What advantages did Russia have before World War 1?

Answer 1

Russia sucked. It didn't industrialize. majority didn't even know what "electricity" was . It was weak (that's why it suffered during wwi), and it was poor

people didn't really like the tsar. revolution was gonna happen. russia sucked...

source: i'm from russia :) Interesting point but what about the Potemkin Mutiny which, although was a prelude to the Russian Revolution was also a catalyst to a nationalistic fervour towards the ROMANOVS. Anecdotal evidence suggests that had WWI begun prior to the Russian revolution, then the transition away from royalty would have been more like that in Britain or in France with the constitutional monarchs. The middle classes were more against Rasputin and power brokers of his sort rather than the ROMANOVS. As for Russia being weak, she had just defeated the huge Japanese Navy and was only pushed back by severe storms (called Kamikaze or Divine Wind) which came up without warning. Russia was a major threat to the (then) strongest nation and world super power Great Britain; causing a political marriage to re-unify the two countries only a few years earlier. Whilst I was living in Russia (both cold war and modern) it seemed that the biggest divides where between the Great Rus people and those of other origins. Within the decade, their has been a national push to reinstate a constitutional monarchy in Russia but the current 'heir' is reluctant and his lieage is not clear. Russia's military and economic power dropped severely in the years after the revolution. One could argue that it was due to WWI, however, Britain, France, Holland and others didn't suffer anywhere near the collapse experienced by Russia at the same time in the same region.

Answer 2

Russia had its immense size and population. Also one German goal was to capture valuable resources in western Russia.