Countdown (3)

An army of 3.4 million.

If someone asks whether we can't just push to Berlin or Vienna now that the enemy is distracted by other fronts.

'We're not Germany. We can't bet everything on one shot.'

Nikolai Ivanov, appointed commander of the Dual Monarchy's Poland front, couldn't agree.

There are reasons the General Staff is taking long-term war as fact.

First, the moment current Russian forces advance into enemy territory, they must temporarily abandon rail supply.

Not only will the enemy obviously destroy railways while retreating, but above all, the rail gauge specifications used by the Russian Empire differ from those used by Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Meaning they can't use even the three existing Poland-Germany railways until completely modifying them.

Second is the point that massive numbers of troops can't be packed into one front.