Russia
1812 – Russia’s War Machine II
The situation as regards handheld firearms was much less satisfactory. Muskets were produced in three places: the Izhevsk works in Viatka province near the Urals turned out roughly 10 per cent of all firearms manufactured in 1812–14: many fewer were produced at the Sestroretsk works 35 kilometres from Petersburg, though Sestroretsk did play a bigger role in repairing existing weapons;…
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Borodino class
In 1904 Moscow dispatched the 2nd Pacific Squadron, commanded by Admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rohdzsvenski, from the Baltic to the Pacific, halfway around the world, to salvage the desperate situation in the Pacific. Rohdzsvenski’s main units numbered eight battleships, three armored cruisers, and three hopelessly obsolete armored coast-defense warships. The core…
Ilya Muromets – 1914 Giant
The massive Ilya Muromets was the world’s first four-engine bomber-and a good one at that. In three years it dropped 2,200 tons of bombs on German positions, losing only one plane in combat. In 1913 the Russo-Baltic Wagon Works constructed the world’s first four-engine aircraft under the direction of Igor…
Augustus II of Poland (1670-1733)
“Friedrich Augustus. Elector of Saxony (1694-1733); king of Poland (1697-1704; 1709-1733).” A member of the Wettin dynasty and an elector of the Holy Roman Empire (Saxony), Augustus was elected king of Poland in 1697, after deeming that Warsaw was worth a Mass, converting to Catholicism, and agreeing to permit extraordinary…
Battle of Eylau (7–8 February 1807)
“Napoleon on the field of Eylau” by Antoine-Jean Gros The Battle of Eylau, 1807 – Situation Early, 8 February The Battle of Eylau, 1807 – Situation About 1600, 8 February Eylau has the dubious distinction of being one of the bloodiest and most futile battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Some…
Imperial Russian Air Force in 1916 Part I
Before exploring aviation’s contribution to the Russian battlefield in 1916, it is important to consider some of the differences between the Eastern and Western fronts. The Western Front was much shorter, only about 400 miles, yet its combat zone contained a significant concentration of British, French, and German soldiers, accompanied…
Imperial Russian Air Force in 1916 Part II
The German seaplane base on Lake Angern posed a threat not only to the aviation presence on Runo Island but also to the passage of Russian naval vessels in the gulf. The Russians responded quickly. Using the radio unit on Runo, the navy ordered the Second Bombing-Reconnaissance Squadron to send…