hello /chug/ so i've been thinking lately. reading russian literature (dostoevsky, gogol, tolstoy), studying up on russian history (mainly the napoleonic and revolutionary periods), and watching russian movies (war & peace, waterloo, solaris, etc).  to cut to the chase, i've been thinking about this current war and why russia cannot just steamroll ukraine.  of course i am aware of the technological limitations and how today's battlefield is more akin to ww1 or korea than ww2. i am thinking in a more tolstoyian mindset, and i am curious as to what russians and those closer to russia think of my idea.  which is this: for russia to really rise to the challenge and crush their enemies in such a way as at borodino/french retreat and as in ww2, do the people need an overwhelming moral mandate to unite and ignore everything besides the enemy and his machine guns and barbed wire? did russians decide to fight tooth claw and nail against the french and germans because of this (admitedly abstract) concept of a moral superiority? thank you in advance for your attention!
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