The beginning and end of World War 1. Countries that took part in the First World War

Air battle

According to general consensus, the First World War is one of the largest armed conflicts in human history. Its result was the collapse of four empires: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and German.

In 1914, events occurred as follows.

In 1914, two main theaters of military operations were formed: French and Russian, as well as the Balkans (Serbia), the Caucasus and, from November 1914, the Middle East, colonies of European states - Africa, China, Oceania. At the beginning of the war, no one thought that it would become protracted; its participants intended to end the war in a few months.

Start

On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, the Germans, without any declaration of war, invaded Luxembourg on the same day, and the very next day they occupied Luxembourg and issued an ultimatum to Belgium to allow German troops to pass to the border with France. Belgium did not accept the ultimatum, and Germany declared war on it, invading Belgium on August 4.

King Albert of Belgium turned for help to the guarantor countries of Belgian neutrality. In London they demanded to stop the invasion of Belgium, otherwise England threatened to declare war on Germany. The ultimatum expired and Great Britain declared war on Germany.

Belgian armored Sava car on the Franco-Belgian border

The military wheel of the First World War began to roll and gain momentum.

Western Front

At the beginning of the war, Germany had ambitious plans: the instant defeat of France, passing through the territory of Belgium, the capture of Paris... Wilhelm II said: “We will have lunch in Paris and dinner in St. Petersburg.” He did not take Russia into account at all, considering it a sluggish power: it was unlikely to be able to quickly mobilize and bring its army to its borders . This was the so-called Schlieffen plan, developed by the Chief of the German General Staff Alfred von Schlieffen (modified by Helmuth von Moltke after Schlieffen's resignation).

Count von Schlieffen

He was wrong, this Schlieffen: France launched an unforeseen counterattack in the outskirts of Paris (Battle of the Marne), and Russia quickly launched an offensive, so the German plan failed and the German army began trench warfare.

Nicholas II declares war on Germany from the balcony of the Winter Palace

The French believed that Germany would deliver the initial and main blow to Alsace. They had their own military doctrine: Plan-17. As part of this doctrine, the French command intended to station troops along its eastern border and launch an offensive through the territories of Lorraine and Alsace, which the Germans occupied. The same actions were provided for by the Schlieffen Plan.

Then a surprise occurred on the part of Belgium: its army, 10 times inferior in size to the German army, unexpectedly put up active resistance. But still, on August 20, the Germans captured Brussels. The Germans behaved confidently and boldly: they did not stop in front of the defending cities and fortresses, but simply bypassed them. The Belgian government fled to Le Havre. King Albert I continued to defend Antwerp. “After a short siege, heroic defense and fierce bombardment, the last stronghold of the Belgians, the fortress of Antwerp, fell on September 26. Under a hail of shells from the muzzles of monstrous guns brought by the Germans and installed on platforms they had built in advance, fort after fort fell silent. On September 23, the Belgian government left Antwerp, and on September 24 the bombing of the city began. Entire streets were in flames. Huge oil tanks were burning in the port. Zeppelins and airplanes bombarded the unfortunate city from above.

Air battle

The civilian population fled in panic from the doomed city, tens of thousands, escaping in all directions: on ships to England and France, on foot to Holland” (Spark Sunday magazine, October 19, 1914).

Border battle

On August 7, the Border Battle began between Anglo-French and German troops. After the German invasion of Belgium, the French command urgently revised its plans and began actively moving units towards the border. But the Anglo-French armies suffered heavy defeats at the Battle of Mons, the Battle of Charleroi and the Ardennes Operation, losing about 250 thousand people. The Germans invaded France, bypassing Paris, capturing the French army in a giant pincer. On September 2, the French government moved to Bordeaux. The defense of the city was led by General Gallieni. The French were preparing to defend Paris along the Marne River.

Joseph Simon Gallieni

Battle of the Marne ("Miracle of the Marne")

But by this time the German army had already begun to become exhausted. She did not have the opportunity to deeply cover the French army bypassing Paris. The Germans decided to turn east north of Paris and strike in the rear of the main forces of the French army.

But, turning east north of Paris, they exposed their right flank and rear to the attack of the French group concentrated for the defense of Paris. There was nothing to cover the right flank and rear. But the German command agreed to this maneuver: it turned its troops to the east, not reaching Paris. The French command took advantage of the opportunity and struck the exposed flank and rear of the German army. Even taxis were used to transport troops.

“Marne taxi”: such vehicles were used to transport troops

First Battle of the Marneturned the tide of hostilities in favor of the French and pushed German troops on the front from Verdun to Amiens 50-100 kilometers back.

The main battle on the Marne began on September 5, and already on September 9 the defeat of the German army became obvious. The order to withdraw was met with complete misunderstanding in the German army: for the first time during the hostilities, a mood of disappointment and depression began in the German army. And for the French, this battle became the first victory over the Germans, the morale of the French grew stronger. The British realized their military insufficiency and set a course to increase their armed forces. The Battle of the Marne was the turning point of the war in the French theater of operations: the front stabilized and the enemy forces were approximately equal.

Battles in Flanders

The Battle of the Marne led to the "Run to the Sea" as both armies moved to try to flank each other. This led to the front line closing in and resting on the shores of the North Sea. By November 15, the entire space between Paris and the North Sea was filled with troops from both sides. The front was in a stable state: the offensive potential of the Germans had been exhausted, and both sides began a positional struggle. The Entente managed to retain ports convenient for sea communication with England - especially the port of Calais.

Eastern front

On August 17, the Russian army crossed the border and began an attack on East Prussia. At first, the actions of the Russian army were successful, but the command was unable to take advantage of the results of the victory. The movement of other Russian armies slowed down and was not coordinated; the Germans took advantage of this, striking from the west on the open flank of the 2nd Army. This army at the beginning of the First World War was commanded by General A.V. Samsonov, participant in the Russian-Turkish (1877-1878), Russian-Japanese War, ataman of the Don Army, Semirechensk Cossack Army, Turkestan Governor-General. During the East Prussian operation of 1914, his army suffered a heavy defeat in the Battle of Tannenberg, part of it was surrounded. When leaving the encirclement near the city of Willenberg (now Wielbark, Poland), Alexander Vasilyevich Samsonov died. According to another, more common version, it is believed that he shot himself.

General A.V. Samsonov

In this battle, the Russians defeated several German divisions, but lost in the general battle. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich wrote in his book “My Memoirs” that the 150,000-strong Russian army of General Samsonov was a victim deliberately thrown into the trap set by Ludendorff.”

Battle of Galicia (August-September 1914)

This is one of the largest battles of the First World War. As a result of this battle, Russian troops occupied almost all of eastern Galicia, almost all of Bukovina and besieged Przemysl. The operation involved the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th armies as part of the Russian Southwestern Front (front commander - General N.I. Ivanov) and four Austro-Hungarian armies (Archduke Friedrich, Field Marshal Götzendorf) and the German group of General R. Woyrsch. The seizure of Galicia was perceived in Russia not as an occupation, but as the return of a seized part of historical Rus', because it was dominated by the Orthodox Slavic population.

N.S. Samokish “In Galicia. Cavalryman"

Results of 1914 on the Eastern Front

The 1914 campaign turned out in favor of Russia, although on the German part of the front Russia lost part of the territory of the Kingdom of Poland. Russia's defeat in East Prussia was also accompanied by heavy losses. But Germany was also unable to achieve the planned results; all its successes from a military point of view were very modest.

Advantages of Russia: managed to inflict a major defeat on Austria-Hungary and capture significant territories. Austria-Hungary turned from a full ally for Germany into a weak partner requiring continuous support.

Difficulties for Russia: the war by 1915 turned into a positional one. The Russian army began to feel the first signs of an ammunition supply crisis. Advantages of the Entente: Germany was forced to fight on two fronts simultaneously and transfer troops from front to front.

Japan enters the war

The Entente (mainly England) convinced Japan to oppose Germany. On August 15, Japan presented an ultimatum to Germany, demanding the withdrawal of troops from China, and on August 23, it declared war and began the siege of Qingdao, a German naval base in China, which ended with the surrender of the German garrison.

Then Japan began to seize Germany's island colonies and bases (German Micronesia and German New Guinea, the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands). At the end of August, New Zealand troops captured German Samoa.

Japan's participation in the war on the side of the Entente turned out to be beneficial for Russia: its Asian part was safe, and Russia did not have to spend resources on maintaining the army and navy in this region.

Asian Theater of Operations

Türkiye initially hesitated for a long time whether to enter the war and on whose side. Finally, she declared “jihad” (holy war) on the Entente countries. On November 11-12, the Turkish fleet under the command of the German admiral Suchon shelled Sevastopol, Odessa, Feodosia and Novorossiysk. On November 15, Russia declared war on Turkey, followed by England and France.

The Caucasian Front was formed between Russia and Turkey.

Russian airplane in the back of a truck on the Caucasian front

In December 1914 - January 1915. took placeSarykamysh operation: The Russian Caucasian Army stopped the advance of Turkish troops on Kars, defeated them and launched a counter-offensive.

But Russia at the same time lost the most convenient route of communication with its allies - through the Black Sea and the straits. Russia had only two ports for transporting large quantities of goods: Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok.

Results of the military campaign of 1914

By the end of 1914, Belgium was almost completely conquered by Germany. The Entente retained a small western part of Flanders with the city of Ypres. Lille was taken by the Germans. The 1914 campaign was dynamic. The armies of both sides maneuvered actively and quickly; the troops did not erect long-term defensive lines. By November 1914, a stable front line began to take shape. Both sides exhausted their offensive potential and began building trenches and barbed wire. The war turned into a positional one.

Russian expeditionary force in France: the head of the 1st brigade, General Lokhvitsky, with several Russian and French officers bypasses the positions (summer 1916, Champagne)

The length of the Western Front (from the North Sea to Switzerland) was more than 700 km, the density of troops on it was high, significantly higher than on the Eastern Front. Intense military operations were carried out only on the northern half of the front; the front from Verdun and to the south was considered as secondary.

"Cannon fodder"

On November 11, the battle of Langemarck took place, which the world community called senseless and disregarded human lives: the Germans threw units of unfired young people (workers and students) at the English machine guns. After some time, this happened again, and this fact became an established opinion about the soldiers in this war as “cannon fodder.”

By the beginning of 1915, everyone began to understand that the war had become protracted. This was not included in the plans of either party. Although the Germans captured almost all of Belgium and most of France, their main goal - a swift victory over the French - was completely inaccessible to them.

Ammunition supplies ran out by the end of 1914, and it was urgently necessary to establish their mass production. The power of heavy artillery turned out to be underestimated. The fortresses were practically unprepared for defense. As a result, Italy, as the third member of the Triple Alliance, did not enter the war on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Front lines of the First World War by the end of 1914

The first war year ended with these results.

Allies (Entente): France, Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Serbia, USA, Italy (participated in the war on the side of the Entente since 1915).

Friends of the Entente (supported the Entente in the war): Montenegro, Belgium, Greece, Brazil, China, Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua, Siam, Haiti, Liberia, Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica.

Question about the causes of the First World War is one of the most discussed in world historiography since the outbreak of the war in August 1914.

The outbreak of the war was facilitated by the widespread strengthening of nationalist sentiments. France hatched plans to return the lost territories of Alsace and Lorraine. Italy, even being in an alliance with Austria-Hungary, dreamed of returning its lands to Trentino, Trieste and Fiume. The Poles saw in the war an opportunity to recreate the state destroyed by the partitions of the 18th century. Many peoples inhabiting Austria-Hungary sought national independence. Russia was convinced that it could not develop without limiting German competition, protecting the Slavs from Austria-Hungary and expanding influence in the Balkans. In Berlin, the future was associated with the defeat of France and Great Britain and the unification of the countries of Central Europe under the leadership of Germany. In London they believed that the people of Great Britain would live in peace only by crushing their main enemy - Germany.

In addition, international tension was heightened by a series of diplomatic crises - the Franco-German clash in Morocco in 1905-1906; the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Austrians in 1908-1909; Balkan wars in 1912-1913.

The immediate cause of the war was the Sarajevo Murder. June 28, 1914 Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by nineteen-year-old Serbian student Gavrilo Princip, who was a member of the secret organization "Young Bosnia", fighting for the unification of all South Slavic peoples in one state.

July 23, 1914 Austria-Hungary, having secured the support of Germany, presented Serbia with an ultimatum and demanded that its military units be allowed into Serbian territory in order to, together with Serbian forces, suppress hostile actions.

Serbia's response to the ultimatum did not satisfy Austria-Hungary, and July 28, 1914 she declared war on Serbia. Russia, having received assurances of support from France, openly opposed Austria-Hungary and July 30, 1914 announced a general mobilization. Germany, taking advantage of this opportunity, announced August 1, 1914 war against Russia, and August 3, 1914- France. After the German invasion August 4, 1914 Great Britain declared war on Germany in Belgium.

The First World War consisted of five campaigns. During first campaign in 1914 Germany invaded Belgium and northern France, but was defeated at the Battle of the Marne. Russia captured parts of East Prussia and Galicia (East Prussian Operation and Battle of Galicia), but was then defeated as a result of the German and Austro-Hungarian counteroffensive.

1915 Campaign associated with Italy’s entry into the war, the disruption of the German plan to withdraw Russia from the war, and bloody, inconclusive battles on the Western Front.

1916 Campaign associated with the entry of Romania into the war and the waging of a grueling positional war on all fronts.

1917 campaign associated with the entry of the United States into the war, Russia's revolutionary exit from the war and a series of successive offensive operations on the Western Front (Nivelle's operation, operations in the Messines area, Ypres, near Verdun, and Cambrai).

1918 Campaign was characterized by a transition from positional defense to a general offensive of the Entente armed forces. From the second half of 1918, the Allies prepared and launched retaliatory offensive operations (Amiens, Saint-Miel, Marne), during which they eliminated the results of the German offensive, and in September 1918 they launched a general offensive. By November 1, 1918, the Allies liberated the territory of Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, entered the territory of Bulgaria after the armistice and invaded the territory of Austria-Hungary. On September 29, 1918, a truce with the allies was concluded by Bulgaria, October 30, 1918 - Turkey, November 3, 1918 - Austria-Hungary, November 11, 1918 - Germany.

June 28, 1919 was signed at the Paris Peace Conference Treaty of Versailles with Germany, officially ending the First World War of 1914-1918.

On September 10, 1919, the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty with Austria was signed; November 27, 1919 - Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria; June 4, 1920 - Treaty of Trianon with Hungary; August 20, 1920 - Treaty of Sèvres with Turkey.

In total, the First World War lasted 1,568 days. It was attended by 38 states, in which 70% of the world's population lived. The armed struggle was carried out on fronts with a total length of 2500–4000 km. The total losses of all countries at war amounted to about 9.5 million people killed and 20 million people wounded. At the same time, the losses of the Entente amounted to about 6 million people killed, the losses of the Central Powers amounted to about 4 million people killed.

During the First World War, for the first time in history, tanks, airplanes, submarines, anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns, mortars, grenade launchers, bomb throwers, flamethrowers, super-heavy artillery, hand grenades, chemical and smoke shells, and toxic substances were used. New types of artillery appeared: anti-aircraft, anti-tank, infantry escort. Aviation became an independent branch of the military, which began to be divided into reconnaissance, fighter and bomber. Tank troops, chemical troops, air defense troops, and naval aviation emerged. The role of engineering troops increased and the role of cavalry decreased.

The results of the First World War were the liquidation of four empires: German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman, the latter two being divided, and Germany and Russia being reduced territorially. As a result, new independent states appeared on the map of Europe: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Finland.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Causes and nature of the First World War. The main goal of the First World War was precisely the redivision of the world. The initiators of the First World War were Germany and Austria-Hungary. With the development of capitalism, contradictions between major powers and military-political blocs intensified;

weaken England.
struggle for the redivision of the world.
to fragment France and take over its main metallurgical bases.
capture Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, the Baltic countries and thereby weaken Russia.
cut off Russia from the Baltic Sea.

The main goal of Austria-Hungary was:

capture Serbia and Montenegro;
gain a foothold in the Balkans;
tear Podolia and Volyn away from Russia.

Italy's goal was to gain a foothold in the Balkans. By joining the First World War, England wanted to weaken Germany and divide the Ottoman Empire.

Russia's goals in World War I:

prevent the strengthening of German influence in Turkey and the Middle East;
gain a foothold in the Balkans and the Black Sea straits;
take possession of Turkish lands;
capture Galicia, which was subordinate to Austria-Hungary.

The Russian bourgeoisie expected to enrich itself through the First World War. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914 was used as a pretext for war.
On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia announced mobilization to help Serbia. Therefore, on August 1, Germany declared war on Russia. On August 3, Germany declared war on France, and on August 4, it attacked Belgium. Thus, the treaty on the neutrality of Belgium, signed by Prussia, was declared “a simple piece of paper.” On August 4, England stood up for Belgium and declared war on Germany.
On August 23, 1914, Japan declared war on Germany, but did not send troops to Europe. She began to seize German lands in the Far East and subjugate China.
In October 1914, Turkey entered the First World War on the side of the Triple Alliance. In response, Russia declared war on Turkey on October 2, England on October 5, and France on October 6.

The First World War, involving 38 countries, was unjust and aggressive
First World War 1914
At the beginning of the First World War, three fronts were formed in Europe: Western, Eastern (Russian) and Balkan. A little later, the fourth was formed - the Caucasian front, on which Russia and Türkiye fought. The “Blitzkrieg” (“Lightning War”) plan prepared by Schlieffen came true: on August 2, the Germans took Luxembourg, on the 4th - Belgium, and from there entered Northern France. The French government temporarily left Paris.
Russia, wanting to help the allies, sent two armies into East Prussia on August 7, 1914. Germany removed two infantry corps and a cavalry division from the French front and sent them to the Eastern Front. Due to inconsistency in the actions of the Russian command, the first Russian army died at the Masurian Lakes. The German command was able to concentrate its forces on the second Russian army. Two Russian corps were surrounded and destroyed. But the Russian army in Galicia (Western Ukraine) defeated Austria-Hungary and moved into East Prussia.
To stop the Russian advance, Germany had to withdraw 6 more corps from the French direction. Thus France was freed from the danger of defeat. On the seas, Germany waged a cruising war with Britain. On September 6-12, 1914, on the banks of the Marne River, Anglo-French troops repulsed the German attack and launched a counteroffensive. The Germans managed to stop the Allies only on the Aisne River. Thus, as a result of the Battle of the Marne, the German plan for the Blitz was a failure. Germany was forced to fight a war on two fronts. The war of maneuver turned into a positional war.

First World War - military operations in 1915-1916
In the spring of 1915, the Eastern Front became the main front of the First World War. In 1915, the main focus of the Triple Alliance was on withdrawing Russia from the war. In May 1915, the Russians were defeated in Gorlitsa and retreated. The Germans took Poland and part of the Baltic lands from Russia, but they failed to withdraw Russia from the war and conclude a separate peace with it.
In 1915, there were no significant changes on the Western Front. Germany used submarines against England for the first time.
Germany's unannounced attacks on civilian ships outraged neutral countries. On April 22, 1915, Germany used the poisonous chlorine gas for the first time in Belgium.
To divert the attention of the Turkish army from the Caucasian front, the Anglo-French fleet fired at the fortifications in the Dardanelles Strait, but the allies suffered damage and retreated. According to a secret agreement, in the event of victory in the Entente war, Istanbul was transferred to Russia.
The Entente, having promised Italy a number of territorial acquisitions, won it over to its side. In April 1915 in London, England, France, Russia and Italy entered into a secret agreement. Italy joined the Entente.
And in September 1915, the “Quadruple Alliance” was formed consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.
In October 1915, the Bulgarian army captured Serbia, and Austria-Hungary captured Montenegro and Albania.
In the summer of 1915, on the Caucasian front, the Turkish army’s offensive on Apashkert ended in vain. At the same time, England's attempt to seize Iraq ended in failure. The Turks defeated the British near Baghdad.
In 1916, the Germans became convinced of the impossibility of withdrawing Russia from the war and again concentrated their efforts on France.
On February 21, 1916, the Battle of Verdun began. This battle went down in history under the name “Verdun Meat Grinder”. The warring parties lost up to a million soldiers at Verdun. In six months of fighting, the Germans conquered a piece of land. The counterattack of the Anglo-French forces also yielded nothing. After the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, the parties again returned to trench warfare. The British used tanks for the first time at the Battle of the Somme.
And on the Caucasian front in 1916, the Russians captured Erzurum and Trabzon.
In August 1916, Romania also entered the First World War, but was immediately defeated by Austro-German-Bulgarian troops.

On June 1, 1916, in the Naval Battle of Jutland, neither the English nor the German fleets achieved an advantage.

In 1917, active protests began in the warring countries. In Russia in February 1917, a bourgeois-democratic revolution took place and the monarchy fell. And in October the Bolsheviks carried out a coup d'état and seized power. On March 3, 1918, the Bolsheviks in Brest-Litovsk concluded a separate peace with Germany and its allies. Russia left the war. Under the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Peace:

Russia lost all territory up to the front line;
Kars, Ardahan, Batum were returned to Turkey;
Russia recognized the independence of Ukraine.

Russia's exit from the war eased Germany's situation.
The United States, which had distributed large loans to European countries and wanted the victory of the Entente, became worried. In April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany. But France and England did not want to share the fruits of victory with America. They wanted to end the war before US troops arrived. Germany wanted to defeat the Entente before the arrival of US troops.
In October 1917, at Caporetto, troops of Germany and Austria-Hungary defeated a significant part of the Italian army.
In May 1918, Romania signed peace with the Quadruple Alliance and withdrew from the war. In order to help the Entente, which lost Romania after Russia, the United States sent 300 thousand soldiers to Europe. With the help of the Americans, the German breakthrough to Paris was stopped on the banks of the Marne. In August 1918, American-Anglo-French troops besieged the Germans. And in Macedonia the Bulgarians and Turks were defeated. Bulgaria left the war.

On October 30, 1918, Türkiye signed the Armistice of Mudros, and on November 3, Austria-Hungary surrendered. Germany accepted the “14 points” program put forward by V. Wilson.
On November 3, 1918, a revolution began in Germany; on November 9, the monarchy was overthrown and a republic was proclaimed.
On November 11, 1918, the French Marshal Foch accepted the surrender of Germany in a staff car in the Compiegne Forest. The First World War is over. Germany pledged to withdraw its troops from France, Belgium, Luxembourg and other occupied territories within 15 days.
Thus, the war ended with the defeat of the Quadruple Alliance. The Entente's advantage in manpower and technology decided the fate of the First World War.
The German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires collapsed. New independent states arose in place of former empires.
The First World War claimed millions of lives. Only the United States enriched itself in this war, turning into a world creditor to whom England, France, Russia, Italy and other European countries owed money.
Japan also successfully emerged from the First World War. She captured the German colonies in the Pacific Ocean and strengthened her influence in China. The First World War marked the beginning of the crisis of the world colonial system.

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 before and after. Before this war, the world did not know such a massive death of people who died literally on every inch of the front.

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

This event will also mark the true beginning of the 20th century. It’s not for nothing that historians say that the 20th century was the shortest historical century: from 1914 to 1991.

Start

The First World War 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 assassinated by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip.

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

Serbia agreed to all the demands (to clear the state apparatus of nationalists or anyone else), except for the point of allowing the Austrian police into its territory. Realizing that this was actually a threat of war, Serbia began mobilizing the army.

For those who don’t know, all states switched to a conscription structure for army recruitment after the Franco-Prussian War of the early 1870s, when the Prussian army defeated the French in a couple of weeks.

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

July 28th Due to failure to comply with the terms 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 suggested that Austria resolve the issue peacefully by 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 Russia. To the question of who fought with whom and what does France have to do with it, you ask? Despite the fact that Russia and France concluded a number of military alliances back in the 19th century, and since 1907 England joined them, as a result of which the Entente was formed - a military bloc opposing the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy)

August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia. On the same date the inglorious military operations began. By the way, you can talk about them. In what year did it end: 1918. Everything is written in more detail in the article on the link.

In total, 38 states were involved in this war.

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov

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

The main reason for the war was the contradictions between the powers of two large blocs - the Entente (a coalition of Russia, England and France) and the Triple Alliance (a coalition of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy).

The reason for the outbreak of an armed clash between a member of the Mlada Bosna organization, high school student Gavrilo Princip, during which on June 28 (all dates are given according to the new style) 1914 in Sarajevo, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed.

On July 23, Austria-Hungary presented an ultimatum to Serbia, in which it accused the country’s government of supporting terrorism and demanded that its military units be allowed into the territory. Despite the fact that the Serbian government's note expressed its readiness to resolve the conflict, the Austro-Hungarian government declared that it was not satisfied and declared war on Serbia. On July 28, hostilities began on the Austro-Serbian border.

On July 30, Russia announced a general mobilization, fulfilling its allied obligations to Serbia. Germany used this occasion to declare war on Russia on August 1, and on August 3 on France, as well as neutral Belgium, which refused to allow German troops through its territory. On August 4, Great Britain and its dominions declared war on Germany, and on August 6, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia.

In August 1914, Japan joined the hostilities, and in October, Turkey entered the war on the side of the Germany-Austria-Hungary bloc. In October 1915, Bulgaria joined the bloc of the so-called Central States.

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

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

Military operations began on the Western Front - German troops acted according to the Schlieffen plan, which envisaged an attack by large forces on France through Belgium. However, Germany's hope for a quick defeat of France turned out to be untenable; by mid-November 1914, the war on the Western Front assumed a positional character.

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

During the maneuverable period of the war, the Eastern Front was located on the strip along the Russian border with Germany and Austria-Hungary, then mainly on the western border strip of Russia.

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

However, the losses of soldiers and equipment were colossal; due to the underdevelopment of transport routes, reinforcements and ammunition did not arrive in time, so the Russian troops were unable to develop their success.

Overall, the 1914 campaign ended in favor of the Entente. German troops were defeated on the Marne, Austrian troops in Galicia and Serbia, Turkish troops at Sarykamysh. In the Far East, Japan captured the port of Jiaozhou, the Caroline, Mariana and Marshall Islands, which belonged to Germany, and British troops captured the rest of Germany's possessions in the Pacific Ocean.

Later, in July 1915, British troops, after protracted fighting, captured German South-West Africa (a German protectorate in Africa).

The First World War was marked by the testing of new means of combat and weapons. On October 8, 1914, the first air raid was carried out: British planes equipped with 20-pound bombs flew into German airship workshops in Friedrichshafen.

After this raid, a new class of aircraft began to be created - bombers.

The large-scale Dardanelles landing operation (1915-1916) ended in defeat - a naval expedition that the Entente countries equipped at the beginning of 1915 with the goal of taking Constantinople, opening the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits for communication with Russia through the Black Sea, withdrawing Turkey from the war and winning over the allies. Balkan states. On the Eastern Front, by the end of 1915, German and Austro-Hungarian troops had driven the Russians out of almost all of Galicia and most of Russian Poland.

On April 22, 1915, during the battles near Ypres (Belgium), Germany used chemical weapons for the first time. After this, poisonous gases (chlorine, phosgene, and later mustard gas) began to be used regularly by both warring parties.

In the 1916 campaign, Germany again shifted its main efforts to the west with the goal of withdrawing France from the war, but a powerful blow to France during the Verdun operation ended in failure. This was largely facilitated by the Russian Southwestern Front, which carried out a breakthrough of the Austro-Hungarian front in Galicia and Volyn. Anglo-French troops launched a decisive offensive on the Somme River, but, despite all efforts and the attraction of enormous forces and resources, they were unable to break through the German defenses. During this operation, the British used tanks for the first time. The largest battle of the war, the Battle of Jutland, took place at sea, in which the German fleet failed. As a result of the military campaign of 1916, the Entente seized the strategic initiative.

At the end of 1916, Germany and its allies first began to talk about the possibility of a peace agreement. The Entente rejected this proposal. During this period, the armies of the states actively participating in the war numbered 756 divisions, twice as many as at the beginning of the war, but they lost the most qualified military personnel. The bulk of the soldiers were elderly reserves and young people on early conscription, poorly prepared in military-technical terms and insufficiently trained physically.

In 1917, two major events radically affected the balance of power of the opponents. On April 6, 1917, the United States, which had long maintained neutrality in the war, decided to declare war on Germany. One of the reasons was an incident off the southeast coast of Ireland, when a German submarine sank the British liner Lusitania, sailing from the United States to England, which was carrying a large group of Americans, killing 128 of them.

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

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

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

On August 8, 1918, in the Battle of Amiens, the German front was torn apart by the Allied forces: entire divisions surrendered almost without a fight - this battle became the last major battle of the war.

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

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

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

The First World War, which for the first time in human history covered the territories of two continents (Eurasia and Africa) and vast sea areas, radically redrew the political map of the world and became one of the largest and bloodiest. During the war, 70 million people were mobilized into the ranks of the armies; of these, 9.5 million were killed or died from their wounds, more than 20 million were wounded, and 3.5 million were left crippled. The greatest losses were suffered by Germany, Russia, France and Austria-Hungary (66.6% of all losses). The total cost of the war, including property losses, was variously estimated to range from $208 billion to $359 billion.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources