History UsefulNotes / RedswithRockets

* Let's not forget '''Leon Trotsky''', the man who founded the Red Army. Despite being an intellectual with almost no military experience, Trotsky proved to be a BadassBookworm in leading the Red Army to victory over the ''many'' forces that wanted to depose the Bolsheviks after they seized power in the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Russian Revolution]]. He's also an example of AuthorityEqualsAsskicking, given his prominent position in Vladimir Lenin's government and the fact that he was Lenin's preferred choice to succeed him as head of the Soviet Union.

* Project ''971'' Schuka/"[[NamesTheSame Akula]]": the current Russian nuclear-powered attack sub; reputedly as quiet as early American [=688/=]''Los Angeles'' class submarines. It can fire a salvo of up to ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill fourteen]]'' torpedoes at once. The naming confusion with the ''Typhoon''-class has confused many a naval geek. (Basically, the 941s -- the missile boats -- came out first and were called "Akula" by the Sovs and "Typhoon" by NATO, in response to a comment by Leonid Brezhnev concerning the submarines. Then the 971s -- the attack subs -- came out and were called "Schuka" by the Sovs and "Akula" by NATO. To further the confusion, when Russia started assigning names rather than just numbers to submarines, the first boat of the class, K-284, was named...Akula.)

* [[http://world.guns.ru/rifle/rfl03-e.htm Mosin-Nagant]] - actually entered service in the 19th century, long before UsefulNotes/RedOctober. Designed by Captain Sergei Mosin -- contrary to the name, Belgian Léon Nagant had almost nothing to do with the gun at all. Around 37 million were built up until the 1950's, and remain in use today. In service during both World Wars, the Mosin-Nagant is a highly rugged and reliable rifle, as well as quite accurate; the design's main attraction however, was its simplicity, which allows for manufacture with less sophisticated tooling. WeaponOfChoice of the most deadly sniper ever: [[http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/simohayha.asp Simo Häyhä, also known as "the White Death"]].

** The AK-74m is the modernized AK-74, being lighter and easier to maintain. It is distinctive for its black polymer stock, that is much lighter than the old wood furniture. The AK-74m was designed and produced in very small quantities at the very end of the USSR, and didn't see widespread use until the 2nd Chechen War. It is still the standard service rifle of the Russian Army today, but it is being gradually replaced by the AK-12, an even newer model that actually has little in common with previous AKs and features Picatinniy rail. The AK-12

* [[http://world.guns.ru/grenade/gl02-e.htm RPG-7]] - RPG does not stand for Rocket Propelled Grenade, which was a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym backronym]]; RPG stands for ''Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'', "hand-held anti-tank grenade-launcher", so "RPG Launcher" is an incorrect usage. Much loved by worldwide armed forces both real and fictional. The version that [[IKEAWeaponry breaks down into two pieces]] is the paratrooper model. Also notable in that its functional simplicity has caused a US arms company, Airtronic, to make their own copy of it. It is still loosely considered a rocket-propelled design because of the second stage rocket boost that ignites after the first (designed to shoot the warhead forward a safe distance upon firing). Contrast with the earlier RPG-2, which did not have a booster (hence drastically shorter effective range and accuracy) and thus is merely a "recoilless gun" by definition. The RPG-7 is still in service as the RPG-7V2, a slightly modernized variant. An escalating number of new models have also filled through the ranks, based on the Soviet RPG-27. These are your more standard "tube" MANPATs.

* T-62: Was designed mainly as a hasty reaction to Western developments like the Centurion and M47/M48 Pattons. The Soviets were feeling insecure about their T-55's 100m gun and its power compared to the British L7A3 105mm gun. Since the T-55 chassis didn't permit feasible fitting of a larger cannon, the Soviets did a new tank altogether, while very similar looking, traded strengths and weaknesses in various areas compared to the T-55:

** An unusually small (particularly narrow and squat) and cheap tank, but with a big gun. With appropriate ammunition, the 125mm gun is still theoretically capable of defeating any tank in widespread service. On the other hand, while the Soviets experimented with composite armor on T-64, T-72 (at least early models) featured conventional steel armor, which, though of exceptional thickness, could not stand up to the higher tech ammunition of the 1980s NATO tanks (such as M1A1, as shown in the Middle East). Just 7 feet tall and weighing just over 40 tons (in the baseline version), the T-72 was considered very cramped even with a 3-man crew. Also, unlike Western tanks, the early T-72 lacked such gadgets as laser range finder and the steering yoke, limiting its tactical usefulness.

* BMP family: A group of infantry fighting vehicles, taking the concept of the [=APCs=] and up-arming them with a small tank gun or autocannon, anti-tank missiles and NBC shielding. When the BMP-1 came out, it was a huge shock to NATO planners, who hadn't put a whole lot of thought into the idea of a heavily armed, speedy APC which could keep in formation with main battle tanks. Bristling with antitank missiles, armored machine gun ports and a gun with enough power to damage comparable vehicles, the image of dozens of BMPs racing across open European fields and disgorging a half dozen troops each was nightmarish. It was light enough to be amphibious, a trait shared with many Russian-designed fighting vehicles. The contemporary BMP-2 and its predecessor are the most prevalent IFV (as compared to APC) models in service worldwide.

* BMD: A closely related design to the BMPs, with the capacity to be dropped out of aircraft. Used exclusively by Soviet and Russian paratroopers.
* BTR: A family of mostly 8-wheeled armored personnel carriers (although some early models with BTR designation were fully tracked.) Intended to be used by "infantry" units (or, motorized rifle units, in Russian parlance) while BMPs are supposed to be used by the infantry component of tank units. Like all other Russian armored personnel carriers, all BTR family APCs built since 1960s are amphibious.

* Marshal of the Soviet Union '''Konstanty Ksawerowicz Rokossowski''': Truly exceptional operational commander with a long and varied career. His style was unconventional and sophisticated - [[OccamsRazor almost too much so]]. A Polish aristocrat by birth, he joined the Imperial Russian Army as a cavalryman and fought with distinction in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. During the October Revolution, he joined the Bolshevik Party, and won the Order of the Red Banner fighting Alexander Kolchak in the Urals. He also brought Damdin Sükhbaatar to power in the Mongolian People's Republic. He was a pioneer of tank assault and a close supported of Marshal Tuhkachevsky. This cost him his freedom, his teeth, [[{{Fingore}} and his fingernails]] in Stalin's Great Purge. He was brought back because of his gift for operational art in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, where his willingness to stand up to Stalin and excellent experience won him many admirers. His army group was assigned to flank-guard duty for the Battle Of Berlin (which was conducted by Zhukov and Konev's army groups) because Stalin wanted an ethnic Russian to capture the city and he wanted Rokossovsky to be ready to reinforce Koniev just in case the allies tried to take Berlin and/or start WorldWarThree. Fondly remembered in Russian historiography, he has fewer admirers in Poland thanks to his part in the post-war Sovietization and Stalinization of the country and his advocacy of the use of force against Władysław Gomułka's reforms in 1956. Supposedly said, "In Russia, they say I'm a Pole. In Poland, they say I'm a Russian" after his Polish experience.