had a serious lack of experienced officers since most been killed in the early stages of war.
• By the end of 1916, morale in the army had plummeted. Heavy casualties and the deteriorating economic and political situation within Russia itself led to 1.5 million desertions that year.
• The Brusilov offensive was a Russian attempt to push westwards from the area of the Ukraine. It succeeded in destroying the Austro-Hungarian armies, which had to rely on German reinforcements, but within three months it had ground to a halt, since the Germans, with their superior railway network, were able to move men forward more quickly than the Russians