In one corner is Russia, a ghost desperately trying to reclaim the glory of its former
superpowerdom but mostly only succeeding at further alienating itself from the rest of
the world.
Russia is still a considerable military heavyweight however, and continues to develop cutting
edge weapons- even if it more often than not is unable to afford their manufacture.
In the other corner is Germany, an industrious powerhouse of a nation, German engineering
remains some of the best in the world, and many consider the nation the de facto leader
of Europe.
Closely allied with the United States, Germany it seems has turned its back on its 20th century
ambitions for world domination, and enjoys a global security partnership where it contributes
cutting edge military hardware to ensure world peace.
Hello and welcome to another Who Would Win episode of The Infographics Show, today we're
putting old rivals up against one another to determine a modern winner in Germany vs
Russia- who would win?
During the twentieth century Germans and Russians found themselves at war against each other
twice, both as a result of Germany's growing desire to become the dominant European power.
Long renowned for fielding some of the finest soldiers in the world, in both conflicts German
command and leadership was far superior, though ultimately too-great ambitions would doom
Germany to defeat.
Had Germany focused its efforts more precisely, it's very likely that Europe would still be
ruled by Germany to this day, and the Cold War would have been a conflict between the
United States and Germany instead of the Soviet Union.
Luckily for all involved, Germany's totalitarian leaders failed their nation and its military
leaders on the occasion of both world wars, and ultimately their personal hubris saw one
of the finest fighting machines in world history brought to catastrophic defeat- twice.
Today, Germany has shelved its imperial ambitions and instead has embraced the cause of peace
with as much fanaticism as it once pursued war.
Far from becoming pacifists, Germany contributes some of the finest military forces in operation
today to conflicts around the world as part of the NATO alliance, determined to keep global
peace at all costs.
An incredibly resilient nation that pulled itself together after being partitioned for
decades by the Soviet Union, Germany is both determined to not repeat the mistakes of the
past but to never allow its people to be split in half as they had been during the Cold War.
Russia is a land of historical hardships, and a people as tough as the climate they
live in.
Having suffered foreign invasions for almost their entire history, the Russian people take
a very dim view of those who invade other nations, and were quick to reap their revenge
when they suffered catastrophic losses at the hands of the Germans in World War II.
Embarking upon a campaign of extermination, Hitler's Wehrmacht thrust into the Soviet
Union with the aim of eliminating all undesirables from seized territories, which came out to
nearly all Russian people caught behind enemy lines.
An estimated fifteen million civilians died during the Great Patriotic War, along with
over seven million troops versus Germany's four million.
Absorbing catastrophic losses which may have broken the back of any other nation, the Soviet
Union nonetheless not only fought the powerful Wehrmacht to a standstill, but chased it all
the way back into the heart of Germany itself.
For decades during the Cold War the Soviet Union pursued a hardline foreign policy that
pit Soviet communism against the liberal democracies of the west.
Having suffered greatly at the hands of invaders twice during both world wars, the Soviet Union
was quick to seize eastern europe under its power behind the iron curtain, and create
a buffer zone between itself and west europe.
Unfortunately Soviet communism was poorly managed and ultimately a failure, leading
to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the birth of the Russian Federation.
Allegedly a free democracy, Vladimir Putin has carefully manipulated elections for the
last two decades and ensured his continued rule over a nation that today finds itself
in turmoil as it struggles to shake off the reins of authoritarianism and embrace a truly
democratic process.
So who would win between these two modern heavyweights?
Let's find out!
The Russian military remains the second most powerful military on earth, coming in behind
the United States and just ahead of China.
For decades the Russian military operated under Stalin's old adage that quantity is
a quality all its own, fielding very large numbers of capable- if not cutting edge- equipment
meant to overwhelm smaller, yet much more technologically sophisticated NATO forces.
This strategy was brought to a screeching halt when in 1991 the United States and its
allies devastated the Iraqi military.
At the time Iraq fielded one of the largest militaries in the world, mostly made up of
Soviet-made fighters, tanks, and artillery.
It also operated from a very top-down, Soviet style command structure which limited individual
initiative and relied on direct orders from superior officers.
When outnumbered American armored divisions smashed through Iraqi defenses while being
supported by technologically advanced fighter and spy aircraft, Soviet military leadership
was quoted as saying, “The only way to stop an American armored advance is with nuclear
weapons.”
This was a problem, as the Soviet Union knew it could not rely solely on nuclear weapons,
and needed to be able to fight a conventional war.
Immediately it became clear that quantity was no longer a quality.
Unfortunately the collapse of the Soviet Union shortly after left the Russian military in
a financial lurch for decades.
Today Russia fields far fewer forces than it once did, and places a much higher premium
on the quality of its equipment and not just its numbers.
The nation continues to develop cutting edge military technologies, yet unfortunately is
often unable to actually afford to equip its military with those technologies.
This forces Russia to be selective about what new equipment it will choose to field, and
while its extremely capable S-500 air defense units are indubitably the world's best, it
has had to shutter its 5th-generation fighter program indefinitely, leaving it in a potentially
disastrous strategic position if the US manages to work all the kinks out of its F-35.
On the ground Russian forces are also plagued by equipment shortfalls, with the vaunted
T-14 Armata, an exceptional main battle tank, having its production run of 2,300 units dropped
to only 100.
This leaves Russian armored forces relying on about one thousand T-90s, and T-80s, but
primarily on two thousand T-72s.
The T-72 is the same tank that faced off against American Abrams and British Challengers in
the Gulf War and was utterly defeated as a result, scoring not even a single kill on
allied tanks.
The biggest problem with the Russian military however is its very large conscript force,
with approximately two thirds of its one million strong military all being conscripts.
Notorious for poor morale and poor training, conscripts are the scourge of modern, professional
militaries, and sadly Russia has not been very successful in encouraging the growth
of an all-volunteer military force, mostly due to the military being seen as a very unattractive
career option for Russian youth.
With West Germany serving as a frontline buffer against a potential Soviet incursion into
West Europe, Germany for decades invested heavily in its defense, averaging a 3% of
total GDP in military spending.
However after its reunification and the end of the Cold War, the German military atrophied
catastrophically, resting on a false sense of security that it would be rudely shaken
out of by Russia's annexation of the Crimea in 2014.
For almost two decades the German military had been allowed to shrink exponentially,
content to have the capability only of lending forces to allied expeditionary conflicts.
With Russia's aggression against the Ukraine though, Germany has once more seen a need
to ensure that its military is able to fight a conventional war on its own, without relying
completely on its NATO allies.
Today the Bundeswehr is in the middle of very severe growing pains.
After the annexation of Crimea, Germany immediately recognized a need to take its own defense
much more seriously, and vowed to spend at minimum 2% of its GDP by 2020.
However, the German military remains in a very troubled state, and in 2017 a report
by an American think tank found that Germany would need at least a month to mobilize a
single armored brigade in the event of a Russian invasion in the Baltics- and even then only
at the expense of stripping other units of vital equipment.
A full mobilization of the German military could take as much as three months, an absolutely
damning report which deeply alarmed Germany's NATO allies.
It's air forces however prove to be in an equal state of unreadiness, with the Luftwaffe
stating in the summer of 2018 that most of its Typhoon jets were not ready to carry out
combat operations.
For that entire year, none of the German navy's submarines took to sea, and none of the Luftwaffe's
heavy air transports could be deployed because they were all under repair.
It's trainee pilots were also unable to train because of a lack of available aircraft.
Gross mismanagement of basic logistics along with a five year push to upgrade weapon systems
and prepare them for combat have all wreaked havoc on the German military.
An incredible 21,000 vacancy in officer positions across its armed forces has left the German
military with a very poor command and control structure, and dramatically reduced the efficacy
of what troops it could bring to bear in a war against Russia.
It's clear that both Russia and Germany are facing serious challenges to their armed forces,
but what do the numbers alone tell us?
Currently the Russian military numbers at 1,013,628 active duty forces, versus Germany's
178,641.
Russian reservists number at 2,572,500 versus Germany's 30,000.
The numbers appear hugely lopsided, but its important to note that Russia's military is
made up mostly of conscripts with poor morale, and Russian leadership very much fears mass
desertions in case of war.
This means that Russia would lead with its professional volunteer forces, leaving its
conscript forces for rearguard actions and light fighting- or leaving as much as two
thirds of its military out of direct fighting.
In the air Russia enjoys an overwhelming advantage however, with 869 fighters versus Germany's
122.
Russian fighters vary in modernity, but have always been some of the best engineered in
the world, and as we've just learned Germany can't guarantee that any of its own fighters
would be available for service in case of war.
With 1,459 attack aircraft versus Germany's 178, Russian air forces would enjoy virtually
unlimited reach into every corner of Germany, delivering devastating blows against German
military and civilian infrastructure.
Germany's tank force of 900 would be hard-pressed to defend against an onslaught of 3,000 Russian
tanks.
While on paper Russia officially lists its tank forces as reaching 20,000, most of these
tanks are cold war relics that would take weeks to refurbish for combat and would fare
extremely poorly in modern war.
Realistically Russia would only be able to field around three thousand capable battle
tanks, which would be more than enough to overwhelm Germany's meager force of 900- of
which most lie with their reserve units.
However Germany does field the extremely capable Leopard 2, which would be more than a match
for Russian T-72s, T-80s and T-90s.
Despite its smaller size, Germany spends five billion more on defense than Russia does-
with $49.1 billion allocated for defense versus Russia's $44 billion.
This disparity comes from the fact that Germany is very much attempting to field an increasing
amount of modern equipment, and looking to offset number disadvantages with technological
advantages.
A big part of its expense is also its all-volunteer force, having phased conscription out completely
in 2014.
This makes the German soldier over all more motivated and better trained than his Russian
counterpart, even if a lack of non-commissioned officers continues to plague the ranks of
the German military.
In a war between the two nations though, Germany's inability to prevent the Russian air forces
from savaging the country would lead to a quick defeat of its military, and while the
war would be costly for the Russian military, we're declaring Russian the hands-down winner
of this You Versus.
Quantity truly does have a quality all its own in this scenario, specially when facing
a foe who's huge logistical problems have left as much as 40% of its military not ready
for combat operations.
Who do you think would win in a real war?
Agree with our assessment?
Why or why not?
Let us know in the comments!
And if you enjoyed this video check out one of our other epic matchups in our who would
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