The Battle of TannenbergInitially, the Battle of Tannenberg was a story of unstoppable success. The battle begun in August 2014 and lasted approximately seven days. By the end, however, the Germans inflicted heavy defeat upon the Russians. Although the Russians outnumbered the Germans, the Germans had cleverly intercepted messages and subsequently developed a trap of encirclement (History Channel, 2015). Prisoners, supplies and guns were taken and the Russian Commander Samsonov shot himself. It signalled the beginning of an "unrelenting" retreat on the Eastern Front - by 1915, all of Russian Poland and Lithuania were controlled by the German army (BBC, 2010). Military disasters at Tannenberg and Mansurian Lakes weekend the Russian army at the beginning stages of the war, only to be consolidated by further problems. At Tannenberg alone, the Russian army lost 250,000 men - including those who were taken prisoner.
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Activity 1
Read the following source and answer the following questions:
Russian soldiers after defeat on the Eastern Front (BBC, 2010).
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