User blog comment:GunsnadGlory/Common Misconceptions of History Part 2: Great Empires/@comment-3528888-20140318221634/@comment-4621372-20140318231725

1. Russia collapsed to fiery ruin. Victoria Americanus.

2. The Crimean war was not a stalemate by any meaning of the word. if you look it up you'll find that in fact the British and French succeeded in taking the main Russian base on the Black Sea. The Russians were able to later use the Black Sea because they made treaties with the Brits and French, but after the treaty, for 30 years the Russians desperately tried to get over the humiliating implications of that treaty, which included the demilitarization of the Black Sea.

3. It's a pretty good example, since I was talking about the people who initially conquered Russia. And then later, I'd like to point out that the Russians lost far more land from their wars with the Swedes than the Swedes did to them :D.

4. Are you joking? The Russians had to sail the Baltic Fleet across the world because the Japanese chopped their Pacific navy into fine powder. They lost so badly that they got a revolution. It;s because of that revolution that they pulled out. THAT one failed, anyway.

5. Not really true. The combined Austro-German alliance smashed the Russians multiple times. By Russia's withdrawal, the treaty of Brest-Litovsk was just a fait accompli.

6. So what? Of course it counts! My point is that Russia, thoughout history, has MOSTLY BEEN A FAILED STATE.

Actually, that's just not true.

Though the Russians played a massive role in WWII- it wasn't 80%, it was, by 1944, more like 40%, or even 30%.

And Hitler resurrected his Grand Army right after losing it in Russia. Not even a problem. It was the British and the Germans that ended him.