What happened in 1914 1918. Important dates and events of the First World War. French Theater of Operations - Western Front

Short story World War I 1914-1918

One of the largest armed conflicts in history was the First World War, which broke out at the beginning of the 20th century between the two coalitions. In fact, it was a conflict between the Entente (the military-political alliance of Russia, France and England) and the Central Powers (Germany and its allies). In general, more than 35 states participated in this war. The reason for the outbreak of hostilities was the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary by a terrorist organization.

If we talk about global causes, serious economic contradictions between the world powers led to the war. It is possible that at that time there were peaceful ways to resolve this conflict, but Germany and Austria-Hungary decided to act more decisively. The beginning of the military campaign is considered July 28, 1914. Events on the western front unfolded rapidly. Germany, in the hope of a quick capture of France, staged Operation Run to the Sea. Their expectations were not met.

On the Eastern Front hostilities began in mid-August. Russia quite successfully attacked East Prussia. In the same period, the Battle of Galicia took place, after which Russian troops occupied several regions at once. Eastern Europe. In the Balkans, the Serbs managed to return Belgrade captured by the Austrians. Japan opposed Germany, thereby ensuring the support of Russia from Asia. At the same time, Turkey occupied the Caucasian Front. Finally, towards the end 1914 year, none of the countries achieved their goals.

The next year was no less busy. Germany and France were involved in fierce battles, in which both sides suffered heavy losses. However, there were no major changes. Due to a supply crisis, during the Gorlitsky breakthrough in May 1915 Russia lost some of the conquered territories, including Galicia. Around the same time, Italy entered the war. AT 1916 The Battle of Verdun took place during which England and France lost up to 750,000 soldiers. In this battle, a flamethrower was used for the first time. In order to somehow distract the Germans and alleviate the position of the allies, the West Russian Front intervened in the situation.

At the end 1916 - early 1917 years, the preponderance of forces was in the direction of the Entente. At the same time, the United States joined the Entente, but due to the weakening of the economic situation in the warring countries and the growth of revolutionary sentiment, there was no serious military activity. After the October events, Russia actually withdrew from the war. The war ended in 1918 year with the victory of the Entente, but the consequences were not at all rosy. After Russia's withdrawal from the war, Germany occupied many Eastern European territories, liquidating their front.

However, the technical superiority remained with the Entente countries, which were soon joined by the German allies. In fact, towards the end 1918 Germany was forced to capitulate. According to some reports, more than 10 million soldiers died during the First World War. The consequences of the war were deplorable, both for Germany and for the victorious countries. The economies of all these countries were in decline, except perhaps the United States. Germany lost 1/8 of its territory and some colonies.

World War I 1914 - 1918

Plan:

2. Companies 1915-1916

3. Events of 1917-1918

1. The beginning of the First World War. 1914

The main cause of the First World War was a sharp aggravation of contradictions between the leading countries of the world due to their uneven development. An equally important reason was the arms race, on the supply of which the monopolies received super profits. The militarization of the economy and the consciousness of huge masses of people took place, the mood of revanchism and chauvinism grew.

The most profound were the contradictions between Germany and Great Britain. Germany sought to put an end to British dominance at sea, to seize her colonies. Germany's claims to France and Russia were great. The plans of the top military German leadership included the seizure of the economically developed regions of northeastern France, the desire to wrest the Baltic states, the "Don region", the Crimea and the Caucasus from Russia. In turn, Great Britain wanted to maintain its colonies and dominance at sea, to take oil-rich Mesopotamia and part of the Arabian Peninsula from Turkey. France, which suffered a crushing defeat in Franco-Prussian War, expected to regain Alsace and Lorraine, to annex the left bank of the Rhine and the Saar coal basin.

Austria-Hungary hatched expansionist plans for Russia (Volhynia, Podolia), Serbia. Russia sought to annex Galicia and seize the Black Sea straits Bosporus and Dardanelles.

By 1914 contradictions between two military-political groupings of European powers - tripartite alliance and the Entente - escalated to the limit. The Balkan Peninsula became a zone of special tension. The ruling circles of Austria-Hungary, following the advice of the German emperor, decided to finally establish their influence in the Balkans with one blow against Serbia. Soon there was a reason to declare war. The Austrian command launched military maneuvers near the Serbian border. The head of the Austrian "military party" heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand defiantly paid a visit to the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo. On June 28, a bomb was thrown into his carriage, which the Archduke threw away, demonstrating the presence of mind. On the way back, another route was chosen. But for some unknown reason, the carriage returned through the labyrinth of poorly guarded streets to the same place. A young man ran out of the crowd and fired two shots. One bullet hit the Archduke in the neck, the other in the stomach of his wife. Both died within minutes.

The terrorist act was carried out by Serbian patriots Gavrilo Princip and his associate Gavrilovich from the Black Hand paramilitary organization.

July 5, 1914 Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austrian government received assurances from Germany to support its claims against Serbia. Kaiser Wilhelm II promised the Austrian representative, Count Hoyos, that Germany would support Austria even if the conflict with Serbia led to war with Russia. On July 23, the Austrian government delivered an ultimatum to Serbia. It was presented at six in the evening, the answer was expected in 48 hours.

The terms of the ultimatum were harsh, some seriously hurting Serbia's pan-Slavic ambitions. The Austrians neither expected nor desired that the terms would be accepted. On July 7, having received confirmation of support from Germany, the Austrian government decided to provoke a war - an ultimatum was drawn up with this calculation. Austria was also encouraged by the conclusion that Russia was not ready for war: the sooner it happens, the better, they decided in Vienna.

The response of the Serbs to the ultimatum of July 23 was rejected, although it did not contain an unconditional recognition of the demands, and on July 28, 1914. Austria declared war on Serbia. Both sides began to mobilize even before the answer was received,

August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia, and two days later on France. After a month of mounting tension, it became clear that a major European war could not be avoided, although Britain still hesitated.

A day after the declaration of war on Serbia, when Belgrade was already bombed, Russia began to mobilize. The original order for general mobilization - an act tantamount to a declaration of war - was almost immediately canceled by the tsar in favor of partial mobilization. Perhaps Russia did not expect large-scale action from Germany.

On August 4, German troops invaded Belgium. Luxembourg suffered the same fate two days earlier. Both states had international guarantees against attack, but only Belgian guarantees provided for the intervention of the safeguarding power. Germany made public the "reasons" for the invasion, accusing Belgium of "non-neutral behavior" but no one took it seriously. The invasion of Belgium brought England into the war. The British government issued an ultimatum demanding an immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of German soldiers. The demand was ignored so all the great powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Russia and England were drawn into the war.

Although the great powers had been preparing for war for many years, it still took them by surprise. For example, England and Germany spent huge amounts of money on the construction of a navy, but bulky floating fortresses played an insignificant role in the battles, although they undoubtedly had strategic importance. Similarly, no one expected that the infantry (especially on the Western Front) would lose their ability to move, being paralyzed by the power of artillery and machine guns (although this was predicted by the Polish banker Ivan Bloch in his work "The Future of War" in 1899).

In terms of training and organization, the German army was the best in Europe. In addition, the Germans burned with patriotism and faith in their great mission, not yet realized. In Germany, the importance of heavy artillery and machine guns in modern combat, as well as the importance of railway communications, was best understood.

The Austro-Hungarian army was a cast of the German one, but was inferior to it because of the explosive mixture of different nationalities in its composition and mediocre performance in previous wars. The French army was only 20% smaller than the German one, but its manpower was barely more than half. The main difference, then, was in the reserves. Germany had a lot of them, France had nothing at all. France, like most other countries, hoped for a short war. She was unprepared for a prolonged conflict. Like the rest, France believed that movement would decide everything, and did not expect static trench warfare.

Russia's main advantage was its inexhaustible manpower and the proven courage of the Russian soldier, but its leadership was corrupt and incompetent, and its industrial backwardness made Russia unsuitable for modern warfare. Communications were very poor, the borders were endless, and the allies were geographically cut off. Russia's participation, billed as a pan-Slavic crusade, was supposed to be a desperate attempt to restore ethnic unity led by a degrading tsarist regime. Britain's position was quite different. rejected a "standing army" from even more ancient times. The British army was thus extremely small, but highly professional, and had the main purpose of maintaining order in overseas possessions. There were doubts whether the British command would be able to lead a real company. Some commanders were too old, True, this shortcoming was also inherent in Germany.

by the most a prime example misjudgment of the nature of modern warfare by the commands of both sides, there was a widespread belief that the most important role cavalry. At sea, traditional British superiority was challenged by Germany. In 1914 Britain had 29 capital ships, Germany 18. Britain also underestimated enemy submarines, although it was especially vulnerable to them due to its dependence on overseas supplies of food and raw materials for its industry. Britain became the main factory for the allies, what Germany was for its own.

The First World War was fought on almost a dozen fronts in different parts of the globe. The main fronts were the Western, where the German troops fought fighting against the British, French to Belgian troops, and Vostochny, where Russian troops opposed the combined forces of the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. The human, raw material and food resources of the Entente countries significantly exceeded the resources of the Central Powers, so the chances of Germany and Austria-Hungary to win the war on two fronts were small. The German command understood this and therefore relied on a lightning war.

The plan of military operations, developed by the Chief of the General Staff of Germany, von Schlieffen, proceeded from the fact that Russia would need at least a month and a half to concentrate its troops. During this time, it was supposed to defeat France and force her to surrender. Then it was planned to transfer all German troops against Russia. According to the Schlieffen Plan, the war was to end in two months. But these calculations did not come true.

In early August, the main forces of the German army approached the Belgian fortress of Liege, which covered the crossings across the Meuse River, and after bloody battles captured all its forts. On August 20, German troops entered the capital of Belgium - Brussels. German troops reached the Franco-Belgian border and in the "border battle" defeated the French, forcing them to retreat deep into the territory, which posed a threat to Paris. The German command overestimated its successes and, considering the strategic plan in the West fulfilled, transferred two army corps and a cavalry division to the East. In early September, German troops reached the Marne River in an effort to encircle the French. In the Battle of the Marne, September 3-10, 1914. Anglo-French troops stopped the German advance on Paris and even for a short time managed to go on the counteroffensive. One and a half million people participated in this battle. Losses on both sides amounted to almost 600 thousand people killed and wounded. The result of the Battle of the Marne was the final failure of the "blitzkrieg" plans.

The weakened German army began to "burrow" into the trenches. Western Front, stretching from the English Channel to the Swiss border, by the end of 1914. stabilized. Both sides began to build earth and concrete fortifications. The wide strip in front of the trenches was mined and covered with thick rows of barbed wire. The war on the Western Front turned from maneuverable to positional.

The offensive of the Russian troops in East Prussia ended unsuccessfully, they were defeated and partially destroyed in the Masurian swamps. The offensive of the Russian army under the command of General Brusilov in Galicia and Bukovina, on the contrary, threw back the Austro-Hungarian units to the Carpathians. By the end of 1914 on the Eastern Front, too, there was a respite. The belligerents switched to a long positional war.

November 5, 1914 Russia, Britain and France declared war on Turkey. In October, the Turkish government closed the Dardanelles and the Bosporus to Allied ships, effectively isolating Russia's Black Sea ports from the outside world and causing irreparable damage to its economy. Such a move by Turkey was an effective contribution to the military efforts of the Central Powers. The next provocative step was the shelling of Odessa and other southern Russian ports at the end of October by a squadron of Turkish warships.

The declining Ottoman Empire gradually fell apart and during the last half century lost most of its European possessions. The army was exhausted during unsuccessful military operations against the Italians in Tripoli, and Balkan Wars caused further depletion of its resources. The Young Turk leader Enver Pasha, who as Minister of War was a leading figure on the Turkish political scene, believed that an alliance with Germany would serve his country's best interests, and on August 2, 1914, a secret treaty was signed between the two countries. The German military mission has been active in Turkey since the end of 1913. She was instructed to carry out the reorganization of the Turkish army.

Despite strong objections from his German advisers, Enver Pasha decided to invade the Caucasus, which belonged to Russia, and in mid-December 1914 launched an offensive in difficult weather conditions. Turkish soldiers fought well, but suffered a severe defeat. However, the Russian high command was concerned about the threat posed by Turkey to the southern borders of Russia, and the German strategic plans the circumstance that this threat in this sector fettered the Russian troops, in which there was a great need on other fronts, served well.

2. Companies 1915-1916

The year 1915 began with the intensification of hostilities by the belligerents.

Symbolizing the emergence of sinister new means of warfare, on January 19, German Zeppelins began raiding the east coast of England. Several people died in the ports of Norfolk, several bombs fell near the royal house in Sendringham.

On January 24, a short but fierce battle took place off Dogger Bank in the North Sea, during which the German cruiser Blucher was sunk and two battlecruisers were damaged. The British battlecruiser Lion was also seriously damaged.

On February 12, the French launched a new offensive in Champagne. Losses were huge, the French lost about 50,000 men, advancing almost 500 yards. This was followed by the British attack on Neustal in March 1915 and a new French offensive in April in an easterly direction. However, these actions did not bring tangible results to the Allies.

In the east, on March 22, after the siege, Russian troops captured the fortress of Przemysl, which dominated the bridgehead on the San River in Galicia. Over 100,000 Austrians were taken prisoner, not counting the heavy losses suffered by Austria during unsuccessful attempts to lift the siege.

Russia's strategy in early 1915 was to advance towards Silesia and Hungary while securing reliable flanks. During this campaign, the capture of Przemysl was the main success of the Russian army (although it managed to hold this fortress for only two months). At the beginning of May 1915, a major offensive began by the troops of the Central Powers in the East.

The shock forces of the 11th German Army of Field Marshal Mackensen, supported by the 40th Austro-Hungarian Army, went on the offensive on a 20-mile front in Western Galicia. Russian troops were forced to leave Lvov and Warsaw. In the summer, the German command carried out a breakthrough of the Russian front near Gorlitsa. Soon the Germans launched an offensive in the Baltic states and Russian troops lost Galicia, Poland, part of Latvia and Belarus. The enemy was preoccupied with the need to repel the impending attack on Serbia, as well as to return troops to the Western Front before the start of a new French offensive. During the four-month campaign, Russia lost only 800,000 soldiers captured.

However Russian command moving to a strategic defense, managed to withdraw their armies from under the blows of the enemy and stop his advance. Worried and exhausted, the Austro-German armies went on the defensive along the entire front in October. Germany was faced with the need to continue a long war on two fronts. Russia bore the brunt of the struggle, which provided France and England with a respite to mobilize the economy for the needs of the war.

On February 16, 1915, British and French warships began shelling Turkish defenses in the Dardanelles. With interruptions due in part to bad weather, this naval operation continued for two months.

The Dardanelles operation was undertaken at the request of Russia to deliver a diversionary strike against Turkey, which would relieve pressure on the Russians who were fighting the Turks in the Caucasus. In January, the Dardanelles was chosen as the target - a strait about 40 miles long and 1 to 4 miles wide, connecting the Aegean Sea with the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bMarmara.

The operation to capture the Dardanelles, opening the way to an attack on Constantinople, figured in the military plans of the Allies before the start of the war, but was rejected as too complicated. With Turkey's entry into the war, this plan was revisited as possible, albeit risky. Initially, a purely naval operation was planned, but it immediately became clear that it was necessary to undertake a combined one. maritime and land operations. This plan has received strong support from English first Lord Admiralty Winston Churchill. The outcome of the operation - and if successful, would have opened a "back door" for Russia - was called into question by the Allies' unwillingness to immediately send large enough forces and the choice of mostly obsolete warships. In the beginning, Turkey had only two divisions to defend the strait. At the time of the landing of the Allied troops, she had six divisions at her disposal and outnumbered the five Allied divisions, not counting the presence of magnificent natural fortifications.

Early on the morning of April 25, 1915, Allied troops landed at two points on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The British landed at Cape Ilyas, at the southern tip of the peninsula, while the Australians and New Zealand units advanced about 15 miles north along the Aegean coast. At the same time, the French brigade launched a diversionary attack on Kumkale on the Anatolian coast.

Despite barbed wire and heavy machine-gun fire, both groups managed to capture the bridgehead. However, the Turks held the heights, with the result that the British, Australian and New Zealand troops were unable to move forward. As a result, as on the Western Front, a lull settled here.

In August, British troops landed in Suvla Bay, trying to capture the central part of the peninsula opposite the passage. Although the landing in the bay was sudden, the command of the troops was unsatisfactory, and the opportunity for a breakthrough was lost. The offensive in the south was also unsuccessful. The British government decided to withdraw troops. W. Churchill was forced to resign as First Lord of the Admiralty.

On May 23, 1915, Italy declared war on Austria, signing a secret treaty with the Allies in London in April. The Tripartite Alliance, linking Italy to the Central Powers, was denounced, although at this time she refused to declare war on Germany.

At the start of the war, Italy declared its neutrality on the grounds that the Triple Alliance did not oblige it to take part in a war of aggression. However, the main reason for Italy's actions was the desire to obtain territorial acquisitions at the expense of Austria. Austria was unwilling to make the concessions that Italy sought, such as giving up Trieste. In addition, by 1915, public opinion began to lean in favor of the Allies, and the former pacifists and radical socialists led by Mussolini saw an opportunity to make a revolution in the absence of social stability during the war.

In March, the Austrian government took steps to
meeting Italy's demands, but it was already too late. Under the London Treaty, the Italians got what they wanted, or most of what they wanted. In accordance with this treaty, Italy was promised Trentino, South Tyrol, Trieste, Istria and other predominantly Italian-speaking regions.

On May 30, the Italians began military operations against Austria with the transition of the 2nd and 3rd armies under the overall command of General Cadorna to the northeast.

Italy had very limited capabilities for warfare, its army had a low combat capability, especially after the Libyan campaign. The offensive of the Italians bogged down and the battles in 1915 took a positional one.

The year 1916 began with the offensive of Russian troops in the Caucasus. On February 16, they took the Turkish fortress of Erzurum. In the meantime, in England, Parliament approved a law on universal conscription, which was strongly opposed by the trade unions and the Labor Party. Conservatives and some liberals, led by D. Lloyd George, voted for the introduction of the law. And in the capital of Germany, a food riot broke out - in Berlin there was a catastrophic lack of food. In the same year, the battles near Verdun and on the Somme ended.

These battles were the bloodiest during the war years on the Western Front. They were distinguished by the massive use of artillery, aviation, infantry, cavalry, and did not bring success to either side. The main reason for this balance was the absolute superiority of defensive methods of warfare over offensive ones.

The Verdun offensive meant the desire of the chief of the German General Staff, Falkenhain, to deliver a decisive blow on the Western Front, which was postponed in 1915 after the successes achieved in the East. Falkenhain believed that England was Germany's main enemy, but he also admitted that England could not be conquered partly because an offensive in the English sector offered little chance of success, and also because a military defeat in Europe would not bring England out of the war. Submarine warfare was the main hope for realizing this possibility, and Falkenhayn saw his task in defeating the British allies in Europe. Russia was presented already defeated, and the Austrians showed that they could cope with the Italians.

France remained. Given the proven strength of the defense in trench warfare, Falkenhayn abandoned the idea of ​​trying to break through the French lines. At Verdun, he chose a strategy of war of attrition. He planned a series of strikes to draw out the French reserves and destroy them with artillery. Verdun was chosen partly because it was on a ledge and disrupted German communications, and also because of the important historical significance this great fortress. As soon as the battle began, the Germans were determined to capture Verdun, and the French - to defend it.

Falkenhayn was correct in his assumption that the French would not give up Verdun easily. However, the task was complicated by the fact that Verdun was no longer a solid fortress and was practically devoid of artillery. And yet, forced to retreat, the French kept the forts while reinforcements filtered through a very narrow corridor that was not subjected to German artillery fire. By the time General Petain, in command of the 2nd Army, was sent to Verdun at the end of the month to take charge of its defense, the immediate threat had passed. The German crown prince, who commanded the army corps, scheduled the main offensive for March 4. After two days of shelling, the offensive began, but by March 9 it was stopped. However, Falkengine's strategy remained the same.

On June 7, the Germans captured Fort Vaud, which controlled the right flank of the French positions at Verdun. The next day they captured Fort Tiomon, which had already changed hands twice since the attack began on June 1. It seemed that Verdun was under immediate threat. In March, the Germans failed to achieve a quick victory at Verdun, but they continued their attacks with great tenacity, which were carried out at short intervals. The French repulsed them and launched a series of counterattacks. German troops continued to advance.

On October 24, having taken over the 2nd Army after Petain became commander in chief, General Nivelle launched a counteroffensive near Verdun. With the start of the offensive on the Somme in July, German reserves were no longer sent to Verdun. The French counter-attack was covered by the "creeping artillery attack," a novel invention in which the infantry advanced behind a gradually moving wave of artillery fire in accordance with a precisely set time schedule. As a result, the troops mastered the initial targets and captured 6,000 prisoners. it was resumed in December and became known as the Battle of Louvain, nearly 10,000 prisoners were taken and more than 100 guns were captured.

In December, the battle of Verdun ended. In the Verdun meat grinder, about 120 divisions were ground, including 69 French and 50 German.

During the battle of Verdun, the allies on July 1, 1916, after a week of artillery preparation, launched an offensive on the Somme River. As a result of the exhaustion of the French troops at Verdun, British units became the main part of the offensive forces, and England became the leading power of the allies on the Western Front.

The Battle of the Somme was the place where tanks first appeared on September 15 - the new kind weapons. The effect of the British vehicles, which at first were called "land ships", was rather uncertain, but the number of tanks taking part in the battle was small. In autumn, the British advance was blocked by swamps. The battle on the Somme, which lasted from July to the end of November 1916, did not bring success to either side. Their losses were huge - 1 million 300 thousand people.

The situation on the Eastern Front was more successful for the Entente. In the midst of the fighting near Verdun, the French command again turned to Russia for help. On June 4, the 8th Russian Army under the command of General Kaledin advanced into the Lutsk region, which was considered as a reconnaissance operation. To the surprise of the Russians, the Austrian line of defense fell apart. And General Alexei Brusilov, who exercised overall command of the southern sector of the front, immediately stepped up his offensive, bringing 3 armies into battle. The Austrians were soon put into a stampede. In three days, the Russians captured 200,000 prisoners. The army of General Brusilov broke through the Austrian front on the line Lutsk - Chernivtsi. Russian troops again occupied most of Galicia and Bukovina, putting Austria-Hungary on the brink of military defeat. And although by August 1916 the offensive had dried up, the "Brusilovsky breakthrough" suspended the activity of the Austrians on the Italian front and greatly facilitated the position of the Anglo-French troops near Verdun and on the Somme.

War at sea was reduced to the question of whether Germany would be able to successfully counter England's traditional naval superiority. As on land, the presence of new types of weapons - aircraft, submarines, mines, torpedoes, radio weapons - made defense easier than attack.

The Germans, having a smaller fleet, believed that the British would seek to destroy it in battle, which they therefore tried to avoid. However, the British strategy was aimed at achieving other goals. Having relocated the fleet to Skala Flow in the Orkney Islands at the beginning of the war and thereby establishing control over the North Sea, the British, beingware of mines and torpedoes and the inaccessible coast of Germany, chose a long blockade, being always ready in case of an attempt to break through the German fleet. At the same time, being dependent on supplies by sea, they had to ensure security on ocean routes. In August 1914, the Germans had relatively few battleships based abroad, although the cruisers Goeben and Breslau successfully reached Constantinople at the start of the war, and their presence contributed to Turkey's entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers. The most significant forces, including the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, were destroyed during the fighting near the Falkland Islands, and by the end of 1914 the oceans were - at least on the surface - cleared of German raiders.

The main danger to ocean trade routes was not combat squadrons, but submarines. As the war progressed, Germany's backwardness in capital ships forced her to increasingly concentrate her efforts on submarines, which the British, suffering heavy losses in the Atlantic, regarded as an illegal means of warfare. Ultimately, the policy of unrestricted war using submarines, which turned out to be almost disastrous for England, indirectly brought death to Germany, since it was the direct cause of the entry into the war of the United States of America in 1917.

On May 7, 1915, the huge American liner Lusitania, which made a voyage from New York to Liverpool, was sunk as a result of a torpedo attack by a German submarine off the Irish coast. The ship quickly sank, and with it about 1,200 people went forever into the cold waters of the ocean - almost three-quarters of all on board.

The sinking of the Lusitania, whose speed, it was believed, made her invulnerable to torpedoes, necessitated appropriate response measures. The fact that the Germans had issued a careful warning to the Americans not to sail on this steamer only confirmed that the attack on it was rather pre-planned. It caused sharp anti-German protests in many countries, primarily in the United States. Nearly 200 American citizens were among the dead, including notables such as millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt. This sinking had a major impact on President Woodrow Wilson's declared policy of strict neutrality, and from that time on, US entry into the war became a potential possibility.

On July 18, 1915, the Italian cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi sank after being torpedoed by an Austrian submarine. A few days earlier, the English cruiser Dublin had been similarly attacked, but she managed to escape despite serious damage. The task of carrying out the blockade in the Adriatic Sea fell to the share of the French fleet, based in Malta. Austrian submarines were active, and after the loss of the battleship Jean Bar in December 1914, the French were wary of launching their heavy ships, relying on cruisers and destroyers. German U-boats also entered the Mediterranean in the summer of 1915, and the Allied position was made more difficult by the task of protecting the numerous transports and supply ships that made raids to and from the Gallipoli peninsula, and later to Thessaloniki. In September, an attempt was made to block the Strait of Otranto with nets, but German submarines managed to pass under them.

Military operations in the Baltic intensified. Russian sailors disabled a German minelayer, and a British submarine torpedoed the Prince Adalbert cruiser.

The Russian naval forces, supplemented by several British submarines, as a rule, successfully thwarted the plans of the Germans, which provided for the landing of troops in Courland and prevented the laying of mines. British submarines also attempted to disrupt iron and steel deliveries to Germany from Sweden, sinking later in 1915 14 ships engaged in these shipments.

But the losses of the British also grew. By the end of 1915, the total number of British merchant ships sunk by German submarines exceeded 250.

The battle of Jutland between the British and German fleets in the summer of 1916 led to heavy mutual losses, but in strategic terms it changed little. England retained superiority at sea and the blockade of Germany continued. The Germans had to return to submarine warfare again. However, its effectiveness became less and less, especially after the entry into the war of the United States.

3. Events of 1917-1918

The Revolution of 1917 was a turning point in human history. It had a significant impact on the course of the World War.

After the victory of the February Revolution in early March 1917, the Provisional Government was formed, which, together with the Soviets, exercised real power in the country.

In area foreign policy The provisional government advocated the continuation of the world war, despite the most difficult situation in Russia. On April 18, a note was published by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, P.N. This note and the intensification of hostilities at the front caused a powerful demonstration by the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison and the workers of the city on April 20-21 against the policy of continuing the war, demanding the resignation of Milyukov. At the end of April, Milyukov and Guchkov were forced to resign.

After the April crisis of the Provisional Government, a second coalition government was formed. The post of Minister of War in it was taken by A.F. Kerensky, and M.I. Tereshchenko became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Disagreements over war and peace again became dominant among the many political issues.

Right-wing parties, officers and generals, officials, big businessmen were ready to continue the war. Supporters of the liberal-democratic development of Russia sought to achieve an honorable peace. Left and left-radical forces expressed an irrepressible desire to turn the world war into a world revolution.

In June 1917, a new offensive of the Russian army began under the general command of Brusilov. The morale of the army improved somewhat after February Revolution, despite the Bolshevik propaganda, but the offensive itself was dictated by political considerations. Success could force the Germans to agree to a peace treaty. Failure could help strengthen the position of the German revolutionary socialists who support Russia. The offensive was poorly prepared and ended in a heavy defeat for Russia. During the 18 days of hostilities at the front, about 60 thousand soldiers and officers died.

After the suppression of the mass action of the workers and soldiers of Petrograd on July 4, 1917, power completely passed to the Provisional Government. The appointment of General L. G. Kornilov as commander-in-chief of the Russian army was met with approval in the West, but Kornilov attempted a military coup, which ended in failure for the monarchists, the military - supporters of the continuation of the war.

After the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks were among the first to adopt the Decree on Peace, which reflected their intention to withdraw from the world war. Already at the end of the year, the Council of People's Commissars began unprecedented separate negotiations with Germany.

According to the Brest Treaty Soviet Russia recognized the territory of the Baltic States, Poland, and partly Belarus for Germany. She pledged to renounce her claims to Finland, transfer Kare, Batum, Ardagan to Turkey, make peace with the Ukrainian Central Rada, democratize the army, disarm the navy, renew the old trade agreement, and pay reparations to Germany in the amount of 6 billion marks. Thus, Soviet Russia lost the territory in the amount of 800 thousand square meters. km, where 26% of the population lived. Brest Treaty signified Russia's withdrawal from the war. It operated until November 1918. After the November Revolution in Germany, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee suspended its operation.

On April 6, 1917, the United States officially declared war on Germany. In his speech addressed to Congress with a request to approve the adoption of this declaration, President Wilson denied that the United States had any territorial claims and argued that it was necessary to save the world for democracy. His policy was approved by an overwhelming majority - only 6 people in the Senate and 50 (out of 423) in the House of Representatives voted against.

The immediate reasons for the change in Wilson's policy towards Germany were its resumption at the end of January 1916 of unrestricted submarine warfare against both neutral and allied ships, as well as the disclosure of the Germans' attempt to convince Mexico to start a war against the United States. Up to this point, official US policy had been one of strict neutrality, which most Americans approved of.

Meanwhile, in Europe, in the spring of 1917, the Allies launched their planned large-scale offensive. On April 9, the British 3rd Army began operations near Arras in Artois. The offensive was initially successful - most of the Vishli mountain range was captured. English gas had a paralyzing effect on the German artillery - it killed horses carrying ammunition. But the spring offensive of the French army in the Reims region was unsuccessful. The Germans were well prepared and the French units were thrown against the barbed wire and the shower of machine-gun fire. By May 7, the French, having suffered heavy losses, advanced only 4 miles.

In the summer of 1917, British troops carried out a successful offensive in Flanders, and near Ypres their efforts were unsuccessful.

In autumn, German troops under the command of General Gutierre captured Riga, meeting little resistance from the demoralized Russian army. Having occupied the island of Ezel in October, the Germans secured their dominant position in the Baltic. However, soon the British, inflicting a series of attacks on German battleships, forced the German fleet to retreat. In November 1917, the British occupied German East Africa. In the same autumn, American troops arriving in Europe began hostilities in France.

In March, the Germans made a desperate attempt to break through the Allied defenses in the area of ​​the Somme River. Thanks to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Russia, Germany transferred significant forces to the West. However, it was clear that the successful start of the operation was of a short-term nature, especially as American troops more began to arrive in France.

Despite the extremely unfavorable strategic position, Germany made new attempts to seize the initiative in the war. In April, General Ludendorff launched an offensive in Flanders, 7 English submarines were sunk in the Baltic, and a major battle took place on the Marne. But the forces of Germany were already running out. On August 8, British and French troops launched an offensive to ease German pressure on Amiens. By the second half of September, the Allies crossed the Somme and approached Saint-Quentin. The Germans again found themselves on the Siegfried Line, from which they began their spring offensive. This Allied operation was the most successful of the entire war on the Western Front. The autumn of 1918 brought with it major geopolitical changes. In September, Bulgaria capitulated, and on October 31, Turkey. Austria signed the armistice on 3 November. The bloc of the Central Powers was practically non-existent. The war was nearing its logical end.

The inevitability of defeat forced Germany to look for ways to end the war. Created on September 30, 1918, the new German government with the participation of the Social Democrats turned to the United States with a request for an armistice on the basis of Wilson's "14 points". dried up, on October 30, the German military squadron, located in the harbor of the city of Kiel, received an order to go to sea and attack the English fleet.The war-weary sailors, aware of the adventurism of the order, refused to obey the order, on November 3, 1918, demonstrations of sailors, soldiers and workers began in the city of Kiel which soon developed into an uprising. The city was in the hands of the rebels, the rebels created the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Following Kiel, councils arose in other cities. A revolution began in Germany.

On the night of November 10, Wilhelm II fled to the Netherlands. Post Reich Chancellor Max. Badensky handed over to the first Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert.

On November 9, an armed uprising took place in Berlin, the participants of which captured the city by the middle of the day. A coalition government was formed - the Council of People's Deputies (SNU), which included representatives of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD). The new government carried out a number of democratic reforms: it abolished martial law, abolished some reactionary laws, and proclaimed freedom of speech, press, and assembly. This government ended the war by signing an armistice agreement with the Entente powers on 11 November. With the formation of the SNU, the first stage of the November Revolution ended. In Germany, the monarchy was overthrown and a "Social Republic" was proclaimed.

The First World War had a catastrophic effect on the economic situation in Germany and aggravated the social and political situation in the country to the extreme. The war cost the German people dearly: 2 million Germans were killed, more than 4.5 million were wounded, 1 million were taken prisoner. The country was suffocating in the grip of economic ruin, high cost, hunger, taxes increased monstrously. The beginning of the November Revolution was a natural manifestation of the deepest crisis in German society.

The approaching military collapse coincided in Austria-Hungary with a revolutionary crisis. The general political strike in the Czech Republic on October 14, 1918 developed into a national liberation democratic revolution. On October 28, when it became known that the Austro-Hungarian government agreed to accept the terms of peace proposed by President Wilson, the National Committee, created in the summer of 1918, announced the creation of the Czechoslovak state. On October 30, the Slovak National Council announced the separation of Slovakia from Hungary and its accession to the Czech lands. The formation of the Czechoslovak state ended the long struggle of the two fraternal peoples for national liberation. On November 14, 1918, the National Assembly, formed by expanding the composition of the National Committee, proclaimed Czechoslovakia a republic and elected Tomas Masaryk as president.

The revolutionary actions of the soldiers of Istria, Dalmatia, Croatia led to the separation of all South Slavic provinces from Austria-Hungary. On December 1, 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed. It included Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, Dalmatia, part of Macedonia and Montenegro. The new state was a constitutional monarchy led by the Serbian royal dynasty of Karageorgievich, and the king had the right, together with the parliament (assembly), to legislative power. At the same time, Northern Bukovina announced its accession to Ukraine, and Galicia - to Poland. In October 1918, the once dual Austro-Hungarian Habsburg monarchy actually ceased to exist. On November 3, the new Austrian government, on behalf of the already defunct Austria-Hungary, signed the armistice terms dictated by the Entente. Two more new states appeared on the map of Europe - Austria and Hungary. On November 16, the National Council of Hungary proclaimed the Hungarian Republic. During the beginning of the democratic revolution, tendencies to create a more equitable structure of society dominated. Representatives of independent and radical parties came to power. The government was headed by Count M. Karoyi. Democratic transformations began: a general equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot was established, laws were adopted on freedom of assembly and unions, political organizations. A large-scale agrarian reform was planned.

However, in Hungary, in contrast to Austria, where a democratic revolution was also taking place, the strong influence of the Communist Party remained, mainly consisting of Hungarian prisoners of war returned from Russia, led by Bela Kun, who had gone through Bolshevik universities there. "The Communists called for socialist revolution and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat on the Soviet model. They began active work to expand their influence in the Soviets being created throughout the country. In 1919, the communists managed to seize power in the country for a short time.

Early in the morning of November 11, 1918, in the salon-car of the headquarters train of the commander-in-chief of the Entente, Marshal Foch, who was standing near the Retonde station in the Compiègne forest, representatives of the armed forces of Germany and its allies signed a truce. The war ended with the defeat of the German block countries. At 11 o'clock on the same day, 101 volleys of artillery salute burst out in Paris, announcing the end of the First World War.

In terms of its scale and consequences, the First World War was unparalleled in the entire previous history of mankind. It lasted 4 years, 3 months and 10 days (from August 1, 1914 to November 11, 1918), covering 38 countries with a population of over 1.5 billion people. 70 million people were mobilized in the armies of the warring countries.

The war demanded colossal financial costs, which were many times greater than the costs in all previous wars. There is no scientifically sound estimate of the total cost of World War I. The most common estimate in the literature is that given by the American economist E. Bogart, who determined the total cost of the war at 359.9 billion dollars in gold.

The growth of military production was achieved at the expense of peaceful branches of industry and an overstrain of the national economy, which led to a general breakdown of the economy. In Russia, for example, 2/3 of all industrial output went to military needs and only 1/3 remained for consumption by the population. This gave rise to commodity hunger, high prices and speculation in all the warring countries. The war caused a reduction in the production of many types of industrial products. The smelting of cast iron, steel and non-ferrous metals, the extraction of coal and oil, and the output of all branches of the light industry have declined significantly. The war destroyed the productive forces of society and undermined the economic life of peoples.

Agriculture was especially hard hit. Mobilization into the army deprived the countryside of the most productive labor force and taxes. The area under crops has decreased, productivity has fallen, the number of livestock and its productivity has decreased. In the cities of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, there was an acute shortage of food, and then a real famine broke out. It even spread to the army, where food rations were reduced.

The war demanded the mobilization of all material resources showed the decisive role of the economy during the armed struggle was characterized by the massive use of a variety of military equipment. The industry of the belligerent countries supplied the front with millions of rifles, over 1 million light and heavy machine guns, over 150,000 guns, 47.7 billion rounds of ammunition, over 1 billion shells, 9,200 tanks, and 183,000 aircraft.

The war brought unprecedented hardships and suffering, general hunger and ruin, brought all of humanity to the brink of abyss and despair. During the war there was a mass destruction of material values, the total cost of which amounted to 58 billion rubles. Entire areas (especially in Northern France) were turned into a desert, 9.5 million people were killed and died of wounds, 20 million people were injured, of which 3.5 million remained crippled. Germany suffered the most losses. Russia, France and Austria-Hungary (66.6% of all losses), the US accounted for only 1.2% of the total losses. Famine and other disasters caused by the war led to an increase in mortality and a decrease in the birth rate. The population decline for these reasons was: in Russia 5 million people, in Austria-Hungary 4.4 million people, in Germany 4.2 million people. Unemployment, inflation, higher taxes, higher prices - all this has exacerbated the need, poverty, extreme insecurity of the vast majority of the population of the warring countries.

At the same time, the profits of the German monopolies by 1918 amounted to 10 billion gold marks, and the American monopolies received income for 1914-1918. 3 billion dollars.

The First World War should be regarded as a milestone in the world-historical process. The immediate result of the war and one of its most far-reaching consequences was the complete collapse of the multinational empires - the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Russian. It caused an unprecedented scope of the revolutionary and national liberation movement, intensified the confrontation between totalitarianism and democracy, contributed to the emergence of various political regimes, and significantly redrawn the map of the world.

Until recently, due to certain political and ideological reasons, dogmatic attitudes, it was generally accepted that the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia was a turning point in the history of human civilization and opened its new era. It was considered as an independent, isolated phenomenon, which stood at the origins of the world historical process in modern history.

However, the October Revolution and the series of European revolutions that followed it were organically connected with the First World War and the peculiarities of the socio-economic and socio-political development of each country. There are many proofs for this. First, the war put on the agenda not only at the front, but also in the rear the problem of the physical survival of a person. Secondly, the short-sighted policy of the governments of the belligerent countries, which did not take care of the social protection of the working population in the conditions of war and of observing even the semblance of justice in the distribution of its burdens between the "tops" and "bottoms" of society, steadily undermined the patriotic feelings of the peoples and pushed them towards revolution. Thirdly, the weakening of all structures of state power and the transformation of the "man with a gun" into a real participant in the country's political life created additional prerequisites for a power confrontation, sharply reducing the chances of reaching a socio-political compromise.

Thus, the October Revolution, like other revolutions in this period of history, was generated by the First World War and internal specific causes in each of the countries where revolutionary upheavals occurred.

Literature:

1. Berdichevsky Ya.M., Ladichenko T.V. The World History. 3rd edition. Zaporozhye 1998

2. "History of the state and law foreign countries"Under the editorship of O.A. Zhidkov and N.A. Krasheninnikova. Moscow 1998.

3. Z.M. Chernilovsky" General history State and Law", Moscow, 1996.

The First World War began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and lasted until 1918. In the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire (Central Powers) fought Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan, and the United States (Allied Powers).

Thanks to new military technology and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I was unprecedented in terms of bloodshed and destruction. By the time the war ended and the victory of the Allied Powers, more than 16 million people, both soldiers and civilians, were dead.

The beginning of the first world war

Tension hung over Europe, especially in the problematic Balkan region and southeastern Europe, long before the actual start of the First World War. Some alliances, including European powers, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and other powers, had existed for years, but political instability in the Balkans (notably Bosnia, Serbia and Herzegovina) threatened to destroy these agreements.

The spark that ignited the First World War originated in Sarajevo (Bosnia), where Archduke Franz Ferdinand - heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire - was shot dead along with his wife Sofia by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Princip and other nationalists were fed up with Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand set off a fast-paced chain of events: Austria-Hungary, like many other countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident to settle the issue of Serbian nationalism once and for all under the pretense of restoring justice.

But because of Russia's support for Serbia, Austria-Hungary delayed declaring war until their leaders received confirmation from the German ruler, Kaiser Wilhelm II, that Germany would support their cause. Austria-Hungary was afraid that the Russian intervention would also attract Russia's allies - France, and possibly Great Britain.

On July 5, Kaiser Wilhelm secretly pledged his support, giving Austria-Hungary the so-called carte blanche to take action and the assurance that Germany would be on their side in case of war. The dualistic Monarchy of Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia with conditions so harsh that they could not be accepted.

Convinced that Austria-Hungary is preparing for war, the Serbian government orders the mobilization of the army and asks for help from Russia. July 28 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia and the fragile peace between the greatest European powers collapses. For a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia oppose Austria-Hungary and Germany. Thus began the First World War.

Western Front

Under an aggressive military strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan (named for the Chief of the German General Staff, General Alfred von Schlieffen), Germany began fighting World War I on two fronts, invading France through neutral Belgium in the west and confronting powerful Russia in the east. .

On August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the Belgian border. In the first battle of the First World War, the Germans laid siege to the well-fortified city of Liege. They used the most powerful weapon in their arsenal, heavy artillery pieces, and captured the city by 15 August. Leaving death and destruction in their wake, including the shooting of civilians and the execution of a Belgian priest who was suspected of organizing civil resistance, the Germans advanced through Belgium towards France.

In the first battle of the Marne, which took place on September 6-9, French and British troops entered the battle with the German army, which penetrated deep into French territory from the northeast and was already 50 kilometers from Paris. Allied troops stopped German offensive and launched a successful counterattack, driving the Germans back north of the Ein River.

The defeat meant the end of the German plans for a quick victory over France. Both sides dug in trenches, and the western front turned into a hellish war of extermination that lasted more than three years.

Particularly long and major battles of the campaign took place at Verdun (February-December 1916) and on the Somme (July-November 1916). The combined losses of the German and French armies amount to about a million casualties in the Battle of Verdun alone.

The bloodshed on the battlefields of the western front and the hardships faced by the soldiers over the years inspired such works as All Quiet on the Western Front and In Flanders Fields by Canadian doctor Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.

Eastern front

On the eastern front of the First World War, Russian troops invaded the German-controlled regions of Eastern and Poland, but were stopped by German and Austrian forces at the Battle of Tannenberg in late August 1914.

Despite this victory, the Russian attack forced Germany to transfer 2 corps from the western to the eastern front, which ultimately had an impact on the German defeat at the Battle of the Marne.
The fierce allied resistance in France, coupled with the ability to quickly mobilize Russia's huge war machine, led to a longer and more exhausting military confrontation than the quick victory plan that Germany had hoped for under the Schlieffen plan.

Revolution in Russia

From 1914 to 1916, the Russian army launched several attacks on the eastern front, but Russian army was unable to break through the German defensive lines.

The defeats on the battlefields, coupled with economic instability and a shortage of food and basic necessities, led to growing discontent among the bulk of the Russian population, especially among the poor workers and peasants. The increased hostility was directed against the monarchical regime of Emperor Nicholas II and his extremely unpopular German-born wife.

Russian instability exceeded the boiling point, which resulted in the Russian Revolution of 1917, led by and. The revolution ended monarchical rule and led to the end of Russia's participation in the First World War. Russia reached an agreement to cease hostilities with the Central Powers in early December 1917, freeing German troops to fight the remaining Allies on the Western Front.

USA enters World War I

At the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, the United States preferred to remain on the sidelines, adhering to President Woodrow Wilson's policy of neutrality. At the same time, they maintained commercial relations and trade with European countries on both sides of the conflict.

Neutrality, however, became more difficult to maintain as German submarines became aggressive against neutral ships, even those carrying only passengers. In 1915, Germany declared the waters around the British Isles a war zone and German submarines sank several commercial and passenger ships, including US ships.

Widespread public outcry was caused by the sinking of the British transatlantic liner Lusitania by a German submarine en route from New York to Liverpool. Hundreds of Americans were on board, which in May 1915 caused a shift in American public opinion against Germany. In February 1917, the US Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriation bill to enable the US to prepare for war.

Germany sank 4 more US merchant ships in the same month, and on April 2, President Woodrow Wilson appeared before Congress calling for a declaration of war on Germany.

Dardanelles operation and the battle of the Isonzo

When the First World War put Europe in a stalemate, the Allies made an attempt to defeat Ottoman Empire, which entered the war on the side of the Central Powers at the end of 1914.

After a failed attack on the Dardanelles (the strait connecting the Seas of Marmara and the Aegean), Allied troops, led by Britain, landed a large force on the Gallipoli peninsula in April 1915.

The invasion turned out to be a crushing defeat and in January 1916 the Allied forces were forced to make a full retreat from the coast of the peninsula, having suffered losses of 250,000 people.
The young, First Lord of the Admiralty of Great Britain resigned as commander after the lost Gallipoli campaign in 1916, accepting an appointment as commander of an infantry battalion in France.

British-led forces also fought in Egypt and Mesopotamia. At the same time, in northern Italy, Austrian and Italian troops met in a series of 12 battles on the banks of the Isonzo River, located on the border of the two states.

The first Battle of the Isonzo took place in the late spring of 1915, shortly after Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies. At the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto (October 1917), German reinforcements helped Austria-Hungary win a landslide victory.

After Caporetto, the allies of Italy got involved in the confrontation to provide support to Italy. British and French, and then American troops landed in the region, and Allied troops began to retake their lost positions on the Italian front.

World War I at sea

In the years leading up to the First World War, the superiority of the British Royal Navy was undeniable, but the German Imperial Navy made significant progress in closing the gap between the forces of the two fleets. The strength of the German fleet in open waters was supported by deadly submarines.

After the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, in which Great Britain launched a surprise attack on German ships in the North Sea, German navy chose not to engage the mighty British Royal Navy in major battles throughout the year, preferring to pursue a strategy of stealth strikes by submarines.

The largest naval battle of World War I was the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea (May 1916). The battle confirmed British naval superiority, and Germany made no further attempts to lift the Allied naval blockade until the end of the war.

Towards a truce

Germany was able to strengthen its position on the western front after the armistice with Russia, which forced the Allied forces to do their best to contain the German advance until the arrival of the reinforcements promised by the United States.

On July 15, 1918, German troops launched what would become the last attack of the war on French troops, joined by 85,000 American soldiers and the British Expeditionary Force, in the Second Battle of the Marne. The Allies successfully repulsed the German offensive and launched their own counterattack after only 3 days.

Having suffered significant losses, German forces were forced to abandon their plan to advance north into Flanders, a region stretching between France and Belgium. The region seemed particularly important to Germany's prospects for victory.

The Second Battle of the Marne turned the balance of power in favor of the Allies, who were able to take control of large parts of France and Belgium in the following months. By the autumn of 1918, the Central Powers were losing on all fronts. Despite the Turkish victory at Gallipoli, subsequent defeats and the Arab revolt devastated the Ottoman economy and devastated their lands. The Turks were forced to sign a settlement agreement with the Allies at the end of October 1918.

Austria-Hungary, eroded from within by the growing nationalist movement, concluded an armistice on 4 November. The German army was cut off from supplies from the rear and faced with a decrease in resources for combat operations due to the encirclement of Allied troops. This forced Germany to seek an armistice, which she concluded on November 11, 1918, ending the First World War.

Treaty of Versailles

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Allied leaders expressed their desire to build a post-war world capable of protecting itself from future destructive conflicts.

Some hopeful conference attendees even called World War I "The War to End All Other Wars." But the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919, did not achieve its goals.

Years later, the hatred of the Germans for the Treaty of Versailles and its authors will be considered one of the main reasons that provoked the Second World War.

Results of the First World War

The First World War claimed the lives of more than 9 million soldiers and more than 21 million were wounded. Losses among the civilian population amounted to about 10 million. Germany and France suffered the most significant losses, sending about 80 percent of their male population between the ages of 15 and 49 to the war.

The collapse of political alliances that accompanied the First World War led to the displacement of 4 monarchical dynasties: German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Turkish.

The First World War led to a massive shift in social strata, as millions of women were forced to go into working professions to support the men fighting at the front and replace those who never returned from the battlefields.

The first, such a large-scale war, also caused the spread of one of the world's largest epidemics of the Spanish flu, or "Spanish Flu", which claimed the lives of 20 to 50 million people.

The First World War is also called the "first modern war", as it was the first time that the latest military developments were used in it, such as machine guns, tanks, aircraft and radio transmissions.

The grave consequences caused by the use of chemical weapons such as mustard gas and phosgene against soldiers and civilians have intensified public opinion in the direction of prohibiting their further use as weapons.

Signed in 1925, it banned the use of chemical and biological weapons in armed conflicts to this day.

The starting point in the history of the war, later called World War I, is considered to be 1914 (July 28), and the end is 1918 (November 11). Many countries of the world took part in it, divided into two camps:

Entente (a block originally consisting of France, England, Russia, which, after a certain period of time, were also joined by Italy, Romania, and many other countries)

Quadruple Alliance (Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire).

If we briefly describe the period of history known to us as the First World War, then it can be divided into three stages: the initial one, when the main participating countries entered the arena of actions, the middle one, when the situation turned in favor of the Entente, and the final one, when Germany and its the allies finally lost their positions and capitulated.

First stage

The war began with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Habsburg Empire) and his wife by the Serbian nationalist terrorist Gavrila Princip. The assassination led to a conflict between Serbia and Austria, and, in fact, served as a pretext for starting a war that had long been brewing in Europe. Germany supported Austria in this war. This country entered the war with Russia on August 1, 1914, and two days later - with France; further, the German army broke into the territory of Luxembourg and Belgium. The enemy armies advanced towards the sea, where the line of the Western Front eventually closed. For some time the situation here remained stable, and France did not lose control over its coast, which the German troops unsuccessfully tried to capture. In 1914, namely in mid-August, the Eastern Front opened: here the Russian army attacked and quickly captured territories in the east of Prussia. The Battle of Galicia, victorious for Russia, took place on August 18, temporarily putting an end to fierce clashes between the Austrians and Russians.

Serbia recaptured Belgrade, previously captured by the Austrians, after which there were no particularly active battles. Japan also turned against Germany, seizing its island colonies in 1914. This secured the eastern borders of Russia from invasion, but from the south it was attacked by the Ottoman Empire, which acted on the side of Germany. At the end of 1914, she opened the Caucasian front, which cut off Russia from convenient communication with the allied countries.

Second phase

The Western Front became more active: here in 1915 fierce battles between France and Germany resumed. The forces were equal, and the front line remained almost unchanged at the end of the year, although both sides suffered significant damage. On the Eastern Front, the situation changed for the worse for the Russians: the Germans made the Gorlitsky breakthrough, having won Galicia and Poland from Russia. By autumn, the front line had stabilized: now it ran almost along the pre-war border between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia.

In 1915 (May 23), Italy entered the war. At first, she declared war on Austria-Hungary, but soon Bulgaria also joined the fighting, opposing the Entente, which ultimately led to the fall of Serbia.

In 1916, the Battle of Verdun took place, one of the largest battles in this war. The operation lasted from late February to mid-December; during this confrontation between the German troops, who lost 450,000 soldiers, and the Anglo-French forces, who suffered losses of 750,000 people, the flamethrower was first used. On the Western Russian front, Russian troops made the Brusilovsky breakthrough, after which Germany transferred most of its troops there, which played into the hands of England and France. Fierce battles were also fought on the water at this time. So, in the spring of 1916, a major Battle of Jutland took place, which strengthened the position of the Entente. At the end of the year, the Quadruple Alliance, having lost its dominant position in the war, proposed a truce, which the Entente rejected.

Third stage

In 1917, the United States joined the allied forces. The Entente was close to victory, but Germany held a strategic defense on land, and also tried to attack the forces of England with the help of a submarine fleet. Russia in October 1917, after the Revolution, had already almost completely withdrawn from the war, absorbed in internal problems. Germany liquidated the Eastern Front by signing an armistice with Russia, Ukraine and Romania. In March 1918, the Brest Peace Treaty was concluded between Russia and Germany, the terms of which turned out to be extremely difficult for Russia, but this agreement was soon canceled. Under Germany, the Baltic states, part of Belarus and Poland still remained; The country transferred the main military forces to the west, but, together with Austria (the Habsburg Empire), Bulgaria and Turkey (Ottoman Empire), was defeated by the Entente troops. Finally exhausted, Germany was forced to sign the Act of Surrender - it happened in 1918, on November 11th. This date is considered the end of the war.

The Entente troops won a final victory in 1918.

After the war, the economies of all participating countries suffered greatly. A particularly deplorable state of affairs was in Germany; in addition, this country lost an eighth of the territories that belonged to it before the war, which went to the Entente countries, and the banks of the Rhine River remained occupied by the victorious allied forces for 15 years. Germany was obliged to pay reparations to the allies for 30 years, imposed strict restrictions on all types of weapons and on the size of the army - it should not exceed 100 thousand military personnel.

However, the victorious member countries of the Entente bloc also suffered losses. Their economy was extremely depleted, all branches of the national economy suffered a severe decline, the standard of living deteriorated sharply, and only the military monopolies found themselves in an advantageous position. The situation in Russia has also become extremely destabilized, which is explained not only by internal political processes (primarily October Revolution and the events that followed it), but also the participation of the country in the First World War. The United States suffered the least - mainly because military operations were not conducted directly on the territory of this country, and its participation in the war was not long. The US economy experienced a real boom in the 1920s, which was replaced only in the 1930s by the so-called Great Depression, but the war that had already passed and did not greatly affect the country had nothing to do with these processes.

And, finally, about the losses that the First World War brought, briefly: human losses are estimated at 10 million soldiers and about 20 million civilians. The exact number of victims of this war has not been established. The lives of many people were claimed not only by armed conflicts, but also by famine, epidemics of disease, and extremely difficult living conditions.

There was a sharp aggravation of contradictions between the leading countries of the world as a result of their uneven development. An equally important reason was the arms race, on the supply of which the monopolies received super profits. The militarization of the economy and the consciousness of huge masses of people took place, the mood of revanchism and chauvinism grew. The most profound were the contradictions between Germany and Great Britain. Germany sought to put an end to British dominance at sea, to seize her colonies. Germany's claims to France and Russia were great.

The plans of the top military German leadership included the seizure of the economically developed regions of northeastern France, the desire to wrest the Baltic states, the "Don region", the Crimea and the Caucasus from Russia. In turn, Great Britain wanted to maintain its colonies and dominance at sea, to take oil-rich Mesopotamia and part of the Arabian Peninsula from Turkey. France, which suffered a crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian war, hoped to regain Alsace and Lorraine, annex the left bank of the Rhine and the Saar coal basin. Austria-Hungary hatched expansionist plans for Russia (Volhynia, Podolia), Serbia.

Russia sought to annex Galicia and take possession of the Black Sea straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. By 1914 the contradictions between the two military-political groupings of the European powers the Triple Alliance and the Entente escalated to the limit. The Balkan Peninsula became a zone of special tension. The ruling circles of Austria-Hungary, following the advice of the German emperor, decided to finally establish their influence in the Balkans with one blow against Serbia. Soon there was a reason to declare war. The Austrian command launched military maneuvers near the Serbian border. The head of the Austrian "military party" heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand defiantly inflicted
visit to the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. On June 28, a bomb was thrown into his carriage, which the Archduke threw away, demonstrating the presence of mind. On the way back, another route was chosen.

But for some unknown reason, the carriage returned through the labyrinth of poorly guarded streets to the same place. A young man ran out of the crowd and fired two shots. One bullet hit the Archduke in the neck, the other in the stomach of his wife. Both died within minutes. The terrorist act was carried out by Serbian patriots Gavrilo Princip and his associate Gavrilovich from the Black Hand paramilitary organization. July 5, 1914 Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austrian government received assurances from Germany to support its claims against Serbia. Kaiser Wilhelm II promised the Austrian representative, Count Hoyos, that Germany would support Austria even if the conflict with Serbia led to war with Russia. On July 23, the Austrian government delivered an ultimatum to Serbia.

It was presented at six in the evening, the answer was expected in 48 hours. The terms of the ultimatum were harsh, some seriously hurting Serbia's pan-Slavic ambitions. The Austrians neither expected nor desired that the terms would be accepted. On July 7, having received confirmation of German support, the Austrian government decided to provoke a war with an ultimatum and was drawn up with this in mind. Austria was also encouraged by the conclusion that Russia was not ready for war: the sooner it happens, the better, they decided in Vienna. The response of the Serbs to the ultimatum of July 23 was rejected, although it did not contain an unconditional recognition of the demands, and on July 28, 1914. Austria declared war on Serbia. Both sides began to mobilize even before the answer was received.

August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia, and two days later on France. After a month of mounting tension, it became clear that a major European war could not be avoided, although Britain still hesitated. A day after the declaration of war on Serbia, when Belgrade was already bombed, Russia began to mobilize. The initial order for general mobilization, an act tantamount to a declaration of war, was almost immediately canceled by the tsar in favor of partial mobilization. Perhaps Russia did not expect large-scale action from Germany. On August 4, German troops invaded Belgium. Luxembourg suffered the same fate two days earlier. Both states had international guarantees against attack, however, only Belgian guarantees provided for the intervention of the guaranteeing power. Germany made public the "reasons" for the invasion, accusing Belgium of "non-neutral behaviour", but no one took it seriously. The invasion of Belgium brought England into the war. The British government issued an ultimatum demanding an immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of German soldiers.

The demand was ignored, thus, all the great powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Russia and England were drawn into the war. Although the great powers had been preparing for war for many years, it still took them by surprise. For example, England and Germany spent huge amounts of money on the construction of a navy, but bulky floating fortresses played an insignificant role in the battles, although they undoubtedly had strategic importance. Similarly, no one expected that the infantry (especially on the Western Front) would lose their ability to move, being paralyzed by the power of artillery and machine guns (although this was predicted by the Polish banker Ivan Bloch in his work "The Future of War" in 1899). In terms of training and organization, the German army was the best in Europe. In addition, the Germans burned with patriotism and faith in their great mission, not yet realized.

In Germany, the importance of heavy artillery and machine guns in modern combat, as well as the importance of railway communications, was best understood. The Austro-Hungarian army was a cast of the German one, but was inferior to it because of the explosive mixture of different nationalities in its composition and mediocre performance in previous wars.

The French army was only 20% smaller than the German one, but its manpower was barely more than half. The main difference, then, was in the reserves. Germany had a lot of them, France had nothing at all. France, like most other countries, hoped for a short war. She was unprepared for a prolonged conflict. Like the rest, France believed that movement would decide everything, and did not expect static trench warfare.

Russia's main advantage was its inexhaustible manpower and the proven courage of the Russian soldier, but its leadership was corrupt and incompetent, and its industrial backwardness made Russia unsuitable for modern warfare. Communications were very poor, the borders were endless, and the allies were geographically cut off. The Russian involvement, billed as a "pan-Slavic crusade", was supposed to be a desperate attempt to restore ethnic unity, led by the tsarist government. The position of Britain was quite different. Britain never had a large army and as early as the 18th century depended on naval forces, and traditions rejected a "standing army" from even more ancient times.

The British army was thus extremely small, but highly professional and had the main goal of maintaining order in overseas possessions. There were doubts whether the British command would be able to run a real company. Some of the generals were too old, although this defect was also inherent in Germany. The most striking example of the misjudgment of the nature of modern warfare by the commanders on both sides was the widespread belief that the cavalry was the most important role. At sea, traditional British superiority was challenged by Germany.

In 1914 Britain possessed 29 capital ships, Germany 18. Britain also underestimated enemy submarines, although it was particularly vulnerable to them due to its dependence on overseas supplies of food and raw materials for its industry. Britain became the main factory for the allies, what Germany was for its own. The First World War was fought on almost a dozen fronts in different parts of the globe. The main fronts were the Western, where the German troops fought against the British, French and Belgian troops; and Vostochny, where Russian troops opposed the combined forces of the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. The human, raw material and food resources of the Entente countries significantly exceeded the resources of the Central Powers, so the chances of Germany and Austria-Hungary to win the war on two fronts were small.

The German command understood this and therefore relied on a lightning war. The plan of military operations, developed by the Chief of the General Staff of Germany, von Schlieffen, proceeded from the fact that Russia would need at least a month and a half to concentrate its troops. During this time, it was supposed to defeat France and force her to surrender. Then it was planned to transfer all German troops against Russia.

According to the Schlieffen Plan, the war was to end in two months. But these calculations did not come true. In early August, the main forces of the German army approached the Belgian fortress of Liege, which covered the crossings across the Meuse River, and after bloody battles captured all its forts. On August 20, German troops entered the capital of Belgium, Brussels. German troops reached the Franco-Belgian border and in the "border battle" defeated the French, forcing them to retreat deep into the territory, which posed a threat to Paris. The German command overestimated its successes and, considering the strategic plan in the West fulfilled, transferred two army corps and a cavalry division to the East. In early September, German troops reached the Marne River in an effort to encircle the French. In the Battle of the Marne, September 3-10, 1914. Anglo-French troops stopped the German advance on Paris and even for a short time managed to go on the counteroffensive. One and a half million people participated in this battle.

Losses on both sides amounted to almost 600 thousand people killed and wounded. The result of the Battle of the Marne was the final failure of the "blitzkrieg" plans. The weakened German army began to "burrow" into the trenches. The Western Front, stretching from the English Channel to the Swiss border, by the end of 1914. stabilized. Both sides began to build earth and concrete fortifications. The wide strip in front of the trenches was mined and covered with thick rows of barbed wire. The war on the Western Front turned from "maneuverable" into positional. The offensive of the Russian troops in East Prussia ended unsuccessfully, they were defeated and partially destroyed in the Masurian swamps. The offensive of the Russian army under the command of General Brusilov in Galicia and Bukovina, on the contrary, threw back the Austro-Hungarian units to the Carpathians. By the end of 1914 on the Eastern Front, too, there was a respite. The belligerents switched to a long positional war.

August Icon of the Mother of God

The August icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is an icon revered in the Russian church, painted in memory of her appearance in 1914 to Russian soldiers on the North-Western Front, shortly before the victory in the August battle, near the town of Augustow, Suwalki province Russian Empire(now in Eastern Poland). The very event of the appearance of the Mother of God took place on September 14, 1914. The Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo Cuirassier Life Guards Regiments were moving towards the Russian-German border. At about 11 am, the Mother of God appeared to the soldiers of the cuirassier regiment, the vision lasted 30-40 minutes. All the soldiers and officers knelt down and prayed, observing the Mother of God in the dark night starry sky: in an extraordinary radiance, with the Divine Infant Jesus Christ sitting on Her left hand. With her right hand, She pointed to the west - the troops were just moving in this direction.

A few days later, at Headquarters, a message was received from General Sh., commander of a separate unit in the Prussian theater of operations, which said that after our retreat, a Russian officer with a whole half-squadron saw a vision. It was 11 o'clock in the evening, a private comes running with a surprised face and says; "Your Honor, go." Lieutenant R. went and suddenly sees the Mother of God in heaven with Jesus Christ on one hand, and with the other hand pointing to the West. All the Lower ranks are on their knees and pray to the Heavenly Patroness. He looked at the vision for a long time, then this vision changed into a Grand Cross and disappeared. After that, a great battle broke out in the west near Augustow, which was marked by a great victory.

Therefore, this apparition of the Mother of God was called the "Sign of the August Victory", or the "August Apparition". The appearance of the Mother of God in the Augustow forests was reported to Emperor Nicholas II, and he gave the order to paint an icon-painting image of this phenomenon. The Holy Synod considered the issue of the appearance of the Mother of God for about a year and a half and on March 31, 1916, decided: “to bless the celebration in the temples of God and the houses of believers of icons depicting the aforementioned appearance of the Mother of God to Russian soldiers ...”. April 17, 2008, on the proposal publishing council Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia gave his blessing to include in the official calendar a celebration in honor of the August Icon of the Mother of God.

The celebration is set to take place on September 1 (14). November 5, 1914 Russia, Britain and France declared war on Turkey. In October, the Turkish government closed the Dardanelles and the Bosporus to Allied ships, effectively isolating Russia's Black Sea ports from the outside world and causing irreparable damage to its economy. Such a move by Turkey was an effective contribution to the military efforts of the Central Powers. The next provocative step was the shelling of Odessa and other southern Russian ports at the end of October by a squadron of Turkish warships. The declining Ottoman Empire gradually fell apart and during the last half century lost most of its European possessions. The army was exhausted in the unsuccessful military operations against the Italians in Tripoli, and the Balkan Wars caused further depletion of its resources. The Young Turk leader Enver Pasha, who, as Minister of War, was a leading figure on the Turkish political scene, believed that an alliance with Germany would serve his country's best interests, and on August 2, 1914, a secret treaty was signed between the two countries.

The German military mission has been active in Turkey since the end of 1913. She was instructed to carry out the reorganization of the Turkish army. Despite strong objections from his German advisers, Enver Pasha decided to invade the Caucasus, which belonged to Russia, and in mid-December 1914 launched an offensive in difficult weather conditions. Turkish soldiers fought well, but suffered a severe defeat. Nevertheless, the Russian high command was concerned about the threat posed by Turkey to the southern borders of Russia, and German strategic plans were well served by the fact that this threat in this area pinned down Russian troops, which were in great need on other fronts.