Who fought with whom? Now this question will probably confuse many ordinary people. But the Great War, as it was called in the world before 1939, claimed more than 20 million lives and forever changed the course of history. Over the course of 4 bloody years, empires collapsed and alliances were formed. Therefore, it is necessary to know about it, at least for the purposes of general development.
By the beginning of the 19th century, the crisis in Europe was obvious to all major powers. Many historians and analysts give various populist reasons why Who fought with whom before, which nations were fraternal to each other, and so on - all this had practically no meaning for most countries. The goals of the warring powers in the First World War were different, but the main reason was the desire of big capital to spread its influence and gain new markets.
First of all, it is worth taking into account the desire of Germany, since it was she who became the aggressor and actually started the war. But at the same time, one should not assume that she only wanted war, and that other countries did not prepare plans for an attack and were only defending themselves.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Germany continued to develop rapidly. The empire had a good army, modern types of weapons, and a powerful economy. The main problem was that it was possible to unite the German lands under a single flag only in the middle of the 19th century. It was then that the Germans became an important player on the world stage. But by the time Germany emerged as a great power, the period of active colonization had already been missed. England, France, Russia and other countries had many colonies. They opened up a good market for the capital of these countries, made it possible to have cheap labor, an abundance of food and specific goods. Germany did not have this. Commodity overproduction led to stagnation. Population growth and the limited territories of their settlement created a food shortage. Then the German leadership decided to move away from the idea of being a member of a community of countries with a minor voice. Somewhere towards the end of the 19th century, political doctrines were aimed at building the German Empire as the world's leading power. And the only way to this is war.
Other countries thought similarly. Capitalists pushed the governments of all major states towards expansion. Russia, first of all, wanted to unite as many Slavic lands as possible under its banner, especially in the Balkans, especially since the local population was loyal to such patronage.
Türkiye played an important role. The world's leading players closely watched the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and waited for the moment to bite off a piece of this giant. The crisis and anticipation were felt throughout Europe. There were a series of bloody wars in what is now Yugoslavia, followed by the First World War. Local residents of the South Slavic countries themselves sometimes did not remember who fought with whom in the Balkans. The capitalists drove the soldiers forward, changing allies depending on the benefits. It was already clear that, most likely, something larger than a local conflict would happen in the Balkans. And so it happened. At the end of June, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Ferdinand. used this event as a reason to declare war.
The warring countries of the First World War had no idea what the conflict would lead to. If you study the plans of the parties in detail, you can clearly see that each was going to win due to a quick offensive. No more than a few months were allotted for hostilities. This was due, among other things, to the fact that before this there were no such precedents in history, when almost all powers took part in a war.
On the eve of 1914, two alliances were concluded: the Entente and the Triple Alliance. The first included Russia, Britain, France. In the second - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy. Smaller countries united around one of these alliances, Who was Russia at war with? With Bulgaria, Turkey, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Albania. As well as a number of armed formations of other countries.
After the Balkan crisis, two main theaters of military operations were formed in Europe - Western and Eastern. Also, fighting took place in the Transcaucasus and in various colonies in the Middle East and Africa. It is difficult to list all the conflicts that the First World War gave rise to. Who fought with whom depended on belonging to a particular union and territorial claims. For example, France has long dreamed of returning lost Alsace and Lorraine. And Türkiye is lands in Armenia.
For the Russian Empire, the war turned out to be the most costly. And not only in economic terms. At the fronts, Russian troops suffered the greatest losses.
This was one of the reasons for the start of the October Revolution, as a result of which a socialist state was formed. The people simply did not understand why thousands of conscripts were sent to the West, and few returned.
Basically, only the first year of the war was intense. Subsequent battles were characterized by positional struggle. Many kilometers of trenches were dug and countless defensive structures were erected.
The atmosphere of a positional permanent war is very well described in Remarque’s book “All Quiet on the Western Front.” It was in the trenches that the lives of soldiers were ground up, and the countries' economies worked exclusively for the war, cutting costs on all other institutions. The First World War claimed 11 million civilian lives. Who fought with whom? There can be only one answer to this question: capitalists with capitalists.
Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809 |
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Europe, Africa and the Middle East (briefly in China and the Pacific Islands) |
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Economic imperialism, territorial and economic claims, trade barriers, arms race, militarism and autocracy, balance of power, local conflicts, allied obligations of European powers. |
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Victory of the Entente. The February and October revolutions in Russia and the November revolution in Germany. Collapse of the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. The beginning of the penetration of American capital into Europe. |
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Opponents |
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Bulgaria (since 1915) |
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Italy (since 1915) |
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Romania (since 1916) |
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USA (since 1917) |
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Greece (since 1917) |
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Commanders |
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Nicholas II † |
Franz Joseph I † |
Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich |
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M. V. Alekseev † |
F. von Goetzendorf |
A. A. Brusilov |
A. von Straussenburg |
L. G. Kornilov † |
Wilhelm II |
A. F. Kerensky |
E. von Falkenhayn |
N. N. Dukhonin † |
Paul von Hindenburg |
N. V. Krylenko |
H. von Moltke (the Younger) |
R. Poincaré |
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J. Clemenceau |
E. Ludendorff |
Crown Prince Ruprecht |
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Mehmed V † |
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R. Nivelle |
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Enver Pasha |
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M. Ataturk |
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G. Asquith |
Ferdinand I |
D. Lloyd George |
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J. Jellicoe |
G. Stoyanov-Todorov |
G. Kitchener † |
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L. Dunsterville |
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Prince Regent Alexander |
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R. Putnik † |
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Albert I |
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J. Vukotich |
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Victor Emmanuel III |
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L. Cadorna |
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Prince Luigi |
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Ferdinand I |
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K. Prezan |
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A. Averescu |
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T. Wilson |
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J. Pershing |
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P. Danglis |
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Okuma Shigenobu |
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Terauchi Masatake |
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Hussein bin Ali |
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Military losses |
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Military deaths: 5,953,372 |
Military deaths: 4,043,397 |
(July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918) - one of the most large-scale armed conflicts in human history.
This name was established in historiography only after the outbreak of World War II in 1939. During the interwar period the name " Great War"(English) TheGreatWar, fr. La Grandeguerre), in the Russian Empire it was sometimes called " Second Patriotic War", as well as informally (both before the revolution and after) - " German"; then to the USSR - “ imperialist war».
The immediate cause of the war was the Sarajevo assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 by nineteen-year-old Serbian student Gavrilo Princip, who was one of the members of the terrorist organization Mlada Bosna, which fought for the unification of all South Slavic peoples into one state.
As a result of the war, four empires ceased to exist: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German and Ottoman. The participating countries lost about 12 million people killed (including civilians), and about 55 million were wounded.
Allies of the Entente(supported the Entente in the war): USA, Japan, Serbia, Italy (participated in the war on the side of the Entente since 1915, despite being a member of the Triple Alliance), Montenegro, Belgium, Egypt, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Brazil, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Siam, Haiti, Liberia, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador.
Timeline of declaration of war |
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Who declared war |
To whom was war declared? |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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British Empire and France |
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Germany |
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British Empire and France |
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Germany |
Portugal |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Panama and Cuba |
Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Germany |
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Brazil |
Germany |
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End of the war |
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Long before the war, contradictions were growing in Europe between the great powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Great Britain, and Russia.
The German Empire, formed after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, sought political and economic dominance on the European continent. Having joined the struggle for colonies only after 1871, Germany wanted the redistribution of the colonial possessions of England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal in its favor.
Russia, France and Great Britain sought to counteract the hegemonic aspirations of Germany. Why was the Entente formed?
Austria-Hungary, being a multinational empire, was a constant source of instability in Europe due to internal ethnic contradictions. She sought to retain Bosnia and Herzegovina, which she captured in 1908 (see: Bosnian crisis). It opposed Russia, which took on the role of protector of all Slavs in the Balkans, and Serbia, which claimed to be the unifying center of the South Slavs.
In the Middle East, the interests of almost all powers collided, striving to achieve the division of the collapsing Ottoman Empire (Turkey). According to the agreements reached between the members of the Entente, at the end of the war, all the straits between the Black and Aegean Seas would go to Russia, thus Russia would gain full control of the Black Sea and Constantinople.
The confrontation between the Entente countries on the one hand and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other led to the First World War, where the opponents of the Entente: Russia, Great Britain and France - and its allies were the bloc of Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria - in which Germany played a leading role. By 1914, two blocks had finally taken shape:
Entente bloc (formed by 1907 after the conclusion of the Russian-French, Anglo-French and Anglo-Russian alliance treaties):
Block Triple Alliance:
Italy, however, entered the war in 1915 on the side of the Entente - but Turkey and Bulgaria joined Germany and Austria-Hungary during the war, forming the Quadruple Alliance (or bloc of the Central Powers).
The reasons for the war mentioned in various sources include economic imperialism, trade barriers, the arms race, militarism and autocracy, the balance of power, local conflicts that took place the day before (the Balkan Wars, the Italian-Turkish War), orders for general mobilization in Russia and Germany, territorial claims and the alliance obligations of the European powers.
A strong blow to the German army was the reduction in its numbers: the reason for this is considered to be the short-sighted policy of the Social Democrats. For the period 1912-1916 in Germany, a reduction in the army was planned, which did not contribute in any way to increasing its combat effectiveness. The Social Democratic government constantly cut funding for the army (which, however, does not apply to the navy).
This policy, destructive of the army, led to the fact that by the beginning of 1914, unemployment in Germany increased by 8% (compared to 1910 levels). The army experienced a chronic lack of necessary military equipment. There was a lack of modern weapons. There were not enough funds to sufficiently equip the army with machine guns - Germany lagged behind in this area. The same applied to aviation - the German aircraft fleet was numerous, but outdated. The main aircraft of the German Luftstreitkrafte was the most popular, but at the same time hopelessly outdated aircraft in Europe - a Taube-type monoplane.
The mobilization also saw the requisitioning of a significant number of civilian and mail aircraft. Moreover, aviation was designated as a separate branch of the military only in 1916; before that it was listed in the “transport troops” ( Kraftfahrers). But aviation was given little importance in all armies except the French, where aviation had to carry out regular air raids on the territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Rhineland, and the Bavarian Palatinate. The total financial costs for military aviation in France in 1913 amounted to 6 million francs, in Germany - 322 thousand marks, in Russia - about 1 million rubles. The latter achieved significant success, having built, shortly before the start of the war, the world's first four-engine aircraft, which was destined to become the first strategic bomber. Since 1865, the State Agrarian University and the Obukhov plant have successfully collaborated with the Krupp company. This Krupp company collaborated with Russia and France until the very beginning of the war.
German shipyards (including Blohm & Voss) built, but did not have time to complete before the start of the war, 6 destroyers for Russia, based on the design of the later famous Novik, built at the Putilov plant and armed with weapons produced at the Obukhov plant. Despite the Russian-French alliance, Krupp and other German firms regularly sent their latest weapons for testing to Russia. But under Nicholas II, preference began to be given to French guns. Thus, Russia, taking into account the experience of two leading artillery manufacturers, entered the war with good artillery of small and medium calibers, having 1 barrel per 786 soldiers against 1 barrel per 476 soldiers in the German army, but in heavy artillery the Russian army lagged significantly behind the German army, having 1 gun per 22,241 soldiers and officers versus 1 gun per 2,798 soldiers in the German army. And this is not counting the mortars, which were already in service with the German army and which were not available at all in the Russian army in 1914.
Also, it should be noted that the saturation of infantry units with machine guns in the Russian army was not inferior to the German and French armies. So the Russian infantry regiment of 4 battalions (16 companies) had in its staff on May 6, 1910 a machine gun team of 8 Maxim heavy machine guns, that is, 0.5 machine guns per company, “in the German and French armies there were six of them per regiment of 12 companies.
On June 28, 1914, Gavriil Princip, a nineteen-year-old Bosnian Serb student and member of the nationalist Serbian terrorist organization Mlada Bosna, assassinates the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sofia Chotek in Sarajevo. The Austrian and German ruling circles decided to use this Sarajevo murder as a pretext for starting a European war. July 5 Germany promises support for Austria-Hungary in the event of a conflict with Serbia.
On July 23, Austria-Hungary, declaring that Serbia was behind the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, announces an ultimatum, in which it demands that Serbia fulfill obviously impossible conditions, including: purge the state apparatus and army of officers and officials found in anti-Austrian propaganda; arrest suspects of promoting terrorism; allow the Austrian-Hungarian police to conduct investigations and punishments for those responsible for anti-Austrian actions on Serbian territory. Only 48 hours were given for a response.
On the same day, Serbia begins mobilization, however, it agrees to all the demands of Austria-Hungary, except for the admission of the Austrian police to its territory. Germany is persistently pushing Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia.
On July 25, Germany begins hidden mobilization: without officially announcing it, they began sending out summonses to reservists at recruiting stations.
July 26 Austria-Hungary announces mobilization and begins to concentrate troops on the border with Serbia and Russia.
On July 28, Austria-Hungary, declaring that the demands of the ultimatum had not been fulfilled, declared war on Serbia. Russia says it will not allow the occupation of Serbia.
On the same day, Germany presents Russia with an ultimatum: stop conscription or Germany will declare war on Russia. France, Austria-Hungary and Germany are mobilizing. Germany is massing troops to the Belgian and French borders.
At the same time, on the morning of August 1, the British Foreign Minister E. Gray promised the German ambassador in London Lichnowsky that in the event of a war between Germany and Russia, England would remain neutral, provided that France was not attacked.
The war unfolded in two main theaters of military operations - in Western and Eastern Europe, as well as in the Balkans, Northern Italy (from May 1915), in the Caucasus and the Middle East (from November 1914) in the colonies of European states - in Africa, in China, in Oceania. In 1914, all participants in the war were going to end the war in a few months through a decisive offensive; no one expected the war to become protracted.
Germany, in accordance with a pre-developed plan for waging a lightning war, the “blitzkrieg” (Schlieffen plan), sent the main forces to the western front, hoping to defeat France with a quick blow before the completion of the mobilization and deployment of the Russian army, and then deal with Russia.
The German command intended to deliver the main blow through Belgium to the unprotected north of France, bypass Paris from the west and take the French army, whose main forces were concentrated on the fortified eastern, Franco-German border, into a huge “cauldron”.
On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, and on the same day the Germans invaded Luxembourg without any declaration of war.
France appealed to England for help, but the British government, by a vote of 12 to 6, refused France's support, declaring that "France should not count on help that we are currently unable to provide," adding that "if the Germans invade to Belgium and will occupy only the “corner” of this country closest to Luxembourg, and not the coast, England will remain neutral.”
To which the French Ambassador to Great Britain, Kambo, said that if England now betrays its allies: France and Russia, then after the war it will have a bad time, regardless of who the winner is. The British government, in fact, pushed the Germans to aggression. The German leadership decided that England would not enter the war and moved on to decisive action.
On August 2, German troops finally occupied Luxembourg, and Belgium was given an ultimatum to allow German armies to enter the border with France. Only 12 hours were given for reflection.
On August 3, Germany declared war on France, accusing it of “organized attacks and aerial bombardments of Germany” and “violating Belgian neutrality.”
On August 4, German troops poured across the Belgian border. King Albert of Belgium turned for help to the guarantor countries of Belgian neutrality. London, contrary to its previous statements, sent an ultimatum to Berlin: stop the invasion of Belgium or England will declare war on Germany, to which Berlin declared “betrayal”. After the ultimatum expired, Great Britain declared war on Germany and sent 5.5 divisions to help France.
The First World War has begun.
Strategic plans of the parties at the beginning of the war. At the beginning of the war, Germany was guided by a fairly old military doctrine - the Schlieffen plan - which provided for the instant defeat of France before the “clumsy” Russia could mobilize and advance its army to the borders. The attack was planned through the territory of Belgium (with the aim of bypassing the main French forces); Paris was initially supposed to be taken in 39 days. In a nutshell, the essence of the plan was outlined by William II: “We will have lunch in Paris and dinner in St. Petersburg”. In 1906, the plan was modified (under the leadership of General Moltke) and acquired a less categorical character - a significant part of the troops was still supposed to be left on the Eastern Front; the attack should have been through Belgium, but without touching neutral Holland.
France, in turn, was guided by a military doctrine (the so-called Plan 17), which prescribed starting the war with the liberation of Alsace-Lorraine. The French expected that the main forces of the German army would initially be concentrated against Alsace.
Invasion of the German army into Belgium. Having crossed the Belgian border on the morning of August 4, the German army, following the Schlieffen Plan, easily swept away the weak barriers of the Belgian army and moved deeper into Belgium. The Belgian army, which the Germans outnumbered by more than 10 times, unexpectedly put up active resistance, which, however, was unable to significantly delay the enemy. Bypassing and blocking the well-fortified Belgian fortresses: Liege (fell on August 16, see: Assault of Liege), Namur (fell on August 25) and Antwerp (fell on October 9), the Germans drove the Belgian army in front of them and took Brussels on August 20, at which the same day coming into contact with the Anglo-French forces. The movement of the German troops was rapid; the Germans, without stopping, bypassed the cities and fortresses that continued to defend themselves. The Belgian government fled to Le Havre. King Albert I, with the last remaining combat-ready units, continued to defend Antwerp. The invasion of Belgium came as a surprise to the French command, but the French were able to organize the transfer of their units in the direction of the breakthrough much faster than expected by German plans.
Actions in Alsace and Lorraine. On August 7, the French, with the forces of the 1st and 2nd armies, began an offensive in Alsace, and on August 14 - in Lorraine. The offensive had symbolic significance for the French - the territory of Alsace-Lorraine was torn away from France in 1871, after defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Although they initially managed to penetrate deeper into German territory, capturing Saarbrücken and Mulhouse, the simultaneously unfolding German offensive in Belgium forced them to transfer part of their troops there. The subsequent counterattacks did not meet sufficient resistance from the French, and by the end of August the French army retreated to its previous positions, leaving Germany with a small part of French territory.
Border battle. On August 20, the Anglo-French and German troops came into contact - the Border Battle began. At the start of the war, the French command did not expect that the main offensive of German troops would take place through Belgium; the main forces of the French troops were concentrated against Alsace. From the beginning of the invasion of Belgium, the French began actively moving units in the direction of the breakthrough; by the time they came into contact with the Germans, the front was in sufficient disarray, and the French and British were forced to fight with three groups of troops that were not in contact. On the territory of Belgium, near Mons, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was located, and to the southeast, near Charleroi, there was the 5th French Army. In the Ardennes, approximately along the French border with Belgium and Luxembourg, the 3rd and 4th French armies were stationed. In all three regions, the Anglo-French troops suffered a heavy defeat (the Battle of Mons, the Battle of Charleroi, the Ardennes operation (1914)), losing about 250 thousand people, and the Germans from the north invaded France on a wide front, delivering the main blow to the west, bypassing Paris, thus taking the French army in a giant pincer.
The German armies were rapidly moving forward. The British units retreated to the coast in disarray; the French command was not confident in the ability to hold Paris; on September 2, the French government moved to Bordeaux. The defense of the city was led by the energetic General Gallieni. The French forces were regrouping to a new line of defense along the Marne River. The French prepared energetically to defend the capital, taking extraordinary measures. The episode is widely known when Gallieni ordered an urgent transfer of an infantry brigade to the front, using Parisian taxis for this purpose.
The unsuccessful August actions of the French army forced its commander, General Joffre, to immediately replace a large number (up to 30% of the total number) of poorly performing generals; the renewal and rejuvenation of the French generals was subsequently assessed extremely positively.
Battle of the Marne. The German army did not have enough strength to complete the operation to bypass Paris and encircle the French army. The troops, having marched hundreds of kilometers in battle, were exhausted, communications were stretched out, there was nothing to cover the flanks and emerging gaps, there were no reserves, they had to maneuver with the same units, driving them back and forth, so the Headquarters agreed with the commander’s proposal: making a roundabout maneuver 1 Von Kluck's th army reduced the front of the offensive and did not make a deep envelopment of the French army bypassing Paris, but turned east north of the French capital and hit the rear of the main forces of the French army.
Turning east north of Paris, the Germans exposed their right flank and rear to the attack of the French group concentrated to defend Paris. There was nothing to cover the right flank and rear: 2 corps and a cavalry division, originally intended to strengthen the advancing group, were sent to East Prussia to help the defeated 8th German Army. However, the German command took a fatal maneuver: it turned its troops east before reaching Paris, hoping for the passivity of the enemy. The French command did not fail to take advantage of the opportunity and struck the exposed flank and rear of the German army. The First Battle of the Marne began, in which the Allies managed to turn the tide of hostilities in their favor and push German troops on the front from Verdun to Amiens 50-100 kilometers back. The Battle of the Marne was intense, but short-lived - the main battle began on September 5, on September 9 the defeat of the German army became obvious, and by September 12-13 the German army's retreat to the line along the Aisne and Vel rivers was completed.
The Battle of the Marne had great moral significance for all sides. For the French, it was the first victory over the Germans, overcoming the shame of defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the Battle of the Marne, capitulatory sentiment in France began to decline. The British realized the insufficient combat power of their troops, and subsequently set a course to increase their armed forces in Europe and strengthen their combat training. German plans for the rapid defeat of France failed; Moltke, who headed the Field General Staff, was replaced by Falkenhayn. Joffre, on the contrary, acquired enormous authority in France. The Battle of the Marne was the turning point of the war in the French theater of operations, after which the continuous retreat of the Anglo-French troops ceased, the front stabilized, and the enemy forces were approximately equal.
"Run to the Sea". Battles in Flanders. The Battle of the Marne turned into the so-called “Run to the Sea” - moving, both armies tried to encircle each other from the flank, which only led to the fact that the front line closed, resting against the shore of the North Sea. The actions of the armies in this flat, populated area, saturated with roads and railways, were characterized by extreme mobility; as soon as one clash ended in the stabilization of the front, both sides quickly moved their troops north, towards the sea, and the battle resumed at the next stage. At the first stage (second half of September), the battles took place along the borders of the Oise and Somme rivers, then, at the second stage (September 29 - October 9), the battles took place along the Scarpa River (Battle of Arras); at the third stage, battles took place near Lille (October 10-15), on the Isère River (October 18-20), and at Ypres (October 30-November 15). On October 9, the last center of resistance of the Belgian army, Antwerp, fell, and the battered Belgian units joined the Anglo-French, occupying the extreme northern position at the front.
By November 15, the entire space between Paris and the North Sea was densely filled with troops of both sides, the front had stabilized, the offensive potential of the Germans had been exhausted, and both sides switched to positional warfare. An important success of the Entente can be considered that it managed to retain the ports that were most convenient for sea communications with England (primarily Calais).
By the end of 1914, Belgium was almost completely conquered by Germany. The Entente retained only a small western part of Flanders with the city of Ypres. Further, south to Nancy, the front passed through the territory of France (the territory lost by the French had the shape of a spindle, 380-400 km long along the front, 100-130 km deep at its widest point from the pre-war border of France towards Paris). Lille was given to the Germans, Arras and Laon remained with the French; The front came closest to Paris (about 70 km) in the area of Noyon (behind the Germans) and Soissons (behind the French). The front then turned east (Reims remained with the French) and moved to the Verdun fortified area. After this, in the Nancy region (behind the French), the zone of active hostilities of 1914 ended, the front continued generally along the border of France and Germany. Neutral Switzerland and Italy did not participate in the war.
Results of the 1914 campaign in the French theater of operations. The 1914 campaign was extremely dynamic. Large armies of both sides maneuvered actively and quickly, which was facilitated by the dense road network of the combat area. The deployment of troops did not always form a continuous front; the troops did not erect long-term defensive lines. By November 1914, a stable front line began to take shape. Both sides, having exhausted their offensive potential, began building trenches and barbed wire barriers designed for permanent use. The war entered a positional phase. Since the length of the entire Western Front (from the North Sea to Switzerland) was a little over 700 kilometers, the density of troops on it was significantly higher than on the Eastern Front. A special feature of the company was that intensive military operations were carried out only on the northern half of the front (north of the Verdun fortified area), where both sides concentrated their main forces. The front from Verdun and to the south was considered by both sides as secondary. The zone lost to the French (of which Picardy was the center) was densely populated and important both agriculturally and industrially.
By the beginning of 1915, the warring powers were faced with the fact that the war had taken on a character that was not foreseen by the pre-war plans of either side - it had become protracted. Although the Germans managed to capture almost all of Belgium and a significant part of France, their main goal - a swift victory over the French - turned out to be completely inaccessible. Both the Entente and the Central Powers had, in essence, to start a new type of war that had not yet been seen by mankind - exhausting, long, requiring the total mobilization of the population and economies.
Germany's relative failure had another important result - Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance, refrained from entering the war on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
East Prussian operation. On the Eastern Front, the war began with the East Prussian operation. On August 4 (17), the Russian army crossed the border, launching an attack on East Prussia. The 1st Army moved towards Königsberg from the north of the Masurian Lakes, the 2nd Army - from the west of them. The first week of operations of the Russian armies was successful; the numerically inferior Germans gradually retreated; The Gumbinen-Goldap battle on August 7 (20) ended in favor of the Russian army. However, the Russian command was unable to reap the benefits of victory. The movement of the two Russian armies slowed down and became inconsistent, which the Germans were quick to take advantage of, striking from the west on the open flank of the 2nd Army. On August 13-17 (26-30), the 2nd Army of General Samsonov was completely defeated, a significant part was surrounded and captured. In German tradition, these events are called the Battle of Tanneberg. After this, the Russian 1st Army, under threat of encirclement by superior German forces, was forced to fight back to its original position; the withdrawal was completed on September 3 (16). The actions of the commander of the 1st Army, General Rennenkampf, were considered unsuccessful, which became the first episode of the later characteristic distrust of military leaders with German surnames, and, in general, disbelief in the abilities of the military command. In the German tradition, the events were mythologized and considered the greatest victory of German weapons; a huge memorial was built at the site of the battles, in which Field Marshal Hindenburg was subsequently buried.
Galician battle. On August 16 (23), the Battle of Galicia began - a huge battle in terms of the scale of forces involved between the Russian troops of the Southwestern Front (5 armies) under the command of General N. Ivanov and four Austro-Hungarian armies under the command of Archduke Frederick. Russian troops went on the offensive along a wide (450-500 km) front, with Lviv as the center of the offensive. The fighting of large armies, taking place on a long front, was divided into numerous independent operations, accompanied by both offensives and retreats of both sides.
Actions on the southern part of the border with Austria initially developed unfavorably for the Russian army (Lublin-Kholm operation). By August 19-20 (September 1-2), Russian troops retreated to the territory of the Kingdom of Poland, to Lublin and Kholm. Actions in the center of the front (Galich-Lvov operation) were unsuccessful for the Austro-Hungarians. The Russian offensive began on August 6 (19) and developed very quickly. After the first retreat, the Austro-Hungarian army put up fierce resistance on the borders of the Zolotaya Lipa and Rotten Lipa rivers, but was forced to retreat. The Russians took Lvov on August 21 (September 3), and Galich on August 22 (September 4). Until August 31 (September 12), the Austro-Hungarians did not stop trying to recapture Lviv, the battles took place 30-50 km west and north-west of the city (Gorodok - Rava-Russkaya), but ended in complete victory for the Russian army. On August 29 (September 11), a general retreat of the Austrian army began (more like a flight, since resistance to the advancing Russians was insignificant). The Russian army maintained a high tempo of offensive and in the shortest possible time captured a huge, strategically important territory - Eastern Galicia and part of Bukovina. By September 13 (26), the front had stabilized at a distance of 120-150 km west of Lvov. The strong Austrian fortress of Przemysl was under siege in the rear of the Russian army.
The significant victory caused jubilation in Russia. The seizure of Galicia, with its predominant Orthodox (and Uniate) Slavic population, was perceived in Russia not as an occupation, but as the return of a seized part of historical Rus' (see Galician General Government). Austria-Hungary lost faith in the strength of its army, and in the future did not risk embarking on major operations without the help of German troops.
Military operations in the Kingdom of Poland. The pre-war border of Russia with Germany and Austria-Hungary had a configuration that was far from smooth - in the center of the border, the territory of the Kingdom of Poland jutted sharply to the west. Obviously, both sides began the war by trying to smooth out the front - the Russians tried to level out the "dents" by advancing in the north into East Prussia and in the south into Galicia, while Germany sought to remove the "bulge" by advancing centrally into Poland. After the Russian offensive in East Prussia failed, Germany could only advance further south, in Poland, to prevent the front from falling apart into two disjointed parts. In addition, the success of the offensive in southern Poland could also help the defeated Austro-Hungarians.
On September 15 (28), the Warsaw-Ivangorod operation began with the German offensive. The offensive went in a north-eastern direction, targeting Warsaw and the Ivangorod fortress. On September 30 (October 12), the Germans reached Warsaw and reached the Vistula River. Fierce battles began, in which the advantage of the Russian army gradually became clear. On October 7 (20), the Russians began to cross the Vistula, and on October 14 (27), the German army began a general retreat. By October 26 (November 8), the German troops, having achieved no results, retreated to their original positions.
On October 29 (November 11), the Germans launched a second offensive from the same positions along the pre-war border in the same northeastern direction (Lodz operation). The center of the battle was the city of Lodz, captured and abandoned by the Germans a few weeks earlier. In a dynamically unfolding battle, the Germans first surrounded Lodz, then they themselves were surrounded by superior Russian forces and retreated. The results of the battles turned out to be uncertain - the Russians managed to defend both Lodz and Warsaw; but at the same time, Germany managed to capture the northwestern part of the Kingdom of Poland - the front, stabilized by October 26 (November 8), went from Lodz to Warsaw.
Positions of the parties by the end of 1914. By the new year of 1915, the front looked like this - on the border of East Prussia and Russia, the front followed the pre-war border, followed by a gap poorly filled by troops of both sides, after which a stable front began again from Warsaw to Lodz (northeast and east of the Kingdom of Poland with Petrokov , Czestochowa and Kalisz were occupied by Germany), in the Krakow region (remained by Austria-Hungary) the front crossed the pre-war border of Austria-Hungary with Russia and crossed into Austrian territory captured by the Russians. Most of Galicia went to Russia, Lvov (Lemberg) fell into the deep (180 km from the front) rear. In the south, the front abutted the Carpathians, which were practically unoccupied by troops of both sides. Bukovina and Chernivtsi, located east of the Carpathians, passed to Russia. The total length of the front was about 1200 km.
Results of the 1914 campaign on the Russian front. The campaign as a whole turned out in favor of Russia. Clashes with the German army ended in favor of the Germans, and on the German part of the front Russia lost part of the territory of the Kingdom of Poland. The defeat of Russia in East Prussia was morally painful and was accompanied by heavy losses. But Germany was not able to achieve the results it had planned at any point; all its successes from a military point of view were modest. Meanwhile, Russia managed to inflict a major defeat on Austria-Hungary and seize significant territories. A certain pattern of actions of the Russian army formed - the Germans were treated with caution, the Austro-Hungarians were considered a weaker enemy. Austria-Hungary turned from a full ally for Germany into a weak partner requiring continuous support. By the new year 1915, the fronts had stabilized, and the war entered the positional phase; but at the same time, the front line (unlike the French theater of operations) continued to remain unsmoothed, and the armies of the sides filled it unevenly, with large gaps. This unevenness next year will make events on the Eastern Front much more dynamic than on the Western Front. By the new year, the Russian army began to feel the first signs of a coming crisis in the supply of ammunition. It also turned out that Austro-Hungarian soldiers were prone to surrender, but German soldiers were not.
The Entente countries were able to coordinate actions on two fronts - Russia's offensive in East Prussia coincided with the most difficult moment of the fighting for France; Germany was forced to fight on two fronts simultaneously, as well as to transfer troops from front to front.
On the Serbian front, things were not going well for the Austrians. Despite their great numerical superiority, they managed to occupy Belgrade, which was located on the border, only on December 2, but on December 15, the Serbs recaptured Belgrade and drove the Austrians out of their territory. Although Austria-Hungary's demands on Serbia were the immediate cause of the outbreak of the war, it was in Serbia that military operations in 1914 proceeded rather sluggishly.
In August 1914, the Entente countries (primarily England) managed to convince Japan to oppose Germany, despite the fact that the two countries had no significant conflicts of interest. On August 15, Japan presented an ultimatum to Germany, demanding the withdrawal of troops from China, and on August 23, it declared war (see Japan in the First World War). At the end of August, the Japanese army began the siege of Qingdao, the only German naval base in China, ending on November 7 with the surrender of the German garrison (see Siege of Qingdao).
In September-October, Japan actively began to seize the island colonies and bases of Germany (German Micronesia and German New Guinea. On September 12, the Caroline Islands were captured, and on September 29, the Marshall Islands. In October, the Japanese landed on the Caroline Islands and captured the key port of Rabaul. In the end August, New Zealand troops captured German Samoa. Australia and New Zealand entered into an agreement with Japan on the division of German colonies, the equator was adopted as the dividing line of interests. German forces in the region were insignificant and sharply inferior to the Japanese, so the fighting was not accompanied by major losses.
Japan's participation in the war on the side of the Entente turned out to be extremely beneficial for Russia, completely securing its Asian part. Russia no longer needed to spend resources on maintaining the army, navy and fortifications directed against Japan and China. In addition, Japan gradually became an important source of supplying Russia with raw materials and weapons.
Since the beginning of the war in Turkey, there was no agreement on whether to enter the war and on whose side. In the unofficial Young Turk triumvirate, War Minister Enver Pasha and Interior Minister Talaat Pasha were supporters of the Triple Alliance, but Cemal Pasha was a supporter of the Entente. On August 2, 1914, a German-Turkish alliance treaty was signed, according to which the Turkish army was actually placed under the leadership of the German military mission. Mobilization was announced in the country. However, at the same time, the Turkish government published a declaration of neutrality. On August 10, the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau entered the Dardanelles, having escaped pursuit of the British fleet in the Mediterranean. With the advent of these ships, not only the Turkish army, but also the fleet found themselves under the command of the Germans. On September 9, the Turkish government announced to all powers that it had decided to abolish the capitulation regime (preferential legal status for foreign citizens). This caused protest from all powers.
However, most members of the Turkish government, including the Grand Vizier, still opposed the war. Then Enver Pasha, together with the German command, started the war without the consent of the rest of the government, presenting the country with a fait accompli. Türkiye declared “jihad” (holy war) against the Entente countries. On October 29-30 (November 11-12), the Turkish fleet under the command of German Admiral Souchon fired at Sevastopol, Odessa, Feodosia and Novorossiysk. On November 2 (15), Russia declared war on Turkey. England and France followed on November 5 and 6.
The Caucasian Front arose between Russia and Turkey. In December 1914 - January 1915, during the Sarykamysh operation, the Russian Caucasian Army stopped the advance of Turkish troops on Kars, and then defeated them and launched a counteroffensive (see Caucasian Front).
Turkey's usefulness as an ally was diminished by the fact that the Central Powers had no communication with it either by land (between Turkey and Austria-Hungary there was still uncaptured Serbia and still neutral Romania) or by sea (the Mediterranean was controlled by the Entente).
At the same time, Russia has also lost the most convenient route of communication with its allies - through the Black Sea and the Straits. Russia has two ports left suitable for transporting large quantities of cargo - Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok; the carrying capacity of the railways approaching these ports was low.
With the outbreak of the war, the German fleet launched cruising operations throughout the World Ocean, which, however, did not lead to a significant disruption of the merchant shipping of its opponents. However, part of the Entente fleet was diverted to fight the German raiders. The German squadron of Admiral von Spee managed to defeat the British squadron in the battle at Cape Coronel (Chile) on November 1, but later it itself was defeated by the British in the Battle of Falklands on December 8.
In the North Sea, the fleets of the opposing sides carried out raiding operations. The first major clash occurred on August 28 near the island of Heligoland (Battle of Heligoland). The English fleet won.
The Russian fleets behaved passively. The Russian Baltic Fleet occupied a defensive position, which the German fleet, busy with operations in other theaters, did not even approach. The Black Sea Fleet, which did not have large ships of the modern type, did not dare to engage in a collision with the two newest German-Turkish ships.
Actions beginning in 1915. The intensity of action on the Western Front decreased significantly from the beginning of 1915. Germany concentrated its forces on preparing operations against Russia. The French and British also preferred to take advantage of the resulting pause to accumulate forces. For the first four months of the year, there was almost complete calm on the front, fighting took place only in Artois, in the area of the city of Arras (an attempted French offensive in February) and southeast of Verdun, where German positions formed the so-called Ser-Miel salient towards France (an attempt French advance in April). The British made an unsuccessful attempt to attack near the village of Neuve Chapelle in March.
The Germans, in turn, launched a counterattack in the north of the front, in Flanders near Ypres, against English troops (April 22 - May 25, see Second Battle of Ypres). At the same time, Germany, for the first time in the history of mankind and with complete surprise to the Anglo-French, used chemical weapons (chlorine was released from the cylinders). The gas affected 15 thousand people, of whom 5 thousand died. The Germans did not have sufficient reserves to take advantage of the gas attack and break through the front. After the Ypres gas attack, both sides very quickly managed to develop gas masks of various designs, and further attempts to use chemical weapons no longer took large numbers of troops by surprise.
During these military operations, which produced the most insignificant results with noticeable casualties, both sides became convinced that an assault on well-equipped positions (several lines of trenches, dugouts, barbed wire fences) was futile without active artillery preparation.
Spring operation in Artois. On May 3, the Entente launched a new offensive in Artois. The offensive was carried out by joint Anglo-French forces. The French advanced north of Arras, the British - in an adjacent area in the Neuve Chapelle area. The offensive was organized in a new way: huge forces (30 infantry divisions, 9 cavalry corps, more than 1,700 guns) were concentrated on a 30-kilometer offensive area. The offensive was preceded by a six-day artillery preparation (2.1 million shells were spent), which was supposed to completely suppress the resistance of German troops. The calculations did not come true. The huge losses of the Entente (130 thousand people) suffered over six weeks of fighting did not completely correspond to the results achieved - by mid-June the French had advanced 3-4 km along a 7 km front, and the British had advanced less than 1 km along a 3 km front.
Autumn operation in Champagne and Artois. By the beginning of September, the Entente had prepared a new major offensive, the task of which was to liberate the north of France. The offensive began on September 25 and took place simultaneously in two sectors separated by 120 km - on the 35 km front in Champagne (east of Reims) and on the 20 km front in Artois (near Arras). If successful, the troops advancing from both sides were supposed to close in 80-100 km on the French border (at Mons), which would lead to the liberation of Picardy. Compared to the spring offensive in Artois, the scale was increased: 67 infantry and cavalry divisions, up to 2,600 guns, were involved in the offensive; During the operation, over 5 million shells were fired. The Anglo-French troops used new attack tactics in several “waves”. At the time of the offensive, the German troops managed to improve their defensive positions - a second defensive line was built 5-6 kilometers behind the first defensive line, poorly visible from enemy positions (each of the defensive lines consisted, in turn, of three rows of trenches). The offensive, which lasted until October 7, led to extremely limited results - in both sectors it was possible to break through only the first line of German defense and recapture no more than 2-3 km of territory. At the same time, the losses of both sides were enormous - the Anglo-French lost 200 thousand people killed and wounded, the Germans - 140 thousand people.
Positions of the parties by the end of 1915 and the results of the campaign. Throughout 1915, the front practically did not move - the result of all the fierce offensives was a movement of the front line by no more than 10 km. Both sides, increasingly strengthening their defensive positions, were unable to develop tactics that would allow them to break through the front, even under the conditions of an extremely high concentration of forces and many days of artillery preparation. Huge sacrifices on both sides did not produce any significant results. The situation, however, allowed Germany to increase its pressure on the Eastern Front - the entire strengthening of the German army was aimed at fighting Russia, while the improvement of defensive lines and defense tactics allowed the Germans to be confident in the strength of the Western Front while gradually reducing the troops involved on it.
The actions of early 1915 showed that the current type of military action creates a huge burden on the economies of the warring countries. New battles required not only the mobilization of millions of citizens, but also a gigantic amount of weapons and ammunition. Pre-war reserves of weapons and ammunition were exhausted, and the warring countries began to actively rebuild their economies for military needs. The war gradually began to turn from a battle of armies into a battle of economies. The development of new military equipment has intensified as a means of breaking out of the stalemate at the front; armies became more and more mechanized. The armies noticed the significant benefits brought by aviation (reconnaissance and artillery fire adjustment) and automobiles. Methods of trench warfare improved - trench guns, light mortars, and hand grenades appeared.
France and Russia again made attempts to coordinate the actions of their armies - the spring offensive in Artois was intended to distract the Germans from an active offensive against the Russians. On July 7, the first Inter-Allied Conference opened in Chantilly, aimed at planning joint actions of the allies on different fronts and organizing various types of economic and military assistance. The second conference took place there on November 23-26. It was considered necessary to begin preparations for a coordinated offensive by all allied armies in the three main theaters - French, Russian and Italian.
Winter operation in East Prussia. In February, the Russian army made another attempt to attack East Prussia, this time from the southeast, from Masuria, from the city of Suwalki. Poorly prepared and unsupported by artillery, the offensive instantly floundered and turned into a counterattack by German troops, the so-called Augustow operation (named after the city of Augustow). By February 26, the Germans managed to advance to oust Russian troops from the territory of East Prussia and advance deeper into the Kingdom of Poland 100-120 km, capturing Suwalki, after which in the first half of March the front stabilized, Grodno remained with Russia. The XX Russian Corps was surrounded and surrendered. Despite the victory of the Germans, their hopes for the complete collapse of the Russian front were not justified. During the next battle - the Prasnysh operation (February 25 - end of March), the Germans encountered fierce resistance from Russian troops, which turned into a counterattack in the Prasnysh area, which led to the withdrawal of the Germans to the pre-war border of East Prussia (the Suwalki province remained with Germany).
Winter operation in the Carpathians. On February 9-11, Austro-German troops launched an offensive in the Carpathians, putting especially strong pressure on the weakest part of the Russian front in the south, in Bukovina. At the same time, the Russian army launched a counter-offensive, hoping to cross the Carpathians and invade Hungary from north to south. In the northern part of the Carpathians, closer to Krakow, the enemy forces turned out to be equal, and the front practically did not move during the battles in February and March, remaining in the foothills of the Carpathians on the Russian side. But in the south of the Carpathians, the Russian army did not have time to regroup, and at the end of March the Russians lost most of Bukovina with Chernivtsi. On March 22, the besieged Austrian fortress of Przemysl fell, more than 120 thousand people surrendered. The capture of Przemysl was the last major success of the Russian army in 1915.
Gorlitsky breakthrough. The beginning of the Great Retreat of the Russian armies - the loss of Galicia. By mid-spring the situation at the front in Galicia had changed. The Germans expanded their area of operations by transferring their troops to the northern and central part of the front in Austria-Hungary; the weaker Austro-Hungarians were now responsible only for the southern part of the front. In an area of 35 km, the Germans concentrated 32 divisions and 1,500 guns; Russian troops were outnumbered by 2 times and were completely deprived of heavy artillery; the shortage of main (three-inch) caliber shells also began to affect them. On April 19 (May 2), German troops launched an attack on the center of the Russian position in Austria-Hungary - Gorlice - aiming the main blow at Lvov. Further events were unfavorable for the Russian army: the numerical dominance of the Germans, unsuccessful maneuvering and the use of reserves, an increasing shortage of shells and the complete predominance of German heavy artillery led to the fact that by April 22 (May 5) the front in the Gorlitsy area was broken through. The beginning of the retreat of the Russian armies continued until June 9 (22) (see the Great Retreat of 1915). The entire front south of Warsaw moved towards Russia. The Radom and Kielce provinces were left in the Kingdom of Poland, the front passed through Lublin (behind Russia); from the territories of Austria-Hungary, most of Galicia was abandoned (the newly taken Przemysl was abandoned on June 3 (16), and Lviv on June 9 (22), only a small (up to 40 km deep) strip with Brody remained for the Russians, the entire region Tarnopol and a small part of Bukovina. The retreat, which began with the German breakthrough, by the time Lvov was abandoned, had acquired a planned character, the Russian troops were withdrawing in relative order. But nevertheless, such a major military failure was accompanied by a loss of fighting spirit in the Russian army and mass surrenders.
Continuation of the Great Retreat of the Russian armies - the loss of Poland. Having achieved success in the southern part of the theater of operations, the German command decided to immediately continue an active offensive in its northern part - in Poland and in East Prussia - the Baltic region. Since the Gorlitsky breakthrough did not ultimately lead to the complete collapse of the Russian front (the Russians were able to stabilize the situation and close the front at the cost of a significant retreat), this time the tactics were changed - it was not supposed to break through the front at one point, but three independent offensives. Two directions of attack were aimed at the Kingdom of Poland (where the Russian front continued to form a salient towards Germany) - the Germans planned front breakthroughs from the north, from East Prussia (a breakthrough to the south between Warsaw and Lomza, in the area of the Narew River), and from the south, from sides of Galicia (to the north along the Vistula and Bug rivers); at the same time, the directions of both breakthroughs converged on the border of the Kingdom of Poland, in the area of Brest-Litovsk; If the German plan was carried out, Russian troops had to leave all of Poland to avoid encirclement in the Warsaw area. The third offensive, from East Prussia towards Riga, was planned as an offensive on a broad front, without concentration on a narrow area and without a breakthrough.
The offensive between the Vistula and Bug was launched on June 13 (26), and the Narew operation began on June 30 (July 13). After fierce fighting, the front was broken in both places, and the Russian army, as envisaged by the German plan, began a general retreat from the Kingdom of Poland. On July 22 (August 4) Warsaw and the Ivangorod fortress were abandoned, on August 7 (20) the Novogeorgievsk fortress fell, on August 9 (22) the Osovets fortress fell, on August 13 (26) the Russians abandoned Brest-Litovsk, and on August 19 (September 2) Grodno.
The offensive from East Prussia (Rigo-Schavel operation) began on July 1 (14). During a month of fighting, Russian troops were pushed back beyond the Neman, the Germans captured Courland with Mitau and the most important naval base of Libau, Kovno, and came close to Riga.
The success of the German offensive was facilitated by the fact that by the summer the crisis in the military supply of the Russian army had reached its maximum. Of particular importance was the so-called “shell famine” - an acute shortage of shells for the 75-mm guns that predominated in the Russian army. The capture of the Novogeorgievsk fortress, accompanied by the surrender of large parts of troops and intact weapons and property without a fight, caused a new outbreak of spy mania and rumors of treason in Russian society. The Kingdom of Poland gave Russia about a quarter of coal production, the loss of Polish deposits was never compensated, and from the end of 1915 a fuel crisis began in Russia.
Completion of the great retreat and stabilization of the front. On August 9 (22), the Germans moved the direction of the main attack; Now the main offensive took place along the front north of Vilno, in the Sventsyan region, and was directed towards Minsk. On August 27-28 (September 8-9), the Germans, taking advantage of the loose location of Russian units, were able to break through the front (Sventsyansky breakthrough). The result was that the Russians were able to fill the front only after they withdrew directly to Minsk. The Vilna province was lost to the Russians.
On December 14 (27), the Russians launched an offensive against the Austro-Hungarian troops on the Strypa River, in the Ternopil region, caused by the need to distract the Austrians from the Serbian front, where the position of the Serbs had become very difficult. Attempts at the offensive did not bring any success, and on January 15 (29) the operation was stopped.
Meanwhile, the retreat of the Russian armies continued south of the Sventsyansky breakthrough zone. In August, Vladimir-Volynsky, Kovel, Lutsk, and Pinsk were abandoned by the Russians. On the more southern part of the front, the situation was stable, since by that time the Austro-Hungarian forces were distracted by fighting in Serbia and on the Italian front. By the end of September - beginning of October, the front stabilized, and there was a lull along its entire length. The offensive potential of the Germans was exhausted, the Russians began to restore their troops, which were badly damaged during the retreat, and strengthen new defensive lines.
Positions of the parties by the end of 1915. By the end of 1915, the front had become almost a straight line connecting the Baltic and Black Seas; The frontline in the Kingdom of Poland completely disappeared - Poland was completely occupied by Germany. Courland was occupied by Germany, the front came close to Riga and then went along the Western Dvina to the fortified area of Dvinsk. Further, the front passed through the North-Western region: Kovno, Vilna, Grodno provinces, the western part of the Minsk province was occupied by Germany (Minsk remained with Russia). Then the front passed through the South-Western region: the western third of the Volyn province with Lutsk was occupied by Germany, Rivne remained with Russia. After this, the front moved to the former territory of Austria-Hungary, where the Russians retained part of the Tarnopol region in Galicia. Further, to the Bessarabia province, the front returned to the pre-war border with Austria-Hungary and ended at the border with neutral Romania.
The new configuration of the front, which had no protrusions and was densely filled with troops of both sides, naturally pushed for a transition to trench warfare and defensive tactics.
Results of the 1915 campaign on the Eastern Front. The results of the 1915 campaign for Germany in the east were in some ways similar to the 1914 campaign in the west: Germany was able to achieve significant military victories and capture enemy territory, Germany's tactical advantage in maneuver warfare was obvious; but at the same time, the general goal - the complete defeat of one of the opponents and its withdrawal from the war - was not achieved in 1915. While winning tactical victories, the Central Powers were unable to completely defeat their leading opponents, while their economy became increasingly weaker. Russia, despite large losses in territory and manpower, fully retained the ability to continue the war (although its army lost its offensive spirit during the long period of retreat). In addition, by the end of the Great Retreat, the Russians managed to overcome the military supply crisis, and the situation with artillery and shells for it returned to normal by the end of the year. Fierce fighting and heavy losses of life led the economies of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary to overstrain, the negative results of which would be more and more noticeable in the coming years.
Russia's failures were accompanied by important personnel changes. On June 30 (July 13), Minister of War V. A. Sukhomlinov was replaced by A. A. Polivanov. Subsequently, Sukhomlinov was put on trial, which caused another outbreak of suspicion and spy mania. On August 10 (23), Nicholas II assumed the duties of commander-in-chief of the Russian army, moving Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich to the Caucasian front. The actual leadership of military operations passed from N. N. Yanushkevich to M. V. Alekseev. The Tsar's assumption of supreme command entailed extremely significant domestic political consequences.
Since the beginning of the war, Italy remained neutral. On August 3, 1914, the Italian king informed William II that the conditions for the outbreak of war did not correspond to those conditions in the Treaty of the Triple Alliance under which Italy should enter the war. On the same day, the Italian government published a declaration of neutrality. After lengthy negotiations between Italy and the Central Powers and the Entente countries, the London Pact was concluded on April 26, 1915, according to which Italy pledged to declare war on Austria-Hungary within a month, as well as to oppose all enemies of the Entente. A number of territories were promised to Italy as “payment for blood.” England provided Italy with a loan of 50 million pounds. Despite subsequent reciprocal offers of territories from the Central Powers, against the backdrop of fierce internal political clashes between opponents and supporters of the two blocs, on May 23, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary.
Until the autumn there was no activity on the Serbian front. By the beginning of autumn, after the completion of a successful campaign to oust Russian troops from Galicia and Bukovina, the Austro-Hungarians and Germans were able to transfer a large number of troops to attack Serbia. At the same time, it was expected that Bulgaria, impressed by the successes of the Central Powers, intended to enter the war on their side. In this case, sparsely populated Serbia with a small army found itself surrounded by enemies on two fronts, and faced inevitable military defeat. Anglo-French assistance arrived very late - only on October 5 did troops begin to land in Thessaloniki (Greece); Russia could not help, since neutral Romania refused to let Russian troops through. On October 5, the offensive of the Central Powers from Austria-Hungary began; on October 14, Bulgaria declared war on the Entente countries and began military operations against Serbia. The troops of the Serbs, British and French were numerically inferior to the forces of the Central Powers by more than 2 times and had no chance of success.
By the end of December, Serbian troops left the territory of Serbia, going to Albania, from where in January 1916 their remnants were evacuated to the island of Corfu and Bizerte. In December, Anglo-French troops retreated to Greek territory, to Thessaloniki, where they were able to gain a foothold, forming the Thessaloniki Front along the Greek border with Bulgaria and Serbia. The personnel of the Serbian Army (up to 150 thousand people) were retained and in the spring of 1916 they strengthened the Thessaloniki Front.
The accession of Bulgaria to the Central Powers and the fall of Serbia opened up direct land communication for the Central Powers with Turkey.
By the beginning of 1915, the Anglo-French command developed a joint operation to break through the Dardanelles Strait and reach the Sea of Marmara, towards Constantinople. The objective of the operation was to ensure free maritime communication through the straits and divert Turkish forces from the Caucasian front.
According to the original plan, the breakthrough was to be made by the British fleet, which was to destroy the coastal batteries without landing troops. After initial unsuccessful attacks by small forces (19–25 February), the British fleet launched a general attack on 18 March, which involved more than 20 battleships, battlecruisers and obsolete ironclads. After the loss of 3 ships, the British, without achieving success, left the strait.
After this, the Entente’s tactics changed - it was decided to land expeditionary forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula (on the European side of the straits) and on the opposite Asian coast. The Entente landing force (80 thousand people), consisting of the British, French, Australians and New Zealanders, began landing on April 25. The landings took place on three beachheads, divided between the participating countries. The attackers managed to hold out only on one of the sections of Gallipoli, where the Australian and New Zealand Corps (ANZAC) was landed. Fierce fighting and the transfer of new Entente reinforcements continued until mid-August, but none of the attempts to attack the Turks produced any significant results. By the end of August, the failure of the operation became obvious, and the Entente began to prepare for the gradual evacuation of troops. The last troops from Gallipoli were evacuated in early January 1916. The bold strategic plan, initiated by W. Churchill, ended in complete failure.
On the Caucasian Front in July, Russian troops repelled the offensive of Turkish troops in the area of Lake Van, while ceding part of the territory (Alashkert operation). The fighting spread to Persian territory. On October 30, Russian troops landed in the port of Anzeli, by the end of December they defeated pro-Turkish armed forces and took control of the territory of Northern Persia, preventing Persia from attacking Russia and securing the left flank of the Caucasian army.
Having failed to achieve decisive success on the Eastern Front in the 1915 campaign, the German command decided in 1916 to deliver the main blow in the west and take France out of the war. It planned to cut it off with powerful flank attacks at the base of the Verdun ledge, encircling the entire Verdun enemy group, and thereby create a huge gap in the Allied defense, through which it was then supposed to strike the flank and rear of the central French armies and defeat the entire Allied front.
On February 21, 1916, German troops launched an offensive operation in the area of the Verdun fortress, called the Battle of Verdun. After stubborn fighting with huge losses on both sides, the Germans managed to advance 6-8 kilometers forward and take some of the forts of the fortress, but their advance was stopped. This battle lasted until December 18, 1916. The French and British lost 750 thousand people, the Germans - 450 thousand.
During the Battle of Verdun, a new weapon was used for the first time by Germany - a flamethrower. In the skies over Verdun, for the first time in the history of wars, the principles of aircraft combat were worked out - the American Lafayette squadron fought on the side of the Entente troops. The Germans pioneered the use of a fighter aircraft in which machine guns fired through the rotating propeller without damaging it.
On June 3, 1916, a major offensive operation of the Russian army began, called the Brusilov breakthrough after the front commander A. A. Brusilov. As a result of the offensive operation, the Southwestern Front inflicted a heavy defeat on German and Austro-Hungarian troops in Galicia and Bukovina, whose total losses amounted to more than 1.5 million people. At the same time, the Naroch and Baranovichi operations of the Russian troops ended unsuccessfully.
In June, the Battle of the Somme began, which lasted until November, during which tanks were used for the first time.
On the Caucasian front in January-February, in the Battle of Erzurum, Russian troops completely defeated the Turkish army and captured the cities of Erzurum and Trebizond.
The successes of the Russian army prompted Romania to take the side of the Entente. On August 17, 1916, an agreement was concluded between Romania and the four Entente powers. Romania undertook to declare war on Austria-Hungary. For this she was promised Transylvania, part of Bukovina and the Banat. On August 28, Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary. However, by the end of the year the Romanian army was defeated and most of the country was occupied.
The military campaign of 1916 was marked by an important event. On May 31 - June 1, the largest naval battle of Jutland took place in the entire war.
All previous described events demonstrated the superiority of the Entente. By the end of 1916, both sides had lost 6 million people killed, and about 10 million were wounded. In November-December 1916, Germany and its allies proposed peace, but the Entente rejected the offer, pointing out that peace was impossible “until the restoration of violated rights and freedoms, recognition of the principle of nationalities and the free existence of small states is ensured.”
The situation of the Central Powers in 17 became catastrophic: there were no longer reserves for the army, the scale of hunger, transport devastation and the fuel crisis grew. The Entente countries began to receive significant assistance from the United States (food, industrial goods, and later reinforcements), while simultaneously strengthening the economic blockade of Germany, and their victory, even without offensive operations, was only a matter of time.
However, when after the October Revolution the Bolshevik government, which came to power under the slogan of ending the war, concluded a truce with Germany and its allies on December 15, the German leadership began to hope for a favorable outcome of the war.
On February 1-20, 1917, the Petrograd Conference of the Entente countries took place, at which plans for the 1917 campaign and, unofficially, the internal political situation in Russia were discussed.
In February 1917, the size of the Russian army, after a major mobilization, exceeded 8 million people. After the February Revolution in Russia, the Provisional Government advocated continuing the war, which was opposed by the Bolsheviks led by Lenin.
On April 6, the United States came out on the side of the Entente (after the so-called “Zimmerman telegram”), which finally changed the balance of forces in favor of the Entente, but the offensive that began in April (the Nivelle Offensive) was unsuccessful. Private operations in the area of Messines, on the Ypres River, near Verdun and Cambrai, where tanks were used on a massive scale for the first time, did not change the general situation on the Western Front.
On the Eastern Front, due to the defeatist agitation of the Bolsheviks and the indecisive policies of the Provisional Government, the Russian army was disintegrating and losing its combat effectiveness. The offensive launched in June by the forces of the Southwestern Front failed, and the front armies retreated 50-100 km. However, despite the fact that the Russian army had lost the ability for active combat operations, the Central Powers, which suffered huge losses in the 1916 campaign, could not use the favorable opportunity created for themselves to inflict a decisive defeat on Russia and take it out of the war by military means.
On the Eastern Front, the German army limited itself to only private operations that did not in any way affect the strategic position of Germany: as a result of Operation Albion, German troops captured the islands of Dago and Ezel and forced the Russian fleet to leave the Gulf of Riga.
On the Italian front in October-November, the Austro-Hungarian army inflicted a major defeat on the Italian army at Caporetto and advanced 100-150 km deep into Italian territory, reaching the approaches to Venice. Only with the help of British and French troops deployed to Italy was it possible to stop the Austrian offensive.
In 1917, there was relative calm on the Thessaloniki front. In April 1917, the Allied forces (which consisted of British, French, Serbian, Italian and Russian troops) carried out an offensive operation that brought minor tactical results to the Entente forces. However, this offensive could not change the situation on the Thessaloniki front.
Due to the extremely harsh winter of 1916-1917, the Russian Caucasian Army did not conduct active operations in the mountains. In order not to suffer unnecessary losses from frost and disease, Yudenich left only military guards at the achieved lines, and placed the main forces in the valleys in populated areas. At the beginning of March, the 1st Caucasian Cavalry Corps Gen. Baratova defeated the Persian group of Turks and, having captured the important road junction of Sinnah (Sanandaj) and the city of Kermanshah in Persia, moved southwest to the Euphrates to meet the British. In mid-March, units of the 1st Caucasian Cossack Division of Raddatz and the 3rd Kuban Division, having covered more than 400 km, joined the allies at Kizil Rabat (Iraq). Türkiye lost Mesopotamia.
After the February Revolution, there were no active military operations by the Russian army on the Turkish front, and after the Bolshevik government concluded the truce with the countries of the Quadruple Alliance in December 1917, it ceased completely.
On the Mesopotamian front, British troops achieved significant success in 1917. Having increased the number of troops to 55 thousand people, the British army launched a decisive offensive in Mesopotamia. The British captured a number of important cities: Al-Kut (January), Baghdad (March), etc. Volunteers from the Arab population fought on the side of the British troops, who greeted the advancing British troops as liberators. Also, by the beginning of 1917, British troops invaded Palestine, where fierce fighting ensued near Gaza. In October, having increased the number of their troops to 90 thousand people, the British launched a decisive offensive near Gaza and the Turks were forced to retreat. By the end of 1917, the British captured a number of settlements: Jaffa, Jerusalem and Jericho.
In East Africa, German colonial troops under the command of Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck, significantly outnumbered by the enemy, put up prolonged resistance and in November 1917, under pressure from Anglo-Portuguese-Belgian troops, invaded the territory of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique.
On July 19, 1917, the German Reichstag adopted a resolution on the need for peace by mutual agreement and without annexations. But this resolution did not meet with a sympathetic response from the governments of England, France and the USA. In August 1917, Pope Benedict XV offered his mediation to conclude peace. However, the Entente governments also rejected the papal proposal, since Germany stubbornly refused to give unequivocal consent to the restoration of Belgian independence.
After the conclusion of peace treaties with the Ukrainian People's Republic (Ukr. Beresteysky world), Soviet Russia and Romania and the liquidation of the Eastern Front, Germany was able to concentrate almost all of its forces on the Western Front and try to inflict a decisive defeat on the Anglo-French troops before the main forces of the American army arrived at the front.
In March-July, the German army launched a powerful offensive in Picardy, Flanders, on the Aisne and Marne rivers, and during fierce battles advanced 40-70 km, but was unable to defeat the enemy or break through the front. Germany's limited human and material resources were depleted during the war. In addition, having occupied vast territories of the former Russian Empire after the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the German command, in order to maintain control over them, was forced to leave large forces in the east, which negatively affected the course of hostilities against the Entente. General Kuhl, Chief of Staff of Prince Ruprecht's Army Group, puts the number of German troops on the Western Front at approximately 3.6 million; There were about 1 million people on the Eastern Front, including Romania and excluding Turkey.
In May, American troops began operating at the front. In July-August, the second Battle of the Marne took place, which marked the beginning of the Entente counter-offensive. By the end of September, Entente troops, in the course of a series of operations, eliminated the results of the previous German offensive. In a further general offensive in October and early November, most of the captured French territory and part of Belgian territory were liberated.
In the Italian Theater at the end of October, Italian troops defeated the Austro-Hungarian army at Vittorio Veneto and liberated Italian territory captured by the enemy the previous year.
In the Balkan theater, the Entente offensive began on September 15. By November 1, Entente troops liberated the territory of Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, entered the territory of Bulgaria after the truce and invaded the territory of Austria-Hungary.
On September 29, Bulgaria concluded a truce with the Entente, on October 30 - Turkey, on November 3 - Austria-Hungary, on November 11 - Germany.
There was a lull on the Mesopotamian front throughout 1918; the fighting here ended on November 14, when the British army, without encountering resistance from Turkish troops, occupied Mosul. There was also a lull in Palestine, for the eyes of the parties were turned to more important theaters of military operations. In the fall of 1918, the British army launched an offensive and occupied Nazareth, the Turkish army was surrounded and defeated. Having captured Palestine, the British invaded Syria. The fighting here ended on October 30.
In Africa, German troops, pressed by superior enemy forces, continued to resist. After leaving Mozambique, the Germans invaded the territory of the British colony of Northern Rhodesia. Only when the Germans learned of Germany's defeat in the war did the colonial troops (which numbered only 1,400 people) lay down their arms.
In 1919, the Germans were forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which was drawn up by the victorious states at the Paris Peace Conference.
Peace treaties with
The results of the First World War were the February and October Revolutions in Russia and the November Revolution in Germany, the liquidation of three empires: the Russian, Ottoman Empires and Austria-Hungary, and the latter two were divided. Germany, having ceased to be a monarchy, is reduced territorially and weakened economically. The Civil War began in Russia; on July 6-16, 1918, the left Socialist Revolutionaries (supporters of Russia's continued participation in the war) organized the murder of the German ambassador Count Wilhelm von Mirbach in Moscow and the royal family in Yekaterinburg, with the aim of disrupting the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Soviet Russia and Kaiser Germany. After the February Revolution, the Germans, despite the war with Russia, were worried about the fate of the Russian imperial family, because the wife of Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, was German, and their daughters were both Russian princesses and German princesses. The USA has become a great power. The difficult conditions of the Treaty of Versailles for Germany (payment of reparations, etc.) and the national humiliation it suffered gave rise to revanchist sentiments, which became one of the prerequisites for the Nazis coming to power and unleashing World War II.
As a result of the war, England annexed Tanzania and South-West Africa, Iraq and Palestine, parts of Togo and Cameroon; Belgium - Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda; Greece - Eastern Thrace; Denmark - Northern Schleswig; Italy - South Tyrol and Istria; Romania - Transylvania and Southern Dobrudzha; France - Alsace-Lorraine, Syria, parts of Togo and Cameroon; Japan - the German islands in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator; French occupation of the Saarland.
The independence of the Belarusian People's Republic, the Ukrainian People's Republic, Hungary, Danzig, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland and Yugoslavia was proclaimed.
The Republic of Austria is founded. The German Empire became a de facto republic.
The Rhineland and the Black Sea straits have been demilitarized.
The First World War spurred the development of new weapons and means of combat. For the first time, tanks, chemical weapons, gas masks, anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns were used. Airplanes, machine guns, mortars, submarines, and torpedo boats became widespread. The firepower of the troops increased sharply. New types of artillery appeared: anti-aircraft, anti-tank, infantry escort. Aviation became an independent branch of the military, which began to be divided into reconnaissance, fighter and bomber. Tank troops, chemical troops, air defense troops, and naval aviation emerged. The role of engineering troops increased and the role of cavalry decreased. “Trench tactics” of warfare also appeared with the aim of exhausting the enemy and depleting his economy, working on military orders.
The enormous scale and protracted nature of the First World War led to an unprecedented militarization of the economy for industrial states. This had an impact on the course of economic development of all major industrial states in the period between the two world wars: strengthening state regulation and economic planning, the formation of military-industrial complexes, accelerating the development of national economic infrastructures (energy systems, a network of paved roads, etc.) , an increase in the share of production of defense products and dual-use products.
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Humanity has never been in such a situation. Without having reached a much higher level of virtue and without the benefit of much wiser guidance, people for the first time received in their hands such instruments with which they could destroy all mankind without fail. This is the achievement of all their glorious history, all the glorious labors of previous generations. And people will do well to stop and think about this new responsibility. Death stands on the alert, obedient, expectant, ready to serve, ready to sweep away all peoples "en masse", ready, if necessary, to turn into powder, without any hope of revival, all that remains of civilization. She is only waiting for the word of command. She is waiting for this word from the fragile, frightened creature, who has long served as her victim and who has now become her master for the only time. Churchill |
Churchill on Russia in the First World War:
The losses of the armed forces of all powers participating in the world war amounted to about 10 million people. There is still no generalized data on civilian casualties from the effects of military weapons. Famine and epidemics caused by the war caused the death of at least 20 million people.
Armistice Day (French) jour de l'Armistice) 1918 (11 November) is a national holiday of Belgium and France, celebrated annually. In England, Armistice Day ArmisticeDay) is celebrated on the Sunday closest to November 11 as Remembrance Sunday. On this day, the fallen of both the First and Second World Wars are remembered.
In the first years after the end of the First World War, every municipality in France erected a monument to fallen soldiers. In 1921, the main monument appeared - the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The main British monument to those killed in the First World War is the Cenotaph (Greek Cenotaph - “empty coffin”) in London on Whitehall Street, the monument to the Unknown Soldier. It was built in 1919 to mark the first anniversary of the end of the war. On the second Sunday of every November, the Cenotaph becomes the center of national Remembrance Day. A week before this, small plastic poppies appear on the chests of millions of Englishmen, which are bought from a special charity Fund for Veterans and War Widows. At 11pm on Sunday, the Queen, ministers, generals, bishops and ambassadors lay poppy wreaths at the Cenotaph and the whole country pauses for two minutes of silence.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw was also originally built in 1925 in memory of those who fell on the fields of the First World War. Now this monument is a monument to those who fell for their Motherland in various years.
There is no official day of remembrance in Russia for those killed in the First World War, despite the fact that Russia's losses in this war were the largest of all the countries involved in it.
According to the plan of Emperor Nicholas II, Tsarskoe Selo was to become a special place for the memory of the war. The Sovereign's Military Chamber, founded there back in 1913, was to become the Museum of the Great War. By order of the emperor, a special plot was allocated for the burial of the dead and deceased ranks of the Tsarskoye Selo garrison. This site became known as the “Heroes’ Cemetery.” At the beginning of 1915, the “Cemetery of Heroes” was named the First Fraternal Cemetery. On its territory, on August 18, 1915, the foundation stone of a temporary wooden church took place in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Quench My Sorrows” for the funeral service of soldiers who died and died from wounds. After the end of the war, instead of a temporary wooden church, it was planned to erect a temple - a monument to the Great War, designed by architect S. N. Antonov.
However, these plans were not destined to come true. In 1918, a people's museum of the war of 1914-1918 was created in the building of the War Chamber, but already in 1919 it was abolished, and its exhibits replenished the funds of other museums and repositories. In 1938, the temporary wooden church at the Fraternal Cemetery was dismantled, and what remained of the graves of soldiers was a wasteland overgrown with grass.
On June 16, 1916, a monument to the heroes of the Second Patriotic War was unveiled in Vyazma. In the 1920s, this monument was destroyed.
On November 11, 2008, a memorial stele (cross) dedicated to the heroes of the First World War was erected on the territory of the Fraternal Cemetery in the city of Pushkin.
Also in Moscow on August 1, 2004, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the start of the First World War, on the site of the Moscow City Fraternal Cemetery in the Sokol district, memorial signs were placed “To those who fell in the World War of 1914-1918”, “To the Russian Sisters of Mercy”, “To the Russian Aviators” , buried in the Moscow city fraternal cemetery."
105 years ago, on August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on the Russian Empire. The First World War (1914-1918) became the Second Patriotic War for Russia...
This unprecedented war must be brought to complete victory. Whoever thinks now about peace, who desires it, is a traitor to the Fatherland, its traitor.
From Nicholas II's farewell address to the troops(8 March 1917)
In that war, the Russian Empire saved Europe, but fell short of Victory. The reasoning of Churchill, a direct participant in the events, is well known: “Fate has not been as cruel to any country as to Russia. Her ship sank while the harbor was in sight. She had already weathered the storm when everything collapsed. All the sacrifices have already been made, all the work has been completed. The selfless impulse of the Russian armies that saved Paris in 1914; overcoming a painful, shell-free retreat; slow recovery; Brusilov's victories; Russia entering the 1917 campaign undefeated, stronger than ever. With victory already in her hands, she fell to the ground.” There is truth in these arguments. The line of Russian history in October 1917 (and perhaps even earlier, after the abdication of the emperor) diverged from the logic of the great war. Tragedy? Without a doubt.
Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, chief researcher at the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IWI RAS), president of the Russian Association of Historians of the First World War (RAIWW) Evgeniy Yuryevich Sergeev spoke about the history of this war, what it was like for Russia.
Visit of French President R. Poincaré to Russia. July 1914
Evgeniy Yuryevich, the First World War (WWI) is one of the main directions of your scientific activity. What influenced the choice of this particular topic?
This is an interesting question. On the one hand, the significance of this event for world history leaves no doubt. This alone can motivate a historian to study WWI. On the other hand, this war still remains, to a certain extent, “terra incognita” of Russian history. The Civil War and the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) overshadowed it and relegated it to the background in our consciousness.
No less important are the extremely interesting and little-known events of that war. Including those whose direct continuation we find during the Second World War.
For example, there was such an episode in the history of WWI: On August 23, 1914, Japan declared war on Germany., being in an alliance with Russia and with other Entente countries, supplied weapons and military equipment to Russia. These supplies went through the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER). The Germans organized an entire expedition (sabotage team) there in order to blow up the tunnels and bridges of the Chinese Eastern Railway and interrupt this communication. Russian counterintelligence intercepted this expedition, that is, they managed to prevent the liquidation of the tunnels, which would have caused significant damage to Russia, because an important supply artery would have been interrupted.
- Marvelous. How can it be, Japan, with whom we fought in 1904-1905...
By the time WWII began, relations with Japan were different. The corresponding agreements have already been signed. And in 1916, an agreement on a military alliance was even signed. We had a very close collaboration.
Suffice it to say that Japan gave us, although not free of charge, three ships that Russia lost during the Russo-Japanese War. The Varyag, which the Japanese raised and restored, was among them. As far as I know, the cruiser "Varyag" (the Japanese called it "Soya") and two other ships raised by the Japanese were bought by Russia from Japan in 1916. On April 5 (18), 1916, the Russian flag was raised over the Varyag in Vladivostok.
Moreover, after the Bolshevik victory, Japan participated in the intervention. But this is not surprising: the Bolsheviks were considered accomplices of the Germans, the German government. You yourself understand that the conclusion of a separate peace on March 3, 1918 was essentially a stab in the back of the allies, including Japan.
Along with this, of course, there were very specific political and economic interests of Japan in the Far East and Siberia.
- But there were other interesting episodes in WWII?
Certainly. It can also be said (few people know about this) that military convoys known from the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 were present during WWII, and also went to Murmansk, which in 1916 was specially built for this purpose. A railway was opened connecting Murmansk with the European part of Russia. The supplies were quite significant.
A French squadron operated together with Russian troops on the Romanian front. Here is a prototype of the Normandy-Niemen squadron. British submarines fought in the Baltic Sea alongside the Russian Baltic Fleet.
Cooperation on the Caucasian front between the corps of General N.N. Baratov (who fought there against the troops of the Ottoman Empire as part of the Caucasian Army) and British forces is also a very interesting episode of WWII, one might say, the prototype of the so-called “meeting on the Elbe” during the Second World War . Baratov made a forced march and met with British troops near Baghdad, in what is now Iraq. Then these were Ottoman possessions, naturally. As a result, the Turks found themselves caught in a pincer movement.
Visit of French President R. Poincaré to Russia. Photo 1914
- Evgeniy Yuryevich, who is to blame for this? the outbreak of the First World War?
The blame clearly lies with the so-called Central Powers, that is, Austria-Hungary and Germany. And even more so in Germany. Although WWII began as a local war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, without the strong support that was promised to Austria-Hungary from Berlin, it would not have acquired first a European and then a global scale.
Germany really needed this war. Its main goals were formulated as follows: to eliminate British hegemony on the seas, seize its colonial possessions and acquire “living space in the East” (that is, in Eastern Europe) for the rapidly growing German population. There was a geopolitical concept of “Middle Europe”, according to which Germany’s main task was to unite European countries around itself into a kind of modern European Union, but, naturally, under the auspices of Berlin.
To ideologically support this war, a myth was created in Germany about “surrounding the Second Reich with a ring of hostile states”: from the West - France, from the East - Russia, on the seas - Great Britain. Hence the task: to break through this ring and create a prosperous world empire centered in Berlin.
- What role did Germany assign to Russia and the Russian people in the event of its victory?
In case of victory, Germany hoped to return the Russian kingdom to the borders of approximately the 17th century (that is, before Peter I). Russia, in the German plans of that time, was to become a vassal of the Second Reich. The Romanov dynasty was supposed to be preserved, but, of course, Nicholas II (and his son Alexei) would be removed from power.
- How did the Germans behave in the occupied territories during WWI?
In 1914-1917, the Germans managed to occupy only the extreme western provinces of Russia. They behaved there rather restrainedly, although, of course, they requisitioned the property of the civilian population. But there were no mass deportations to Germany or atrocities directed against civilians.
Another thing is 1918, when German and Austro-Hungarian troops occupied vast territories in conditions of the virtual collapse of the tsarist army (let me remind you that they reached Rostov, Crimea and the North Caucasus). Mass requisitions for the needs of the Reich had already begun here, and resistance units appeared, created in Ukraine by nationalists (Petlyura) and Socialist Revolutionaries, who spoke out sharply against the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty. But even in 1918, the Germans could not make much of a turn, since the war was already coming to an end, and they sent their main forces to the Western Front against the French and British. However, the partisan movement against the Germans in 1917–1918 in the occupied territories was still noted.
World War I. Political poster. 1915
Meeting of the III State Duma. 1915
- What did Russia do to prevent war?
Nicholas II hesitated to the end whether to start a war or not, proposing to resolve all controversial issues at a peace conference in The Hague through international arbitration. Such proposals on the part of Nicholas were made to Wilhelm II, the German Emperor, but he rejected them. And therefore, to say that the blame for the start of the war lies with Russia is absolute nonsense.
Unfortunately, Germany ignored Russian initiatives. The fact is that German intelligence and ruling circles were well aware that Russia was not ready for war. And Russia’s allies (France and Great Britain) were not quite ready for it, especially Great Britain in terms of ground forces.
In 1912, Russia began to carry out a large program of army rearmament, and it was supposed to end only by 1918–1919. And Germany actually completed preparations for the summer of 1914.
In other words, the “window of opportunity” was quite narrow for Berlin, and if a war was to start, it had to start in 1914.
- How justified were the arguments of opponents of the war?
The arguments of the opponents of the war were quite strong and clearly formulated. There were such forces among the ruling circles. There was a fairly strong and active party that opposed the war.
There is a well-known note from one of the major statesmen of that time, P. N. Durnovo, which was submitted at the beginning of 1914. Durnovo warned Tsar Nicholas II about the destructiveness of the war, which, in his opinion, meant the death of the dynasty and the death of Imperial Russia.
There were such forces, but the fact is that by 1914 Russia was in allied relations not with Germany and Austria-Hungary, but with France, and then with Great Britain, and the very logic of the development of the crisis associated with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria -The Hungarian throne, brought Russia to this war.
Speaking about the possible fall of the monarchy, Durnovo believed that Russia would not be able to withstand a large-scale war, that there would be a crisis of supply and a crisis of power, and this would ultimately lead not only to the disorganization of the political and economic life of the country, but also to the collapse of the empire , loss of control. Unfortunately, his prediction was largely justified.
- Why did anti-war arguments, for all their validity, clarity and clarity, not have the desired impact? Russia could not help but enter the war, even despite such clearly expressed arguments of its opponents?
Allied duty on the one hand, on the other hand - fear of losing prestige and influence in the Balkan countries. After all, if we had not supported Serbia, it would have been catastrophic for Russia’s prestige.
Of course, the pressure of certain forces inclined towards war, including those associated with some Serbian circles at court and with Montenegrin circles, also had an effect. Famous “Montenegro women”, that is, the wives of the grand dukes at court, also influenced the decision-making process.
It can also be said that Russia owed significant amounts of money received as loans from French, Belgian and English sources. The money was received specifically for the rearmament program.
But I would still put the issue of prestige (which was very important for Nicholas II) to the fore. We must give him his due - he always advocated maintaining the prestige of Russia, although, perhaps, he did not always understand this correctly.
- Is it true that the motive of helping the Orthodox (Orthodox Serbia) was one of the decisive factors that determined Russia’s entry into the war?
One of the very significant factors. Perhaps not decisive, because - I emphasize again - Russia needed to maintain the prestige of a great power and not turn out to be an unreliable ally at the very beginning of the war. This is probably the main motive.
A sister of mercy writes down the last will of a dying person. Western Front, 1917
WWII became for our Motherland the Patriotic War, the Second Patriotic War, as it is sometimes called. In Soviet textbooks, WWI was called “imperialist.” What is behind these words?
Giving WWI an exclusively imperialist status is a serious mistake, although this point is also present. But first of all, we must look at it as the Second Patriotic War, remembering that the First Patriotic War was the war against Napoleon in 1812, and we had the Great Patriotic War back in the 20th century.
By taking part in WWII, Russia defended itself. After all, it was Germany that declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914. The First World War became the Second Patriotic War for Russia. In support of the thesis about the main role of Germany in the outbreak of WWII, it can be said that at the Paris Peace Conference (which took place from 01/18/1919 to 01/21/1920), the Allied powers, among other demands, set a condition for Germany to agree to the article on the “war crime” "and admit their responsibility for starting the war.
The whole people then rose up to fight against the foreign invaders. War, I emphasize once again, was declared on us. We didn't start it. And not only the active armies, where, by the way, several million Russians were drafted, but also the entire people took part in the war. The rear and the front acted together. And many of the trends that we later observed during the Great Patriotic War originated precisely during the WWII period. Suffice it to say that partisan detachments were active, that the population of the rear provinces actively showed themselves when they helped not only the wounded, but also refugees fleeing the war from the western provinces. The sisters of mercy were active, and the clergy who were on the front line and often raised troops to attack performed very well.
It can be said that the designation of our great defensive wars by the terms: “First Patriotic War,” “Second Patriotic War,” and “Third Patriotic War” is the restoration of that historical continuity that was broken in the period after WWI.
In other words, whatever the official goals of the war, there were ordinary people who perceived this war as a war for their Fatherland, and died and suffered precisely for this.
- And what, from your point of view, are the most common myths about WWI now?
We have already named the first myth. It is a myth that WWII was clearly imperialist and was carried out exclusively in the interests of the ruling circles. This is probably the most common myth, which has not yet been eradicated even on the pages of school textbooks. But historians are trying to overcome this negative ideological legacy. We are trying to take a different look at the history of WWII and explain to our schoolchildren the true essence of that war.
Another myth is the idea that the Russian army only retreated and suffered defeats. Nothing like this. By the way, this myth is widespread in the West, where, apart from the Brusilov breakthrough, that is, the offensive of the troops of the Southwestern Front in 1916 (spring-summer), even Western experts, not to mention the general public, there were no major victories of Russian weapons in WWII They can’t name it.
In fact, excellent examples of Russian military art were demonstrated in WWI. Let's say, on the Southwestern Front, on the Western Front. This is both the Battle of Galicia and the Lodz operation. . Osowiec is a fortress located on the territory of modern Poland, where the Russians defended themselves against superior German forces for more than six months (the siege of the fortress began in January 1915 and lasted 190 days). And this defense is quite comparable to the defense of the Brest Fortress.
You can give examples of Russian hero pilots. You can remember the sisters of mercy who saved the wounded.
There is also a myth that Russia fought this war in isolation from its allies. Nothing like this. The examples I gave earlier debunk this myth.
The war was a coalition one. And we received significant assistance from France, Great Britain, and then the United States, which entered the war later, in 1917.
- Is the figure of Nicholas II mythologized?
In many ways, of course, it is mythologized. Under the influence of revolutionary agitation, he was branded almost as an accomplice of the Germans. There was a myth according to which Nicholas II allegedly wanted to conclude a separate peace with Germany.
In fact, this was not the case. He was a sincere supporter of waging war to a victorious end and did everything in his power to achieve this. Already in exile, he received the news of the Bolsheviks concluding a separate Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty extremely painfully and with great indignation.
Another thing is that the scale of his personality as a statesman turned out to be not entirely adequate for Russia to be able to get through this war to the end.
None I emphasize , no documentary evidence of the desire of the emperor and empress to conclude a separate peace not found. He didn't even allow the thought of it. These documents do not exist and could not exist. This is another myth.
As a very clear illustration of this thesis, we can cite Nicholas II’s own words from the Act of Abdication (March 2 (15), 1917 at 3 p.m.): "In the days of the greatstruggle against an external enemy who had been striving to enslave our homeland for almost three years, the Lord God was pleased to send Russia a new and difficult test. The outbreak of internal popular unrest threatens to have a disastrous effect on the further conduct of the stubborn war.The fate of Russia, the honor of our heroic army, the good of the people, the entire future of our dear Fatherland require bringing the war to a victorious end at all costs. <…>».
Nicholas II, V.B. Fredericks and Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich at Headquarters. 1914
Russian troops on the march. Photo 1915
The First World War, as some believe, was a shameful defeat of the tsarist regime, a disaster, or something else? After all, as long as the last Russian Tsar remained in power, the enemy could not enter the Russian Empire? Unlike the Great Patriotic War.
You are not entirely right that the enemy could not enter our borders. It nevertheless entered the Russian Empire as a result of the offensive of 1915, when the Russian army was forced to retreat, when our opponents transferred virtually all their forces to the Eastern Front, to the Russian front, and our troops had to retreat. Although, of course, the enemy did not enter the deep regions of Central Russia.
But I would not call what happened in 1917-1918 a defeat, a shameful defeat of the Russian Empire. It would be more accurate to say that Russia was forced to sign this separate peace with the Central Powers, that is, with Austria-Hungary and Germany and with other participants in this coalition.
This is a consequence of the political crisis in which Russia finds itself. That is, the reasons for this are internal, and not at all military. And we must not forget that the Russians actively fought on the Caucasian front, and the successes were very significant. In fact, the Ottoman Empire was dealt a very serious blow by Russia, which later led to its defeat.
Although Russia did not fully fulfill its allied duty, this must be admitted, it certainly made its significant contribution to the victory of the Entente.
Russia literally didn't have enough for a year. Maybe a year and a half in order to finish this war with dignity as part of the Entente, as part of a coalition
How was the war generally perceived in Russian society? The Bolsheviks, representing an overwhelming minority of the population, dreamed of the defeat of Russia. But what was the attitude of ordinary people?
To thoroughly understand how the First World War (1914-1918) began, you must first become familiar with the political situation that developed in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. The prehistory of the global military conflict was the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). It ended with the complete defeat of France, and the confederate union of German states was transformed into the German Empire. Wilhelm I became its head on January 18, 1871. Thus, a powerful power emerged in Europe with a population of 41 million people and an army of almost 1 million soldiers.
At first, the German Empire did not strive for political dominance in Europe, since it was economically weak. But over the course of 15 years, the country gained strength and began to claim a more worthy place in the Old World. Here it must be said that politics is always determined by the economy, and German capital had very few markets. This can be explained by the fact that Germany in its colonial expansion was hopelessly behind Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, France, and Russia.
Map of Europe by 1914. Germany and its allies are shown in brown. Entente countries are shown in green.
It is also necessary to take into account the small area of the state, whose population was growing rapidly. It required food, but there was not enough of it. In a word, Germany gained strength, but the world was already divided, and no one was going to voluntarily give up the promised lands. There was only one way out - to take away the tasty morsels by force and provide a decent, prosperous life for your capital and people.
The German Empire did not hide its ambitious claims, but it could not resist England, France and Russia alone. Therefore, in 1882, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed a military-political bloc (Triple Alliance). Its consequences were the Moroccan crises (1905-1906, 1911) and the Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912). It was a test of strength, a rehearsal for a more serious and large-scale military conflict.
In response to increasing German aggression in 1904-1907, a military-political bloc of Cordial Concord (Entente) was formed, which included England, France and Russia. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, two powerful military forces emerged in Europe. One of them, led by Germany, sought to expand its living space, and the other force tried to counteract these plans in order to protect its economic interests.
Germany's ally, Austria-Hungary, represented a hotbed of instability in Europe. It was a multinational country, which constantly provoked interethnic conflicts. In October 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Herzegovina and Bosnia. This caused sharp discontent in Russia, which had the status of protector of the Slavs in the Balkans. Russia was supported by Serbia, which considered itself the unifying center of the South Slavs.
A tense political situation was observed in the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire, which once dominated here, began to be called the “sick man of Europe” at the beginning of the 20th century. And therefore, stronger countries began to lay claim to its territory, which provoked political disagreements and local wars. All of the above information has given a general idea of the background to the global military conflict, and now it’s time to find out how the First World War began.
The political situation in Europe was heating up every day and by 1914 it had reached its peak. All that was needed was a small push, a pretext for unleashing a global military conflict. And soon such an opportunity presented itself. It went down in history as the Sarajevo murder, and it happened on June 28, 1914.
Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophia
On that ill-fated day, Gavrilo Princip (1894-1918), a member of the nationalist organization Mlada Bosna (Young Bosnia), killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) and his wife Countess Sofia Chotek (1868-1914). “Mlada Bosna” advocated the liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the rule of Austria-Hungary and was ready to use any methods for this, including terrorism.
The Archduke and his wife arrived in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, at the invitation of the Austro-Hungarian governor, General Oscar Potiorek (1853-1933). Everyone knew about the arrival of the crowned couple in advance, and members of Mlada Bosna decided to kill Ferdinand. For this purpose, a battle group of 6 people was created. It consisted of young people, natives of Bosnia.
Early on the morning of Sunday, June 28, 1914, the crowned couple arrived in Sarajevo by train. She was met on the platform by Oscar Potiorek, journalists and an enthusiastic crowd of loyal colleagues. The arrivals and high-ranking greeters were seated in 6 cars, while the Archduke and his wife found themselves in the third car with the top folded. The motorcade took off and rushed towards the military barracks.
By 10 o'clock the inspection of the barracks was completed, and all 6 cars drove along the Appel embankment to the city hall. This time the car with the crowned couple was the second in the motorcade. At 10:10 a.m. the moving cars caught up with one of the terrorists named Nedeljko Chabrinovic. This young man threw a grenade, aiming at the car with the Archduke. But the grenade hit the convertible top, flew under the third car and exploded.
Detention of Gavrilo Princip, who killed Archduke Ferdinand and his wife
The driver of the car was killed by shrapnel, passengers were injured, as well as people who were near the car at that moment. A total of 20 people were injured. The terrorist himself swallowed potassium cyanide. However, it did not give the desired effect. The man vomited, and he jumped into the river to escape the crowd. But the river in that place turned out to be very shallow. The terrorist was dragged ashore, and angry people brutally beat him. After this, the crippled conspirator was handed over to the police.
After the explosion, the motorcade increased speed and reached the city hall without incident. There, a magnificent reception awaited the crowned couple, and, despite the assassination attempt, the official part took place. At the end of the celebration, it was decided to curtail the further program due to the emergency situation. It was decided only to go to the hospital to visit the wounded there. At 10:45 a.m. the cars started moving again and drove along Franz Joseph Street.
Another terrorist, Gavrilo Princip, was waiting for the moving motorcade. He was standing outside the Moritz Schiller Delicatessen store next to the Latin Bridge. Seeing the crowned couple sitting in a convertible car, the conspirator stepped forward, caught up with the car and found himself next to it at a distance of only one and a half meters. He shot twice. The first bullet hit Sophia in the stomach, and the second in Ferdinand's neck.
After shooting people, the conspirator tried to poison himself, but, like the first terrorist, he only vomited. Then Princip tried to shoot himself, but people ran up, took the gun away and began beating the 19-year-old man. He was beaten so badly that the killer's arm was amputated in the prison hospital. Subsequently, the court sentenced Gavrilo Princip to 20 years of hard labor, since according to the laws of Austria-Hungary he was a minor at the time of the crime. In prison, the young man was kept in the most difficult conditions and died of tuberculosis on April 28, 1918.
Ferdinand and Sofia, wounded by the conspirator, remained sitting in the car, which rushed to the governor’s residence. There they were going to provide medical assistance to the victims. But the couple died on the way. First, Sofia died, and 10 minutes later Ferdinand gave his soul to God. Thus ended the Sarajevo murder, which became the reason for the outbreak of the First World War.
The July Crisis was a series of diplomatic clashes between the leading powers of Europe in the summer of 1914, provoked by the Sarajevo assassination. Of course, this political conflict could have been resolved peacefully, but the powers that be really wanted war. And this desire was based on the confidence that the war would be very short and effective. But it became protracted and claimed more than 20 million human lives.
Funeral of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Countess Sophia
After the assassination of Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary stated that Serbian state structures were behind the conspirators. At the same time, Germany publicly announced to the whole world that in the event of a military conflict in the Balkans, it would support Austria-Hungary. This statement was made on July 5, 1914, and on July 23, Austria-Hungary issued a harsh ultimatum to Serbia. In particular, in it the Austrians demanded that their police be allowed into the territory of Serbia for investigative actions and punishment of terrorist groups.
The Serbs could not do this and announced mobilization in the country. Literally two days later, on July 26, the Austrians also announced mobilization and began to gather troops to the borders of Serbia and Russia. The final touch in this local conflict was July 28. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and began shelling Belgrade. After artillery bombardment, Austrian troops crossed the Serbian border.
On July 29, Russian Emperor Nicholas II invited Germany to resolve the Austro-Serbian conflict at the Hague Conference peacefully. But Germany did not respond to this. Then, on July 31, general mobilization was announced in the Russian Empire. In response to this, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and war on France on August 3. Already on August 4, German troops entered Belgium, and its king Albert turned to European countries as guarantors of its neutrality.
After this, Great Britain sent a note of protest to Berlin and demanded an immediate end to the invasion of Belgium. The German government ignored the note, and Great Britain declared war on Germany. And the final touch of this general madness came on August 6th. On this day, Austria-Hungary declared war on the Russian Empire. This is how the First World War began.
Soldiers in the First World War
Officially it lasted from July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918. Military operations took place in Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Africa, China, and Oceania. Human civilization had never known anything like this before. It was the largest military conflict that shook the state foundations of the leading countries of the planet. After the war, the world became different, but humanity did not grow wiser and by the middle of the 20th century unleashed an even larger massacre that claimed many more lives.
The First World War was the first military conflict on a global scale, in which 38 of the 59 independent states that existed at that time were involved.
The main cause of the war was the contradictions between two coalitions of European powers - the Entente (Russia, England and France) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy), caused by the intensification of the struggle for the redistribution of already divided colonies, spheres of influence and sales markets. Starting in Europe, where the main events took place, it gradually acquired a global character, also covering the Far and Middle East, Africa, and the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic and Indian oceans.
The reason for the start of the armed conflict was the terrorist attack by a member of the Mlada Bosna organization, high school student Gavrilo Princip, during which on June 28 (all dates are given in the new style) 1914 in Sarajevo by Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
On July 23, under pressure from Germany, Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with obviously unacceptable conditions for resolving the conflict. In her ultimatum, she demanded that her military formations be allowed into the territory of Serbia in order to, together with Serbian forces, suppress hostile actions. After the ultimatum was rejected by the Serbian government, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28.
Fulfilling its allied obligations to Serbia, Russia, having received assurances of support from France, announced a general mobilization on July 30. The next day, Germany, in the form of an ultimatum, demanded that Russia stop mobilization. Having received no answer, on August 1 she declared war on Russia, and on August 3 on France, as well as neutral Belgium, which refused to allow German troops through its territory. On August 4, Great Britain and its dominions declared war on Germany, and on August 6, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia.
In August 1914, Japan declared war on Germany, in October, Turkey entered the war on the side of the Germany-Austria-Hungary bloc, and in October 1915, Bulgaria.
Italy, which initially occupied a position of neutrality, declared war on Austria-Hungary in May 1915, under diplomatic pressure from Great Britain, and on August 28, 1916, on Germany.
The main land fronts were the Western (French) and Eastern (Russian), the main naval theaters of military operations were the North, Mediterranean and Baltic seas.
Military operations began on the Western Front - German troops acted according to the Schlieffen plan, which envisaged an attack by large forces on France through Belgium. However, Germany's hope for a quick defeat of France turned out to be untenable; by mid-November 1914, the war on the Western Front assumed a positional character.
The confrontation took place along a line of trenches stretching about 970 kilometers along the German border with Belgium and France. Until March 1918, any, even minor changes in the front line were achieved here at the cost of huge losses on both sides.
During the maneuverable period of the war, the Eastern Front was located on a strip along the Russian border with Germany and Austria-Hungary, then mainly on the western border strip of Russia.
The beginning of the 1914 campaign on the Eastern Front was marked by the desire of Russian troops to fulfill their obligations to the French and draw back German forces from the Western Front. During this period, two major battles took place - the East Prussian operation and the Battle of Galicia. During these battles, the Russian army defeated the Austro-Hungarian troops, occupied Lviv and pushed the enemy back to the Carpathians, blocking the large Austrian fortress of Przemysl.
However, the losses of soldiers and equipment were colossal; due to the underdevelopment of transport routes, reinforcements and ammunition did not arrive in time, so the Russian troops were unable to develop their success.
Overall, the 1914 campaign ended in favor of the Entente.
The 1914 campaign was marked by the world's first aerial bombing. On October 8, 1914, British planes armed with 20-pound bombs attacked German airship workshops in Friedrichshafen. After this raid, a new class of aircraft began to be created - bombers.
In the 1915 campaign, Germany shifted its main efforts to the Eastern Front, intending to defeat the Russian army and take Russia out of the war. As a result of the Gorlitsky breakthrough in May 1915, the Germans inflicted a heavy defeat on Russian troops, who were forced to leave Poland, Galicia and part of the Baltic states in the summer. However, in the fall, having repelled the enemy’s offensive in the Vilna region, they forced the German army to switch to positional defense on the Eastern Front (October 1915).
On the Western Front, the parties continued to maintain a strategic defense. On April 22, 1915, during the battles near Ypres (Belgium), Germany used chemical weapons (chlorine) for the first time. After this, poisonous gases (chlorine, phosgene, and later mustard gas) began to be used regularly by both warring parties.
The large-scale Dardanelles landing operation (1915-1916) ended in defeat - a naval expedition that the Entente countries equipped at the beginning of 1915 with the goal of taking Constantinople, opening the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits for communication with Russia through the Black Sea, withdrawing Turkey from the war and winning over the allies. Balkan states.
On the Eastern Front, by the end of 1915, German and Austro-Hungarian troops had driven the Russians out of almost all of Galicia and most of Russian Poland.
In the 1916 campaign, Germany again shifted its main efforts to the west with the goal of withdrawing France from the war, but a powerful blow to France during the Verdun operation ended in failure. This was largely facilitated by the Russian Southwestern Front, which carried out a breakthrough of the Austro-Hungarian front in Galicia and Volhynia. Anglo-French troops launched a decisive offensive on the Somme River, but, despite all efforts and the attraction of enormous forces and resources, they were unable to break through the German defenses. During this operation, the British used tanks for the first time. The largest battle of the war, the Battle of Jutland, took place at sea, in which the German fleet failed. As a result of the military campaign of 1916, the Entente seized the strategic initiative.
At the end of 1916, Germany and its allies first began to talk about the possibility of a peace agreement. The Entente rejected this proposal. During this period, the armies of the states actively participating in the war numbered 756 divisions, twice as many as at the beginning of the war, but they lost the most qualified military personnel. The bulk of the soldiers were elderly reserves and young people conscripted early, poorly prepared in military-technical terms and insufficiently trained physically.
In 1917, two major events radically affected the balance of power of the opponents.
On April 6, 1917, the United States, which had long maintained neutrality in the war, decided to declare war on Germany. One of the reasons was an incident off the southeast coast of Ireland, when a German submarine sank the British liner Lusitania, sailing from the United States to England, which was carrying a large group of Americans, killing 128 of them.
Following the United States in 1917, China, Greece, Brazil, Cuba, Panama, Liberia and Siam also entered the war on the side of the Entente.
The second major change in the confrontation of forces was caused by Russia's withdrawal from the war. On December 15, 1917, the Bolsheviks who came to power signed an armistice agreement. On March 3, 1918, the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty was concluded, according to which Russia renounced its rights to Poland, Estonia, Ukraine, part of Belarus, Latvia, Transcaucasia and Finland. Ardahan, Kars and Batum went to Turkey. In total, Russia lost about one million square kilometers. In addition, she was obliged to pay Germany an indemnity in the amount of six billion marks.
The major battles of the 1917 campaign, Operation Nivelle and Operation Cambrai, demonstrated the value of using tanks in battle and laid the foundation for tactics based on the interaction of infantry, artillery, tanks and aircraft on the battlefield.
In 1918, Germany, concentrating its main efforts on the Western Front, launched the March offensive in Picardy, and then offensive operations in Flanders, on the Aisne and Marne rivers, but due to the lack of sufficient strategic reserves, it was unable to develop the initial success achieved. The Allies, having repelled the attacks of German troops, on August 8, 1918, in the Battle of Amiens, tore apart the German front: entire divisions surrendered almost without a fight - this battle became the last major battle of the war.
On September 29, 1918, after the Entente offensive on the Thessaloniki Front, Bulgaria signed an armistice, Turkey capitulated in October, and Austria-Hungary capitulated on November 3.
Popular unrest began in Germany: on October 29, 1918, in the port of Kiel, the crew of two warships disobeyed and refused to go to sea on a combat mission. Mass revolts began: the soldiers intended to establish councils of soldiers' and sailors' deputies in northern Germany on the Russian model. On November 9, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the throne and a republic was proclaimed.
On November 11, 1918, at the Retonde station in the Compiegne Forest (France), the German delegation signed the Compiegne Armistice. The Germans were ordered to liberate the occupied territories within two weeks and establish a neutral zone on the right bank of the Rhine; hand over guns and vehicles to the allies and release all prisoners. The political provisions of the treaty provided for the abolition of the Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest peace treaties, and the financial provisions provided for the payment of reparations for destruction and the return of valuables. The final terms of the peace treaty with Germany were determined at the Paris Peace Conference at the Palace of Versailles on June 28, 1919.
The First World War, which for the first time in human history covered the territories of two continents (Eurasia and Africa) and vast sea areas, radically redrew the political map of the world and became one of the largest and bloodiest. During the war, 70 million people were mobilized into the ranks of the armies; of these, 9.5 million were killed or died from their wounds, more than 20 million were wounded, and 3.5 million were left crippled. The greatest losses were suffered by Germany, Russia, France and Austria-Hungary (66.6% of all losses). The total cost of the war, including property losses, was variously estimated to range from $208 billion to $359 billion.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
