Recasting the Victory Strategy: Russia's Exit from the First World War and its Impact on Allied War Plans

This paper will address how the Allies (Britain, France, Italy and the United States) rethought their plans to defeat the Central Powers after the loss of a major military partner - Russia. Rather than focusing on the Allied intervention in Russia, it examines how Russia's exit from the war affected the Allies' global strategy to secure military victory and convinced the Allies that the war would have to be won in 1919. First, this article considers Allied discussions to defeat the Ottoman Empire, with the short term aim of keeping the Central Powers out of southern Russia and the long term aim of preventing German influence from Constantinople to China. Second, this article analyses the severe impact that the loss of Russia had on the estimates of Allied manpower required for winning the war.