Second Chechen War: Battle of Grozny

Russian Federation: Battle of Grozny

Grozny (1999-2000) 

Background: The Second Chechen War began when an invasion from the Islamic International Brigade ousted the Pro-Russian government and created the Republic of Ichkeria. Russia responded with a massive invasion of over 80,000 Russian troops and 2,000 Chechen Loyalists. Many battles occurred around Chechnya with Russia winning most if not all the battles against the Chechen rebels. By late 1999 the Russian surrounded the capital of Chechnya, Grozny. 

Purpose of the Battle: The overall purpose for the Russians was to overthrow the Anti-Russian government and reestablish the Pro-Russian Government. If the Russians could break the Anti-Russian Chechen's they would be able once again control Chechnya. 

The Battle: The Battle began with a intensive artillery barrage upon the entrenched Chechen's. After the major bombardment from the Russian air and ground,  the Russians then launched Tactical missiles upon the city leveling everything in the city. The Russians then surrounded Grozny in late December and slowly began to push inside the city. As the Russians continued the slow push inside the city they received heavy resistance costing many Russian lives during the beginning of the month of January. After pushing all the way to the center of the city the Chechen rebels decided to make a desperate gamble and try and breakout of the blockade of the city. Over 4,000 Chechen soldiers and 2,000 civilians charged to a Bridge over the Sunzha River, but were met with heavy artillery fire and mine field on the bridge. The Chechen soldiers were bogged down and wiped out the bombardment and ambush the Russians did over the bridge. Over 500 Chechen soldiers died until they surrendered over the bridge ending the siege of Grozny. 

 

Image of Grozny before and after 

 Picture of dead women in Grozny

Aftermath: After the battle was finished over 1,500 Chechen Rebels were killed in the siege and thousands of Citizens were also killed by the Russians. The Second Chechen War was seen as the Bloodiest War in the 2000's and also caused Grozny to become the most destroyed in the world said by the United Nations in 2003. 

Commanders:   Anatoly Kvashnin-Russia

                           Aslan Maskhadov-Chechen Republic of Ichkeria 

http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/grozny2000/grozny2000.htm 

 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/08/chechnya.iantraynor

World War 2: Battle of Kursk

Soviet Union: Battle of Kursk

Kursk (1943) 

Background: After the major defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad and the loss of Army Group B, Hitler and the Nazis were trying push a counter offensive to push back the Russians in the summer of 1943. Hitler and his generals then created an offensive plan called Operation Citadel, which would amass the largest armored force Germany ever assembled on a battlefield. The German hopes were that they would be able to weaken the Soviet offensive coming in the late summer. The Germans anticipating the amass of Soviet troops would be at Kursk chose that field of battle to decide the rest of the Eastern Front. If the Germans would grab victory at Kursk, they would be able to relieve the strain of the over stretched forces along the Eastern Front. 

Purpose of the Battle: The overall purpose of the Battle of Kursk for the Germans was to destroy as many soviets as they could to try to slow down or stop the Soviet counter offensive. For the Soviets this battle meant as much as Stalingrad, if they lose Germany will have the offensive advantage and they will be again pushed backed for winter. 

The Battle:   The Battle of Kursk started in July from the Germans on the southern part of the town of Kursk. The German charged the soviet positions to gain the high ground for artillery positions before the tanks would move in. On July 5th the General of the Soviet Union decided to bombard the northern positions of the Germans hoping to catch the Germans off guard, but the bombardment failed to disrupt the Germans or cause the Germans to sustain many casualties. The Germans then began their pincer movement on the soviet positions sending in their heavy Tiger tanks and Panzer tanks. Both pincers pushed and drove to Kursk trying to cut off the Soviets and causing the soldiers trapped in the center to surrender. The Southern Pincer had high success and pushed deep into the soviet positions causing the Russians to almost retreat completely from the battle. The Northern Pincer had a harder time pushing to Kursk because at first they had to clear many minefields laid by retreating Russians. After the clearing of the minefields the Germans continued there push onward, but by July 10th the German assault was stopped because of a renewed Soviet counter push and artillery bombardment. The Southern Pincer, after a very successful push so far experienced the worst part of the Battle of Kursk which was the Battle of Prokhorovka. This battle occurred when the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army attacked the II SS-Panzer Corps on the eastern side of the Pincer. The biggest tank battle occurred that day and in the end the Russians pushed back both Pincers to where they were before the battle started. By August, the Soviet position was reinforced and began there counter offensive where they would win the Battle of Kursk. 

   Picture of a Tiger Tank 

Soviet Soldiers firing upon German aircraft 

Aftermath: After the battle concluded the Soviets gained a decisive strategic victory over the Germans. The main reason why that the Russians won the battle is because the Russians outnumbered in tanks the German tanks. Over 1,600 Soviet tanks were destroyed during the battle to the only 600 tanks of the Germans. With almost all of the German armor destroyed in one battle the Soviets from 1943 and on to 1945 were able to defeat the the Germans and win World War 2.   

 Map of the Battle

Commanders: Erich von Manstien- Axis

                         Hans Kluge-Axis

                         Georgy Zhukov-Russian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTbCLYFF2eg Video of the battle of Kursk  

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-kursk

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/31/wwii-s-greatest-battle-how-kursk-changed-the-war.html

http://www.battleofkursk.org/

  

World War 2: Battle of Stalingrad

Soviet Union: The Battle of Stalingrad

Stalingrad (1942-1943) 

Background: Nazi Germany at this time was pushing deep into the country of the Soviet Union called Operation Barbarossa, with its main goal to reach Moscow and destroy it to the ground. While Germany was pushing deep into Russia, Adolf Hitler made a major strategic decision that would change the entirety of the war forever. Instead of attacking the area known as the Caucuses which was rich in oil and resources told his troops to attack the city of Stalingrad. To many generals in the German Army were shocked by this move because Stalingrad had zero strategic importance in the offensive. The main reason Hitler decided to attack Stalingrad to destroy his enemies city that was named after there leader Stalin. Overall Stalingrad was only fought because Adolf Hitler wanted to destroy his rivals "prized city". 

Purpose for the Battle: Overall the battle of Stalingrad at first was battle of political pride for Hitler which turned to major battle on the eastern front. Hitler let Friedrich Paulus lead his Army Group B into the city of Stalingrad.  In the end Battle of Stalingrad not known to both nations would become the most important battle of World War 2.  

The Battle: On the 23 of August in 1942, Army Group B entered the outskirts of Stalingrad in pursuit of the 62nd and 64th armies that also retreated to Stalingrad. The Germans instead of attacking immediately on the Soviet positions decided to fortify and regroup before they would attack the city. This pause allowed the Russians to put all their grain, cattle and railway cars across the Volga river. This also allowed Stalin to reinforce his armies in Stalingrad from all over Russia expect from Western Russia where other army groups were. The battle began with a heavy bombardment from batteries and aircraft from the German side. When Stalin's reinforcements arrived around the same time the Luftwaffe bombarded the troops that were entering the city and crossing the Volga killing many men. After bombarding the city to ruins the Germans entered the city to find that many Russians made use of the rubble as fortifications for machine gun nests and sniper nests. Even thought the Germans continued there push into the heart of the city and all the way to the Volga. By November of 1942, the Germans took almost all of Stalingrad leaving only the small part of the city being across the Volga where the remaining Russians stayed and defended. When winter set in the Russians noticed how vulnerable the Germans and her allies actually were. Most of the German supply lines by this time were being sabotaged and most of the German troops were wearing summer clothing. Noticing this the soviets reinforced themselves over the winter, and by 1943 in February, the Russians launched a Counter Attack and encircled the Russians around the city. Even though the Army Group B was trapped, Hitler told them to fight to the death and to kill every Russian soldier they could find. Instead of listening to the insanity of their Fuhrer, the General of the Army Group B Paulus decided to surrender. 

Image of German soldier in Stalingrad 

 Large quantity of German POWS 

Aftermath: Even after the surrender of the Germans, over 10,000 German soldiers that were surrounded still fought inside the city until a month later. Overall the Battle of Stalingrad was the most important battle of World War 2 because it completely destroyed Army Group B and turned the tide of the war. The casualties in the battle were massive, over 850,000 axis troops died and over 1,000,000 Russians died.


Commanders: Erich von Manstien-Axis
                         Friedrich Paulus-Axis
                        Georgy Zhukov- Russians
                        Nikita Khrushchev-Russians

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-stalingrad Video and info
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/p/World-War-Ii-Battle-Of-Stalingrad.htm
http://historyofrussia.org/battle-of-stalingrad-summary/

World War 1: Battle of Tannenburg

Tsardom of Russia: Battle of Tannenburg

 

Tannenburg: 1914 

Background: The major plan for the allies in World War was to squeeze Germany and her allies on both the eastern and western fronts.  Russia at first did not have high participation in the war until major pushes in Prussia and Austria-Hungary in the mid 1914's. Russia saw Prussia as a major stepping stone to take out Germany because of the railroad network that started at Tannenburg and continued throughout everywhere in Europe beside Russia.  If Russia was able to take Tannenburg they would be able to move there armies throughout Europe by train and have a faster offensive system. The Germans however were not worried seeing Russia as a secondary threat decided to put their major resources in the west, so Germany had only had there Eighth army to defend the Tannenburg railway system. 

Purpose for the battle: The purpose of the battle was that whoever could control the area of Tannenburg had access to almost all of Europe. If Russia could capture this railway station they would be able to transport their troops across Europe and quickly out maneuver their enemy. For the Germans this was a must win situation for at the time they only had the Eighth army defending Tannenburg and they needed Tannenburg as a forward operating base to attack Russia.  

The Battle: The battle began with the Germans attacking the Russian fortified positions, with the Russians pushing back wave after wave of German attackers. The Russians then gained confiddence and decided to charge at the Germans. The confident Russians attacked the Germans full force causing the German XX Corp to retreat and fire, causing many casualties on both sides.  As the Russians continued there push on the XX Corp the Russian Generals Smasonov and Rennenkampf disagreed on the plans on how to continue the attack. So Rennenkampf out of political anger abandoned Smasonov and decided to move his group of troops due west. The Germans intercepted the messages and plans were put into action. During the main part of the battle the Germans began to out maneuver the Russians causing the Russian Second army right flank to be very weak. The Germans seeing this decided to bombard both flanks of the Russian forces causing the Russian flanks to retreat. Samsnov continued to push on to Tannenburg not noticing his lack of supply lines and missing corps on the flank. Samsonov was then forced to retreat but it was to late the Russians were surrounded and destroyed.  Only 10,000 of the 150,000 Russian soldiers managed to escape the encirclement, Samsonov was not able to bear the lose of so many Russians's and instead of reporting it to Tsar Nicholas II committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. 

  

 Russian Soldiers throwing down their weapons to the German army

The battlefield of Tannenburg 

Aftermath: After the battle of Tannenburg was over, over 78,000 Russians were killed and only 15,000 Germans killed. This battle was one of the most bloody battles on the Eastern Front during World War 1. Overall with this major defeat put onto the Russians by the Germans, this allowed the opportunity for more communist support and support to overthrow the Tsar in coming years in 1917.  For the Germans this victory allowed them to focus more on the Western front and continue there attacks on the French. 

Commanders: Aleksandr Vassikievich Samsonov- Russia

                         Paul von Hindenburg-German

                         Erich Ludendorff-German

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-tannenberg-begins 

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwari/p/World-War-I-Battle-Of-Tannenberg.htm 

http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/tannenberg.htm

Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Borodino

Tsardom of Russia: Battle of Borodino 

 

Borodino (1812)  

Background: The French Army, led by Napoleon invaded Russia on June 16, 1812. Napoleon saw Russia as a thorn in his side that needed to be defeated to make himself even more powerful. As the French pushed onward they faced light resistance, but found most of the country side burned or destroyed by the Russian to slow the advances of the French. The French continued there push toward Moscow winning a number of small battles like the Battle of Shevardino Redoubt where the French pushed back a good sized force of Russians. By September it looked like Napoleon was going to be able to conquer all of Russia and continue his campaign for world domination.

Purpose of the Battle: By September, Napoleon was looking for a major victory that he could use to push all the way to Moscow and crush the Russians. The Russians needed this battle to stop or slow the French advance and make them leave Russia for good.


The Battle:  By the time the Battle of Borodino came, the Russians found themselves prepared for the task at hand. What Napoleon did not know was that heavy training was given to many battalions in the way of modern warfare, which allowed them to equally match up against the French. Napoleon still did not care and decided to attack the Russians at the town of Borodino. The Russian position was heavily fortified and consisted of many earthworks forcing Napoleon to have to make a heavy attack on there position if he was going to defeat them. Napoleon advanced on the Russian position on September 7th, 1812, and forced his troops on the fortified redoubts controlled by the Russians. The battle began with high hopes, both sides advanced onto each other with high ideas of nationalism pushing them on.  The fighting was fierce and both armies began to tire as the day went on trying to attack and counter attack the new formations and positions taken. By the end of the battle, over 70,000 troops combined died, making it the most bloody battle of the Napoleonic wars. Overall the battle was won by Napoleon but it was more of a Pyrrhic victory if anything. By the Russian point of view the battle allowed them to slow napoleon down and continue there resistance upon the French until winter would set in.  


 A picture of the battered French Armee pushing against the Russian positions.





The Russians and French fighting each other at a major redoubt


Aftermath: After the battle, Napoleon moved pushed his advance all the way to Moscow where he would capture the city a few weeks after Borodino. However even though Napoleon had the victory at the Battle of Borodino he did not decisively defeat the Russians causing him to retreat from Moscow after the city burned from unknown causes.  During the Russian winter Napoleon retreated from the destroyed city with his army in shambles and the cold winter destroying his army, Napoleon lost the Invasion of Russia.  


Commanders: Napoleon Bonaparte-French
                         Michel Ney-French
                         Mikhail Kutuzov-Russian
                         Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly-Russian


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M64UU9AaIYs    Video of the battle of Borodino

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/napoleonicwars/p/Napoleonic-Wars-Battle-Of-Borodino.htm
http://www.wtj.com/archives/lejeune1.htm
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_borodino.html

The Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava

Tsardom of Russia: Battle of Poltava 

Poltava (1709) 

Background:  By 1700, Russia was major empire in the European scene and began trying to show her power by gaining more land and winning military victories. in 1700 Russia declared war upon Sweden to gain control over the Baltic Sea and show her power. By 1707 however, Russia suffered many defeats to the Swedish Empire (Battle of Narva) causing them to lose many soldiers and land. The Swedish king Charles XII than received a message from Peter the Great asking for peace and that he would give up all Baltic possessions except St. Petersburg. Charles received this message as a sign of weakness and declined the plea and decided to send his army on what he hoped the final offensive to finish Russia. Charles set out with his 44,000 men of the Swedish Continental Army from his base in Poland to begin the campaign of destruction. Peter noticing the aggressive move adopted the scorch earth policy and began to destroy everything that could be useful to the Swedes. The strategy was very effective against the Swedes, and by 1709 the Swedish Continental Army shrunk down to half of its original force. 

Purpose of the Battle: The purpose of the battle of Poltava was to stop the Swedish Advances and defeat them and claim true power over the Baltic. This was the final chance for Russia to stop Sweden from getting deeper into Russia and to relieve the Siege of Poltava. 

The Battle: As the Swedes pushed through Russia no Allies beside a few cossacks joined their cause. Trying to force a major fight against the Russians to end the war pushed on with his weakened force to Poltava. The Swedes besieged Poltava who had 7,000 soldiers to defend the city and held out till Peter and his modernized and large Russian force arrived. When Peter arrived to the city outskirts he made fortifications preparing for a probable Swedish attack. Charles after being informed of Peter's army arriving, he was informed that 40,000 Kalmyks were marching to reinforce Peter to turn the tide. Charles wounded at the time gave command to his Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiold to attack the Russians. Around 5 am on July 8th, the Swedes attacked the fortified and modern Russian troops. During the battle the Swedes were pushed back to a forest where Charles took charge and rallied his men to charge the Russians and retake the field. The charge failed epically, with the Swedes suffering massive casualties and began to break causing Russia to win the battle and ended Swedish aggression on Russian territory and giving the Russian the ability to have a counter-offensive.  

 Image of Swedish calvary being destroyed by Russian cannons



Peter reveling in the soon to be victory


Aftermath: After the battle, the Swedish soldiers surrendered to the Russian troops, while the King of Sweden and some of his soldiers went into exile. The Battle of Poltava was a major turning point in the Great Northern War because from after this battle the Russians began going on a counter offensive to finish the Great Northern War. By 1721, the war ended with major Russian gains in the Baltic and other parts of Europe while Sweden lost most of there territory and never again would be as strong as they were before the Northern War started.

Commanders: Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiold- Sweden
                          Peter the Great- Russia

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24gQKRF9aJ0   A video on the battle


http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars16011800/p/poltava.htm

http://www.theartofbattle.com/battle-of-poltava-1709.htm

The Polish-Muscovite War: Battle of Klushino

Tsardom of Russia: Klushino 

 

Klushino (1610) 

Background: In 1610, in response from advances of the Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth forces into Russia and their claims to the Tsardom of Russia, Russia and Sweden made an alliance to counter attack the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces push. Before the invasion of Russia by the Commonwealth, Russia had many civil wars occur by many Russian factions claiming the Tsardom. After these many civil wars Poland then claimed the seat of the Tsar as there's and decided to besiege Smolensk in 1609. The armies of Russia and Sweden were led by Prince Dmitry of Shuisky of Russia and Jacob De la Gardi of Sweden, who decided to do a counter offensive to relieve Smolensk in 1910. Most of the Russia Boyars new if they could relieve Smolensk soon that it would fall to the false Tsar, Prince Wladislaus of Poland and the Commonwealth forces. This meant for both countries that the next battle would be one of the most important of the Polish-Russian War (1605-1618). 

Purpose of the Battle: The major reason for this battle was that the Russian army was trying to relieve the besieged city of Smolensk from the Commonwealth. Another reason was to silence Commonwealth about claiming the seat of the Tsar as Poland's.   

The Battle:  Prince Dmitry moved his armies to the besieged city of Smolensk, but was intercepted by the Commonwealth forces outside of Smolensk. Dmitry decided to make camp not knowing how many number of men the Commonwealth army had around him. As the Russian made camp the Commonwealth forces around 12,000 or more surrounded the much larger 40,000 soldier army of Russia. The Russian Army was divided into two sections, one being led by the Russians which was the larger group and the other by the Swedes who were mostly mercenaries from across Europe. The battle began at night when the Commonwealth began to organize themselves for a sneak attack on the encampment, but preperations took longer than expected and the Russians noticed there movements and prepared for battle. The battle began with a major Hussar charge (who were the elite soldiers of Poland) that continued by one historian over 10 times. The Russian leader Prince Dmitry, tired of the countless charges decided to counter charge the Hussars and the Commonwealth forces. The counterattack by the Russian calvary was disintegrated by the salvos from the Polish arquebusiers and attacks by the Hussars. The Russian center then broke causing the rest of the forces to flee on the Russian side. The mercenaries led by the Swedes did not retreat until the rest of the Commonwealth forces arrived to the battle.   

 A Winged Hussar of Poland

 Russian Rifleman

Commanders: Prince Dmitry of Shuisky- Russian Swedish Alliance

                          Jacob De la Gardi- Russian Swedish Alliance

                          Stanislaw Zolkiewski- Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Aftermath: After the defeat of the Russian army, the Russian army and their leader Dmitry fled back to Moscow where they would try and regroup and repel future advances. The Commonwealth looted the camp and took many trophies from among banners and signature belongings. Later in that year Moscow would come under siege from the Commonwealth, surrendering a year later. In the end the Russian lost the war and lost territory to the Commonwealth but were not destroyed by the Commonwealth.  

http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse/kluszyn.htm 

https://internationalroutier.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/russias-time-of-troubles-and-the-battle-of-klushino/ 

Great Stand on the Ugra River

Grand Duchy of Moscow: Ugra River

The Ugra River (1480) 

Background: During the spring of 1480, the citizens of Grand Duchy of Moscow decided to pay tribute any longer to the Horde/Tartars. After hearing word of this, the Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat directed his troops toward Moscow to seek the tribute or war. When the Mongols arrived at the Ugra River the passages and fords had been blocked by the armies of the Grand Duchy of Moscow causing Fighting to ensue over the fords for several days. Each time the Mongols would attack they be easily repelled by the armies of the Muscovy. Instead of continuing to attack Akhmat decided to wait causing the Great Stand on the Ugra River to occur.

Purpose of the Battle: The Khan after finding the Muscovite people were not going to give him tribute decided to use force. The Khan before deciding to use force sent diplomats to the Muscovy people. This attempt to peacefully resolve the tribute issue failed, so the Khan sent in his armies. 

The Battle: The Standoff at the Ugra River was not an actual battle however, instead is was stare down contest that lasted many months. Akhmat could not find a passage through the river and decided to wait on reinforcements from the Polish-Lithuanian King Kazimir IV. During the time of stalemate negotiations and skirmishes occurred but no side could find an edge. As time passed the Khan had no word from his Polish-Lithuanian allies and found himself being surrounded by the Muscovy soldiers that walked many months around the river to flank the Khan's army. With the Khan being surrounded, the Khan decided to retreat before he was outmaneuvered by the Muscovite troops. After retreating back to the Golden Horde he was told of an imposing attack from the Crimean Khan or the Nogais. Months after the Great Stand on the Ugra River, Khan Akhmat was killed in a battle against the Nogais, which in turn freed the Muscovites fully from the Golden Horde.


 The Muscovy turning down the Horde diplomats



 The Great Stand on the Ugra River

Aftermath:  With the Muscovy holding there ground at the Ugra River they showed to all nations in the the North that they were a force that was not intimidated by anyone. This stand also marked the final downfall of the Tatar yoke. In the end the Muscovite people became an independent and sovereign nation.   

http://www.prlib.ru/en-us/History/Pages/Item.aspx?itemid=315
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/sas/image/100306/30696.p.jpg
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/47454.htm