Fin de siècle (French - "end of the century")- phenomena that took place in the history of European culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries

According to the British historian Eric Hobsbawm, the 19th century begins in content in 1789, that is, with the French Revolution, and ends in 1913. In turn, the 20th century - not a calendar, but a historical 20th century - begins in 1914, with the First World War, and continues until 1991, when global changes took place in the world, primarily the unification of Germany in 1990 and the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Such a chronology allowed Hobsbawm, and after him many other historians, to speak of a "long 19th century" and a "short 20th century."

Thus, the First World War is a kind of prologue to the short twentieth century. It was here that the key themes of the century were identified: social disagreements, geopolitical contradictions, ideological struggle, economic confrontation. This is despite the fact that at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries it seemed to many that the wars in Europe had sunk into oblivion. If there are collisions, then only on the periphery, in the colonies. The development of science and technology, the refined culture of the Fin de siècle, according to many contemporaries, did not imply a "carnage" that cost millions of lives and buried four great empires. This is the first war in the world that has a total character: all social strata of the population, all spheres of life were affected. There was nothing left that was not involved in this war.

Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia // europeana1914-1918

balance of power

The main participants: the countries of the Entente, which included the Russian Empire, the French Republic and Great Britain, and the Central Powers, represented by Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.

Vae victis

(Russian "woe to the vanquished") a Latin catch phrase that implies that the winners always dictate the terms

The question arises: what united each of these countries? What were the aims of each of the parties to the conflict? These questions are all the more important because after the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty on June 28, 1919, all responsibility for unleashing the war will fall on Germany (Article 231). Of course, all this can be justified on the basis of the universal principle of Vae victis. But is Germany alone to blame for this war? Was it only she and her allies who wanted this war? Of course not.

Germany wanted war just as much as France and Great Britain wanted war. Slightly less interested in this were Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, which turned out to be the weakest links in this conflict.

World War I // British Library

5 billion francs

This amount of indemnity was paid by France after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War

Interests of participating countries

In 1871, the triumphant unification of Germany took place in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. A second empire was formed. The proclamation took place against the backdrop of the Franco-Prussian War, when France was suffering a catastrophic defeat. This became a national disgrace: not only was Napoleon III, emperor of all the French, captured almost immediately, only ruins remained of the second empire in France. The Paris Commune arises, another revolution, as often happens in France.

The war ends with France accepting Germany's defeat by signing the Frankfurt Treaty of 1871, according to which Alsace and Lorraine are alienated in favor of Germany and become imperial territories.

Third French Republic

(French Troisième République) - the political regime that existed in France from September 1870 to June 1940

In addition, France undertakes to pay Germany an indemnity of 5 billion francs. To a large extent, this money went to the development of the German economy, which subsequently led to its unprecedented rise by the 1890s. But the point is not even in the financial side of the issue, but in the national humiliation experienced by the French. And more than one generation will remember him from 1871 until 1914.

It was then that the ideas of revanchism arise, which unite the entire Third Republic, born in the crucibles of the Franco-Prussian War. It becomes unimportant who you are: a socialist, a monarchist, a centrist - everyone is united by the idea of ​​revenge on Germany and the return of Alsace and Lorraine.

Russo-Turkish War

the war of 1877 - 178, caused by the rise of the national self-consciousness of the Slavic population in the Balkans

Britannia

Britain was preoccupied with German economic dominance in Europe and the world. By the 1890s, Germany ranks first in terms of GDP in Europe, pushing Britain into second place. The British government cannot accept this fact, given that for many centuries Britain was the "workshop of the world", the most economically developed country. Now Britain is seeking some sort of revenge, but economic.

Russia

For Russia, the key topic was the question of the Slavs, that is, the Slavic peoples living in the Balkans. The ideas of pan-Slavism, which gain momentum in the 1860s, lead to the Russian-Turkish war in the 1870s, this idea remains in the 1880s–1890s, and so it passes into the 20th century, and finally embodied by 1915. The main idea was the return of Constantinople, to put a cross over Hagia Sophia. In addition, the return of Constantinople was supposed to solve all the problems with the straits, with the transition from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. This was one of the main geopolitical goals of Russia. And plus everything, of course, to push the Germans out of the Balkans.

As we can see, several interests of the main participating countries intersect here at once. Thus, in considering this issue, the political, geopolitical, economic, and cultural levels are equally important. Do not forget that during the war, at least in its first years, culture becomes the basic part of the ideology. The anthropological level is no less important. War affects a person from different sides, and he begins to exist in this war. Another question is whether he was ready for this war? Did he imagine what kind of war it would be? People who went through the First World War, lived in the conditions of this war, after its end became completely different. Not a trace will remain of beautiful Europe. Everything will change: social relations, domestic policy, social policy. No country will ever be the same as it was in 1913.

World War I // wikipedia.org

Franz Ferdinand - Archduke of Austria

Formal cause for conflict

The formal reason for the start of the war was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife were shot dead in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The killer turned out to be a terrorist from the Serbian nationalist organization Mlada Bosna. The Sarajevo assassination caused an unprecedented scandal, in which all the main participants in the conflict were involved and to some extent interested.

Austria-Hungary protests Serbia and asks for an investigation with the participation of the Austrian police in order to identify terrorist organizations directed against Austria-Hungary. Parallel to this, intense diplomatic secret consultations are taking place between Serbia and the Russian Empire on the one hand, and between Austria-Hungary and the German Empire on the other.

Was there a way out of the current impasse or not? It turned out that no. On July 23, Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to Serbia, giving it 48 hours to respond. In turn, Serbia agreed to all the conditions, except for one related to the fact that the secret services of Austria-Hungary would begin to make arrests and take out terrorists and suspicious persons to Austria-Hungary without notifying the Serbian side. Austria, reinforced by the support of Germany, declares war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. In response to this, the Russian Empire announces mobilization, to which the German Empire protests and demands to stop the mobilization, in case of non-cessation, the German side reserves the right to start its own mobilization. On July 31, a general mobilization was announced in the Russian Empire. In response, on August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia. The war has begun. On August 3, France joins it, on August 4 - Great Britain, and all the main participants begin hostilities.

July 31, 1914

mobilization of Russian soldiers to participate in the First World War

It is important to note that when announcing mobilization, no one talks about their selfish interests. Everyone proclaims the lofty ideals behind this war. For example, help to the fraternal Slavic peoples, help to the fraternal German peoples and the empire. Accordingly, France and Russia are bound by allied treaties, this is allied assistance. This also applies to Britain. It is interesting to note that already in September 1914, another protocol was signed between the Entente countries, that is, between Great Britain, Russia and France - a declaration on the non-conclusion of a separate peace. The same document will be signed by the Entente countries in November 1915. Thus, we can say that among the allies there were suspicions and significant fears in matters of trust in each other: what if someone breaks loose and concludes a separate peace with the enemy side.

Propaganda Karten // wikipedia.org

Schlieffen plan

the strategic plan of the military command of the German Empire, developed at the beginning of the 20th century by Alfred von Schlieffen to achieve a quick victory in the First World War

World War I as a new type of war

Germany waged war in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan, developed by the Prussian Field Marshal General and member of the German General Staff von Schlieffen. It was supposed to concentrate all forces on the right flank, inflict a lightning strike on France, and only after that switch to the Russian front.

So, Schlieffen develops this plan just at the end of the 19th century. As we can see, his tactics were based on blitzkrieg - delivering lightning strikes that stun the enemy, bring chaos and sow panic among the enemy troops.

Wilhelm II was sure that Germany would have time to defeat France before the general mobilization in Russia ended. After that, it was planned to transfer the main contingent of German troops to the East, that is, to Prussia, and organize an offensive operation already against the Russian Empire. This is exactly what Wilhelm II meant when he declared that he would have breakfast in Paris and dinner in St. Petersburg.

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty signed on June 28, 1919 at the Palace of Versailles in France, officially ending the First World War

Forced deviations from this plan began already from the first days of the war. So, the German troops moved too slowly through the territory of neutral Belgium. The main blow to France came from Belgium. In this case, Germany grossly violated international agreements and neglected the concept of neutrality. What will then be reflected in the Versailles Peace Treaty, as well as those crimes, primarily the export of cultural property from Belgian cities, and is regarded by the world community as nothing more than "German barbarism" and savagery.

To repel the German offensive, France asked the Russian Empire to hastily launch a counteroffensive in East Prussia in order to pull part of the troops from the Western Front to the Eastern. Russia successfully carried out this operation, which largely saved France from the surrender of Paris.

Kingdom of Poland

Territory in Europe that was part of the Russian Empire from 1815 to 1917

Retreat in Russia

In 1914, Russia won a number of victories, primarily on the Southwestern Front. In fact, Russia inflicts a crushing defeat on Austria-Hungary, occupies Lviv (then it was the Austrian city of Lemberg), occupies Bukovina, that is, Chernivtsi, Galicia and approaches the Carpathians.

But already in 1915, a great retreat began, tragic for the Russian army. It turned out that there was a catastrophic lack of ammunition, according to the documents they should have been, but in fact they were not. In 1915, Russian Poland, that is, the Kingdom of Poland (Privislinsky region), was lost, the conquered Galicia, Vilna, modern western Belarus were lost. The Germans are actually approaching Riga, leaving Courland - for the Russian front it will be a disaster. And since 1916, in the army, especially among the soldiers, there has been a general fatigue from the war. Discontent begins on the Russian front, of course, this will affect the disintegration of the army and play its tragic role in the revolutionary events of 1917. According to archival documents, we see that the censors, through whom the soldiers' letters passed, note decadent moods, the lack of fighting spirit in the Russian army since 1916. It is interesting that the Russian soldiers, who for the most part were peasants, begin to engage in self-mutilation - shoot themselves in the foot, in the hand in order to leave the front as soon as possible and end up in their native village.

Anti-Serb uprisings in Sarajevo. 1914 // wikipedia.org

5000 people

Died as a result of the use of chlorine as a weapon by German troops

The total nature of war

One of the main tragedies of the war will be the use of poisonous gases in 1915. On the Western Front, at the Battle of Ypres, for the first time in history, chlorine was used by German troops, resulting in the death of 5,000 people. The First World War is technological, it is a war of engineering systems, inventions, high technologies. This war is not only on land, it is under water. So, German submarines dealt crushing blows to the British fleet. This is a war in the air: aviation was used both as a means of finding out the positions of the enemy (reconnaissance function), and for delivering strikes, that is, bombing.

The First World War is a war where there is no longer much room for valor and courage. Due to the fact that the war already in 1915 took on a positional character, there were no direct clashes when one could see the face of the enemy, look into his eyes. There is no enemy in sight. Death begins to be perceived in a completely different way, because it appears out of nowhere. In this sense, the gas attack is a symbol of this desacralized and demystified death.

"Verdun meat grinder"

Battle of Verdun - fighting on the Western Front, carried out from February 21 to December 18, 1916

The First World War is a colossal number of victims, unprecedented before. We can recall the so-called "Verdun meat grinder", where there were 750 thousand killed by France and England, by Germany - 450 thousand, that is, the total losses of the parties amounted to more than a million people! History has never known bloodshed on this scale. The horror of what is happening, the presence of death from nowhere cause aggression and frustration. That is why, in the end, all this causes such bitterness, which will result in outbreaks of aggression and violence already in peacetime after the First World War. Compared with 1913, there is an increase in cases of domestic violence: fights in the streets, domestic violence, conflicts at work, etc.

In many ways, this allows researchers to talk about the readiness of the population for totalitarianism and violent, repressive practices. Here we can recall, first of all, the experience of Germany, where in 1933 National Socialism was victorious. This is also a kind of continuation of the First World War.

That is why there is an opinion that it is impossible to separate the First and Second World Wars. That it was one war that began in 1914 and ended only in 1945. And what happened from 1919 to 1939 was just a truce, because the population was still living with the ideas of war and was ready to fight further.

Map of Germany in 1919 // Alisa Serbinenko for PostNauka

Woodrow Wilson - 28th President of the United States (1913-1921)

Aftermath of World War I

The war, which began on August 1, 1914, continued until November 11, 1918, when an armistice was signed between Germany and the Entente countries. By 1918, the Entente was represented by France and Great Britain. The Russian Empire will leave this union in 1917, when in October there will be a Bolshevik coup of a revolutionary type. The first decree of Lenin will be the Decree on peace without annexations and indemnities to all warring powers on October 25, 1917. True, none of the warring powers will support this decree, except for Soviet Russia.

At the same time, Russia will officially withdraw from the war only on March 3, 1918, when the famous Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of 1918 will be signed in Brest-Litovsk, according to which Germany and its allies, on the one hand, and Soviet Russia, on the other, ceased hostilities against each other. At the same time, Soviet Russia lost part of its territories, primarily Ukraine, Belarus and the entire Baltic. No one even thought about Poland, and, in fact, no one needed it. The logic of Lenin and Trotsky in this matter was very simple: we do not bargain for territories, because the world revolution will win anyway. Moreover, in August 1918, an additional agreement to the Brest Peace would be signed, according to which Russia would undertake to pay indemnities to Germany, and even the first transfer would be made - 93 tons of gold. So, Russia leaves, which will be a violation of the allied obligations that the tsarist government assumed and to which the Provisional Government was loyal.

By 1918, the need for finding a way to compromise with the Entente countries became obvious to the leadership of Germany. At the same time, I wanted to lose as little as possible. It was for this purpose that a counteroffensive was proposed on the Western Front in the spring and summer of 1918. The operation was extremely unsuccessful for Germany, which only increased discontent among the troops and among the civilian population. In addition, a revolution took place in Germany on November 9th. Its instigators were sailors in Kiel, who revolted, not wanting to follow the order of the command. On November 11, 1918, the Armistice of Compiègne was signed between Germany and the Entente countries. It should be noted that the armistice is signed in Compiègne in Marshal Foch's carriage not by chance. This will be done at the insistence of the French side, for which it was very important to overcome the defeat complex in the Franco-Prussian War. France will insist on this place in order for an act of revenge to take place, that is, satisfaction will occur. It must be said that the carriage will surface again in 1940, when it will be brought in again so that Hitler accepts the surrender of France in it.

On June 28, 1919, a peace treaty with Germany is signed. It was a humiliating world for her, she was losing all her overseas colonies, part of Schleswig, Silesia and Prussia. Germany was forbidden to have a submarine fleet, to develop and have the latest weapons systems. The contract, however, did not specify the amount that Germany had to pay as reparations, since France and Britain could not agree among themselves due to France's excessive appetites. It was unprofitable for Britain to create such a strong France. Therefore, the amount was not entered in the end. It was finally determined only in 1921. Under the London Accords of 1921, Germany had to pay 132 billion gold marks.

Germany was declared the sole culprit in unleashing the conflict. And, in fact, all the restrictions and sanctions imposed on it followed from this. The Treaty of Versailles had disastrous consequences for Germany. The Germans felt insulted and humiliated, which led to the rise of nationalist forces. During the 14 difficult years of the Weimar Republic - from 1919 to 1933 - any political force set as its goal the revision of the Treaty of Versailles. First of all, no one recognized the eastern borders. The Germans turned into a divided people, part of which remained in the Reich, in Germany, part in Czechoslovakia (Sudetland), part in Poland. And in order to feel national unity, it is necessary to reunite the great German people. This formed the basis of the political slogans of the National Socialists, the Social Democrats, the moderate conservatives, and other political forces.

The results of the war for the participating countries and the idea of ​​great powers

For Austria-Hungary, the consequences of defeat in the war turned into a national catastrophe and the collapse of the multinational Habsburg empire. Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, who over the 68 years of his reign became a kind of symbol of the empire, died in 1916. He was replaced by Charles I, who failed to stop the centrifugal national forces of the empire, which, coupled with military defeats, led to the collapse of Austria-Hungary. Four of the greatest empires perished in the crucibles of the First World War: Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and German. New states will emerge in their place: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. At the same time, grievances and disagreements, as well as territorial claims of new countries to each other, remained. Hungary was dissatisfied with the borders that were determined for it in accordance with the agreements reached, because Greater Hungary should also include Croatia.

It seemed to everyone that the First World War would solve the problems, but it created new ones and deepened the old ones.

Bulgaria is dissatisfied with the borders that she got, because Great Bulgaria should include almost all the territories up to Constantinople. The Serbs also considered themselves deprived. In Poland, the idea of ​​Greater Poland - from sea to sea - is becoming widespread. Perhaps Czechoslovakia was the only happy exception of all the new Eastern European states, which was happy with everything. After the First World War, in many European countries, the idea of ​​\u200b\u200btheir own greatness and significance arose, which led to the creation of myths about national exceptionalism and their political formulation in the interwar period.

§ 76. Military operations in 1914-1918

The beginning of the First World War.

On June 28, 1914, in the city of Sarajevo, which was part of Bosnia and Herzegovina annexed by Austria-Hungary, Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a hard-liner towards Serbia. Accusing the Serbian government of the assassination attempt, Austria-Hungary gave him an ultimatum. German Emperor Wilhelm II supported the actions of his ally.
The Serbian government complied with all the demands made by Austria-Hungary, except for the point on the investigation of the murder by Austrian officials, but agreed to negotiate on this point. However, on July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and the next day began the bombardment of Belgrade.
August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia, then France. Violating the neutrality of Belgium, the German troops launched an offensive through its territory. Great Britain entered the war. Montenegro, Japan and Egypt took the side of the Entente, and Bulgaria and Turkey took the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary (Germany and its allies are often called a coalition of the Central Powers).
The reasons for the war were the contradictions between the powers of the Entente and Germany with Austria-Hungary. The desire to seize foreign and maintain their colonies in Africa and Asia has become one of the main aspirations of the warring parties. Territorial disputes in Europe itself also played a significant role. Between the powers there were also huge trade and economic contradictions, they fought for the spheres of sale of their products and for sources of raw materials. The initiator of the war was the German block, which considered itself deprived in all respects.

Military operations in 1914

The main fronts, on which heavy fighting broke out already in August 1914, were the French Western and Russian Eastern. At the first stage of the war, in early September, the main grouping of the German armies reached the Marne River between Paris and Verdun, and then crossed it. On September 6, the counteroffensive of the Anglo-French troops began on the entire front from Paris to Verdun. Only by September 12 did the German troops gain a foothold behind the Aisne River and on the line east of Reims. On September 15, the Allies stopped their offensive.
The unsuccessful German attack on Paris and the defeat of the German troops on the Marne led to the failure of the German strategic war plan, designed to quickly defeat the enemy on the Western Front. From the border of Switzerland to the North Sea, a positional front was established.
In the East European theater, hostilities began on 4-7 (17-20) August. During the East Prussian operation, the 1st Russian army defeated the German corps. Continuing to advance, she defeated one of the German armies. At the same time, the 2nd Russian Army began to move to the flank and rear of the Germans. The successful offensive of the Russian troops in East Prussia forced the German command to transfer additional troops from the Western to the Eastern Front. The German troops, taking advantage of the mistakes of the Russian command, which did not establish interaction between the 1st and 2nd armies, managed to inflict a heavy defeat first on the 2nd, and then on the lth Russian armies. Russian troops withdrew from East Prussia.
At the same time, a battle took place in Galicia, in which the troops of the Russian Southwestern Front inflicted a major defeat on the Austro-Hungarian troops. The Russians occupied Lvov. The Austro-Hungarian garrison of the Przemysl fortress was blocked, advanced Russian units reached the foothills of the Carpathians.
The German High Command hastily transferred large forces here. However, the timely regrouping of forces carried out by the Russian Headquarters made it possible during the Warsaw-Ivangorod operation to stop the enemy’s advance on Ivangorod, and then repel the attack on Warsaw. Soon the parties, having exhausted all possibilities, went over to the defensive.
On August 10, Germany sent the battlecruiser Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau to the Black Sea to support the Turkish fleet. Turkish and German ships suddenly fired on Sevastopol, Odessa, Novorossiysk and Feodosia. Russia, Great Britain and France declared war on Turkey. Russia pushed the Caucasian army to the border with Turkey. In December, the 8th Turkish Army went on the offensive, but was defeated.
Military action in 1915
The German command decided to devote the next campaign entirely to the defeat of the Russian troops. Almost 30 infantry and 9 cavalry divisions were transferred from France. In February 1915, Russian troops crossed the Carpathians in winter conditions, and in March, after a long siege, they took Przemysl. About 120,000 enemy soldiers and officers surrendered.
However, the passivity of Russia's Western allies in 1915 allowed the German command to go on the offensive on April 19 (May 2). Under the onslaught of the enemy, who had a huge superiority in strength, the defense of the 3rd Russian army was broken through in the Gorlice region. The troops of the Southwestern Front were forced to leave Galicia. At the same time, German troops were advancing in the Baltic. They occupied Libava, went to Kovno. To avoid encirclement, Russian troops were forced to leave Poland. During the 1915 campaign, Russia lost about 2 million people killed, wounded and captured.
In August 1915, Nicholas II assumed supreme command of the active troops, hoping to turn the tide of events with his authority. In October 1915, the front was established on the line Riga - Baranovichi - Dubno.
In the Western European theater throughout 1915, both sides fought local battles without planning major operations. In 1915, the Entente, having promised to satisfy the territorial claims of Italy more fully than Germany offered, attracted this country to its side. The Italian army launched an offensive, but it was not successful. In October 1915, Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Central Powers.
In the autumn of 1915, the offensive of the Austro-German and Bulgarian troops began against Serbia. The Serbian army resisted for 2 months and then was forced to retreat to Albania. Part of the Serbian troops was transported by the Entente fleet to the Greek island of Corfu.
The 1915 campaign did not justify the hopes of both warring coalitions, but its course was more favorable for the Entente. The German command, having failed to liquidate the Eastern Front, found itself in a difficult situation.
Military operations in 1916
On February 21, the German command launched the Verdun operation on the Western Front. During fierce fighting, both sides suffered heavy losses. The Germans could not break through the front.
On May 22 (June 4) in the East European Theater, the Southwestern Front (commanded by General A.A. Brusilov) launched a decisive offensive. The defense of the Austro-German troops was broken through to a depth of 80 to 120 km. The command of the Central Powers urgently transferred here 11 German divisions from France and 6 Austro-Hungarian divisions from Italy.
The offensive of the South-Western Front eased the position of the French near Verdun, and also saved the Italian army from defeat and accelerated the appearance of Romania on the side of the Entente countries. However, the actions of Romania were unsuccessful. The Russian Romanian Front was formed to help Romania.
In July, Anglo-French troops launched a major offensive on the Somme. It lasted until mid-November, but, despite huge losses, the Allies advanced only 5-15 km, failing to break through the German front.
The troops of the Caucasian Front successfully carried out a number of operations, as a result of which the cities of Erzurum and Trebizond were occupied.
At the end of 1916, the superiority of the Entente over the countries of the German bloc became obvious. Germany was forced to defend on all fronts.
Military operations in 1917-1918
The campaign of 1917 was being prepared and proceeded in the conditions of the growth of the revolutionary movement in all countries, which had a great influence on the course of the war as a whole.
In February 1917, a revolution broke out in Russia. In June 1917, the offensive of the Southwestern Front was carried out, which ended in failure. The last Russian military operations were the defense of Riga and the defense of the Moonsund Islands.
After the October Revolution in Russia, on December 2 (15), 1917, the new government concluded an armistice with the German coalition. The revolution in Russia thwarted the strategic plan of the Entente, which was designed to defeat Austria-Hungary. However, the troops of the Central Powers were still forced to go on the defensive.
In March 1918, a major German offensive began in France. The German troops broke through the allied defenses to a depth of 60 km, but then the allied command, having brought reserves into battle, liquidated the breakthrough. At the end of May, the German armies struck north of the Rhine, and reached the Marne River, being less than 70 km from Paris. Here they were stopped. On July 15, the German command made a last desperate attempt to defeat the allied armies. But the second Battle of Marne ended in failure.
In August 1918, the Anglo-French armies went on the offensive and inflicted a major defeat on the German troops. In September, the general offensive of the Allies began on the entire front. On November 9, the monarchy was overthrown in Germany. On November 11, 1918, the Entente concluded the Compiègne truce with Germany. Germany declared itself defeated.

§ 77. War and society

The development of military equipment during the war.

The First World War gave a powerful impetus to the development of military technology. Since 1915, the main problem in the conduct of hostilities has been the breakthrough of the positional front. The appearance in 1916 of tanks and new types of escort artillery increased the firepower and strike power of the advancing troops. On September 15, 1916, the British used tanks for the first time. With the support of 18 tanks, the infantry was able to ADVANCE 2 km. The first case of massive use of tanks is the Battle of Cambrai on November 20-21, 1917, where 378 tanks operated. The surprise and great superiority in forces and means allowed the British troops to break through the German defenses. However, the tanks that broke away from the infantry and cavalry suffered heavy losses.
The war gave a sharp impetus to the development of aviation. Initially, aircraft, along with balloons, served as a means of reconnaissance and artillery fire correction. Then they began to put machine guns on the planes and hang bombs.
The most famous aircraft were the German Fokker, the English Sopwith, and the French Farman, Voisin, and Nieuport. Military aircraft in Russia were built mainly according to French models, but there were also their own designs. So, in 1913, a heavy 4-engine aircraft by I. Sikorsky "Ilya Muromets" was built, lifting up to 800 kg of bombs and armed with 3-7 machine guns.
A qualitatively new type of weapon was chemical weapons. In April 1915, near Ypres, the Germans released 180 tons of chlorine from cylinders. As a result of the attack, about 15 thousand people were hit, of which 5 thousand died. Such large losses from relatively low-toxic chlorine were caused by the lack of protective equipment, the first samples of which appeared only a year later. On April 12, 1917, in the area of ​​Ypres, the Germans used mustard gas (mustard gas). In total, about 1 million people were affected by poisonous substances during the war years.
State regulation of the economy.
In all the warring countries, state military-economic departments were created to regulate the economy, which put industry and agriculture under their control. State bodies distributed orders and raw materials, disposed of the products of enterprises. These bodies not only managed the production process, but also regulated working conditions, wages, and so on. In general, state intervention in the economy during the war years had a visible effect. This gave rise to an idea of ​​the beneficence of such a policy.
In Russia, the relatively weak development of heavy industry could not but affect the supply of the army. Despite the transfer of workers to the position of military personnel, the growth of military production at first was insignificant. The supply of weapons and ammunition from the allies was carried out in extremely limited quantities. In order to establish military production, the government moved to the sequestration (transfer to the state) of large military factories and banks. For the owners, this was a huge source of income.
When major abuses of officials in supplying the fronts with everything necessary were revealed, the government went to the creation of committees and meetings that were supposed to deal with military orders. But in practice, this only led to the distribution of military orders and the issuance of cash subsidies.
Due to the mass mobilization of peasants into the army in Russia, the harvest of grain was sharply reduced, and the cost of processing it increased. A significant part of the horses and cattle was also requisitioned as a draft force and to feed the army. The food situation was sharply worsened by the Axis, speculation flourished and the prices of essential goods rose. Hunger has begun.
Public opinion during the war.
The beginning of the war caused an explosion of patriotic feelings in all the warring countries. There were mass rallies in support of the government's actions. However, by the end of 1915, the mood of the population of the warring countries began to gradually change. Everywhere the strike movement grew, and the opposition, including the parliamentary one, intensified. In Russia, where the military defeats of 1915 sharply aggravated the internal political situation, this process proceeded especially rapidly. The defeats aroused in the Duma opposition a desire to re-start the fight against the autocratic regime, "not knowing how to wage war." Several groups in the Duma, led by the Cadets, united in " progressive block”, the purpose of which was the creation of a cabinet of public trust, I.e. government based on the Duma majority.
The activity of groups in the Social Democratic parties, which from the very beginning spoke with varying degrees of categorical opposition to the war, intensified. On September 5-8, 1915, the Zimmerwald Conference of such groups took place. It was attended by 38 delegates from Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Poland, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands. They issued a statement against the war and called the peoples to peace. About a third of the delegates, headed by the leader of the Russian Bolsheviks, V.I. Lenin, considered this call too soft. They spoke in favor of turning the "imperialist war into a civil war", taking advantage of the fact that weapons are in the hands of millions of "proletarians".
On the fronts, there were more and more cases of fraternization of soldiers of the opposing armies. During the strikes, anti-war slogans were put forward. On May 1, 1916, in Berlin, at a mass demonstration, the leader of the left-wing Social Democrats, K. Liebknecht, issued an appeal “Down with the war!”.
National uprisings intensified in multinational countries. In July 1916, the Central Asian uprising began in Russia, which was finally suppressed only in 1917. On April 24-30, 1916, the Irish uprising broke out, brutally suppressed by the British. There were also performances in Austria-Hungary.

Results of the war.

World War I ended with the defeat of Germany and its allies. At the Paris Peace Conference agreements have been prepared. June 28, 1919 was signed Treaty of Versailles with Germany, September 10 - Treaty of Saint-Germain with Austria, November 27 - Treaty of Nein with Bulgaria, June 4 - Treaty of Trianon with Hungary and August 10, 1920 - Treaty of Sevres with Turkey. The Paris Peace Conference decided to establish League of Nations. Germany and its allies lost significant territories, and were also forced to significantly limit their armed forces and pay large reparations.
The post-war peace settlement was completed by the Washington Conference, which took place in 1921-1922. Its initiator, the United States, dissatisfied with the results of the Paris Conference, made a serious bid for leadership in the Western world. Thus, the United States succeeded in achieving recognition of the principle of "freedom of the seas", weakening Great Britain as a great maritime power, pushing Japan out of China, and also achieving the approval of the principle of "equal opportunities". Nevertheless, Japan's positions in the Far East and the Pacific turned out to be quite strong.

105 years ago, the first military conflict on a global scale began, in which 38 of the 59 independent states that existed at that time (two-thirds of the world's population) were involved.

The war was fought between two coalitions of powers - the Entente (Russia, France, Great Britain) and the countries of the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; since 1915 - the Quadruple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) - for the redivision of the world, colonies, spheres of influence and capital investment, notes the Great Russian Encyclopedia.

At the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, the USA, Germany and Japan began to outstrip Great Britain and France in economic development and lay claim to their colonies. Germany was the most aggressive on the world stage. She sought to seize the colonies of Great Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands, to consolidate Alsace and Lorraine captured from France, to wrest Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states from the Russian Empire, to subjugate the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria to her influence, and together with Austria-Hungary to establish its control in the Balkans.

Immediately after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, as a result of which France ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany, the threat of a new war became constant. France hoped for the return of lost territories, but was afraid of a second German attack. Great Britain and the Russian Empire did not want a new defeat of France and the establishment of German hegemony in the western part of the European continent. In turn, Germany feared the strengthening of the Russian Empire in Southeastern Europe at the expense of Austria-Hungary due to the aggravated relations between these empires after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. This led to the conclusion of the Austro-German alliance in 1879, which Italy joined in 1882. Italy was pushed to this by the struggle with France for the division of North Africa. In opposition to the Triple Alliance, the Russian-French Union of 1891-1893 was created, the BDT notes.

In 1904, an agreement was reached between France and Great Britain on major colonial issues, which served as the basis for the British-French Entente ("cordial agreement"). The Russian Empire, weakened by the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and the First Revolution of 1905-1907, concluded, in turn, in 1907 a similar agreement with Great Britain, which in fact meant Russia's accession to the Entente.

Thus, the leading powers of the continent were divided into two opposing factions. Tensions in international relations were exacerbated by a series of diplomatic crises - the Franco-German rivalry in Morocco, the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Austrians in 1908-1909, and the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. In this environment, any new conflict could lead to a world war. In addition, large European and American concerns associated with the production of weapons were interested in increasing international tension and the prospects for the outbreak of hostilities.

Countries began preparing for war long before it began. The most stubborn rivalry in the arms race unfolded between Britain, France, Russia and Germany. From the 1880s to 1914, these powers almost doubled the size of their armies. By the beginning of the First World War, the French peacetime army numbered about 900 thousand people, the German one - over 800 thousand, the Russian one - more than 1.4 million people. The military and economic potential of the Entente countries as a whole was higher than the potential of its opponents.

The reason for the outbreak of World War I was the assassination by Serbian nationalists on June 15 (28), 1914 in Sarajevo (Bosnia) of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. By agreement with Germany, Austria-Hungary on July 10 (23) presented Serbia with an ultimatum that was obviously unacceptable for a sovereign state, and when its term expired, on July 15 (28) declared war on it and immediately carried out artillery shelling of Belgrade. The Entente countries offered Austria-Hungary to resolve the conflict peacefully. But after its attack on Serbia, fulfilling its allied obligations, the Russian Empire on July 17 (30) announced a general mobilization. Germany the next day demanded that Russia stop mobilization. Having received no response to the ultimatum, Germany on July 19 (August 1) declared war on Russia, and on July 21 (August 3) on France and Belgium, which rejected the ultimatum on the passage of German troops through its territory. Great Britain demanded that Germany maintain the neutrality of Belgium, but, having received a refusal, on July 22 (August 4), together with its dominions, declared war on Germany. July 24 (August 6) Austria-Hungary declared war on the Russian Empire. An ally of Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance - Italy declared neutrality.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The First World War lasted 1568 days. During the war, a number of countries became its participants: Japan, Romania and others. The number of warring armies exceeded 37 million people. The total number of people mobilized into the armed forces is about 70 million people. The length of the fronts was up to 2.5–4 thousand km. The casualties of the parties are about 9.5 million killed and over 20 million wounded.

The First World War ended with the complete defeat and surrender of Germany and its allies.

The war not only failed to resolve the contradictions that led to its emergence, but, on the contrary, contributed to their deepening, strengthened the objective prerequisites for the emergence of new crisis phenomena in the post-war world. Immediately after its completion, a struggle began for a new redivision of the world, which two decades later led to the Second World War of 1939–1945, which was even more destructive in its consequences.

In a number of countries, the First World War ended with a powerful revolutionary explosion and the overthrow of governments that stood for the continuation of the war, says the BDT. The Russian Empire ceased to exist.

The victory of the Entente in the war was secured in a number of treaties: the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty of 1919 and others. The League of Nations was established at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-1920. As a result of the post-war device, the political map of the world has changed significantly. The Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary collapsed, a number of new states appeared - Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Finland, Yugoslavia.

Day of Remembrance of Russian soldiers who died in the First World War 1914–1918

On the initiative of the Russian Parliament, the day of Russia's entry into the First World War - August 1, was established as an official memorial date for our country as the Day of Remembrance of Russian soldiers who died in the First World War of 1914-1918. The corresponding federal law was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 30, 2012.

Text: Vera Marunova

World War I 1914– 1918 - a war between two coalitions of powers (the Entente and the countries of the Triple Alliance) for the redistribution of the world, colonies, spheres of influence and capital investment. This is the first military conflict on a global scale, in which 38 of the 59 independent states that existed at that time (2/3 of the world's population) were involved.

World War I: the causes and essence of the conflict

After a series of successful wars against Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866, and especially after the victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, Prussia, under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, managed to unite the scattered German lands under its rule.

On January 18, 1871, in the Palace of Versailles near Paris, Bismarck, in the presence of the German princes, read out the text of the proclamation of the Prussian king by the German emperor. Thus, a new strong player appeared on the European arena - the German Empire.

The Russian Empire at first did not interfere with the unification of Germany, since Prussia, the only one of the great powers, did not oppose Russia during the Crimean War. In addition, Bismarck promised Alexander II to support Russia in the revision of the Paris Treaty of 1856, which forbade Russia to have a Black Sea navy.

Moreover, in 1873, Alexander II and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary signed an agreement at the Schönbrunn Palace near Vienna, to which Kaiser Wilhelm I joined a little later. This was the beginning of the Union of Three Emperors.

The agreements were extended twice more: in 1881 and 1884.

But the growing contradictions, first of all, between Russia and Austria-Hungary because of the desire to dominate the Balkans and Germany's support for the latter led to a cooling of relations between the countries.

In parallel with this, in 1879, the Austro-German Confederation was formalized, to which Italy joined in 1882, competing with France for dominance in North Africa.

In contrast to the formed Triple Alliance, a Russian-French military alliance was concluded in 1891, called the "Cardial Accord" (fr. Entente Cordiale - Entente).

Relations between France and Great Britain were tense due to colonial differences, but in 1904 an agreement was reached between these countries on the most important colonial issues, which served as the basis of the British-French Entente.

Russia in 1907 concluded a similar agreement with Great Britain. Thus, two opposing military-political blocs were formed: the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) and the Entente (Russia, France and Great Britain).

The main contradictions of the parties

Great Britain:

German support for the Boers in the war with Britain;

German intervention in the economic affairs of East and South-West Africa - British spheres of influence;

Preservation of maritime and colonial power;

It waged an undeclared economic and trade war against Germany.

France:

She sought to take revenge for the defeat inflicted on her by Germany in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870;

The desire to return to its composition Alsace and Lorraine;

It suffered losses in its traditional sales markets in competition with German goods;

Russia:

Claimed the free passage of its fleet to the Mediterranean Sea, insisted on the weakening or revision in its favor of the regime of control over the Dardanelles;

She regarded the construction of the railway Berlin - Baghdad as an unfriendly act on the part of Berlin;

She insisted on the exclusive patronage of the Slavic peoples in the Balkans.

Germany:

Strived for political and economic dominance in Europe;

Wanted to acquire new territories;

Involved in the struggle for the colonies only after 1871, she claimed equal rights in the colonial possessions of the British Empire, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal. She was especially active in obtaining markets.

Austria-Hungary:

She tried to keep Bosnia and Herzegovina captured by her in 1908;

It opposed Russia, which took on the role of the defender of all Slavs in the Balkans, and Serbia, which claimed to be the unifying center of the southern Slavs.

Despite all the above contradictions, the main cause of the First World War was the colonial issue: Britain and France did not want to share the captured colonies, and Germany and its allies sought to get some of these colonies for themselves.

As the 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, said: “Everyone is looking for and does not find the reason why the war began. Their search is in vain, they will not find this reason. The war did not start for any one reason, the war started for all reasons at once.

Start of World War I

On June 28, 1914, a nineteen-year-old student, a Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip, makes a fatal attempt on the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand, who came to Sarajevo to get acquainted with the recently annexed territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Gavrilo Princip was a member of the Mlada Bosna organization, which proclaimed its goal to unite all the South Slavic peoples into one state - Greater Serbia.

On July 23, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, accusing it of being behind the assassination of the Archduke. 48 hours were allotted for consideration of the ultimatum.

The ultimatum consisted of 10 points and was humiliating for a sovereign state. Despite this, Serbia satisfied 9 out of 10 provisions, with the exception of the item that read: "To conduct an investigation against each of the participants in the Sarajevo murder with the participation of the Austrian government in the investigation."

The Entente countries, in particular Russia, proposed to resolve the conflict peacefully and send the dispute to the Hague Conference.

On July 26, Austria-Hungary, declaring that the requirements of the ultimatum had not been met, began to gather troops to the Serbian border, and on July 28 declared war on Serbia, shelling Belgrade.

Russia issued an appeal that it would not allow the occupation of Serbia, and on July 31, general mobilization into the army was announced in the Russian Empire.

Germany declared that if Russia did not stop mobilization, war would be declared.

On August 1, 1914, Germany declares war on Russia, on August 3 - on France and Belgium, which rejected the ultimatum on the passage of German troops through its territory.

Great Britain demanded that Germany maintain the neutrality of Belgium, but, having received a refusal, on August 4, together with its dominions, declared war on Germany.

On August 6, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia. An ally of Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance - Italy - declared neutrality. This was the beginning of the First World War.

Side Plans

Without exception, all countries did not assume that the war would turn out to be protracted, hoping to end it with a decisive offensive by the winter of 1914.

Germany adhered to the so-called "Schlieffen plan", which involved 7 out of 8 German armies to concentrate on the Western Front. With a quick offensive through the territories of neutral Luxembourg and Belgium, reach the flank and rear of the main grouping of French troops, defeat it, take Paris and withdraw France from the war, concentrating all forces against Russia.

The phrase said by Wilhelm II became famous: "We will have lunch in Paris, and dinner in St. Petersburg." One field army was concentrated in East Prussia to protect the eastern borders.

Austria-Hungary also had to fight on two fronts: 1/3 of the troops were sent to the Serbian front, 2/3 were concentrated against the Russian Southwestern Front. The goal was to push the Russian troops back from the border, and then, together with the German troops released from the Western Front, defeat Russia.

In plans France included an offensive in the territories of Alsace and Lorraine, but the strategy had to be revised on the move in view of the fact that the Germans had maneuvered through Belgium.

Great Britain was going to focus on combat operations against the German fleet, but under pressure from the Allies on the eve of the war, she sent an expeditionary force of 7.5 divisions to help the French.

Russia she was also forced to divide her troops into 2 fronts: the North-Western, which consisted of 2 armies, was supposed to act against the Germans in East Prussia; Southwestern, consisting of 4 armies, was supposed to counteract the Austrians. The plan was to withdraw Austria-Hungary from the war as soon as possible and to concentrate all forces against Germany.

World War I: the course of events

Course of events. 1914

On the western front, the war began on August 2 with the invasion of German troops in Luxembourg, which, having passed the territory of Belgium, reached the French border.

In a head-on battle, the Germans defeated the Allied troops and reached the Marne River east of Paris.

The French hastily formed two new armies. From September 5 to 12, large-scale hostilities unfolded on both banks of the Marne River, in which about 2 million people participated on both sides.

The Germans were pushed back from Paris. In the future, trying to cover each other from the flank, the opposing armies moved north until they ran into the sea coast - the so-called "run to the sea".

As a result, the front stabilized, trench warfare began. The German Blitzkrieg failed.

On the Eastern Front, Russia launched an offensive at the request of France, which retreated under the onslaught of the German troops, not having fully completed the mobilization. Having invaded the territory of East Prussia, the 1st army of General Rennenkampf defeated the 8th German army in the Gumbinnen-Goldap battle. But it was not possible to build on the success: the German troops regrouped and attacked the 2nd Russian army of General Samsonov in the area of ​​the Masurian Lakes.

The army was surrounded and defeated. Samsonov committed suicide. The 1st Army returned to its original positions beyond the Neman.

Despite the catastrophic consequences, the offensive of the Russian army in East Prussia thwarted the German plan: they were forced to transfer troops from the Western Front to the aid of the 8th Army, thereby weakening their forces before the Battle of the Marne.

During the Galician operation of the Southwestern Front, the Austrians were defeated. Lvov, Galich and other cities were taken. In the battles on the Warsaw ledge, during numerous battles, the front remained practically unchanged.

Course of events. 1915

During the campaign of 1915, the German command decided to change the plan: most of the forces were sent to the Eastern Front in order to defeat Russia and withdraw it from the war.

At the same time, the shortage of weapons and ammunition in the Russian army began to affect. Under the blows of the German troops, the so-called "Great Retreat" began - Poland, Galicia, Lithuania, part of Belarus and Latvia were left. The front has stabilized on the line Riga - Dvinsk - Baranovichi - Pinsk - Dubno - Tarnopol. However, the strategic plan to defeat the Russian Armed Forces failed.

On the Western Front, the war took on a positional character. In the conditions of defense in depth on a narrow front, new types of weapons were tested.

During the offensive of the German troops at Ypres, chemical weapons were first used - chlorine was sprayed.

On the initiative of Winston Churchill, the unsuccessful Dardanelles operation was organized, which lasted from February 19, 1915 to January 9, 1916. Its goal was the capture of Constantinople, the withdrawal of Turkey from the war and the opening of a sea route to Russia.

On October 14, Bulgaria enters the war on the side of Germany. The so-called Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire) appears.

Course of events. 1916

During the 1916 campaign, Germany again concentrated its main forces on the Western Front in order to withdraw France from the war. A huge number of troops and artillery were concentrated in the area of ​​​​the city of Verdun.

Verdun operation The German army began on February 21, but, despite the power of the initial strike, the success of the Germans was insignificant. The fighting took on a protracted and bloody character. Both sides suffered huge losses (about 1 million people).

The operation, which lasted 10 months, ended in vain. This battle went down in history as the Verdun Meat Grinder.

The Allied offensive on the Somme was also unsuccessful, despite the use of a new type of weapon - tanks.

On the Eastern Front, the so-called Brusilovsky breakthrough, during which the Russian troops defeated the Austro-German troops and threatened the withdrawal of Austria-Hungary from the war. Germany and Austria-Hungary were forced to transfer troops from other fronts, thus easing the position of the French at Verdun and the Italians at Trient.

Having entered the war on August 27 on the side of the Entente, Romania, having suffered a number of defeats, forced Russia to withdraw troops from other sectors of the front to help her. The eastern front was extended by 500 kilometers.

On the Caucasian front, Russian troops advanced 250 km into the territory of the Ottoman Empire and captured the cities of Erzurum, Trebizond and Erzinjan.

At sea, on May 31–June 1, the largest naval battle of the First World War took place - Jutland. The British fleet lost 14 ships in it, about 7 thousand people; the loss of the German fleet - 11 ships and over 3 thousand people. Great Britain retained dominance at sea.

Course of events. 1917

By 1917, the economic superiority of the Entente countries began to show. The Central Powers went on the defensive. In addition, on April 6, the United States entered the war on the side of the Entente (although their troops began to arrive only in the fall). All offensive actions of the allies were unsuccessful.

In Russia, as a result of the February Revolution, the monarchy fell.

Although the Provisional Government declared the war "to a victorious end", Order No. 1 issued by the Petrograd Soviet did not contribute to the combat readiness of the Russian army, which had lost its offensive potential.

After an unsuccessful summer offensive, Russian troops were forced to leave Riga. The Bolsheviks, who came to power as a result of the coup in October, began separate peace negotiations. Russia formally withdrew from the war.

Course of events. 1918

The revolution in Russia had a strong impact on the mood in other countries. The Allies did not plan large-scale offensive operations until a sufficient American contingent arrived. Germany, on the other hand, decided on the last offensive in order to turn the war, as human and economic resources were at the limit. At the same time, the Germans sent about 60 divisions to intervene in Russia.

The large-scale offensive of the Germans on the Western Front did not produce results, and as a result, the Allies launched a counteroffensive in the summer.

In autumn, the military-economic exhaustion of Germany reached its limit, and on October 5, Germany turned to Woodrow Wilson for a truce.

Results of the First World War

The contradictions that led to the outbreak of World War I were not only not resolved, but deepened even more, which subsequently led to a new war.

As a result of the First World War, four empires ceased to exist: Russian, German, Ottoman and Austria-Hungary. A number of new states appeared on the map of Europe.

Of the more than 70 million people mobilized in the armies of the warring countries, between 9 and 10 million died. The number of victims among the civilian population ranged from 7 to 12 million. Famine and epidemics caused by the war claimed the lives of at least 20 million people.

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World War I: the tragedy of the turn of the century

At the beginning of the 20th century, disagreements between world powers reached their peak. A comparatively long period without major European conflicts (since about the 1870s) allowed contradictions to accumulate between the leading world powers. There was no single mechanism for resolving such issues, which inevitably led to "detente". At that time, it could only be war.

Background and background of the First World War

The prehistory of the First World War is rooted in the 19th century, when the German Empire, which gained strength, entered into colonial competition with other world powers. Late to the colonial division, Germany often had to enter into conflicts with other countries in order to secure a "piece of the pie" of the African and Asian capital markets.

On the other hand, the decrepit Ottoman Empire also caused a lot of inconvenience to the European powers, who were eager to take part in the division of its inheritance. This tension eventually culminated in the Tripolitan War (in which Italy took possession of Libya, formerly held by the Turks) and in the two Balkan Wars, during which Slavic nationalism in the Balkans reached its highest point.

Closely followed the situation in the Balkans and Austria-Hungary. Losing prestige of the empire, it was important to regain respect and consolidate heterogeneous national groups in its composition. It was for this purpose, as well as for an important strategic foothold from which Serbia could be threatened, that Austria occupied Bosnia in 1908, and later included it in its composition.

At the beginning of the 20th century, two military-political blocs almost completely took shape in Europe: the Entente (Russia, France, Great Britain) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). These two alliances united states primarily in terms of their foreign policy goals. Thus, the Entente was mainly interested in maintaining the colonial redistribution of the world, with minor changes in its favor (for example, the division of the colonial empire of Germany), while Germany and Austria-Hungary wanted a complete redivision of the colonies, the achievement of economic and military hegemony in Europe and the expansion of their markets.

Thus, by 1914 the situation in Europe had become quite tense. The interests of the great powers clashed in almost all areas: trade, economic, military and diplomatic. In fact, already in the spring of 1914, the war became inevitable, and all that was needed was a "push", a pretext that would lead to a conflict.

June 28, 1914 in the city of Sarajevo (Bosnia) was killed the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, along with his wife. The killer was Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, who belonged to the Young Bosnia organization. Austrian reaction was not long in coming. Already on July 23, the Austrian government, believing that Serbia was behind the Young Bosnia organization, presented the Serbian government with an ultimatum, according to which Serbia was required to stop any anti-Austrian actions, ban anti-Austrian organizations, and also allow the Austrian police to enter the country for investigation.

The Serbian government, rightly believing that this ultimatum was an aggressive diplomatic attempt by Austria-Hungary to limit or completely destroy Serbian sovereignty, decided to satisfy almost all Austrian demands except for one: the admission of the Austrian police to the territory of Serbia was clearly unacceptable. This refusal was enough for the Austro-Hungarian government to accuse Serbia of insincerity and preparation of provocations against Austria-Hungary and start concentrating troops on the border with it. Two days later, on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

Goals and plans of the parties in the First World War

The military doctrine of Germany at the beginning of the First World War was the well-known "Schlieffen Plan". The plan involved inflicting a swift, crushing defeat on France, as in 1871. The French campaign was supposed to be completed within 40 days, before Russia could mobilize and concentrate its army on the eastern borders of the German Empire. After the defeat of France, the German command planned to quickly transfer troops to the Russian borders and launch a victorious offensive there. The victory, therefore, had to be achieved in a very short time - from four months to six months.

The plans of Austria-Hungary consisted of a victorious offensive against Serbia and, at the same time, a strong defense against Russia in Galicia. After the defeat of the Serbian army, it was supposed to transfer all available troops against Russia and, together with Germany, carry out its defeat.

The military plans of the Entente also provided for the achievement of a military victory in the shortest possible time. So. It was assumed that Germany would not be able to withstand a war on two fronts for any long time, especially with the active offensive actions of France and Russia on land and the naval blockade by Great Britain.

Beginning of World War I - August 1914

Russia, which traditionally supported Serbia, could not remain aloof from the outbreak of the conflict. On July 29, a telegram from Emperor Nicholas II was sent to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, proposing to resolve the Austro-Serbian conflict through international arbitration in The Hague. However, the German Kaiser, fascinated by the idea of ​​hegemony in Europe, left his cousin's telegram unanswered.

Meanwhile, mobilization began in the Russian Empire. It was initially carried out exclusively against Austria-Hungary, but after Germany also clearly indicated its position, mobilization measures became universal. The reaction of the German Empire to the Russian mobilization was an ultimatum demand under the threat of war to stop these massive preparations. However, it was no longer possible to stop mobilization in Russia. As a result, on August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia.

Simultaneously with these events, the German General Staff initiated the implementation of the Schlieffen Plan. On the morning of August 1, German troops invaded Luxembourg and the next day completely occupied the state. At the same time, an ultimatum was presented to the Belgian government. It consisted in demanding the unhindered passage of German troops through the territory of the Belgian state for operations against France. However, the Belgian government refused the ultimatum.

A day later, on August 3, 1914, Germany declared war on France, and the next day on Belgium. At the same time, Great Britain entered the war on the side of Russia and France. On August 6, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia. Italy, unexpectedly for the countries of the Triple Alliance, refused to enter the war.

World War I flares up - August-November 1914

By the beginning of the First World War, the German army was not fully prepared for active hostilities. Nevertheless, already two days after the declaration of war, Germany managed to capture the cities of Kalisz and Czestochowa, in Poland. At the same time, Russian troops with the forces of two armies (1st and 2nd) launched an offensive in East Prussia with the aim of capturing Koenigsberg and leveling the front line from the north in order to eliminate the unsuccessful configuration of the pre-war borders.

Initially, the Russian offensive developed quite successfully, but soon, due to the uncoordinated actions of the two Russian armies, the 1st Army came under a powerful German flank attack and lost about half of its personnel. The commander of the army, Samsonov, shot himself, and by September 3, 1914, the army itself retreated to its original positions. From the beginning of September, Russian troops in the northwestern direction went on the defensive.

At the same time, the Russian army launched a major offensive against the Austro-Hungarian troops in Galicia. On this sector of the front, five Russian armies were opposed by four Austro-Hungarian ones. The fighting here initially developed not entirely favorable for the Russian side: the Austrian troops put up fierce resistance on the southern flank, due to which the Russian army was forced to retreat to their original positions in mid-August. However, soon, after fierce battles, the Russian army managed to capture Lvov on August 21. After that, the Austrian army began to withdraw in a southwestern direction, which soon turned into a real flight. The catastrophe in front of the Austro-Hungarian troops rose to its full height. It was not until mid-September that the offensive of the Russian army in Galicia ended about 150 kilometers west of Lvov. In the rear of the Russian troops was the strategically important fortress of Przemysl, in which about 100 thousand Austrian soldiers took refuge. The siege of the fortress continued until 1915.

After the events in East Prussia and Galicia, the German command decided to go on the offensive in order to eliminate the Warsaw salient and level the front line by 1914. Already on September 15, the Warsaw-Ivangorod operation began, during which German troops came close to Warsaw, but the Russian army managed to push them back to their original position with powerful counterattacks.

In the West, on August 4, German troops launched an offensive into Belgian territory. Initially, the Germans did not meet with serious defense, and pockets of resistance were managed by their forward detachments. On August 20, having occupied Brussels, the Belgian capital, the German army came into contact with French and British forces. Thus began the so-called Frontier Battle. During the battle, the German army managed to inflict a serious defeat on the Allied forces and capture the north of France and most of Belgium.

By the beginning of September 1914, the situation on the Western Front for the Allies became threatening. German troops were 100 kilometers from Paris, and the French government fled to Bordeaux. However, at the same time, the Germans were already acting with full exertion of forces, which were fading away. To deliver the final blow, the Germans decided to carry out a deep bypass of the Allied forces covering Paris from the north. However, the flanks of the German strike group were not covered, which was what the allied leadership took advantage of. As a result of this battle, part of the German troops was defeated, and the chance to take Paris in the fall of 1914 was missed. The "Miracle on the Marne" allowed the Allies to regroup their forces and build a strong defense.

After the failure near Paris, the German command launched an offensive to the coast of the North Sea in order to envelop the Anglo-French troops. Simultaneously with them, the Allied troops were moving to the sea. This period, which lasted from mid-September to mid-November 1914, was called the "Run to the Sea".

In the Balkan theater of operations, events for the Central Powers developed extremely unsuccessfully. From the very beginning of the war, the Serbian army put up fierce resistance to the Austro-Hungarian army, which managed to capture Belgrade only in early December. However, a week later, the Serbs managed to return the capital back.

The entry into the war of the Ottoman Empire and the prolongation of the conflict (November 1914 - January 1915)

From the very beginning of the First World War, the government of the Ottoman Empire closely followed its progress. At the same time, the government of the country did not have a consensus on which side to take. However, it was clear that the Ottoman Empire would not be able to refrain from entering the conflict.

In the course of numerous diplomatic maneuvers and intrigues in the Turkish government, supporters of the pro-German position took over. As a result, almost the entire country and the army were under the control of German generals. The Ottoman fleet, without declaring war on October 30, 1914, fired on a number of Russian Black Sea ports, which was immediately used by Russia as a pretext for declaring war, which happened already on November 2. A few days later, France and Great Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

Simultaneously with these events, the offensive of the Ottoman army began in the Caucasus, with the goal of capturing the cities of Kars and Batumi, and in the long term, the entire Transcaucasus. However, here the Russian troops managed to first stop and then push the enemy back beyond the border line. As a result, the Ottoman Empire was also embroiled in a large-scale war with no hope of a quick victory.

From October 1914 on the Western Front, the troops took up positional defense, which had a significant impact on the next 4 years of the war. The stabilization of the front and the lack of offensive potential on both sides led to the construction of a strong and deep defense by the German and Anglo-French troops.

World War I - 1915

1915 turned out to be more active on the Eastern Front than in the West. First of all, this is due to the fact that the German command, in planning military operations for 1915, decided to strike the main blow precisely in the East and withdraw Russia from the war.

In the winter of 1915, German troops launched an offensive in Poland in the area of ​​Augustow. Here, despite initial successes, the Germans encountered stubborn resistance from the Russian troops and were unable to achieve decisive success. After these failures, the German leadership decided to shift the direction of the main attack to the south, to the region of the south of the Carpathians and Bukovina.

This strike almost immediately reached its goal, and the German troops managed to break through the Russian front in the Gorlice region. As a result, in order to avoid encirclement, the Russian army had to start a retreat in order to level the front line. This withdrawal, which began on April 22, lasted 2 months. As a result, Russian troops lost a large territory in Poland and Galicia, and the Austro-German forces almost came close to Warsaw. However, the main events of the 1915 campaign of the year were yet to come.

The German command, although it managed to achieve good operational success, still failed to bring down the Russian front. It was precisely with the aim of neutralizing Russia that from the beginning of June the planning of a new offensive began, which, according to the plan of the German leadership, should lead to the complete collapse of the Russian front and the speedy withdrawal of the Russians from the war. It was supposed to deliver two blows under the base of the Warsaw ledge with the aim of encircling or displacing enemy troops from this ledge. At the same time, it was decided to advance on the Baltic in order to divert at least part of the Russian forces from the central sector of the front.

On June 13, 1915, the German offensive began, and a few days later the Russian front was broken through. In order to avoid encirclement near Warsaw, the Russian army began to retreat to the east in order to create a new united front. As a result of this "Great Retreat", Warsaw, Grodno, Brest-Litovsk were abandoned by Russian troops, and the front stabilized only by autumn on the Dubno-Baranovichi-Dvinsk line. In the Baltic states, the Germans occupied the entire territory of Lithuania and came close to Riga. After these operations, there was a lull on the Eastern Front of the First World War until 1916.

On the Caucasian front, during 1915, hostilities also spread to the territory of Persia, which, after long diplomatic maneuvers, took the side of the Entente.

On the Western Front, 1915 was marked by a reduced activity of the German troops, with a higher activity of the Anglo-French. So, at the beginning of the year, hostilities took place only in the Artois region, but they did not lead to any noticeable results. In terms of their intensity, these positional actions, however, could not in any way claim the status of a serious operation.

The unsuccessful Allied attempts to break through the German front led, in turn, to a German offensive with limited objectives in the Ypres region (Belgium). Here, for the first time in history, German troops used poison gases, which turned out to be very unexpected and stunning for their enemy. However, not having sufficient reserves to develop success, the Germans were soon forced to stop the offensive, achieving very modest results (their advance was only 5 to 10 kilometers).

At the beginning of May 1915, the Allies launched a new offensive in Artois, which, according to the plan of their command, was supposed to lead to the liberation of most of France and a major defeat of the German troops. However, neither thorough artillery preparation (which lasted 6 days) nor large forces (about 30 divisions concentrated on a 30-kilometer section) prevented the Anglo-French leadership from achieving victory. Last but not least, this was due to the fact that the German troops built a deep and powerful defense here, which was a reliable remedy against the Allied frontal attacks.

The same result ended with the larger offensive of the Anglo-French troops in Champagne, which began on September 25, 1915 and lasted only 12 days. During this offensive, the Allies managed to advance only 3-5 kilometers with a loss of 200 thousand people. The Germans suffered losses of 140 thousand people.

On May 23, 1915, Italy entered the First World War on the side of the Entente. This decision was not easy for the Italian leadership: a year ago, on the eve of the war, the country was an ally of the Central Powers, but refrained from entering into a conflict. With the entry into the war of Italy, a new - Italian - front appeared, to which Austria-Hungary had to divert large forces. During 1915, there were no significant changes on this front.

In the Middle East, the allied command planned operations in 1915 with the aim of withdrawing the Ottoman Empire from the war and finally strengthening its superiority in the Mediterranean. According to the plan, the allied fleet was to break through to the Bosphorus, fire on Istanbul and the Turkish coastal batteries, and prove to the Turks the superiority of the Entente, force the Ottoman government to capitulate.

However, from the very beginning, this operation developed unsuccessfully for the Allies. Already at the end of February, during the raid of the allied squadron against Istanbul, three ships were lost, and the Turkish coastal defense was not suppressed. After that, it was decided to land an expeditionary force in the Istanbul region and with a swift offensive to withdraw the country from the war.

The landing of the Allied troops began on April 25, 1915. But here, too, the allies faced the fierce defense of the Turks, as a result of which they managed to land and gain a foothold only in the Gallipoli region, about 100 kilometers from the Ottoman capital. The Australian and New Zealand units (ANZAC) landed here fiercely attacked the Turkish troops until the end of the year, when the complete futility of the landing in the Dardanelles became absolutely clear. As a result, already in January 1916, the Allied expeditionary forces were evacuated from here.

In the Balkan theater of operations, the outcome of the 1915 campaign was determined by two factors. The first factor was the "Great Retreat" of the Russian army, due to which Austria-Hungary managed to transfer part of the troops from Galicia against Serbia. The second factor was the entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers of Bulgaria, encouraged by the success of the Ottoman troops in Gallipoli and suddenly stabbed Serbia in the back. The Serbian army was unable to repel this blow, which led to the complete collapse of the Serbian front and the occupation of the territory of Serbia by the end of December by the Austrian troops. Nevertheless, the Serbian army, retaining its personnel, managed to retreat to the territory of Albania in an organized manner and subsequently participated in the battles against the Austrian, German and Bulgarian troops.

The course of the First World War in 1916

The year 1916 was marked by Germany's passive tactics in the East and more active tactics in the West. Having failed to achieve a strategic victory on the Eastern Front, the German leadership decided to concentrate the main efforts in the 1916 campaign on the West in order to withdraw France from the war and, by transferring large forces to the East, achieve a military victory over Russia as well.

This led to the fact that for the first two months of the year there were practically no active hostilities on the Eastern Front. Nevertheless, the Russian command planned major offensive operations in the western and southwestern directions, and a sharp jump in military production made success at the front very possible. In general, the whole of 1916 in Russia passed under the sign of general enthusiasm and high fighting spirit.

In March 1916, the Russian command, meeting the wishes of the Allies to conduct a diversionary operation, launched a major offensive in order to liberate the territory of Belarus and the Baltic states and drive German troops back to East Prussia. However, this offensive, which began two months earlier than planned, failed to achieve its goals. The Russian army lost about 78 thousand people, while the German one - about 40 thousand. Nevertheless, the Russian command managed, perhaps, to decide the outcome of the war in favor of the allies: the German offensive in the West, which by that time was beginning to acquire a critical turn for the Entente, was weakened and gradually began to fizzle out.

The situation on the Russian-German front remained calm until June, when the Russian command began a new operation. It was carried out by the forces of the Southwestern Front, and its goal was to defeat the Austro-German forces in this direction and liberate part of Russian territory. It is noteworthy that this operation was also carried out at the request of the allies in order to divert enemy troops from threatened areas. However, it was this Russian offensive that became one of the most successful operations of the Russian army in the First World War.

The offensive began on June 4, 1916, and five days later the Austro-Hungarian front was broken through in several dreams. The enemy began to retreat, alternating with counterattacks. It was as a result of these counterattacks that the front was kept from complete collapse, but only for a short time: already in early July, the front line in the southwest was broken, and the troops of the Central Powers began to retreat, suffering huge losses.

Simultaneously with the offensive in the southwestern direction, the Russian troops delivered the main blow in the western direction. However, here the German troops managed to organize a solid defense, which led to heavy losses in the Russian army without noticeable results. After these failures, the Russian command decided to shift the main attack from the Western to the Southwestern Front.

A new stage of the offensive began on July 28, 1916. Russian troops again inflicted a major defeat on the enemy forces and in August captured the cities of Stanislav, Brody, Lutsk. The position of the Austro-German troops here became so critical that even Turkish troops were transferred to Galicia. Nevertheless, by the beginning of September 1916, the Russian command was faced with a stubborn enemy defense in Volyn, which led to heavy losses among the Russian troops and, as a result, to the fact that the offensive ran out of steam. The offensive, which brought Austria-Hungary to the brink of disaster, received a name in honor of its performer - the Brusilovsky breakthrough.

On the Caucasian front, Russian troops managed to capture the Turkish cities of Erzurum and Trabzon and reach the line 150-200 kilometers from the border.

On the Western Front in 1916, the German command launched an offensive operation, which later became known as the Battle of Verdun. A powerful grouping of Entente troops was located in the area of ​​this fortress, and the configuration of the front, which looked like a protrusion towards the German positions, led the German leadership to the idea of ​​encircling and destroying this grouping.

The German offensive, preceded by extremely intensive artillery preparation, began on 21 February. At the very beginning of this offensive, the German army managed to advance 5-8 kilometers deep into the Allied positions, but the stubborn resistance of the Anglo-French troops, which inflicted significant losses on the Germans, did not allow a complete victory to be achieved. Soon it was stopped, and the Germans had to fight hard to keep the territory that they managed to capture at the beginning of the battle. However, everything was in vain - in fact, since April 1916, the Battle of Verdun was lost by Germany, but it still continued until the end of the year. At the same time, the losses of the Germans were about two times less than those of the Anglo-French forces.

Another important event of 1916 was the entry into the war on the side of the Entente powers of Romania (August 17). The Romanian government, inspired by the defeat of the Austro-German troops during the Brusilov breakthrough of the Russian army, planned to increase the country's territory at the expense of Austria-Hungary (Transylvania) and Bulgaria (Dobruja). However, the low fighting qualities of the Romanian army, the configuration of the borders, unsuccessful for Romania, and the proximity of large Austro-German-Bulgarian forces did not allow these plans to come true. If at first the Romanian army managed to advance 5-10 km deep into Austrian territory, then, after the concentration of enemy armies, the Romanian forces were defeated, and by the end of the year the country was almost completely occupied.

Fighting in 1917

The results of the 1916 campaign had a major impact on the 1917 campaign. So, the Verdun meat grinder was not in vain for Germany, and the country entered 1917 with almost completely depleted human resources and a difficult food situation. It became clear that if the Central Powers failed to defeat their opponents in the near future, then the war would end in defeat for them. At the same time, the Entente was planning a major offensive for 1917 with the goal of an early victory over Germany and its allies.

In turn, for the countries of the Entente, 1917 promised truly gigantic prospects: the exhaustion of the Central Powers and the seemingly inevitable entry into the war of the United States was to finally turn the tide in favor of the allies. At the Petrograd Conference of the Entente, which took place from February 1 to 20, 1917, the situation at the front and action plans were actively discussed. However, the situation in Russia was also discussed unofficially, which worsened every day.

In the end, on February 27, the revolutionary unrest in the Russian Empire reached its peak, and the February Revolution broke out. This event, along with the moral decay of the Russian army, practically deprived the Entente of an active ally. And although the Russian army still occupied its positions at the front, it became clear that it would no longer be able to advance.

At this time, Emperor Nicholas II abdicated, and Russia ceased to be an empire. The new provisional government of the Russian Republic decided to continue the war without breaking the alliance with the Entente in order to bring the hostilities to a victorious end and thus still be in the camp of the winners. The preparations for the offensive were carried out on a grand scale, and the offensive itself was to become a "triumph of the Russian revolution."

This offensive began on June 16, 1917 in the zone of the Southwestern Front, and in the first days of the Russian army, success was accompanied. However, then, due to the catastrophically low discipline in the Russian army and due to high losses, the June offensive “stalled”. As a result, by the beginning of July, the Russian troops had exhausted their offensive impulse and were forced to go on the defensive.

The Central Powers were not slow to take advantage of the exhaustion of the Russian army. Already on July 6, the Austro-German counteroffensive began, which in a matter of days managed to return the territories left since June 1917, and then move deep into Russian territory. The Russian retreat, at first carried out in a fairly organized manner, soon became catastrophic. The divisions scattered at the sight of the enemy, the troops retreated without orders. In such an environment, it became increasingly clear that there could be no talk of any active actions on the part of the Russian army.

After these failures, the Russian troops went on the offensive in other directions. However, both on the North-Western and on the Western fronts, due to the complete moral decay, they simply could not achieve any significant success. At first, the offensive developed most successfully in Romania, where the Russian troops had practically no signs of decay. However, against the background of failures on other fronts, the Russian command soon stopped the offensive here as well.

After that, until the very end of the war on the Eastern Front, the Russian army no longer made serious attempts to attack and, in general, resist the forces of the Central Powers. The October Revolution and the fierce struggle for power only exacerbated the situation. However, the German army could no longer conduct active hostilities on the Eastern Front. There were only separate local operations to occupy individual settlements.

In April 1917, the United States of America joined the war against Germany. Their entry into the war was motivated by closer interests with the Entente countries, as well as aggressive submarine warfare by Germany, which resulted in the death of American citizens. The US entry into the war finally changed the balance of power in the First World War in favor of the Entente countries and made its victory inevitable.

In the Middle East theater of operations, the British army went on a decisive offensive against the Ottoman Empire. As a result, almost all of Palestine and Mesopotamia were cleared of the Turks. At the same time, an uprising was raised in the Arabian Peninsula against the Ottoman Empire in order to create an independent Arab state. As a result of the 1917 campaign, the position of the Ottoman Empire became truly critical, and its army was demoralized.

World War I - 1918

At the beginning of 1918, the German leadership, despite the truce signed earlier with Soviet Russia, launched a local offensive in the direction of Petrograd. In the area of ​​Pskov and Narva, the Red Guard detachments blocked their path, with which military clashes took place on February 23-25, which later became known as the date of the birth of the Red Army. However, despite the official Soviet version of the victory of the Red Guard units over the Germans, the real outcome of the battles is debatable, since the Red units were forced to retreat to Gatchina, which would have been meaningless in the event of a victory over the German troops.

The Soviet government, realizing the precariousness of the armistice, was forced to sign a peace treaty with Germany. This agreement was signed in Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918. According to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States were transferred under German control, and the independence of Poland and Finland was also recognized. In addition, Kaiser Germany received a huge indemnity in resources and money, which in fact allowed her to prolong her agony until November 1918.

After the signing of the Brest Peace, the bulk of the German troops were transferred from the east to the Western Front, where the fate of the war was decided. Nevertheless, the situation in the areas of the former Russian Empire occupied by the Germans was uneasy, and therefore, until the end of the war, Germany was forced to keep about a million soldiers here.

On March 21, 1918, the German army launched its last large-scale offensive on the Western Front. His goal was to encircle and destroy the British troops located between the Somme and the English Channel, and then go to the rear of the French troops, capture Paris and force France to surrender. However, from the very beginning of the operation it became clear that the German troops would not be able to break through the front. By July they managed to advance 50-70 kilometers, but by this time, in addition to the French and British troops, large and fresh American forces began to operate on the front. This circumstance, as well as the fact that the German army finally ran out of steam by mid-July, forced the German command to stop the operation.

In turn, the allies, realizing that the German troops were extremely exhausted, launched a counteroffensive with virtually no operational pause. As a result, the Allied attacks were no less effective than the German ones, and already after 3 weeks the German troops were thrown back to the same positions that they had occupied by the beginning of 1918.

After that, the command of the Entente decided to continue the offensive in order to bring the German army to disaster. This offensive went down in history under the name "hundred-day" and ended only in November. During this operation, the German front was broken through, and the German army had to start a general retreat.

On the Italian front in October 1918, the Allies also launched an offensive against the Austro-German troops. As a result of stubborn battles, they managed to liberate almost all Italian territories occupied in 1917 and defeat the Austro-Hungarian and German armies.

In the Balkan theater of operations, the Allies launched a major offensive in September. A week later, they managed to inflict a serious defeat on the Bulgarian army and begin to advance deep into the Balkans. As a result of this crushing offensive, on September 29, Bulgaria withdrew from the war. By the beginning of November, as a result of this operation, the Allies managed to liberate almost the entire territory of Serbia.

In the Middle East, the British Army also launched a major offensive in the autumn of 1918. The Turkish army was completely demoralized and disorganized, thanks to which the Ottoman Empire already signed a truce with the Entente on October 30, 1918. On November 3, after a series of setbacks in Italy and the Balkans, Austria-Hungary also capitulated.

As a result, by November 1918, the position of Germany became truly critical. Hunger, exhaustion of moral and material forces, as well as heavy losses at the front gradually heated up the situation in the country. Revolutionary fermentation began in the naval crews. The reason for a full-fledged revolution was the order of the German command to the fleet, according to which it was supposed to give a general battle to the British Navy. Given the existing balance of forces, the fulfillment of this order threatened the complete destruction of the German fleet, which caused a revolutionary uprising in the ranks of the sailors. The uprising began on November 4, and on November 9, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. Germany became a republic.

By that time, the Kaiser government had begun peace negotiations with the Entente. Germany was exhausted and could no longer continue to resist. As a result of the negotiations, on November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed in the Compiègne forest. With the signing of this truce, the First World War ended.

Losses of the parties in the first world war

The First World War caused enormous damage to all the warring countries. The demographic echoes of this conflict are still being felt.

Military casualties in the conflict are generally estimated at about 9-10 million killed and about 18 million wounded. The loss of the civilian population in the First World War is estimated at 8 to 12 million people.

The losses of the Entente in total amount to approximately 5-6 million people killed and about 10.5 million wounded. Of these, Russia lost about 1.6 million dead and 3.7 million wounded. French, British and US losses in killed and wounded are estimated at 4.1, 2.4 and 0.3 million, respectively. Such low losses in the American army are explained by the relatively late time the United States entered the war on the side of the Entente.

The losses of the Central Powers in World War I are estimated at 4-5 million killed and 8 million wounded. Of these losses, Germany accounts for approximately 2 million killed and 4.2 million wounded. Austria-Hungary lost 1.5 and 26 million people killed and wounded, respectively, the Ottoman Empire - 800 thousand killed and 800 thousand wounded.

Results and consequences of the First World War

World War I was the first global conflict in human history. Its scale has become incommensurably greater than that of the Napoleonic Wars, as well as the number of forces involved in the struggle. The war was the first conflict that showed the leaders of all countries a new type of war. From now on, the full mobilization of the army and the economy became necessary for victory in the war. During the conflict, military theory underwent significant changes. It became clear that it was very difficult to break through a well-fortified line of defense and that this required enormous expenditure of ammunition and heavy losses.

The First World War showed the world new types and means of weapons, as well as the use of those means that had not previously been appreciated. Thus, the use of aviation has increased significantly, tanks and chemical weapons have appeared. At the same time, the First World War showed mankind how terrible war can be. Millions of wounded, maimed and maimed for a long time were a reminder of the horrors of war. It was with the aim of preventing such conflicts that the League of Nations was created - the first international community designed to maintain peace throughout the world.

Politically, the war also became a kind of turning point in world history. As a result of the conflict, the map of Europe has become noticeably “more colorful”. Four empires disappeared: Russian, German, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian. Independence was gained by such states as Poland, Finland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and others.

The alignment of forces in Europe and the world has also changed. Germany, Russia (soon to be transformed into the USSR along with part of the territories of the former Russian Empire) and Turkey lost their former influence, which shifted the center of gravity in Europe to the west. The Western powers, on the contrary, have seriously strengthened due to war reparations and colonies acquired at the expense of losing Germany.

At the signing of the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, French Marshal Ferdinand Foch declared: “This is not peace. This is a truce for 20 years.” The terms of the peace were very difficult and humiliating for Germany, which could not but arouse in her strong revanchist sentiments. Further actions of France, Great Britain, Belgium and Poland (seizure from Germany of the Saar, part of Silesia, occupation of the Ruhr in 1923) only strengthened these grievances. We can say that the Treaty of Versailles was one of the causes of World War II.

Thus, the point of view of a number of historians considering 1914-1945. as a period of one big global world war, is not unreasonable. The contradictions that the First World War was supposed to resolve only deepened, and, consequently, a new conflict was just around the corner ...

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