Russian Military Development over Time - Essay Example

Russian Military Development over Time Military development and growth of Russia began well before the year 1914 a period in which the country experienced improvement in science and technology. During this period, the industrial revolution was at its peak and in both Russia and the Western countries; there was rivalry in innovation and stiff competition in terms of material and intellectual advancements. The main areas of contention and intense competition revolved around the production of engines, steel materials and production of electricity. These innovations played a major part in the creation of significant changes in and development of scientific technology that led to the growth and development of several militaries around the world. Russia’s military growth and development had its foundation on industrialized manufacturing. The off-take of the industrial manufacturing of Russia mainly took place between the years 1861 and 1913 while importing the deficits from the Western countries1. From the years 1908 to 1914, Russia concentrated on infrastructural development through concentrating on the building of railroads and other transport and communications infrastructure. These developments were specifically aiming at bolstering infrastructure that would greatly facilitate the movement and communication of the countries’ military personnel. The concentrated development of these infrastructures was on the frontiers of Russia and its perceived rivals namely Austria-Hungary and Germany2. Closer to the World War 1, Russia escalated its military technological advancement through modernization of its military equipment. The highlight of the escalation in the development of the military technology was characteristic of further improvement in communication and railroads that it had earlier installed. This was between the years 1906 and 1906 and in this period, the country also concentrated on modernizing its firearms and artillery. The improvement of Russia’s artillery was through collaborative efforts between the Russia and companies that were manufacturers of arms based in Britain, Germany and France. The organization of the collaboration was such that Russia had its domestic arms manufacturers collaborate with the external producers for the production of superior arms. These efforts saw the successful expansion of the capacities of the Russian domestic arms manufacturers for production of superior arms and in large volumes. During this time through a collaborative effort, Russia also produced a rifle with the assistance of a manufacturer from Belgium apart from the countries as mentioned above. This rifle would later play an integral part in the Russian warfare’s during the Second World War until its end3. From the development of transport and communication and rifles capabilities, Russia proceeded to the development of aviation infrastructure, which would become very important in the proceeding times of the Russian Military. Russia with the guidance of Emperor Nicholas II premiered the development of an air wing for the Russian Army. This development took place between the years 1868 and 1919. After the construction of the air wing, the government embarked on strategies for the purchase of aircrafts and offering of comprehensive trainings for pilots that would fly the planes. The strategies saw Russia establish and vibrant air force with several aircrafts, and it is only France that had more air force plane fleet than Russia. Russia had also established capabilities of air power and technology since their home based engineers and manufacturers were highly skilled in the technology of aircrafts and related fields. These steps saw a Russian known as Sikorsky Igor be the premier manufacturer of an aircraft with multi-engines. After this innovative development, during the same year Russia developed another airplane further boosting its airpower portfolio. At the zenith of the Second World War, Russia had a large portfolio of airpower strategically placing it ahead of many nations. However, despite these mileages in Russia’s war chest development, the major setback was the reliance on outside techniques and innovations that majorly came from abroad. The dependence on borrowed technology from abroad limited the ability of Russia of getting at par with the innovative developments, especially that took place abroad by its competitors. The disadvantage majorly existed because of heavy reliance on exports from abroad for the creation of the war developments and technologies4. Between the years, 1913 and 1916 Russia having stumbled from the lack enough weaponry capacity for use during the war conducted a major up scaling of its weaponry. The upscaling saw the country increase the production of rifles en-masse boosting the output of the country’s weaponry almost four times the original capacity produced. The upscaling also saw the increased production of machine guns in very large proportions alongside premier large-scale production of military vehicles. Alongside the production of the increased capacities of military hardware and weaponry, Russia also carried out massive importation of military hardware that included rifles, warplanes and other highly technical devices to enable it boost its capacity to equip its vibrant army in the Warfield5. Russia subsequently ventured into the exploration of new methods backed by technical and scientific advancements in the development of its military hardware. These advancements saw the beginning of exploring chemical manufacturing. The chemical manufacturing was specifically for the development and creations of explosives for use by the Russian military. Russian could not adequately purchase chemicals that were majorly produced abroad in large scale to be sufficient for the production of explosives and ammunitions for use in war. Therefore, Russia resorted to the development of a plant for the production of the chemicals it required, and this culminated in the establishment of plants for the production of such chemicals from the year 1915 onwards. This step in chemicals production was also on the backdrop of a chemical attack on Russia by Germany. Russia thus decided to produce chemical weaponry and the basis of the chemical weapons was Phosgene and Chlorine6. Russia also developed the Russian Academy of Science, which had the mandate of steering and actualization of scientifically backed productions for use by the Army. The academy focused on research and development, and the main aim of the initiatives of the Academy was for the enhancement of better-coordinated planning and execution of scientifically backed military research for the Russian Federation. The development of the military science academy led to the beginning of intense intelligence knowledge growth, development and exploration in war situations. In the year 1917, there was an issuance of an order to the Russian soldiers to hold elections at the levels of the soldiers companies, and for the soldiers to oversee every operation of the military life with an exception of situations of actual combat7. In the past few years to this moment, the Russian military is developing an aircraft known as PAK FA for military operations. This aircraft is very instrumental in the military operations at and has a consideration of an aircraft belonging to the fifth generation of fighter aircrafts. The aircraft is capable of using updated technology in the aviation industry, and it is an excellent aircraft due to its abilities of high performance and agility. This aircraft has since then been in use by the Russian army having undergone an upgrade to what is PAK FA T50. Russia has also developed an aircraft the Sukhoi Su-30. This aircraft has very vibrant capabilities closely staging competition to the top aircraft capabilities that the United States and Britain have in their portfolio. Russia also has other many aircrafts in their portfolio that makes the strength of its military in the airspace more dominant and threatening comparatively to the Western militaries capabilities. Russia also has air tankers. The tankers are capable of transporting a lot of military hardware across the world marking a significant level of development and growth in its portfolio and air capability8. Russia also has some of the best tanks for ground warfare in the Russian T-80 tank that rivals American, British and German ground war tanks in that order. Just as other countries with modern tanks, the Russian war tanks have inbuilt computers that act as finders, abilities for enhancement of night vision and laser range fighters. The Russian tanks have bolstered capabilities for more efficient firing than the earlier models9. In its military development and growth, Russia has armored vehicles in its portfolio of military hardware. Specifically, Russia has the Ataka-V armored vehicle and has handheld types of artillery including those that are positioned on vehicles for the purpose of firing missiles. Apart from this machinery for war, Russia has equipments that can disable artillery shells, bombs and missiles from the enemy territory10. In the sea, Russia has an aircraft carrier for use by its marines and transportation of its warfare aircrafts, Marines, and jets. Apart from the aircraft carrier, Russia has nuclear-motorized attack submarines together with ballistic projectile subs. In the sea portfolio of military capability, Russia has anti-ship missiles, which have high rate of performance in terms of speed, abilities to move around with the greatest levels of stealth and their enhanced targeting capabilities, which have the support of GPS technology. With these capabilities, it is very difficult to destroy the Russian warships in the sea since they have superior capabilities of detection and deterrence or attack when necessary11. Russia also has a great defense mechanism in the waterways with the development of ultra silent diesel-powered submarines that are very difficult detecting with the use of sonar technology. The Russian produced diesel-powered submarines were cost effective producing, and this is a notable development in the Russian military capability since it even exports this equipment to other countries. This equipment has increased the sophistication and developmental levels of the Russian Military12. The growth of the Russian military is also evidence in the rating of the army in terms of military spending. The expenditure signifies the scale of activities and growth of the Russian army. In this respect, the Russian army has a ranking of the third position in terms of the military expenditure. The top military spender is the United States military followed by Russia, and this is an indication of the exponential growth of the Russian army over the past periods. However, the Russian army is at the second position in terms of military expenditure; there is speculation that the expenditures could be higher than what is reported further corroborating the fact that the Russian army has immensely grown13. The Russian army has evolved through several phases of growth and developments the peak of the army growth being the production of nuclear weaponry by Russia. The growth of the Russian army has caused panic in some quarters especially in regard to fear of nuclear attacks related to Russia’s tendency of aggression and annexation tendencies. Bibliography Adamsky, Dima. 2008. "Through the Looking Glass: The Soviet Military-Technical Revolution and the American Revolution in Military Affairs". Journal of Strategic Studies.31, no. 2: 257-294. Bowermaster, Jon. "The Last Front of the Cold War." Atlantic 272, no. 5 (November 1993): 36-45. Literary Reference Center Plus, EBSCOhost Cawood, Ian, and David McKinnon-Bell. The First World War. London: Routledge, 2001. Fuller, William C. Strategy and Power in Russia, 1600-1914. New York: Free Press, 1992. Kagan, Frederick W., and Robin Higham. The Military History of Tsarist Russia. New York: Palgrave, 2002. Lieven, D. C. B. The Cambridge History of Russia. Vol. 2, Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. . Reese, Roger R. "The Military and Society in Russia, 1450--1917. 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