A year into the invasion, Russia’s armed forces aren't performing well in Ukraine, and while the world seems surprised, it really shouldn’t be. When Russia first invaded Ukraine and things began to go terribly, terribly wrong for the Russians, we discussed 5 of the biggest blunders in Russian military history.
Just as more and more continues to go wrong for the Russians in Ukraine, we keep finding more and more reasons why no one should be surprised.
Here are 5 more of the biggest blunders in Russian military history
1. Livonian War
Ivan the Terrible, father of the Russian Empire, was trying to expand his state to the Baltic Sea while capturing key ports there. The only thing standing in his way was the owner of those ports, a fading power called the Livonian Confederation (modern-day Latvia and Estonia). Things started off pretty well for Russia, but once the ball got rolling, other powers came rolling in.
Sweden, Denmark, and Poland (sort of) came to the aid of Livonia and after 25 years of war, Russia not only didn’t get the Baltic Sea access it wanted, those territories were traded away to Sweden, Denmark, and Poland for peace. Ivan died the following year.
