Ray I’ve read lots of Russian history, LOTS of it. More then most Americans, trust me.You want a good one, read Harrison Salisbury’s “The 900 Days’’ dealing with the siege of Leningrad .Human life in Russia is worthless and one thing becomes apparent, Russians take a perverse pride in not taking responsibility for themselves. And yes they are roundly hated by Poles, Germans Chechzs, hell they even treat each other like something on the bottom of their shoe. And I agree Russian literature IS depressing... and pretentious too.
Do not label them. Russians are different. There are scores of potent open minded people. Labeling them in common makes an upper hand for backward part of their population.
You’re right about human life being worthless in Russia. They don’t even value their own lives, much less others. I read about Russians delivering themselves and their families up for horrible executions rather than running like hell, or fighting to the last breath. Weird people.
Doesn’t have much to do with tanks. Russians might not value their people, but hardware is expensive and hard to replace. They built the best tank they could given certain limitations (doctrine, rail system, quantities required, etc.). It pays never to underestimate the vehicle or its crews. I still like the story of how the A6M Zero and the quality of Japanese Naval Aviation came as huge surprise despite the fact that the USN had been warned about them by American mercenaries (not Flying Tigers) who flew against them. I would hate to have that sort of surprise sprung on us again.
The only folks who have gone up against the Russians in recent history are Chechens (who lost) and the Georgians (who lost). Chechnya was a mess, but the war against Georgia went like clockwork. I’d rather overestimate an opponent and use too much force, than underestimate and use too little...