With such a massive army, the Russian Empire was hard pressed to equip its soldiers due to a still developing industrial base as well as a congested logistical system. Despite thus, the Northwestern Front sent against East Prussia represented some of the best the Tsar had to offer, and was equipped accordingly.

The weapons available to the Imperial German Army in 1914 were the products of one of the most industrialized economies in the world, even if the troops of the 8th Army in East Prussia had access to less of it than their counterparts in the west.

The much vaunted “Russian Steamroller” set to be unleased against the Germans in East Prussia was a massive force of half a million men. The Germans anticipated that in the time it took for the slow moving Russians to be ready to attack France would fall, leaving them to turn their full force against the Tsar. They were to be proven quite mistaken in the summer of 1914.

The German Empire was, despite being only some forty-three years old, considered to be one of the world’s foremost powers. With plans in place to counter a two front war against France in the west and Russia in the east, all efforts were focused on quickly destroying the French, while only a small force was left to defend the Empire’s eastern frontiers against a “Russian Steamroller” believed to be slow to mobilize.