-Emperor Nicholas-

Russia enters the war - Three days after Austria declares war on Serbia, Russia issues a general mobilization order based on its pact with Serbia. However, Russia is inferior to Germany in weapons, transportation, and communication systems, and suffers a series of major defeats, including the Battle of Tannenberg...

　That was the "historical truth" of Stalin's experience.

(But I have no intention of repeating this history!)

　The First World War is a historical event that led our beloved country to ruin...isn't it his mission to overturn that?

　When Stalin woke up the afternoon after his reincarnation, he found himself thinking this way.

　**

　--His Majesty the Emperor seems to have become a different person.

　Within a day of Stalin's possession, such rumors were quietly spreading at court.

　His former indecisive attitude has disappeared, and he has become a "strong leader" who makes decisive decisions. At the same time, he always has a smile on his face when talking to people, and he is humble, always praising others.

Unlike idealists such as Lenin and Trotsky, Stalin was a realist politician, and although he was initially confused, it didn't take him long to accept the reality before him.

(First, gather information. I'll have to wear a mask until I know who the enemies are, and who the potential enemies are...)

　Facing the facts head on, Stalin adopted a typically Soviet, materialistic approach: gather all the information he could, analyze it scientifically, and take the most appropriate action.

　Fortunately, it wasn't that difficult for him to adapt to the new world. After all, he was originally the leader of a country. He quickly grasped the relationship with neighboring countries, the economy, financial situation, security, the balance of power within the palace, and even social issues within the country, and handled mountains of documents.

　However, the more information he received, the more furrowed Stalin's brow grew, as if in inverse proportion to the information he received. That was how terrible the current situation in Imperial Russia was.

　The majority of the population were low-productivity farmers, the school attendance rate was only about 20%, most of the country was not electrified, there were no proper railways or roads, and industry was inefficient and of poor quality.

(I've known this since I was young, but looking at the data now that I'm a big shot, it makes me want to give up...)

　To begin with, it is questionable how much we can trust these statistics. Even during the Soviet era, there were countless scoundrels who sent in fake data out of concern for the opinions of their superiors, and even if they didn't want to, we can't expect much from officials in the Russian Empire, where there were few highly educated elites.

　Of course, with a country in such a state, it is only natural that the military will reflect that.

"Our military currently has 1.1 million troops, including 40,000 officers. If we mobilize, we can increase this to 75,000 officers and 4.5 million soldiers."

　In front of Stalin, who had a map spread out, a military man with a magnificent Kaiser moustache was explaining the current situation of the Russian army.

His name was Alexei Brusilov, a hero who carried out a major operation that would later be called the "Brussilov Offensive," achieving great success by capturing 400,000 Austrian troops.

"The problem is a shortage of artillery and ammunition. Our field artillery company only has six cannons, lagging behind other countries, who have eight cannons as standard. Furthermore, our heavy artillery regiments are roughly half the size of other countries."

　Brusilov's explanations were clear and concise, without any unnecessary exaggeration or embellishment. His honest and straightforward personality was also to Stalin's liking.

(But I had no idea the Imperial Russian Army was this terrible... I knew about it to some extent, but I didn't realize it was this bad.)

　Although large-scale military reforms (Milyutin reforms) had been implemented a few years earlier, including: 1) banning corporal punishment, 2) implementing universal conscription, 3) shortening the period of military service, 4) establishing military academies, and 5) establishing a military district system, it was undeniable that the military was backward compared to Germany and the United Kingdom.

(First of all, the morale of the soldiers is low. It is a far cry from the revolutionary and patriotic spirit of the Soviet Red Army.)

　The officers in the Imperial Russian army were all nobles, and there was little sense of camaraderie between them and the soldiers of peasant origins. The officers looked down on the soldiers, not seeing them as equals.

　Of course, this is no way to foster trust. How many soldiers would actually follow orders such as "fight at the risk of their lives" from a superior who regularly inflicts unreasonable corporal punishment on them?

(The next thing is firepower. Anyway, we don't have enough cannons.)

"Artillery is the goddess of the battlefield" - the performance of Soviet artillery in the Great Patriotic War was so remarkable that Stalin once said this.

　"We were defeated by the endless Russian military power" is a favorite excuse of the loser German army, but this is completely misguided. Throughout the Great Patriotic War, the ratio of troops on the Eastern Front was at best 2:3, while the German army had more than four times as many artillery, tanks, and aircraft.

　However, the Soviet Army's "firepower doctrine" was the result of lessons learned from World War I and the Russian Civil War, and the army at that time was largely dominated by the old-fashioned "hand-to-hand combat doctrine," and just like in some island nations, it was believed that bayonet skill and mental strength were the keys to victory or defeat.

　--How poor compared to the Soviet Red Army, which once even had an artillery "corps"!

　That's not the only problem.

　Due to the immaturity of industry, there are not enough factories and there is a serious shortage of ammunition. Moreover, the cannons produced in the factories are of low quality and standardization is delayed. In addition, due to the delay in compulsory education, there are not enough gunnery officers, and indirect fire is almost impossible.

　And the biggest weakness was the "logistics". The railway network was overwhelmingly insufficient compared to the vastness of the country, and the railways that were built were operated inefficiently. The high command and logistics departments were severely weakened by corruption and inefficiency, and the qualitative weaknesses of the officers were not improved and there was a shortage of them.

　Even with modern equipment, the communications system was underdeveloped, and division headquarters communicated by radio in plain text. The military owned fewer than 700 automobiles.

"Industrialization is essential for military reform. We must industrialize Russia as quickly as possible and advance the mechanization of the military."

　Even without war, rapid industrialization was necessary for the prosperity of the nation. In the heyday of imperialism, the only thing waiting for underdeveloped countries that missed the wave of industrialization was to become colonies of the great powers.

　The next day, Nikolai appeared at the General Staff Headquarters and as soon as he arrived he dropped a bombshell statement that completely changed the policy that had been in place up until then.

"The invasion of Germany will be stopped."