How Russia was Annihilated at Tannenberg | Animated History

hi I'm Griffin Johnson the armchair historian today's video the Battle of Tannenberg [Music] what do the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of Bunker Hill have in common both our poorly named if battlefield accuracy is the benchmark the Battle of Tannenberg was actually fought approximately 19 miles were 30 kilometers away from Tannenberg near Allen Stein where Alston located in present-day Poland 500 years earlier Poland and Lithuania were joined at the hip together constituting a dominant regional power that inflicted a crushing defeat on the ethnically German Teutonic order at the Battle of Grunwald otherwise known as you guessed it tannenberg this wasn't your ordinary World War 1 battle this was a 500 year old revenge arc first let's set the scene in 1914 the global conflict that would become known as the war to end all wars had just begun and Germany found itself fighting on two fronts but they were well-prepared they had the Schlieffen Plan their strategy quickly knock out France franco-prussian style but this time invade through Belgium and then pivot eastward to face the Russians before they have time to retaliate wait what is that is that a Viking helmet I wonder why that's the oh right today's video is sponsored by Vikings War of clans the free-to-play browser game for anyone interested in either Vikings or strategy in this game you will assume the role of a Viking chief leading and managing your people as you improve your village armies technology and conquer powerful enemies I personally love the game's expansive map and old school strategy feel which enables you to make impactful decisions and greatly rewards cooperation the game has more than 20 million players that's more than all of the Vikings who have ever lived load Vikings work lands up in your browser right now and support my channel by following the link in the description down below which will give you a free bonus of 200 gold coins and the novices relocation item be sure to find me under the nickname armchair historian right after watching this episode and on No let's proceed with the video so how did Germany expect to finish invading France while Russia sat around and watched while Russia's vast and rugged terrain insufficient industrial capacity and lack of infrastructure would severely hamper its ability to mobilize Russia's sorry excuse for a railway system made its railway cars completely incompatible with Germany's which would further inhibit the speed of Russian forces when they reached German territory on the way there the Russians would also have to heavily rely on horses because of poor roads preventing the usage of trucks not that they had many of those in the first place in addition Russian communication lines were extremely vulnerable to interception the Germans cracked the Russians coded radio messages shortly after the outbreak of the conflict and even though the Russians caught on and developed a new code it proved difficult to provide each Russian commander with a new code book thus the Russians resorted to desperately broadcasting their messages on the radio without implementing the new code hoping that the Germans would somehow miss them what the Germans did miss was the czars covert order to begin partial mobilization three days before the outbreak of the war many of these troops had been assembled from the western reaches of the Russian Empire and were therefore already at Germany's doorstep as the Russian 1st army under general paul von brennan kampf and the second army under general alexander samsonov marched towards Konigsberg a stepping stone to Berlin the Germans realized that they would have to contend with the Russian Menace far sooner than they had expected - after the German defeat at Gumba ninh in mid-august it was even suggested that east prussia be completely abandoned the russian armies in the region totaled some 500,000 men whereas the German Eighth Army now under the command of the once retired general paul von hindenburg and his chief of staff general erich ludendorff numbered some 200,000 men things looked grim for the germans until a cunning strategy was devised to prevent the russians from taking Konigsberg Samsonov's ii army and renting comps first army had become separated by the vast Missourian lakes after the former army stopped to resupply this meant that the Germans could divide and conquer taking on one army at a time without being encircled Hindenburg decided to focus most of his attention on the advancing Second Army a more pressing threat due to its proximity to Konigsberg he sent a sizable detachment southward under command of Herman von Francois to face them a smaller force was sent in the direction of the 1st army to deter the possibility of Renan Kampf ending the resupply process early and interrupting the attack on Samsonov's troops in late August the 8th army detachment Hindenburg had sent south caught up with the Second Army which luckily for the Germans had been slowed down due to a combination of rough terrain and supply shortages the battle was about to begin but before we delve into the details of what exactly took place we should first compare the opposing forces to gauge their strengths and weaknesses first let's talk RAM troops the Russian army was composed of mostly new and inexperienced troops whereas the German rank-and-file were professionalized according to a strict Prussian military doctrine meaning that they had underwent yearly drills and rigorous training exercises during peacetime in preparation for this moment now let's talk weapons while the Russian soldiers in the 1st and 2nd Army's didn't laugh guns they did lack ammunition because of stretched supply lines as for weapon types both German and Russian forces were equipped with variants of the Maxim machine gun the primary rifle used by the Russians was the most Nagant whereas for the German it was the Gewehr 98 German riflemen were better off than Russian riflemen if only because of the fact that they were equipped with more ammunition with regards to artillery even though the Russians had nearly doubled the amount of artillery pieces than its German counterpart the Russians were hindered by the fact that their artillery wasn't always distributed evenly allowing the Germans to outgun them with better organized and more mobile batteries furthermore every German division had a true battalion of cutting-edge 105 millimeter field howitzers which were superior to anything the Russians could field as for leadership the German military clung to an aristocratic tradition that bred disciplined world-class commanders who often had combat experience Russian officers by contrast we're the subject of ridicule aimed at a perceived lack of logistical and organizational ability based on the terrible communication and lack of reconnaissance at Tannenberg this ridicule was rightfully deserved the Russian military also had an aristocratic tradition but it did not produce the same effects when the Tsar's first cousin once removed the Grand Duke Nicholas was named commander-in-chief of the army he had no clue what to do with such a massive force on such short notice allegedly he wept when he learned of his appointment to make matters worse samsonov and fond Renan Kampf who were actually decent commanders were unable to effectively work together because the two absolutely despised one another their feud goes back to the 1905 Battle of Mactan during the russo-japanese war when samsonov publicly shamed Renan Kampf for the Russian defeat this feud was well known and did not escape the ears of max Hoffman staff officer of the 8th German army Hoffman had served in the russo-japanese war as an observer and knew full well of the extent of the Russian generals hatred for one another indeed he knew how to exploit it across the board Germany had distinct advantages over the Russians with the only exception being sheared and power and a seemingly infinite supply of vodka in addition to all of the affer mentioned advantages the Germans seemed to have luck on their side too the detachment under the command of von Francois against orders held back instead of attacking immediately his commanders weren't pleased Ludendorff was utterly fuming Hoffmann however convinced his commanders to trust Francois another detachment of the 8th army which had been in retreat against the Second Army was now engaged by Samsonov who thought he had the upper hand but on August 27th Hoffman's trust was rewarded as von Francois and his men struck Samsonov's left flank in a surprise attack the assault sent the Russians into a retreat after this engagement von Francois once again disobeyed his orders this time venturing further east than he was supposed to in an effort to encircle the Second Army on his own on August 29th von Francois and his men joined by two other detachments caught Samsonov off guard yet again seeing this Hindenburg promptly ordered an encirclement of the Russian troops to which the Russian Grand Duke responded by ordering von grunen Kampf to come to Samsonov's aid and of course they didn't make it in time whether this was intentional or not is up to debate as samsonov was being attacked on all sides his command post only offered a view of his army center column which was attacking a seemingly weak German position samsonov had little to no visibility of his flanks which as a fer mentioned were being brutally hit by the Germans had he known this he could have dispatched men from the center column to relieve his flanks were withdrawn from the battlefield with most of his men left standing only a day later the second army surrendered to the Germans after being completely enveloped and Samsonov rather than face the Czar's wrath straight deep into the forest and took his own life since the first army was never more than about 70 miles away from the Second Army during this time the Germans eventually caught up to von Renan Kampf and defeated him - at the Battle of the missourian Lakes the Grand Duke had no choice but to recall his remaining forces for his role in repelling the Russians Hindenburg became a national hero and was promoted to Field Marshal he and Ludendorff basically called the shots for the rest of the war and after it concluded Hindenburg went on to become president of the vemma republic von Francois was deservedly given the nickname of the Fox and Hoffman sadly got little recognition by comparison the Russian army never really recovered from this defeat and the situation only worsened for the Tsar from then on [Music] you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 1,302,170

Keywords: The Battle of Tannenberg, World war one battle, paul von hindenberg, the great war, invasion of east prussia, the eastern front, the german empire, the russian empire, the russian revolution, the russian civil war, germany win world war one, german victories, how did germany win tannenberg, how did russia lose tannenberg

Id: vvx0HMFBF-c

Length: 11min 47sec (707 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 25 2019