Which Was Truly the WORST Major WW1 Army to Fight in?

From incompetent generals to terrifying trenches, life as a World War One soldier was never easy. But who really had it the worst on the battlefield

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🎬Video Credits:
Narrator - Cam
Editors - Kshitiz, Shantanu koli
Researcher - Daniel

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Chapters:

0:00 Introduction
0:34 The UK
2:17 France
4:12 Russia
5:59 Germany
7:47 Austria-Hungary
9:19 Conclusion

[indianajones]

In my opinion, it’s Austria-Hungary unless you’re on the Italian Front. In that case fighting under Cadorna sucks more. However freezing to death as an Ottoman soldier on the Caucuses Front because Enver Pasha forgot winter clothes for the army is definitely less than ideal.

[pistolero]

The only correct answer is the Italian one. Imagine fighting for a general who thinks a 12th attempt at a frontal assault will finally be the one that works. Combined with a severe shortage of supplies, clothing, and being underpaid, and it's shocking to me the Italian troops only mutinied after the 10th Battle of Isonzo. Haig may have lost more men than Cadorna but even he tried to change up his tactics.

[davidturner]

British soldiers were generally rotated out of the front line trenches after 7 days, where ever possible. Also, Haig is an interesting general to research. A man caught between old and modern war. The disaster of the first Somme charge was as a result of Haig giving the order to go over the top, only after he was assured that the weeks shelling had done its job. Interestingly Haig was known to visit hospitals of returned soldier and it affected him badly. To the point where his minders stopped him from going. After the war he dedicated himself to returned soldiers.

[james_wilton]

my great grandfather Charlie was part of the BEF in WW1, he survived the whole war and later went on to fight in ww2. he was around 18-20 in WW1 and his mid 40’s in WW2, sadly i never got to meet him as he died in the mid 80’s however i would have loved to meet a man who could have lived through nearly 10 years of war in his life and continue to live a good life after it all, he’s a true hero of mine.

[AlexC-ouju]

I'd add the ottoman empire up for debate as a top contender.

[davido]

My grandfather conscripted into the Austrian-Hungarian army. Once he got back home after the war, he bundled up his family including my mother and left Europe for the USA.

[henryquenin]

My great uncle was a French soldier who was part of the French expeditionary force sent to help the Serbian army by campaigning in Greece and Macedonia. He was shot between the eyes by a Bulgarian sniper outside of Salonika.

[RainingMetal]

In our high school history class, we were given a chart of casualty statistics for each nation's army in the war. Austria-Hungary was at 90%. It was too ludicrous to believe.

[cuberrt]

It's crazy to think that nations such as Germany and France had such well-trained and strong armies in the world, only to end up with armies that were barely functioning by the end of the first year alone.

[drpapa]

Being a British soldier in WW1, your chances of survival would depend on which army and commander you were assigned to. Not all generals were donkeys leading lions. There were a few exceptions like British generals Herbert Plumer, Julian Byng and Henry Horne as well as Australian commander John Monash and Canadian commander Arthur Currie who were among the best generals of WW1 and took great care in planning and not wasting lives in pointless frontal assaults - sometimes even refusing to obey incompetent superiors like Douglas Haig and Hugh Gough.

[midkemian]

IIRC, British troops actually spent very little time in their trenches - two weeks was the norm I believe, with two further weeks in support trenches then 4 in the rear. There was also the strategy of their respective High Commands - the Germans built solid structures because they intended to keep them, the British and French were more temporary because they were supposed to push the Germans back

[generationm]

World War I is an interesting case study of what happens when outdated understandings and values clash with new realities and cruelties. Many armies still approached the way with tactics and mindset that served them well in the 19th century, only to realize too late that newer, even more brutal technology has rendered them moot and far more costly. The concept of a full-scale, mechanized war fought with gas-powered war machines, automatic weapons, and other horrifying weapons left people who were so used to bayonet charges and massive armies unprepared, not to mention that factories and logistics in general weren't prepared to supply armies and equipment on such an unprecedented scale. WWII basically is when the world finally adapted to the reality of a new kind of war.

[TTTT-oceb]

The Italian army was a pretty bad army to be in, too, with a commander that insisted on extremely costly attacks - one after another. And warfare in the mountains was not for the faint-hearted. However, the top spot probably goes to the Russians.

One important lesson the Germans learnt from their failed Marne offensive, was that they needed a relatively small number of highly trained elite units as a spearhead that could keep up the momentum, instead of having 100+ divisions with roughly similar capability. Combat fatigue was a major reason for the early setback at Marne.

[michaelschlitzer]

Austria-Hungary’s Conrad was one of the worst generals in the war. His inability to grasp logistics was truly incredible to read about.

[everythingpro]

Respect to all the fallen of WW1 whether German, French, etc. They all fought for their countries doing their duty and shaped the world as we see it today.

[Folgeantrag]

I am a middle aged German. As a very young boy i had some few years with my grandgrandfather who survived WWI as a Artillery Gunner for nearly three years. But he was close to deff because even the concept of sound protection for artillery crews did not exist. That is just one little detail who miserable WWI was for soldiers of every nation

[spirosgreek]

Surprised Italy and General Cadorna didn't make the list. His solution to not breaking the Austro-Hungarian line was pretty much "We will do the same thing again!" and that in a loop.

[NanarStudios]

The Front: "Which was the worst?"

Italians on their way to do the exact same frontal assault on the exact same place for the 13th time: "Yeah good question"

[afrenchdude]

I think you accurately portrayed the French army in 1914 and 1915 but not afterwards. Many reforms were made and the French learned from their mistakes. Better uniforms, food, rotations, weaponries and tactics in general. The massive casualties is also due to the fact that the French did the bulk of the fight on the western front from the beginning till the end of the war (with all due respect to our allies in which victory wouldn't have been possible).

[tygeburgess]

my grandmother had an older sister whose husband fought in ww1 for america. i met him a few times in the early 70s as a little kid. he was a really big stong guy even then. when i got older my gramps told me stories that "uncle forest" was a trench fighter who would jump in trenches with a few pistols and knuckle knife. savage to think about..my gramps was a vet of omaha beach and said, i saw and did terrible things but i have no idea how a man could do that and come out alive. says it all...