World War I Simulation Student Journal: Russia 3

World War I Simulation

Russia 3 1913

Our first goal is to mobilize our troops and move on the Ottomans. We have to capture the Dardanelles Strait for resupplying our troops. Hopefully the Ottomans haven’t been talking to Germany. I’ve made an unofficial alliance with Germany, with us both having agreed to not attack each other directly unless we are called in by an alliance. Austria-Hungary is the wild card though.

I think once we have conquered the Ottomans, the next step is to contain Austria-Hungary. I’ve been asking other Allied countries if they’d be willing to help me by sending troops. If they attack Serbia, which they are likely to do, it will drag both Russia and Germany into war. I know Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece are all afraid of the Central Powers, so I’m planning on making an alliance with them. Hopefully I can unite them to fight against the inevitable Austro-Hungarian invasion. One of my objectives is to keep Bessarabia from Romania, so I’m assuming that capturing it is one of Romania’s objectives. I’ll have to keep a close eye on them. They don’t have many troops though, so I’m not too afraid of them.

I’ve told France to push in against Germany, as this will force Germany to focus on the western front. Just because I can’t attack them directly doesn’t mean I can’t hinder their efforts. I’ll probably send a few hundred troops to help France, as it is imperative that I maintain my alliance with them.

Russia 3 1914

It was a good year. Austria-Hungary made a costly mistake. For some reason they attacked me at my strongest point. I think they were trying to bait me into an attack, but I’m not dumb enough to do that. Tensions were high between Austria-Hungary and Germany after that mistake. Unfortunately, Bulgaria has been conquered by the Ottomans. This delays my plan to wipe out the Ottomans completely.

While the Central Powers were meeting to discuss their plans, I called a meeting of the Allied forces and neutral powers. I’m fairly sure that we have united the rest of the world against the Central Powers. The only country I’m not entirely sure about is the US. They are maintaining a strict isolationist policy. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be winning and they’ll opt to join the victors.

The plan is for France to push as hard as they can on the Western front, with Britain contributing troops to help. Britain will also send troops my way in order to help me conquer the Ottomans as quickly as possible. Once the neutral countries can officially join the war, they will help to close in on Austria-Hungary and Germany.

Russia 3 1915

Absolute catastrophe for the Allied Forces. France was taken, which puts a big barrier in plans. This will effectively eliminate a large portion of the western front. I tried to make my move on the Ottoman capital, but it was a disaster. We lost by a small amount. This is awful. My troop rating has finally gone down to a 1. My army is basically worthless. I can’t move against the Ottomans again, so I’m basically forced to play a more passive role in the war, sending my troops to reinforce when needed. It’s going to be super hard to take France back if I can’t distract the German troops. If I try to move in at all, my army will be crushed.

Russia 3 1916

This was a very passive year for Russia. We’re basically just amassing troops near our borders in order to deter attackers. They don’t know that our rating is a 1, so hopefully they will be scared of us. I’ve basically just been serving in an advisory war. We’re going to try to use the British and French navies to ferry troops in from Britain. Next year America will be in the war, so we will ferry their troops over.

Russia 3 1917

America officially joined the war this year. The Central Powers also started closing in on the Balkans. I’ve sent some of my troops to help defend, but with my low rating it’s almost impossible to contribute anything meaningful. Once again, I’m just trying to help the other Allied countries develop plans for how we’ll move forward. Our first attempt to liberate France didn’t work out, but it led to severe casualties on all sides. Britain also moved to destroy the German navy. Austria-Hungary took Italy, but I’m not too concerned with them.

Russia 3 1918

The final year was bittersweet. Using the combined forces of the US, Britain, and France, we liberated France after two hard fought battles. Serbia was finally taken over by the Austrians. I tried to take some troops away from the German capital, but since my army was so undersupplied, it was a suicide mission. All 5000 of my troops perished. Seeing this weakness, the Ottomans invaded me. Knowing that it was the end of the war, I decided to throw all I could into defending, even though I knew that it was impossible to win. This is one decin I regret, as it led to the collapse of Russia at the last possible moment. If I had kept some troops behind, I would have remained.