Thread by @KKriegeBlog

A 🧵 on the historical origins of US and Russian military culture. This picks up some ideas from my conversation with Michael Kofman earlier. TL;DR: the differences between 18th century US and Russian military culture were vast, but important similarities existed too. 1/25

When thinking about military culture it can be easy to essentialize, or even to assume that these "national characteristics" are timeless qualities that stretch into the past. This is usually not the most helpful way to understand the past or present. 2/25

When we think about American and Russian military history: differences can appear paramount if we essentialize. The individualistic, homespun and sharpshooting American rifleman vs. the backward, brutalized, and brave Russian soldier-serf. 3/25

The story that I am telling follows two wars: in the Russian case, the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, in the American case, the American War of Independence of 1775-1783. The wars only occurred ~50 years apart: ideas from the GNW were still being referenced in the AWI. 4/25

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a transnational military historian. Some of this research comes from my current book project, which tries to understand the American Continental army in the light of contemporary European military practice. 5/25

At first glance it seems as though George Washington and Peter the Great were worlds apart: one was the American Cincinnatus who gave up power, the other a brutal hereditary autocrat. (Tho both used cannons as arm-rests) But they faced similar problems. 6/25

Strategically, both of these men were locked in a struggle against a imperial power (Sweden/Britain). Tactically, both faced an enemy who relied on fastmoving bayonet attacks to chase their troops off the battlefield. 7/25

Both were attempting to construct a modern European-style military on the fly during wartime. Both were frustrated by the fact that even when they had numbers they weren’t always successful. They faced similar problems, but their command styles must have been different? 8/25

Surprisingly, both GW and Peter utilized a style of command focused on building consensus. Both were famous for calling councils of war: large meetings where generals could openly express their views. Other 18th century generals from established armies hated doing this. 9/25

Frederick II "the Great" of Prussia wrote that, "Prince Eugene [of Savoy] used to say that a General who desired to do nothing only needed to call a Council of War. This is true, and the voices found there are usually negative." 10/25

Even Nathanael Greene, one of Washington’s subordinates, poked fun at Washington for calling so many councils of war in his letters to Alexander Hamilton. 11/25

In the crisis of the American War of Independence, between 1775 and 1778, Washington called ~30 councils. In the crisis of the Great Northern War between 1708-1709, Peter called 32. Both were unsure of themselves, leading professionalizing forces, and wanted consensus. 12/25

At these councils, both Washington and Peter had to manage tensions between men who had long experience in foreign armies, and the native officers were anxious to prove their worth. 13/25

Both men valued the input of “foreigners”. Lafayette and Steuben left their mark on the American military, and generations of foreign officers did the same in the Russian army between 1680-1750. 14/25

The "American" Prussian FW de Steuben (Baron von Steuben) actually grew up following the Russian army around Ukraine and Crimea: his father served as a military advisor to the Russians in the 1730s. The only known image of Steuben's father is below. 15/25

Both Washington and Peter knew that in fighting a distant imperial regime, they could trade space for time. Both Swedish and British forces campaigned in parts of America and Russia that strained their logistics to the limit. 16/25

Both Washington and Peter also knew that a reliance of firepower would attrit their enemies when they were stretched thin. Both attempted to transform their armies closer to European norms. Both also wanted the men taught to rely on the bayonet later in the war. 17/25

Both eventually overcame the fast-moving attacks of their numerically inferior but tactically superior opponents. Both captured large enemy field armies isolated in a hostile country (Poltava/Yorktown). 18/25

And what of the soldiers themselves? Both armies were a mix of volunteers and conscripts. In America, a wave of patriotic volunteers dried up as the war continued, and conscription became more common. 19/25

In Russia, a wave of 11,000 volunteer serfs flooded the army in the early years of the war. Landlords then complained that too many serfs were volunteering, and Peter turned to conscription as a way to make more limited draws of manpower. 20/25

The fighting ends. The American army was demobilized and Washington (temporarily) returned to private life. Peter stayed in power, and the army became a means of maintaining order. When Washington assumed the presidency; he led militia forces against the Whiskey Rebellion. 21/25

Foreign officers did much to shape to continued evolution of the American and Russian armed forces after the war: a host of German speaking officers in the 1730s (including Steuben’s dad) and Steuben with the Blue Book and advocacy for the Legion of the US in America. 22/25

Obviously vast differences existed between these two armies, and the gulf between them would widen in the 19th century. Russian focus remained on a standing army, the US would turn to a mobilization/demobilization regime in war/peacetime. 23/25

Eventually, the political/cultural differences between wider Russian and American societies would obscure the shared military culture (Military Europe) that both were born from, and by the 1830s, writers like Alexis de Tocqueville would outline them up as distant opposites. 24/25

It can be easy, especially when relations between two nations are antagonistic, to essentialize their differences. To accurate understand the past (and maybe our situation in the present) it might be helpful to see the similarities too. 25/25