The forgotten foreign influences including spoils of war that the Soviet military owed credit to

[ADFSDF1996]

The Soviet Union is perhaps the largest totalitarian regime to have ever existed. But what exactly allowed the Soviet regime to last more than half a century? The answer is two things, foreign influence and geographic location. Perhaps the biggest foreign influence in Soviet military infrastructure was German influence, despite WWI and WWII making it seem like Germans and Russians have always hated each other, it’s not true. Before those two historical human blunders, Germans and Russians were very close. So close that Russian royalty was actually German. Some Russian cities even had German names like Petersburg which was later changed to the more Russian “Petrograd”. And not surprising, some Russians today can claim partial German ancestry. But the story of how close both cultures were is a whole different story. I’m going to talk about how foreign influence helped shaped the Soviet military. A lot of the stuff I’ll be discussing in the next paragraphs is probably going to irritate the Sovieboos even though I’ll be using an apolitical and unbiased tone.

note: I’m not saying that everything from the Soviet Union was based on foreign design and yes it’s true that every country has influenced or been influenced by foreign elements, specifically neighboring countries. But since the foreign influences behind the soviet military are largely unknown, is why they are worth talking about. Also it should be noted that the Soviet Union and Russian Federation are distinct from each other because they are two different countries, the latter replaced the former and there are Russians who do not like to be associated with the USSR anymore.

1.) Mosin Nagant: The iconic Russian bolt action rifle that is still in use today. While it was mostly designed by a Russian named Sergei Mosin in 1891. A Belgian by the name of Èmile Nagant also contributed to the design of this rifle. Prior to this rifle, Russia didn’t have much uniquely Russian weaponry, much of their weaponry was foreign. So this rifle was a breakthrough. The rifle took inspirations from many other iconic rifle series of its time like Mauser and Enfield. The rifle’s cartridge is known as the 7.62x54 Russian.

Mosin Nagant rifle

2.) Nagant M1895: To accompany the Mosin Nagant, a revolver was also designed for the Russian military. But unlike the rifle, the gun was designed by two Belgians Émile and Léon Nagant in 1895. The revolver also fired it’s own unique cartridge the 7.62x38mmR. Unlike the Mosin Nagant, this revolver was rendered nearly obsolete with the introduction of semi automatic pistols.

Nagant Revolvers

3.) Tokarev tt series: The Nagant revolver met a very formidable foe in the form of the Tokarev tt series which was designed by Fedor Tokarev in 1933. A pistol that the Russians could finally claim as their own. But that doesn’t it’s uniquely Russian, for it had very obvious foreign influences. The pistol’s framework was clearly inspired by the Browning M1903 and also operated in a similar way. The TT 33s cartridge(7.62x25mm) is an upgraded version of the German Mauser 7.63x25mm cartridge. The pistol would serve as the red armies sidearm during WWII and shortly post WWII until it was replaced by a newer pistol. But the Tokarev pistol would be exported to other communist countries where copies of the gun would be made with modifications. It’s currently the main sidearm of the Vietnamese armed forces.

Soviet tt33

3.) Soviet uniforms: Before you learn about what pistol replaced the Tokarev, let’s talk about their uniforms which were also inspired by foreign influence. For example, many soviet ceremonial and officer uniforms were based on WWI German Gabardine uniforms, The peaked caps worn by soviet officers were based on the design of the peaked caps worn by imperial German officers. And post WWII, the M1955 honor guard uniform was inspired by the Bavarian Uhlan uniform. But there is one uniform piece that was obviously heavily inspired by German influence, the SSH36 helmet. Anyone can clearly see that the German stahlhelm was the inspiration for this helmet. Upon first glance at pictures where Soviet soldiers wear this helmet, you’d probably mistake them for Germans.

No that’s not alternate history where the Germans conquered the USSR. They’re pre war soviet troops

4.) Makarov pistol: Spoils of war can do wonders for a country especially when it involves captured military technology. The Makarov pistol was designed shortly after WWII in 1951 by a man named Nikolay Makarov. The idea for this design came from the German Walther pp series. While the cartridge used by the Makarov the 9x18mm Makarov was based on a experimental German cartidge called 9x18 ultra. The Makarov would serve as the soviet military’s standard issue pistol until the end of the Cold War when newer pistols were introduced specifically the Serdyukov and the MP443 “Grach”(rook).

Walther PPK

Makarov pistol.

5.)PPD and PPSH41: The popular standard issue submachine guns of the soviet military were heavily inspired by German design. While they were designed by a Russian, the design was heavily inspired by the German MP18 and the Finnish KP 31. The PPSH41waa also chambered in the 7.62x25mm cartridge.

PPSH41

5.) Katyusha rockets: Ah yes the formidable katyusha rockets that struck fear into the axis powers during WWII. Often erroneously considered a Russian design but in reality they were designed by a Swiss-German named Georgy Langemak. Despite Mr. Langemak’s contribution to Soviet military technology, he still became a victim of Stalin’s purges. Just shows how ungrateful Stalin was.

Katyusha Rocket carrier

6.) Dnepr m72: One of the earliest Soviet motorcycles but they also happened to have been inspired by a German BMW Motorcycle called R71 which they reversed engineered to produce said motorcycle. Much like the Germans, the Soviets also attached sidecars to this motorcycle.

7.) Ak series: Ah yes, the most popular line of weapons ever produced. The designer of these weapons was a Russian tank designer by the name of Mikhail Kalashnikov. The original known as the AK-47 was heavily inspired by the German STG44 which was designed in 1943 by a German gunsmith named Hugo Schmeisser. Post WWII Hugo was forced by the Soviet authorities in Eastern Germany to work for them. Very little is known of his post war activities but it is known that Hugo did indeed help Kalashnikov design the AK-47 which Kalashnikov began working on during the war. How much he contributed is unknown but the German influences on the ak assault rifle series continues even in the newer ones like the AK12.

Sturmgewehr 44

Ak-47

8.)T-26 light tank: A Soviet copy of the British Vickers 6 ton tank.

T-26

9.) Soviet Rocket program: Much like America’s Rocket program, the Soviets also used captured German scientists to help Soviet scientists advance the Soviet Rocket developments, it was because of German scientists like Helmut Gröttrup and over a hundred other German scientists that the Soviet Union was able to briefly rival the US in the space race.

Helmut Gröttrup

10.) Soviet Nuclear technology: Much like their Rocket program, the Soviets also used a group of German scientists(see Russian Alsos) who used by the Soviets post WWII to develop their atom bomb program. Among these scientists were Manfred Von Ardenne and Nikolaus Riel.

American and British engineers dismantling German nuclear reactor

11.) Soviet submarines: The soviet S class submarines were the result of collaboration between German and soviet engineers pre WWII. This was the result of the German and soviet non aggression pact.

12.)Schellenbaum/Turkish Crescent: The usage of a schellenbaum in military parades is often considered a Turkish and Prussian/German military tradition but has also become a permanent part of Soviet and Russian military ceremonies via the cross cultural interactions between Germans and Russians.

Soviet schellenbaum

13.) Serdyukov pistol: The Makarov eventually became rendered obsolete when semi auto pistols started to carry higher capacity mags, which is why the Russians designed a newer pistol called the Serdyukov chambered in 9x21mm armor piercing rounds. The pistol is mostly a Russian design that slightly resembles the Makarov but also functions like a Berreta m92. This gun designed in 1991 shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Serdyukov pistol

14 Lenin: The founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin wasn’t of full Russian ancestry, he was of part German and Swedish ancestry from his Lutheran mother Maria Alexandrova Blank.

Vladimir Lenin wax figure

So yes, the Soviet Union was definitely influenced by foreign elements. Unfortunately Soviet propaganda managed to prevent these foreign influences to be known. But now with the access to the internet and disclosed records, the truth is more evident.

Sources: https://warontherocks.com/2019/10/the-forgotten-rocketeers-german-scientists-in-the-soviet-union-1945-1959/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR-1_Vektor

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagant_M1895

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosin–Nagant

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/a4_team_moscow.html

https://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=368

https://peoplepill.com/people/maria-alexandrovna-ulyanova/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Langemak

https://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=355

https://www.guns.com/news/2015/11/30/hugo-schmeisser-assault-rifle

[monkeynutts]

Don't think anyone has ever been able to say any part of Europe had complete Autonomy from another. It's been like this for centuries, because of institutions like the Catholic church, monarchies, and warfare always creates a necessity to upgrade technology when weapons become obsolete.

[ADFSDF1996]

Yup, every country has been influenced by it’s neighboring countries in some way.

[MrOracle]

Germans have been the royal families of most of Europe, including the UK. The current British royal family is of German descent, and the three leaders of the main powers involved in WWI were all German, and were cousins, yet started the war against each other.

[Cccgala]

Little did I know that the a considerable amount of Soviet technology was patterned from their German counterparts. This was a very informative myTake!

[devilman666]

First of all, half a century? You act like this is a long time, it's not, the Russian Tsar's did a better job of keeping Russia together. The Byzantine Empire lasted over 800 years, just to give you a reference. I'd say the biggest thing that held the soviets together was Stalin, he was a powerful leader who held the country together... by killing anyone who could oppose him, meaning the country was kind of doomed as soon as he died. Who was going to take over the soviet union? Stalin's entitled shit bag of a son? Or the politicians that Stalin thought were either so stupid or corrupt that they could never turn on him? The country had no leadership after his death, so I think he is both the reason why the soviet union stayed together as long as it did, and the reason why the soviet union inevitably collapsed.

The soviets changed the names of cities to try and control the russian history, it's the same as the CCP's refusal to recognize Shen Yun as Chinese. If you control the culture then you control the people, so communists almost always take strict control of history and culture. Specifically, Stalin wanted to remove the influence of the Tsar's, st petersburg was named after Peter the Great, so that had to go, in Stalin's russia, only great Soviet leaders would have cities named after them, thus the name changed to petrograd and then again to Leningrad. Lenin was a strong leader too, but he was less authoritarian and more socialist in my view, I think the Russian people really looked up to him, and Stalin used that to make himself look better. He didn't fight for the people, but he could just use the idea that he was continuing Lenin's work, and the people would trust that because they trusted Lenin. That's just conjecture though.

I don't think Stalin was necessarily ungrateful, I think he was paranoid and scared that everyone around him was as conniving and deceitful as he was. He couldn't trust anybody because he himself wasn't trustworthy. To that end, I think his paranoia was justified, every politician with a decent head on their shoulders knew not to trust Stalin, so I think the purges were the only way for Stalin to prevent civil war, without removing himself from power. If Stalin didn't go through with the purges then there would have been constant attempts to assassinate him and remove him from power. I'm not justifying it, just attempting to showcase why Stalin was doomed to failure, and probably death, unless he held the purges.

[devilman666]

As for foreign influence, I think France had the highest influence on the soviets. The french revolution had ingrained socialist ideas into french culture, and the revolution itself had a large impact on Lenin, who wrote about it several times and compared the things happening in Russia to the french revolution. Secondarily I would put Germany, especially while Lenin was in charge, the Germans had allowed Lenin to return to Russia, thereby causing the Russian revolution to happen. After the revolution, Russia pulled out of ww1, which is what the Germans wanted. After this the influence was rather minimal in my opinion, the German Empire kind of collapsed right after the Soviet Union was born, so there wasn't much more influence until Hitler. Stalin and Hitler had many trade deals and research deals because they both feared the allies, but they always knew war between Germany and Russia was inevitable, they just didn't know when.

[USLegionary]

Some of the major war spoils worth mentioning would be the lend lease military equipment the US & Britain sent during WW2 and infrastructure that was set up for the Russians. A good example is a direct copy TU 85 which is copy of the B29 from examples that landed in Siberia that the Soviets seized, later allowed them to develop the TU85 which is still flying today. The US sent everything from radios to radar sets, factory equipment whole factories, propellar engines, fighter planes, Thousands of tanks and Armoured vehicles, hundreds of trains. Boots for every soviet soldier. One of the most important war spoil I would say was the Studeabaker Truck of which 40,000 was sent to Russia, more vechiles than the Wermarcht had, they eve used them to tow russian heavy artillery pieces acting as mobile anti tank columns. They used them for everything and would later produce their own based on the design.

[ADFSDF1996]

Funny you should mention it, most people assume that the Soviet Union was always a gargantuan powerhouse that could overwhelm anyone that tried to test them. In reality the early Soviet Union was nowhere near as impressive as it was during the Cold War.

The Soviets lost their first war, when they tried to invade Poland after WWI, only for the Poles to turn things around at the last minute and chase the Soviets out of Polish territory causing the Soviet government to panic and call for a peace treaty.

The Soviets could barely handle the Fins during the winter war, they actually ended up losing about 400,000 red army personnel during that war only to just get a small slice of Finland. It was a Pyrrhic victory. And most countries actually laughed at the Soviet Union for its performance during this war.

As for the lend lease, that’s what actually allowed them to hold out against the third reich. Without the lend lease, the swastika would have been flying over Kremlin. It would have been the lack of food that would have doomed the commies.

[reptocarl2]

Let’s not forget the TU144 Concord copy aircraft. The Concord was and still is the most tested aircraft of all time which explains its excellent safety record. The TU144 was rushed into production before it could be refined solely for propaganda. After the fall of the Soviet Union Tupolev chiefs admitted the aircraft needed another 6 years of development before production

[reptocarl2]

He also stated the Soviet Union at the time was 10-15 years away from having the technology to produce such an aircraft. The Concorde had 5,000 hours of test flights while the TU144 only had 800. Scary. This is why it only made 55 passenger flights and all flights were purposely way below passenger capacity so if there were crashes, which there was, it would be fewer deaths. Again for propaganda. That shows how unreliable the plane was

[J2ohhhhh]

It isn't forgotten apart from England who believes that they won wwll single handedly. The rest of the world studied a different history what tells all this. It's just fucking BBC news talking bullshit.

[Hydra6544]

A couple slight things
the T26 was basically a vickers 6ton because Vickers sold them to everyone
the look of the STG 44 looks like the AK but the guys are actually closer to the M1 Garand. and most bolt guns look the same except for the wood type and design.

[MeatPuppet]

The part you forget to mention is that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is the main opposition party in the country and a majority of Russians believe life was better under the Soviet Union and consider Comrade Stalin to be a great patriotic hero.

https://youtu. be/y0U5ftmrGws

https://youtu. be/oxJ8GJvHl9c

https://youtu. be/bjBmtkW3Tl8

https://youtu. be/B7rjaDBAe0w

[ADFSDF1996]

It’s nostalgia and because Putin has been painting Stalin as being less evil than he actually was. The main reason why there are Russians who like him is because he prevented Russia from succumbing to the third reich. But it was mostly his soldiers who deserve that credit, not Stalin. Besides had he continued to persecute religion, the Swastika would have flown over Moscow. www.google.com/.../

“Whoever doesn’t miss the Soviet Union has no heart, anyone who wants it restored has no brains”- Vladimir Putin

[MeatPuppet]

Russians have remembered Stalin positively. Putin, however, wouldn't him back partly because he works with the oligarch clique who profited from the dilapidation of the Soviet worker state.

[ADFSDF1996]

Putin is somewhat fond of Stalin

[strateguy632]

informative article, they were related more than i ever could imagine

[msc545]

Must be an excuse to indulge your obvious gun fetish. The most authoritarian regime in history is not Russia, it's the USA.

[ADFSDF1996]

@msc545
Good job distorting a informative piece to go on a political rant. And I never said Russia is authoritarian, that label is more relevant to the Soviet Union. But it seems you don’t understand that the Russian federation isn’t the Soviet Union.

You think America is authoritarian? Then migrate to North Korea where you can’t practice any religion, you can’t say what you want, you have no internet, you are being watched 24/7 by the authorities, you are malnourished, vacations don’t exist, your choice in clothes is regulated by the authorities, the media is censored, entertainment/arts are censored.

[msc545]

I am supposed to be grateful because you can describe someplace that is worse?

[ADFSDF1996]

The point is that you are calling USA the most authoritarian country when there are far more authoritarian countries.

Does America have some authoritarian policies? Sure but they pale in comparison to the authoritarian policies of other countries.

[UncleJessieRabbit]

Have you heard of Yuri Bezmenov? He was a former KGB agent and Soviet defector, there are videos where he explains how KGB influenced the west. Extremely prophetic.

[BronzedAdonis]

this mytake is disturbing

[ADFSDF1996]

Why is it disturbing, it’s just a history lesson.