Russian Armies Were Fueled by Vodka
No country is as closely associated in global popular perception with a particular alcoholic drink, as Russia is perceived to be associated with vodka. And the British Royal Navy and rum aside, no military is as closely associated in popular perception with a particular drink as the Russian military is associated with vodka. It is not just one of those popular perceptions that turn out to be based on little more than myth and legend: Russian armies and alcohol go back a long way.
One of alcohol’s greatest positive effects, from the perspective of military leaders, is its ability to provide troops with liquid courage. However, striking the right balance between enough alcohol for liquid courage, without going overboard, can be tricky. In 1223, a relatively small Mongol army inflicted a devastating defeat upon a much larger Rus army at the Battle of the Kalka River. Much of the credit for the victory goes to the military genius of the Mongols’ commanders, Subutai and Jebe. However, alcohol played a contributing role: much of the Rus army had gotten drunk, then launched itself at the Mongols in a reckless charge that ended in disaster.
In the 1500s, Russia’s Tsars began setting up establishments to distill and sell vodka, and by the 1640s, vodka had become a government monopoly. The Tsarist tax system was regressive, with much of its tax revenue coming from sales taxes. By the 1850s, nearly half of the Russian government’s revenue came from vodka sales. By the start of the twentieth century, the Smirnoff Vodka brand alone accounted for a full third of the Russian army’s budget.
Because of its vodka monopoly, Tsarist governments encouraged vodka consumption, even at the price of widespread alcoholism. Tsar Peter the Great reportedly decreed that the wives of peasants should be whipped if they dared try and drag their husbands out of taverns before they were ready to leave. He also used alcoholism to help with military recruitment: those who drank themselves into debt could avoid debtors’ prison by enlisting in the Russian army for 25 years.
In the twentieth century, the Red Army issued its soldiers a daily vodka ration of 100 grams. It was not enough to get wasted on, but a few days’ ration could be saved for a good drunk. It was also relatively easy for soldiers to get their hands on more than the daily ration, and during the Winter War of 1939 – 1940, there were reports of wild drunken charges by Soviet soldiers.
During WW2, the daily ration was increased, and the distribution and consumption of vodka was actively encouraged. The Soviet soldiers’ grit and sheer courage played a key role in defeating the Germans and securing victory in WW2. That courage could only have been boosted by the rivers of vodka that helped fuel the Soviet soldiers. Some Red Army soldiers, reminiscing about the war, described the daily vodka ration as being “as important as Katyusha rockets in the victory of Nazism“.
