LogFAQs > #968400836

the russian military was so bad early mainly because of stalin. his purges of the top officers and refusal to believe overwhelming evidence that the nazis were invading put the soviets on the back foot immediately. the soviet state was largely incompetent and the military was grossly unprepared for ww2 but much of that is directly the fault of stalin.

despite all that the soviets did have a couple brilliant military commanders. zhukov was masterful and his tactical genius is a huge part or the reason the nazis stalled out and had to fight a war of attrition they had no chance of winning.

ultimately invading russia is a fools errand that has never worked for anyone and will never work. despite how incompetent the soviets and stalin were the country was just far too vast and they had far too many people to throw into the meat grinder of war.