Eastern Front | Definition, Maps, Facts, Battles, Casualties, & Outcome

Physical characteristics of the Eastern Front

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In August 1914 the Russian and Austro-Hungarian–German armies faced each other across a frontier that stretched over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the Baltic Sea to the northern border of Romania, which was at that time neutral. This great length was due to the projection of Russian Poland as a huge salient between German East Prussia and Austrian Galicia. After Romania joined in the war on the side of the Allies in 1916, the front extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea, a span of some 800 miles (roughly 1,300 km) in a direct line, or more than twice that distance if measured along the borders between the opposing countries. The shape of the frontier, the great distances, and the physical features and nature of the communications combined to divide the Eastern Front into three “sub-theatres” until the Russian retreat out of Poland in 1915. Thus, the operations in East Prussia, in the Polish salient, and in Galicia, though they formed part of a combined whole, each had their own special characteristics.

The greater part of the huge area of operations consisted of plains or gently undulating uplands. The only heights sufficient to constitute a serious military obstacle were the Carpathians, which extended in a semicircle from the southwest corner of the Polish salient to the Iron Gate on the Danube, forming a protective barrier for the Hungarian plains on the north and east. Opposite Russia they ran roughly parallel to the frontier, some 50–100 miles (80–160 km) from it; opposite Romania the Carpathians actually marked the frontier. It was a constant aim of the Russians throughout their operations, as well as the objective of Romania’s single abortive offensive, to pierce this barrier and reach the plains below.

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Although the Eastern Front had but a single notable mountain barrier, the water obstacles in the theatre were numerous and formidable. The most significant from a strategic standpoint was the Pripet Marshes, a vast waterlogged wetland covering approximately 104,000 square miles (270,000 square km), where infrastructure was undeveloped and military movements on a large scale were extremely difficult in consequence. Other water lines which had a considerable effect on operations were: in East Prussia, the line of the Masurian lakes; in the Polish salient, the rivers Vistula, Narew, Bobr, Niemen, and Bug; in Galicia, the Dunajec, Wisłok, San, and Dniester; and in the Romanian theatre, the Danube itself, the Olt, and the Siret. Besides the rivers enumerated above, there were a number of lesser streams which influenced the course and direction of the operations. Strategy in this theatre was in fact largely determined by rivers. Rivers slow the movement of an advancing army but are seldom a permanent bar to its progress. Although many of the principal river crossings had been fortified in peace, these fortifications had little influence on the course of operations—except, notably, at Przemyśl. In East Prussia and in Poland were extensive stretches of forest, which had certain tactical consequences. The Carpathians also were thickly wooded.

The real key to strategy on this eastern European front lay in the communications and logistics systems. In this respect the contrast between Russia and its western neighbours was striking. The transportation system in Russia was extremely underdeveloped, in spite of all efforts in the years preceding the war to develop strategic railways. The Russian general staff had prevented road or railway construction in the north and in the southeast of the Polish salient in order to provide protection to a defensive position in the centre of the salient. This shortsighted policy seriously hampered Russian strategy when an offensive campaign from Poland was undertaken. Nor could Russia make much use of its great rivers as lines of supply, owing to lack of previous development. Thus, superior command and communications infrastructure gave Russia’s adversaries the inestimable advantage of greater mobility.

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