Did Russian ever been the most powerful country in the world military speaking?

Answer 1

Russian or Soviet?

During the 70s and early 80s the Soviet Union had 200 divisions to the 28 US divisions. The US was coming out of the Jimmy Carter years and the military was in a rebuilding phase. NATO was close in conventional parity to the USSR at that time but not all of the Warsaw Pact.

Mutually Assured Destruction was what kept the Soviets out of Western Europe during that time.

edit: I am coming back to this one. During the time period I mentioned the Soviet Military was in its prime. The T-72 was equal to the M-60 in most versions and vastly outnumbered it. MiGs have always been underrated and of very high quality. BMPs were superior to the M113s we had at the time (Bradleys were still new and not widely deployed).

One of my past jobs was to translate the daily logs of the 54th Fighter Air Corps from the Soviets assigned to N. Korea. I have personally read and translated hundreds of declassified documents on this subject. Those pilots stayed north of the 38th parallel. I have also translated some of the daily logs from "advisors" to the north Vietnamese. The Soviets learned a lot about our air force during this time. It had a great effect on moving away from Ground Control Intercept stations and equipping fighter aircraft with independent radar.

Those lessons learned from proxy war in Korea and Vietnam were implemented in the Soviet Army of the 70s and early 80s. That strength was then wasted in Afghanistan. In a pure match up, Soviet vs America we would have lost on the ground, lost in the air and killed them at sea.

Answer 2

To say that the Russians weren't a powerful fighting force would be wrong. But the Russian Ships and Subs weren't anywhere near as reliable as the U.S.A.'s. It takes more than numbers, it takes good weapons, a good ammunition supply, they had both as far as small arms goes. But you also have to supply the food and support for the troops.

The U.S.A. supplies its troops well. The common soldier also believes in their country and will fight like heck to protect those back home.

They had strong tanks but as the Germans found out in WWII our tanks were always running when theirs were constantly breaking down. So there is much to be considered.

I don't think Russia was as strong as we were lead to believe. In a news program they showed a Russian Base that we were afraid of. It turns out it was just a few rusting trucks.

What most people don't know is Russian Pilots were fighting in the Korean War in fighter planes. The Soviet Union was using the War as a way to give their pilots actual modern jet fighter experience.

One thing that did make a real impression on the Soviet Union was the Christmas Bombings in 1972. The Soviets saw we were able to bring half of our TAC AIR halfway around the world and engage North Vietnam in a huge bombing campaign. They witnessed the real power of our military.

Another thing that impressed them I am sure was the Berlin Airlift. Where we were able to fly in plane after plane of food and supplies into Germany when the Russians had their blockcade.

People fail to understand that both Korean and Vietnam wars were satellite wars within the Cold War.

I don't have the link, but I read that Russia didn't want the Vietnam War. They wanted it to come to an end. If LBJ and McNamara weren't such poor leaders it probably would have ended much sooner.

The Russians did say earlier this year that the U.S. still has the most powerful Air Craft Carriers. I never thought about it but they said it on the same program. A single U.S. Carrier has more military power than the whole military power of many countries.

Wow, russkimuzhik has me thinking. I do wonder if Russia was ever the most powerful country in the world from a military stand point. That would take a good historian. Having a lot of people is not the same as having a huge well trained effective Army. The guy who asked the question said have the Russians "ever been" the most poweful. That does go back a long way.

Answer 3

Magician: you did not take out Japan by yourselves. Aussies, Filipinos, Brits, Malays, Chinese and many other nations had a role to play. I will say that there was one factor that saved Britain that is often overlooked: the English Channel. It would have made Operation Barbarossa a difficult task, even if Goering had managed to ruin the RAF, which as we know he did not. Many technologies were British inspired: RADAR, the turbojet (arguably of little effective use in the war though and also developed in Germany), the P-51 Mustang (yes this 'all American' aircraft was designed to a British spec, ordered and approved by the Brits before the Americans saw it's value, and was powered by a British engine.) Russia would have eventually crushed Nazi Germany, though it can be argued that a Soviet western Europe would have been little better than a Nazi on

Answer 4

Did my time at Fliegerhorst Kaserne at the west end of the Fulda Gap.

V Corps had the 3rd AD, the 11th ACR and elements of the 1st ID (not sure about the Infantry Division). We were told that the Soviets had 9 Divisions poised to attack us.

I don't know if Smartassus (I love that name) is right about 200 Divisions. However they did outnumber us 10 to 1 with armor as I recall.

The power came from the tactical nukes we had at Fliegerhorst as best I can tell.

Size does not matter.

I still vote for a tie.

Answer 5

Russia kicked the butt of United Europe thrice!

It's a long-time tradition: every even century Russian Army captures Berlin, every odd century it captures Paris.

The Red Army won Japan in a 19-day blietzkrieg in 1945, defeating 1.2-mln Kwantung Army. This victory completely cut Japan from Chinese resources, and Hirohito immediately signed capitulation (they didn't even understand what happened in Hiroshima/Nagasaki).

By the way, Russia curently has more "nucular" warheads (18000 to 12000) and more ICBMs than USA.

Answer 6

The MOST POWERFUL?? Well, maybe not THE most powerful, but dang close, and at the level of destructive military might the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. had back then, who cared. We'd never be around long enough to see who won if a war ever did start. God Bless you.

Answer 7

they were capable of destroying the world a number of times over but America could have destoyed it more times then them. tough question to answer.

Answer 8

No