Who declared the first world war. The beginning of the first world war

The First World War is the first military conflict on a global scale, in which 38 of the 59 independent states that existed at that time were involved.

The main reason for the war was the contradictions between the two coalitions of European powers - the Entente (Russia, England and France) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy), caused by the aggravation of the struggle for the redistribution of already divided colonies, spheres of influence and sales markets. Starting in Europe, where the main events took place, it gradually acquired a global character, also covering the Far and Middle East, Africa, the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic and Indian oceans.

The reason for the start of the armed clash was the terrorist attack of a member of the Mlada Bosna organization, a schoolboy Gavrilo Princip, during which on June 28 (all dates are given in the new style), 1914 in Sarajevo, Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

On July 23, under pressure from Germany, Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with deliberately unacceptable conditions for resolving the conflict that had arisen. In her ultimatum, she demanded that her military formations be allowed into Serbia in order, together with Serbian forces, to suppress hostile actions. After the ultimatum was rejected by the Serbian government, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28.

Fulfilling its allied obligations to Serbia, Russia, having received assurances of support from France, announced a general mobilization on July 30. The next day, Germany, in an ultimatum, demanded that Russia stop mobilizing. Having received no answer, on August 1, she declared war on Russia, and on August 3 - on France, as well as on neutral Belgium, which refused to let German troops pass through its territory. On August 4, Great Britain with its dominions declared war on Germany, on August 6, Austria-Hungary - on Russia.

In August 1914, Japan declared war on Germany, in October, Turkey entered the war on the side of the Germany-Austria-Hungary bloc, and in October 1915, Bulgaria.

Italy, initially holding a position of neutrality, in May 1915, under diplomatic pressure from Great Britain, declared war on Austria-Hungary, and on August 28, 1916 - on Germany.

The main land fronts were the Western (French) and Eastern (Russian), the main naval theaters of military operations - the North, Mediterranean and Baltic seas.

Military operations began on the Western Front - German troops acted according to the Schlieffen plan, which involved a large offensive against France through Belgium. However, Germany's hopes for a quick defeat of France turned out to be untenable; by mid-November 1914, the war on the Western Front took on a positional character.

The confrontation took place along a line of trenches about 970 kilometers long along the German border with Belgium and France. Until March 1918, any, even minor, changes in the front line were achieved here at the cost of huge losses on both sides.

During the maneuvering period of the war, the eastern front was located on the strip along the border of Russia with Germany and Austria-Hungary, then - mainly on the western border strip of Russia.

The beginning of the 1914 campaign on the Eastern Front was marked by the desire of the Russian troops to fulfill their obligations to the French and to draw off German forces from the Western Front. During this period, two major battles took place - the East Prussian operation and the Battle of Galicia, during these battles the Russian army defeated the Austro-Hungarian troops, occupied Lvov and pushed the enemy back to the Carpathians, blocking the large Austrian fortress of Przemysl.

However, the losses of soldiers and equipment were colossal, due to the underdevelopment of transport routes, they did not have time to arrive in time for replenishment and ammunition, so the Russian troops could not develop their success.

In general, the 1914 campaign ended in favor of the Entente.

The 1914 campaign was marked by the world's first aerial bombardment. On October 8, 1914, British aircraft equipped with 20-pound bombs raided the German airship workshops in Friedrichshafen. After this raid, aircraft of a new class began to be created - bombers.

During the 1915 campaign, Germany shifted its main efforts to the Eastern Front, intending to defeat the Russian army and withdraw Russia from the war. As a result of the Gorlitsky breakthrough in May 1915, the Germans inflicted a heavy defeat on the Russian troops, which in the summer were forced to leave Poland, Galicia and part of the Baltic states. However, in the fall, after repelling the enemy's offensive in the Vilna region, they forced the German army to switch to positional defense on the Eastern Front as well (October 1915).

On the Western Front, the sides continued to maintain a strategic defense. On April 22, 1915, during the battles near Ypres (Belgium), Germany first used chemical weapons (chlorine). After that, poisonous gases (chlorine, phosgene, and later mustard gas) began to be used by both belligerents on a regular basis.

The defeat ended the large-scale Dardanelles landing operation (1915-1916) - a naval expedition, which was equipped by the Entente countries at the beginning of 1915 with the aim of taking Constantinople, opening the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits for communication with Russia through the Black Sea, withdrawing Turkey from the war and attracting the allies to the side Balkan states.

On the Eastern Front, by the end of 1915, German and Austro-Hungarian troops drove the Russians out of almost all of Galicia and from most of Russian Poland.

In the 1916 campaign, Germany again shifted its main efforts to the west in order to withdraw France from the war, but a powerful blow to France during the Verdun operation ended in failure. This was largely facilitated by the Russian South-Western Front, which broke through the Austro-Hungarian front in Galicia and Volyn. Anglo-French troops launched a decisive offensive on the Somme River, but, despite all efforts and the attraction of huge forces and resources, they could not break through the German defenses. During this operation, the British used tanks for the first time. At sea, the largest battle of Jutland in the war took place, in which the German fleet failed. As a result of the 1916 military campaign, the Entente seized the strategic initiative.

At the end of 1916, Germany and its allies first started talking about the possibility of a peace agreement. The Entente rejected this proposal. During this period, the armies of the states that actively participated in the war numbered 756 divisions, twice as many as at the beginning of the war, but they lost the most qualified military personnel. The bulk of the soldiers consisted of reserve elderly people and youth of early conscription, poorly trained in military-technical terms and insufficiently trained physically.

In 1917, two major events radically influenced the balance of forces of the opponents.

On April 6, 1917, the United States, which had held neutrality in the war for a long time, decided to declare war on Germany. One of the reasons was the incident off the southeastern coast of Ireland, when a German submarine sank the British liner Lusitania, sailing from the United States to England, with a large group of Americans on board, and 128 of them died.

Following the United States in 1917, China, Greece, Brazil, Cuba, Panama, Liberia and Siam entered the war on the side of the Entente.

The second major change in the confrontation of forces was caused by Russia's withdrawal from the war. On December 15, 1917, the Bolsheviks who came to power signed an armistice agreement. On March 3, 1918, the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty was signed, according to which Russia renounced its rights to Poland, Estonia, Ukraine, part of Belarus, Latvia, Transcaucasia and Finland. Ardahan, Kars and Batum went to Turkey. In total, Russia has lost about one million square kilometers. In addition, she was obliged to pay Germany an indemnity of six billion marks.

The major battles of the 1917 campaign, Operation Nivelle and Operation at Cambrai, showed the value of using tanks in battle and laid the foundation for tactics based on the interaction of infantry, artillery, tanks and aircraft on the battlefield.

In 1918, Germany, concentrating its main efforts on the Western Front, launched a March offensive in Picardy, and then an offensive operation in Flanders, on the Aisne and Marne rivers, but due to the lack of sufficient strategic reserves, it could not build on the initial success achieved. The allies, repelling the attacks of the German troops, on August 8, 1918, in the battle of Amiens, tore apart the German front: entire divisions surrendered almost without a fight - this battle was the last major battle of the war.

On September 29, 1918, after the Entente offensive on the Thessaloniki front, Bulgaria signed an armistice, Turkey surrendered in October, and Austria-Hungary on November 3.

In Germany, popular unrest began: on October 29, 1918, in the port of Kiel, the team of two warships went out of control and refused to go to sea on a combat mission. Mass riots began: the soldiers intended to establish in northern Germany councils of soldiers and sailors' deputies on the Russian model. On November 9, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the throne and a republic was proclaimed.

On November 11, 1918, at the Retonde station in the Compiegne forest (France), the German delegation signed the Compiegne armistice. The Germans were ordered to liberate the occupied territories within two weeks, establish a neutral zone on the right bank of the Rhine; transfer weapons and transport to the allies, free all prisoners. The political provisions of the treaty provided for the abolition of the Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest peace treaties, financial provisions for the payment of reparations for destruction and the return of valuables. The final terms of the peace treaty with Germany were determined at the Paris Peace Conference at the Palace of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

The First World War, which for the first time in human history covered the territories of two continents (Eurasia and Africa) and huge sea areas, radically redrawn the political map of the world and became one of the most ambitious and bloody. During the war, 70 million people were mobilized into the ranks of the armies; of these, 9.5 million were killed and died of wounds, more than 20 million were injured, and 3.5 million were crippled. The largest losses were suffered by Germany, Russia, France and Austria-Hungary (66.6% of all losses). The total cost of the war, including property losses, was estimated at between $ 208 and $ 359 billion.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

In what year did the First World War begin? This question is quite important in view of the fact that the world has really changed into before and after. Before this war, the world did not know such a mass death of people who died literally for every inch of the front.

After the First World War, Oswald Spengler will write the famous book "The Decline of Europe", which predicts the decline of Western European civilization. After all, the First World War, in which Russia was involved and will be unleashed between the Europeans.

Also, this event will become the true beginning of the 20th century. It is not for nothing that historians say that the 20th century was the shortest historical century: from 1914 to 1991.

Start

World War I began on July 28, 1914, one month after the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife.

How did it all start?

On June 28, 1914, in the town of Sarajevo, Franz Ferdinand was killed by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip.

Austria-Hungary was early to see this situation as an opportunity to establish its influence in the Balkans. She demanded from Serbia not to fulfill a number of demands that infringed upon the independence of this small Slavic country. The most painful thing was that Serbia had to agree to the Austrian police to investigate the case. All these requirements were formalized in the so-called July ultimatum, which Austria-Hungary sent to Serbia. July 23, 1914.

Serbia agreed with all the demands (to clear the state apparatus of nationalists or anyone else), except for the point to allow the Austrian police to enter its territory. Realizing that this is actually a threat of war, Serbia began to mobilize the army.

Who does not know, all states switched to the draft structure of recruiting the army after the Franco-Prussian war in the early 1870s, when the Prussian army defeated the French in a couple of weeks.

26 July Austria-Hungary began a reciprocal mobilization. Austrian troops began to concentrate on the border between Russia and Serbia. Why Russia? Because Russia has long positioned itself as the protector of the Balkan peoples.

July 28th due to non-fulfillment of the conditions of the ultimatum, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia has stated that it will not allow a military invasion of Serbia. But the actual declaration of war is considered the beginning of the First World War.

July 29 Nicholas II offered Austria to resolve the issue peacefully, transferring it to the Hague International Court. But Austria could not allow the Russian emperor to dictate his terms to the Austrian empire.

July 30 and 31 mobilizations were carried out in France and in Russia. To the question of who fought with whom and where does France have to do with it, you ask? Despite the fact that Russia and France entered into a number of military alliances back in the 19th century, and England joined them in 1907, as a result of which the Entente was formed - a military bloc opposing the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy)

August 1, 1914 Germany has declared war on Russia. On the same date, the inglorious military operations began. By the way, about them you can. In what year it ended: in 1918. For more details, see the link article.

In total, 38 states were involved in this war.

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov

Turning to international relations in the first decades of the 20th century, historians most often try to find an answer to the question: why did the world war begin? Consider events and phenomena that will help to find out the reasons for its occurrence.

International relations in the late XIX - early XX century

The rapid industrial development of the countries of Europe and North America at that time pushed them to enter the wide world market, to spread their economic and political influence in different parts of the world.
The powers that already had colonial possessions tried in every possible way to expand them. So, France in the last third of the XIX - early XX century. increased the territory of its colonies by more than 10 times. The clash of interests of individual European powers led to armed confrontation, as, for example, in Central Africa, where the British and French colonialists competed. Great Britain also tried to strengthen its position in South Africa - in the Transvaal and the Orange Republic. The decisive resistance of the descendants of the European settlers who lived there - the Boers - led to Boer War (1899-1902).

The partisan struggle of the Boers and the brutal methods of waging war by the British troops (up to the burning of peaceful settlements and the creation of concentration camps, where thousands of prisoners died) showed the whole world the terrible appearance of war in the coming XX century. Great Britain defeated two Boer republics. But this essentially imperialist war was then condemned by most European countries, as well as by democratic forces in Britain itself.

Completed by the beginning of the XX century. the colonial division of the world did not bring peace to international relations. Countries that have significantly advanced in industrial development (USA, Germany, Italy, Japan) have actively joined the struggle for economic and political influence in the world. In some cases, they took the colonial territories away from their owners by military means. This is what the United States did when it unleashed a war against Spain in 1898. In other cases, the colonies "bargained". This was done, for example, by Germany in 1911. Having declared its intention to seize part of Morocco, it sent a warship to its shores. France, which earlier penetrated Morocco, in exchange for recognizing its priority, ceded part of its possessions in the Congo to Germany. The decisiveness of Germany's colonial intentions is evidenced by the following document.

From the parting words of Kaiser Wilhelm II to the German troops heading for China in July 1900 to suppress the Ihethuan uprising:

“The newly emerging German Empire faces great challenges overseas ... And you ... must teach the enemy a good lesson. When confronted with the enemy, you must beat him! Give no mercy! Do not take prisoner! With those who fall into your hands, do not stand on ceremony. Just as a thousand years ago, under their king Attila, the Huns glorified their name, which is still preserved in fairy tales and legends, so the name of the Germans and in a thousand years should evoke such feelings in China that never again any Chinese would dare to look askance on the German! "

The increasing conflicts between the great powers in different parts of the world caused concern not only in public opinion, but also among politicians themselves. In 1899, at the initiative of Russia, a peace conference was held in The Hague with the participation of representatives of 26 states. The second conference in The Hague (1907) was attended by 44 countries. At these meetings, conventions (agreements) were adopted, which contained recommendations on the peaceful settlement of international disputes, limiting cruel forms of warfare (prohibiting the use of explosive bullets, poisonous substances, etc.), reducing military spending and armed forces, humane treatment of prisoners, and also determined the rights and obligations of neutral states.

Discussion of common problems of preserving peace did not prevent the leading European powers from engaging in completely different issues: how to ensure the achievement of their own, not always peaceful, foreign policy goals. It became increasingly difficult to do this alone, so each country was looking for allies. Since the end of the XIX century. two international blocs began to take shape - the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and the Franco-Russian alliance, which outgrew at the beginning of the 20th century. to the Triple Accord of France, Russia, Great Britain - the Entente.

Dates, documents, events

Triple Alliance
1879 - a secret agreement between Germany and Austria-Hungary on joint defense against an attack by Russia.
1882 - the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy.

Franco-Russian union
1891-1892 - a consultative pact and a military convention between Russia and France.

Entente
1904 - Agreement between Great Britain and France on the division of spheres of influence in Africa.
1906 - negotiations of Belgium, Great Britain and France on military cooperation.
1907 - Agreement between Great Britain and Russia on the division of spheres of influence in Iran, Afghanistan and Tibet.

International conflicts of the early XX century. were not limited to disputes over overseas territories. They also arose in Europe itself. In 1908-1909. the so-called Bosnian crisis occurred. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were formally part of the Ottoman Empire. Serbia and Russia protested because they stood for the granting of independence to these territories. Austria-Hungary announced mobilization and began to concentrate troops on the border with Serbia. The actions of Austria-Hungary received the support of Germany, which forced Russia and Serbia to come to terms with the seizure.

Balkan Wars

Other states also tried to take advantage of the weakening of the Ottoman Empire. Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro formed the Balkan Union and in October 1912 attacked the empire with the aim of liberating the territories inhabited by Slavs and Greeks from under Turkish rule. In a short time, the Turkish army was defeated. But the peace negotiations turned out to be difficult, since the great powers were involved in them: the Entente countries supported the states of the Balkan Union, and Austria-Hungary and Germany - the Turks. Under a peace treaty signed in May 1913, the Ottoman Empire lost almost all of its European territories. But less than a month later, the second Balkan War broke out - this time between the victors. Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece, seeking to get its part of the freed from Turkish rule of Macedonia. The war ended in August 1913 with the defeat of Bulgaria. She left behind unresolved interethnic and interstate contradictions. These were not only mutual territorial disputes between Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Romania. There was also growing dissatisfaction with Austria-Hungary with the strengthening of Serbia as a possible center for the unification of the South Slavic peoples, some of which were in the possession of the Habsburg Empire.

The beginning of the war

On June 28, 1914, in the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, a member of the Serbian terrorist organization Gavrilo Princip killed the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife.

June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia in Sarajevo Five minutes before the assassination attempt

Austria-Hungary accused Serbia of incitement, to which an ultimatum was sent. Fulfillment of the requirements contained in it meant for Serbia the loss of its state dignity, consent to Austrian interference in its affairs. Serbia was ready to fulfill all the conditions, except for one, the most humiliating for her (about the investigation by the Austrian services on the territory of Serbia of the reasons for the Sarajevo assassination attempt). However, Austria-Hungary on July 28, 1914 declared war on Serbia. Two weeks later, 8 European states were involved in the war.

Dates and events
August 1 - Germany declared war on Russia.
August 2 - German troops occupy Luxembourg.
August 3 - Germany declared war on France, her troops moved to France through Belgium.
August 4 - Great Britain entered the war against Germany.
August 6 - Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia.
August 11 - France entered the war against Austria-Hungary.
August 12 - Great Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary.

On August 23, 1914, Japan declared war on Germany and began to seize German possessions in China and the Pacific. In the autumn of the same year, the Ottoman Empire entered the struggle on the side of the Triple Alliance. The war went beyond the borders of Europe and turned into a world war.

States that entered the war, as a rule, explained their decision by "higher interests" - the desire to protect themselves and other countries from aggression, an allied duty, etc. But the true goals of most of the participants in the conflict were to expand their territories or colonial possessions, to increase their influence in Europe and other continents.

Austria-Hungary wanted to subdue the growing Serbia, to weaken the position of Russia in the Balkans. Germany sought to annex the border territories of France and Belgium, the Baltic states and other lands in Europe, as well as expand its colonial possessions at the expense of the British, French, and Belgian colonies. France resisted the onslaught of Germany and at least wanted to return Alsace and Lorraine, which had been captured from it in 1871. Britain fought to preserve its colonial empire and wanted to weaken Germany, which had gained strength. Russia defended its interests in the Balkans and the Black Sea and at the same time was not averse to annexing Galicia, which was part of Austria-Hungary.

Some exceptions were Serbia, which became the first victim of the attack, and Belgium, occupied by the Germans: they fought primarily to restore their independence, although they had other interests.

War and society

So, in the summer of 1914, the wheel of war rolled out of the hands of politicians and diplomats and invaded the lives of millions of people in dozens of countries in Europe and the world. What did people feel when they learned about the war? With what mood did the men go to the mobilization points? What were those who were not supposed to go to the front preparing for?

Official messages about the outbreak of hostilities were accompanied by patriotic appeals and assurances of an imminent victory.

French President R. Poincaré noted in his notes:

“The German declaration of war generated a magnificent outburst of patriotism in the nation. Never in all its history has France been so beautiful as in these hours, of which we were given to be witnesses. The mobilization, which began on August 2, ended today, was carried out with such discipline, in such an order, with such calmness, with such enthusiasm that the government and the military authorities admire ... In England there is the same enthusiasm as in France; the royal family has been the subject of repeated applause; everywhere there are patriotic demonstrations. The Central Powers aroused the unanimous indignation of the French, British and Belgian peoples against themselves. "

A significant part of the population of the countries that entered the war was gripped by nationalist sentiments. Attempts by pacifists and some socialists to raise their voices against the war were drowned out by a wave of jingoistic patriotism. The leaders of the workers' and socialist movement in Germany, Austria-Hungary, France put forward the slogans of "civil peace" in their countries and voted for war credits. The leaders of the Austrian Social Democracy called on their supporters "to fight tsarism", and the British socialists decided, first of all, "to fight against German imperialism." The ideas of class struggle and international workers' solidarity were relegated to the background. This led to the collapse of the Second International. Only a few groups of Social Democrats (including the Russian Bolsheviks) condemned the outbreak of the war as imperialist and called on the working people to refuse to support their governments. But their voices were not heard. Thousands of armies went to fight, hoping for a victory.

Failure of lightning war plans

Although the primacy in declaring war belonged to Austria-Hungary, Germany immediately launched the most decisive actions. She sought to avoid a war on two fronts - against Russia in the east and France in the west. The plan of General A. von Schlieffen, developed even before the war, envisaged first a quick defeat of France (in 40 days), and then an active struggle against Russia. The German strike group, which invaded the territory of Belgium at the beginning of the war, after a little over two weeks approached the border of France (later than envisaged by the plan, since the fierce resistance of the Belgians prevented it). By September 1914, German armies crossed the Marne River and approached the fortress of Verdun. The "blitzkrieg" (blitzkrieg) plan was not carried out. But France found itself in a very difficult position. Paris was under the threat of capture. The government left the capital and turned to Russia for help.

Despite the fact that the deployment and equipping of Russian troops by this time was not completed (this is exactly what Shlif-fen was counting on in his plan), two Russian armies under the command of Generals P.K. Rennenkamp-fa and A.V. Samsonov were abandoned in August in the offensive in East Prussia (here they soon failed), and the troops under the command of General N.I. Ivanov in September - in Galicia (where they dealt a serious blow to the Austrian army). The offensive cost the Russian troops heavy losses. But to stop it, Germany transferred several corps from France to the Eastern Front. This allowed the French command to gather forces and repulse the onslaught of the Germans in the hard battle on the Marne in September 1914 (more than 1.5 million people took part in the battle, losses on both sides amounted to almost 600 thousand killed and wounded).

The plan to defeat France quickly failed. Unable to gain the upper hand over each other, the opponents "sat in trenches" along the huge front line (600 km long), crossing Europe from the North Sea coast to Switzerland. A protracted trench warfare ensued on the Western Front. By the end of 1914, a similar situation had developed on the Austro-Serbian front, where the Serbian army was able to liberate the territory of the country, which had previously been captured (in August-November) by Austrian troops.

During the period of relative calm at the fronts, diplomats became more active. Each of the warring factions sought to attract new allies into their ranks. Both sides negotiated with Italy, which declared its neutrality at the beginning of the war. Seeing the failures of the German and Austrian troops in conducting a lightning war, Italy in the spring of 1915 joined the Entente.

On the fronts

In the spring of 1915, the center of hostilities in Europe moved to the Eastern Front. The combined forces of Germany and Austria-Hungary carried out a successful offensive in Galicia, displacing the Russian troops from there, and the army under the command of General P. von Hindenburg by autumn captured the Polish and Lithuanian territories that were part of the Russian Empire (including Warsaw).

Despite the difficult position of the Russian army, the French and British commanders were in no hurry to advance on their front. In the military reports of that time, the proverbial phrase was quoted: "Quiet on the Western Front." True, trench warfare was also an ordeal. The fight intensified, the number of victims steadily increased. In April 1915, the German army launched a gas attack for the first time on the Western Front near the Ypres River. About 15 thousand people were poisoned, 5 thousand of them died, the rest remained disabled. In the same year, the war at sea between Germany and Great Britain intensified. To blockade the British Isles, German submarines began to attack all ships going there. During the year, over 700 ships were sunk, including many civilian steamers. Protests from the United States and other neutral countries forced the German command to abandon attacks on passenger ships for a while.

After the successes of the Austro-German forces on the Eastern Front, in the fall of 1915, Bulgaria entered the war on their side. Soon, as a result of a joint offensive, the allies occupied the territory of Serbia.

In 1916, believing that Russia was sufficiently weakened, the German command decided to strike again at France. The aim of the German offensive, launched in February, was the French fortress of Verdun, the capture of which would have opened the way for the Germans to Paris. However, it was not possible to take the fortress.

This was due to the fact that during the preceding break in active operations on the Western Front, the British-French troops secured an advantage over the Germans of several dozen divisions. In addition, at the request of the French command in March 1916, an offensive by Russian troops was launched near Lake Naroch and the city of Dvinsk, which diverted significant forces of the Germans.

Finally, in July 1916, a massive offensive by the British-French army began on the Western Front. Particularly heavy fighting took place on the Somme River. Here the French concentrated powerful artillery, creating a solid barrage of fire. For the first time, the British used tanks, which caused real panic among German soldiers, although they could not yet turn the tide of battles.

A bloody battle that lasted almost six months, in which both sides lost about 1.3 million people killed, wounded and captured, ended with a relatively small advance of British and French troops. Contemporaries called the battles of Verdun and the Somme "meat grinders".

Even the inveterate politician R. Poincaré, who at the beginning of the war was delighted with the patriotic upsurge of the French, now saw a different, terrible face of the war. He wrote:

“How much energy does this life of troops require every day, half underground, in trenches, in rain and snow, in trenches destroyed by grenades and mines, in shelters without clean air and light, in parallel ditches, always subject to the destructive action of shells, in side passages , which can suddenly be cut off by enemy artillery, at forward posts, where the patrol can be overtaken by an impending attack every minute! How can we still know the moments of deceptive calm in the rear, if there, at the front, people like us are doomed to this hell? "

Significant events unfolded in 1916 on the Eastern Front. In June, Russian troops under the command of General A.A. Brusilov broke through the Austrian front to a depth of 70-120 km. The Austrian and German command hastily transferred 17 divisions from Italy and France to this front. Despite this, Russian troops occupied part of Galicia, Bukovina, entered the Carpathians. Their further advance was suspended due to a lack of ammunition, the isolation of the rear.

In August 1916, Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente. But by the end of the year, her army was defeated, the territory was occupied. As a result, the front line for the Russian army increased by another 500 km.

Position in the rear

The war required the warring countries to mobilize all human and material resources. The life of people in the rear was built according to the laws of wartime. The working hours were extended at the enterprises. Restrictions were introduced on holding meetings, rallies, and strikes. The newspapers were censored. The state strengthened not only political control over society. During the war years, its regulating role in the economy grew noticeably. State bodies distributed military orders and raw materials, disposed of produced military products. Their alliance with the largest industrial and financial monopolies was formed.

The daily life of people has also changed. The work of young, strong men who left to fight fell on the shoulders of old people, women and adolescents. They worked in military factories, cultivated the land in immeasurably more difficult conditions than before.

From the book by S. Pankhurst "Home Front" (the author is one of the leaders of the women's movement in England):

“In July (1916) I was approached by women working in aviation enterprises in London. They covered the wings of the aircraft with camouflage paint for 15 shillings a week, working from 8 am until half past seven in the evening. They were often asked to work until 8 p.m., and were paid for this overtime work as for ordinary work ... According to them, six or more of the thirty women who worked in the painting were constantly forced to leave the workshop and lie on the stones for half an hour and more before they could return to their workplace. "

In most of the warring countries, a system of rigidly rationed distribution of food and essential goods on the cards was introduced. At the same time, the norms were cut by two or three times in comparison with the pre-war level of consumption. It was possible to purchase products in excess of the norm only on the “black market” for fabulous money. Only industrialists and speculators who got rich on military supplies could afford it. Most of the population was starving. In Germany, the winter of 1916/17 was called "rutabaga", as because of the poor harvest of potatoes, rutabagas became the main food product. People also suffered from a lack of fuel. In Paris, during the winter mentioned, there were cases of death of people from the cold. The protraction of the war led to an ever greater deterioration in the situation in the rear.

The crisis is ripe. The final stage of the war

The war brought ever-increasing losses and suffering to the peoples. By the end of 1916, about 6 million people had died on the fronts, and about 10 million were wounded. The cities and villages of Europe became the battlegrounds. In the occupied territories, the civilian population was subjected to robberies and violence. In the rear, both people and machines worked for wear and tear. The material and spiritual forces of the peoples were depleted. Both politicians and the military already understood this. In December 1916, Germany and its allies suggested that the Entente countries begin peace negotiations, and representatives of several neutral states also spoke in favor of this. But each of the warring parties did not want to recognize themselves as a loser and sought to dictate their own terms. Negotiations did not take place.

Meanwhile, in the warring countries themselves, dissatisfaction with the war and those who continued to wage it was growing. The "civil world" was falling apart. Since 1915, the workers' strike struggle has intensified. At first, they demanded mainly an increase in wages, which were constantly depreciating due to rising prices. Then anti-war slogans began to sound more and more often. The ideas of the struggle against the imperialist war were put forward by the revolutionary Social Democrats in Russia and Germany. On May 1, 1916, during a demonstration in Berlin, the leader of the left-wing Social Democrats Karl Liebknecht made calls: "Down with the war!", "Down with the government!" (for this he was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison).

In England, the workers' strike movement in 1915 was led by the so-called shop leaders. They presented the workers' demands to the administration and steadily sought their fulfillment. Active anti-war propaganda was launched by pacifist organizations. The national question has also become aggravated. In April 1916 there was an uprising in Ireland. Rebel detachments led by socialist J. Connolly seized government buildings in Dublin and declared Ireland an independent republic. The uprising was ruthlessly suppressed, 15 of its leaders were executed.

An explosive situation has developed in Russia. Here, the matter was not limited to the growth of strikes. The February Revolution of 1917 overthrew the autocracy. The provisional government intended to continue the war "to a victorious end." But it did not retain power either over the army or over the country. In October 1917, Soviet power was proclaimed. As for their international consequences, the most tangible at that moment was Russia's withdrawal from the war. At first, unrest in the army led to the collapse of the Eastern Front. And in March 1918, the Soviet government concluded the Brest-Litovsk Peace with Germany and its allies, under whose control vast territories remained in the Baltics, Belarus, Ukraine and the Caucasus. The impact of the Russian revolution on events in Europe and the world was not limited to this, it, as it became clear later, also affected the internal life of many countries.

Meanwhile, the war continued. In April 1917, the United States of America declared war on Germany, and then on its allies. They were followed by several Latin American states, China and other countries. The Americans sent their troops to Europe. In 1918, after the conclusion of peace with Russia, the German command made several attempts to attack in France, but to no avail. Having lost about 800 thousand people in battles, the German troops withdrew to their original lines. By the fall of 1918, the initiative in the conduct of hostilities passed to the Entente countries.

The question of ending the war was decided not only at the fronts. Anti-war protests and discontent increased in the warring countries. At demonstrations and rallies, the slogans advanced by the Russian Bolsheviks were increasingly heard: "Down with the war!", "Peace without annexations and indemnities!" Workers 'and soldiers' councils began to appear in different countries. The French workers adopted resolutions stating: "A spark ignited in Petrograd will light up the light over the rest of the world enslaved by militarism." In the army, battalions and regiments refused to go to the front line.

Germany and her allies, weakened by defeats on the fronts and internal difficulties, were forced to ask for peace.

On September 29, 1918, Bulgaria stopped fighting. On October 5, the German government made a request for an armistice. On October 30, the Ottoman Empire signed an armistice with the Entente. On November 3, Austria-Hungary surrendered, seized by the liberation movements of the peoples living in it.

On November 3, 1918, a sailor uprising broke out in Germany in the city of Kiel, which marked the beginning of the revolution. On November 9, the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II was announced. On November 10, the Social Democratic government came to power.

On November 11, 1918, the commander-in-chief of the allied forces in France, Marshal F. Foch, in his staff carriage in the Compiegne forest, dictated the terms of an armistice to the German delegation. Finally, the war ended, in which more than 30 states participated (in terms of population they accounted for more than half of the world's population), 10 million people were killed and 20 million were injured. A difficult road to peace lay ahead.

References:
Aleksashkina L. N. / General history. XX - early XXI century.

On both sides it pursued aggressive goals. Germany sought to weaken Great Britain and France, seize new colonies on the African continent, tear away Poland and the Baltic states from Russia, Austria-Hungary - to establish itself on the Balkan Peninsula, Great Britain and France - to retain their colonies and weaken Germany as a competitor in the world market, Russia - to seize Galicia and take possession of the Black Sea straits.

Causes

Intending to start a war against Serbia, Austria-Hungary enlisted the support of Germany. The latter believed that the war would take on a local character if Russia did not defend Serbia. But if she renders assistance to Serbia, then Germany will be ready to fulfill its treaty obligations and support Austria-Hungary. In an ultimatum presented to Serbia on July 23, Austria-Hungary demanded that its military formations be admitted to Serbia in order to suppress hostile actions together with Serbian forces. The answer to the ultimatum was given within the agreed 48-hour period, but it did not satisfy Austria-Hungary, and on July 28 she declared war on Serbia. On July 30, Russia announced a general mobilization; Germany used this pretext to declare war on Russia on August 1 and France on August 3. After the German invasion of Belgium on 4 August, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Now all the great powers of Europe were embroiled in the war. Together with them, their dominions and colonies were involved in the war.

The course of the war

1914 year

The war consisted of five campaigns. During the first campaign in the city of Germany, it invaded Belgium and the northern regions of France, but was defeated in the battle on the Marne. Russia captured part of East Prussia and Galicia (East Prussian operation and Battle of Galicia), but was then defeated by the German and Austro-Hungarian counteroffensive. As a result, there was a transition from maneuverable to positional forms of struggle.

1915 year

Italy, the disruption of the German plan to withdraw Russia from the war and bloody fruitless battles on the Western Front.

During this campaign, Germany and Austria-Hungary, concentrating their main efforts on the Russian front, carried out the so-called Gorlitsky breakthrough and drove out Russian troops from Poland and parts of the Baltic, but in the Vilna operation they were defeated and were forced to go over to positional defense.

On the Western Front, both sides fought strategically. Private operations (at Ypres, Champagne and Artois) were not successful, despite the use of poisonous gases.

On the Southern Front, Italian troops launched an unsuccessful operation against Austria-Hungary on the Isonzo River. German-Austrian troops managed to defeat Serbia. Anglo-French troops successfully carried out the Thessaloniki operation in Greece, but were unable to capture the Dardanelles. On the Transcaucasian front, as a result of the Alashkert, Khamadan and Sarykamysh operations, Russia reached the approaches to Erzurum.

1916 year

The campaign of the city is associated with Romania's entry into the war and the waging of a grueling trench warfare on all fronts. Germany again shifted efforts against France, but did not succeed in the Battle of Verdun. The operations of the Anglo-French troops on Somna were also unsuccessful, despite the use of tanks.

On the Italian front, the Austro-Hungarian forces launched the Trentino offensive, but were driven back by the Italian counteroffensive. On the Eastern Front, the troops of the Southwestern Russian Front conducted a successful operation in Galicia on a wide front up to 550 km long (Brusilov Breakthrough) and advanced 60-120 km, occupied the eastern regions of Austria-Hungary, which forced the enemy to transfer up to 34 divisions to this front from the Western and Italian fronts.

The decisive Battle of Jutland took place on the Baltic Sea. As a result of the campaign, conditions were created for the seizure of the strategic initiative by the Entente.

1917 year

The campaign of the city is associated with the entry into the war of the United States, the revolutionary withdrawal of Russia from the war, and the conduct of a number of successive offensive operations on the Western Front (Operation Nivelle, operations in the Messines region, on Ypres, near Verdun, near Cambrai). These operations, despite the use in them of large forces of artillery, tanks and aviation, practically did not change the general situation in the Western European theater of operations. In the Atlantic at this time, Germany launched an unlimited submarine war, during which both sides suffered heavy losses.

1918 year

The campaign of the city was characterized by a transition from positional defense to a general offensive by the armed forces of the Entente. First, Germany launched the Allied March offensive in Picardy, private operations in Flanders, on the Aisne and Marne rivers. But due to lack of strength, they did not receive development.

From the second half of the year, when the United States entered the war, the Allies prepared and launched retaliatory offensive operations (Amiens, Saint-Miill, Marne), during which they eliminated the results of the German offensive, and in September they went over to a general offensive, forcing Germany to surrender ( Compiegne Armistice).

Outcomes

The final terms of the peace treaty were developed at the Paris Conference of 1919-1920. ; during the sessions, agreements on five peace treaties were determined. After its completion, the following were signed: 1) the Versailles Peace Treaty with Germany on June 28; 2) Saint-Germain peace treaty with Austria on September 10, 1919; 3) Neiji peace treaty with Bulgaria on November 27; 4) Trianon Peace Treaty with Hungary on June 4; 5) Sevres peace treaty with Turkey on August 20. Subsequently, according to the Treaty of Lausanne, on July 24, 1923, the Treaty of Sevres was amended.

As a result of the First World War, the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were liquidated. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were divided, and Russia and Germany, having ceased to be monarchies, were cut back territorially and economically. Revanchist sentiments in Germany led to World War II. The First World War accelerated the development of social processes, was one of the prerequisites for the revolutions in Russia, Germany, Hungary, Finland. As a result, a new military-political situation was created in the world.

In total, the First World War lasted 51 months and 2 weeks. It covered the territories of Europe, Asia and Africa, the waters of the Atlantic, the North, Baltic, Black and Mediterranean seas. This is the first military conflict on a global scale, in which 38 of the 59 independent states that existed at that time were involved. Two thirds of the world's population took part in the war. The number of the fighting armies exceeded 37 million people. The total number of those mobilized into the armed forces was about 70 million. The length of the fronts was up to 2.5-4 thousand km. The casualties of the parties amounted to about 9.5 million killed and 20 million wounded.

In the war, new types of troops were developed and widely used: aviation, armored troops, anti-aircraft troops, anti-tank weapons, and submarine forces. New forms and methods of armed struggle began to be used: army and front-line operations, breaking through the fortifications of the fronts. New strategic categories have emerged: operational deployment of the Armed Forces, operational cover, border battles, and the initial and subsequent periods of the war.

Used materials

• Dictionary "War and Peace in Terms and Definitions", World War I
• Encyclopedia "Krugosvet"

Today no one remembers when I was World War I who fought with whom and why the conflict itself began. But millions of soldiers' graves throughout Europe and modern Russia do not allow us to forget about this bloody page of history, including that of our state.

Causes and inevitability of war.

The beginning of the last century was quite tense - revolutionary sentiments in the Russian Empire with regular demonstrations and terrorist attacks, local military conflicts in southern Europe, the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the exaltation of Germany.

All this did not happen in one day, the situation developed and intensified over the decades and no one knew how to “blow off steam” and at least postpone the start of hostilities.

By and large, each country had unfulfilled ambitions and claims to its neighbors, which they wanted to solve in the old fashioned way with the help of force of arms. Just a little did not take into account the moment that technological progress has put into human hands real "hellish machines", the use of which led to a bloody massacre. It was with these words that veterans described many battles of that period.

The alignment of forces in Europe.

But in a war there are always two conflicting parties who are trying to get their way. During WWI, these were Entente and Central Powers.

In unleashing a conflict, it is customary to place all the blame on the losing side, so let's start with that. The list of Central Powers at different stages of the war included:

• Germany.
• Austria-Hungary.
• Turkey.
• Bulgaria.

There were only three states in the Entente:

• Russian empire.
• France.
• England.

Both alliances were formed at the end of the nineteenth century, and for some time balanced political and military forces in Europe.

Awareness of the inevitable major war on several fronts at the same time often stopped them from making hasty decisions, but the situation could not continue for a long time.

How did the First World War begin?

The first state to declare the beginning of hostilities was Austro-Hungarian Empire... As enemy spoke Serbia, which sought to unite under its rule all the Slavs in the southern region. Apparently, this policy did not particularly like the restless neighbor, who did not want to get a powerful confederation at his side, capable of jeopardizing the very existence of Austria-Hungary.

The reason for declaring war served as the murder of the heir to the imperial throne, who was shot by Serbian nationalists. Theoretically, this would be the end - this is not the first time two countries in Europe have declared war on each other and conducted offensive or defensive actions with varying success. But the fact is that Austria-Hungary was only a protégé of Germany, which had long wanted to reshape the world order in its favor.

The reason was failed colonial policy of the country who got involved in this struggle too late. One of the advantages of having a huge number of dependent states was the sales market, which was practically unlimited. Industrialized Germany desperately needed such a bonus, but couldn't get it. It was impossible to resolve the issue peacefully, the neighbors were happily receiving their profits and were not eager to share with anyone.

But the defeat in hostilities and the signing of the surrender could somewhat change the situation.

Allied member countries.

From the above lists, it can be decided that no more than 7 countries, but why then is the war called World War? The fact is that each of the blocks had allies who entered the war or left it at certain stages:

1. Italy.
2. Romania.
3. Portugal.
4. Greece.
5. Australia.
6. Belgium.
7. Empire of Japan.
8. Montenegro.

These countries did not make a decisive contribution to the overall victory, but we must not forget their active participation in the war on the side of the Entente.

In 1917, the United States joined this list, after another attack by a German submarine on a passenger ship.

Results of the war for the main participants.

Russia was able to fulfill the minimum plan for this war - to ensure the protection of the Slavs in Southern Europe... But the main goal was much more ambitious: control over the Black Sea straits could make our country a truly great maritime power.

But the then leadership did not succeed in dividing the Ottoman Empire and getting some of its most "tasty" fragments. And given the social tension in the country and the subsequent revolution, slightly different problems arose. The Austro-Hungarian Empire also ceased to exist - the worst economic and political consequences for the initiator.

France and England were able to gain a foothold in a leading position in Europe, thanks to impressive contributions from Germany. But Germany was waiting for hyperinflation, abandonment of the army, a severe crisis with the fall of several regimes. This led to a desire for revenge and the NSDAP at the head of state. But the United States was able to capitalize on this conflict, having suffered minimal losses.

Do not forget about what the First World War is, who fought with whom and what horrors it brought to society. Growing tensions and conflicts of interest can once again lead to similar irreparable consequences.

Video about the First World War