As one of the largest European nations in terms of land area, Russia has few neighbouring countries on land within Europe, only Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Romania.
The Central European region bordering Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire inserts itself into Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in a somewhat peculiar shape.
This peculiarly shaped region is Poland, which was divided between Germany and Russia.
Although gaining a part of Poland allowed Russia to significantly expand its influence in Europe, it also faced a dilemma as this region could be pincered by Germany from the north and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the south. It could threaten both East Prussia of Germany and Galicia of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it could also be threatened by these two nations.
