Russia’s Combat Compliance Problem: Why Moscow Has Struggled in Bakhmut and Elsewhere

Check out my book "What Caused the Russia-Ukraine War": https://amzn.to/3HY5aqW. You can also read it for free by signing up for a Kindle Unlimited trial at https://amzn.to/3QMsBr8. (I use affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission when you make a transaction through them. Even if you read for free, you are still supporting the channel.) Since the start of the war, Russia has made a number of apparently bad mistakes with its troop deployments and overall tactical decisions. This video explains why a good portion of them are a consequence of Russia's struggles with combat compliance. With soldiers reluctant to follow orders, Russia resorts to actions that command can verify compliance with, which ultimately leads to more Russian casualties than would otherwise occur. 0:00 Russia's Heavy Losses 2:29 War Requires Collective Action 3:55 Principal-Agent Problems in War 8:09 Instilling Automaticity in Soldiers 9:47 Changing Citizens' Ideology 12:32 Giving Soldiers Future Rewards 15:29 The Importance of Soldier Oversight 18:59 The Live-and-Live System of World War I 20:56 How Russian Probing Attacks Work 23:16 The Outlook for the War 24:57 Where's Putin? he appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. Media licensed under CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/): By Ministry of Defense of Ukraine: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ministryofdefenceua/albums/72157684716518541 Medial licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Germany (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en): By Bundesarchiv: https://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/dba/de/search/?query=Bild+183-1992-0707-500 https://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/dba/de/search/?query=Bild+183-S36048 https://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/dba/de/search/?query=Bild+183-R05148 Media licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): By Kremlin.ru: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/16223 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/20796 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/41902 http://.en.kremlin.ru/catalog/persons/442/events/47778 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/47789 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/47791 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/47794 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/47847 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/47861 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/50329 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/50596 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/51018 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/54467 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/55063 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/57416 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/58548 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/60490 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/61949 http://.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/statements/62096 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/63054 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66191 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67828 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67829 http://kremlin.ru/events/president/trips/69318 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/69390 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70159 http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70524 http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70574