World War 1 belligerents. The beginning of the First World War. Global consequences of the conflict

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

International relations at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century

The rapid industrial development of the countries of Europe and North America at that time pushed them to enter the wide world market and spread their economic and political influence in different parts of the world.
The powers that already had colonial possessions sought in every possible way to expand them. Thus, France in the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. increased the territory of its colonies more than 10 times. The clash of interests of individual European powers led to armed confrontation, as, for example, in Central Africa, where British and French colonialists competed. Great Britain also tried to strengthen its position in South Africa - in the Transvaal and the Orange Republic. The determined resistance of the descendants of European settlers living there - the Boers - led to Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).

The guerrilla warfare of the Boers and the cruelest methods of warfare by British troops (even to the burning of peaceful settlements and the creation of concentration camps where thousands of prisoners died) showed the whole world the terrible face of war in the coming 20th century. Great Britain defeated the two Boer republics. But this inherently imperialist war was condemned by most European countries, as well as by democratic forces in Britain itself.

Completed by the beginning of the 20th century. The colonial division of the world did not bring calm to international relations. Countries that have noticeably advanced in industrial development (USA, Germany, Italy, Japan) are actively involved in the struggle for economic and political influence in the world. In some cases, they seized colonial territories from their owners by military means. This is what the United States did when it launched a war against Spain in 1898. In other cases, colonies were “bargained.” This was done, for example, by Germany in 1911. Having declared its intention to seize part of Morocco, it sent a warship to its shores. France, which had earlier penetrated Morocco, ceded part of its possessions in the Congo to Germany in exchange for recognition of its priority. The following document testifies to the decisiveness of Germany’s colonialist intentions.

From Kaiser Wilhelm II's parting words to the German troops heading to China in July 1900 to suppress the Yihetuan uprising:

“The newly emerged German Empire faces great challenges overseas... And you... must teach the enemy a good lesson. When you meet an enemy, you must beat him! Give no quarter! Take no prisoners! Don't stand on ceremony with those who fall into your hands. Just as a thousand years ago the Huns, under their king Attila, glorified their name, which is still preserved in fairy tales and legends, so the name of the Germans, even a thousand years later, should evoke such feelings in China that never again would a single Chinese dare to look askance at the German!”

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

Discussion of the general problems of maintaining peace did not prevent the leading European powers from dealing with completely different issues: how to ensure the achievement of their own, not always peaceful, foreign policy goals. It was becoming increasingly difficult to do this alone, so each country looked for allies. Since the end of the 19th century. two international blocs began to take shape - the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and the Franco-Russian alliance, which outgrew at the beginning of the 20th century. in the Triple Entente of France, Russia, Great Britain - the Entente.

Dates, documents, events

Triple Alliance
1879 - secret agreement between Germany and Austria-Hungary on joint defense against Russian attack.
1882 - Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy.

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

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

International conflicts of the early 20th century. were not limited to disputes over overseas territories. They also arose in Europe itself. In 1908-1909 The so-called Bosnian crisis occurred. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was formally part of the Ottoman Empire. Serbia and Russia protested because they were in favor of granting independence to these territories. Austria-Hungary announced mobilization and began to concentrate troops on the border with Serbia. Austria-Hungary's actions received German support, which forced Russia and Serbia to accept the takeover.

Balkan Wars

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

Beginning of the war

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

War and Society

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

Official reports of the start of hostilities were accompanied by patriotic appeals and assurances of imminent victory.

French President R. Poincaré noted in his notes:

“The German declaration of war caused a magnificent outburst of patriotism in the nation. Never in its entire history has France been so beautiful as in these hours, which we were given to witness. The mobilization, which began on August 2, ended today, it took place with such discipline, in such order, with such calm, with such enthusiasm, which arouse the admiration of the government and military authorities... In England there is the same enthusiasm as in France; the royal family became the subject of repeated ovations; Patriotic demonstrations are everywhere. The Central Powers aroused against themselves the unanimous indignation of the French, English and Belgian peoples.”

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

Failure of Blitz War Plans

Although Austria-Hungary took the lead in declaring war, Germany immediately took the most decisive action. She sought to avoid a war on two fronts - against Russia in the east and France in the west. The plan of General A. von Schlieffen, developed before the war, provided first for the rapid defeat of France (in 40 days), and then for an active struggle against Russia. The German strike group, which invaded Belgium at the beginning of the war, approached the French border a little over two weeks later (later than planned, as the fierce resistance of the Belgians prevented it). By September 1914, German armies crossed the Marne River and approached the Verdun fortress. It was not possible to carry out the “blitzkrieg” (lightning war) plan. But France found itself in a very difficult situation. Paris was under threat of capture. The government left the capital and turned to Russia for help.

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

The plan to quickly defeat France failed. Unable to get the better of each other, the opponents “sat into trenches” along a huge front line (600 km long) that crossed Europe from the North Sea coast to Switzerland. A protracted positional war ensued on the Western Front. By the end of 1914, a similar situation had developed on the Austro-Serbian front, where the Serbian army managed to liberate the territory of the country previously captured (in August - November) by Austrian troops.

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

On the fronts

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

Despite the difficult position of the Russian army, the French and British command was in no hurry to attack on their front. Military reports of the time included the proverbial phrase: “No change on the Western Front.” True, trench warfare was also a difficult test. The fight intensified, the number of victims steadily increased. In April 1915, on the Western Front near the Ypres River, the German army carried out its first gas attack. About 15 thousand people were poisoned, 5 thousand of them died, the rest remained disabled. That same year, the war at sea between Germany and Great Britain intensified. To blockade the British Isles, German submarines began to attack all ships going there. Over the course of a year, over 700 ships were sunk, including many civilian ships. Protests from the United States and other neutral countries forced the German command to abandon attacks on passenger ships for some time.

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

In 1916, believing that Russia was sufficiently weakened, the German command decided to launch a new blow to France. The goal of the German offensive launched in February was the French fortress of Verdun, the capture of which would open the way for the Germans to Paris. However, it was not possible to take the fortress.

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

Finally, in July 1916, a massive offensive of the British-French army began on the Western Front. Particularly heavy fighting took place on the Somme River. Here the French concentrated powerful artillery, creating a continuous barrage of fire. The British were the first to use tanks, which caused real panic among the German soldiers, although they were not yet able to turn the tide of the fighting.

The bloody battle, which lasted almost six months, in which both sides lost about 1 million 300 thousand people killed, wounded and captured, ended with a relatively small advance of British and French troops. Contemporaries called the battles of Verdun and the Somme “meat grinders.”

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

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

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

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

Rear position

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

People's daily lives have also changed. The work of the young, strong men who left to fight fell on the shoulders of the elderly, women and teenagers. They worked in military factories and worked the land in conditions that were immeasurably more difficult than before.

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

“In July (1916) women who worked in aviation factories in London approached me. They coated airplane wings with camouflage paint for 15 shillings a week, working from 8 a.m. to half past six in the evening. They were often asked to work until 8 o'clock in the evening, and were paid for this overtime work as if they were doing regular work... According to them, constantly six or more of the thirty women working in the painting were forced to leave the workshop and lie down on the stones for half an hour and more before they could return to their workplace.”

In most of the countries at war, a system of strictly rationed distribution of food and essential goods on food cards was introduced. At the same time, the norms were cut two to three times compared to the pre-war level of consumption. It was possible to purchase products in excess of the norm only on the “black market” for fabulous money. Only industrialists and speculators who got rich from military supplies could afford this. Most of the population was starving. In Germany, the winter of 1916/17 was called the “rutabaga” winter, as due to a poor potato harvest, rutabaga became a staple food. People also suffered from a lack of fuel. In Paris in the mentioned winter there were cases of death from cold. The prolongation of the war led to an ever greater deterioration of the situation in the rear.

The crisis is ripe. The final stage of the war

The war brought ever-increasing losses and suffering to the people. By the end of 1916, about 6 million people died on the fronts, about 10 million were wounded. The cities and villages of Europe became places of battle. In the occupied territories, the civilian population was subjected to looting and violence. In the rear, both people and machines worked to their limits. The material and spiritual strength of the peoples was exhausted. Both politicians and the military already understood this. In December 1916, Germany and its allies proposed that the Entente countries begin peace negotiations, and representatives of several neutral states also spoke in favor of this. But each of the warring parties did not want to admit that they were losers and sought to dictate their own terms. Negotiations did not take place.

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

In England, the strike movement of workers in 1915 was led by the so-called shop elders. They presented the workers' demands to the management and steadily achieved their fulfillment. Pacifist organizations launched active anti-war propaganda. The national question has also become more acute. In April 1916 there was an uprising in Ireland. Rebel troops led by the socialist J. Connolly seized government buildings in Dublin and proclaimed Ireland an independent republic. The uprising was mercilessly suppressed, 15 of its leaders were executed.

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

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

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

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

On September 29, 1918, Bulgaria ceased hostilities. On October 5, the German government made a request for a truce. On October 30, the Ottoman Empire signed a truce with the Entente. On November 3, Austria-Hungary capitulated, overwhelmed by the liberation movements of the peoples living in it.

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

On November 11, 1918, the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in France, Marshal F. Foch, dictated the terms of the truce to the German delegation in his headquarters carriage in the Compiegne Forest. Finally, the war, in which over 30 states participated (in terms of population, they accounted for more than half of the planet's population), ended, 10 million people were killed and 20 million people were wounded. A difficult path to peace lay ahead.

Used literature:
Aleksashkina L.N. / General history. XX - early XXI centuries.

It is one of the longest and most significant wars in history, characterized by enormous bloodshed. It lasted for more than four years; it is interesting that thirty-three countries took part in it (87% of the planet’s population), which at that time had

The outbreak of the First World War (start date - June 28, 1914) gave impetus to the formation of two blocs: the Entente (England, Russia, France) and (Italy, Germany, Austria). The war began as a result of the uneven development of the capitalist system at the stage of imperialism, as well as as a result of the Anglo-German contradiction.

The reasons for the outbreak of the First World War can be identified as follows:

2. The divergence of interests of Russia, Germany, Serbia, as well as Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria.

Russia sought to gain access to the seas, England - to weaken Turkey and Germany, France - to return Lorraine and Alsace, in turn, Germany had the goal of seizing Europe and the Middle East, Austria-Hungary - to control the movements of ships at sea, and Italy - to gain dominance on Southern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.

As stated above, it is generally accepted that the beginning of the First World War occurs on June 28, 1914, when the heir to the throne, Franz, was assassinated in Serbia. Germany, interested in ending the war, incited the Hungarian government to present an ultimatum to Serbia, which allegedly encroached on its sovereignty. This ultimatum coincided with mass strikes in St. Petersburg. It was here that the French President arrived to push Russia to war. In turn, Russia advises Serbia to fulfill the ultimatum, but already on July 15, Austria declared war on Serbia. This was the beginning of the First World War.

At the same time, mobilization was announced in Russia , however, Germany demanded that these measures be lifted. But the tsarist government refused to fulfill this demand, so on July 21, Germany declared war on Russia.

In the coming days, the main European states will enter the war. So, on July 18, France, Russia’s main ally, entered the war, and then England declared war on Germany. Italy considered it necessary to declare neutrality.

We can say that the war instantly becomes pan-European, and later global.

The beginning of the First World War can be characterized by the attack of German troops on the French army. In response to this, Russia launches two armies into an offensive to capture. This offensive began successfully; on August 7, the Russian army won a victory in the battle of Gumbinem. However, the Russian army soon fell into a trap and was defeated by the Germans. This is how the best part of the Russian army was destroyed. The rest was forced to retreat under enemy pressure. It should be said that these events helped the French defeat the Germans in the battle on the river. Marne.

It is necessary to note the role during the war. In 1914, major battles took place in Gilicia between Austrian and Russian units. The battle lasted twenty-one days. At first, the Russian army found it very difficult to withstand the enemy's pressure, but soon the troops went on the offensive, and the Austrian troops had to retreat. Thus, the Battle of Galicia ended in the complete defeat of the Austro-Hungarian troops, and until the end of the war, Austria was unable to recover from such a blow.

Thus, the beginning of the First World War occurred in 1914. It lasted four years, and 3/4 of the Earth's population took part in it. As a result of the war, four great empires disappeared: Austro-Hungarian, Russian, German and Ottoman. Almost twelve million people were lost, including civilians, and fifty-five million were wounded.

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

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

Beginning of the First World War

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

The spark that ignited World War I began in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand – heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire – was shot dead along with his wife Sophia 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 rapidly spreading 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, under the pretext of restoring justice, settle the issue of Serbian nationalism once and for all.

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

On July 5, Kaiser Wilhelm secretly promised his support, giving Austria-Hungary the so-called carte blanche to take active action and confirm that Germany would be on their side in the event of war. The dualist 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 requests help from Russia. July 28 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia and the fragile peace between the greatest European powers collapses. Within 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 after 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 border into Belgium. In the first battle of World War I, the Germans laid siege to the heavily fortified city of Liege. They used the most powerful weapon in their arsenal, heavy artillery pieces, and captured the city by August 15th. Leaving death and destruction in their path, including the execution 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 September 6–9, French and British troops fought a German army that had penetrated deep into France from the northeast and was already 50 kilometers from Paris. Allied forces stopped the German advance and launched a successful counterattack, pushing the Germans back north of the Ein River.

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

Particularly long and large 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 soldiers would later inspire 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 World War I, Russian forces invaded the German-controlled regions of Eastern Poland 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 influenced the German defeat at the Battle of the Marne.
Fierce Allied resistance in France, coupled with the ability to quickly mobilize Russia's vast war machine, resulted in a longer and more debilitating military confrontation than the quick victory 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 the Russian Army was unable to break through the German defensive lines.

Defeats on the battlefields, coupled with economic instability and shortages of food and basic necessities, led to growing discontent among the bulk of the Russian population, especially among poor workers and peasants. 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 end hostilities with the Central Powers in early December 1917, freeing German forces 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 showed aggression 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.

Wide public protest 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 appropriations bill so the US could prepare for war.

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

Dardanelles Operation and Battle of the Isonzo

When World War I brought Europe into a stalemate, the Allies attempted to defeat the Ottoman Empire, which had entered the war on the side of the Central Powers in late 1914.

After a failed attack on the Dardanelles (the strait connecting the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Aegean Sea), Allied forces, led by Britain, landed numerous troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915.

The invasion was a disastrous defeat and in January 1916, Allied forces were forced to retreat from the coast of the peninsula after suffering 250,000 casualties.
Young, First Lord of the British Admiralty resigned as commander after the lost Gallipoli campaign in 1916, accepting appointment to command 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 Allied side. At the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto (October 1917), German reinforcements helped Austria-Hungary achieve a landslide victory.

After Caporetto, Italy's allies entered into a standoff to provide Italy with support. British and French and then American troops landed in the region, and Allied forces began to retake lost ground on the Italian front.

First World War 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 narrowing the gap between the forces of the two navies. The strength of the German navy in open waters was supported by deadly submarines.

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

The largest naval battle of the First World War was the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea (May 1916). The battle confirmed Britain's 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 left Allied forces scrambling to hold off the German advance until the arrival of promised reinforcements from the United States.

On July 15, 1918, German forces launched what would become the war's final attack on French troops, joined by 85,000 American soldiers and the British Expeditionary Force, in the Second Battle of the Marne. The Allies successfully repelled the German offensive and launched their own counterattack just 3 days later.

After suffering significant losses, German forces were forced to abandon plans 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 shifted 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 fall of 1918, the Central Powers were suffering defeats on all fronts. Despite the Turkish victory at Gallipoli, subsequent defeats and the Arab Revolt destroyed the Ottoman Empire's economy and devastated their lands. The Turks were forced to sign a peace agreement with the Allies at the end of October 1918.

Austria-Hungary, corroded from within by the growing nationalist movement, concluded a truce on November 4. The German army was cut off from supplies from the rear and faced diminishing resources for combat due to encirclement by Allied forces. This forced Germany to seek an armistice, which it concluded on November 11, 1918, ending the First World War.

Treaty of Versailles

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

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

As the years passed, German hatred of the Treaty of Versailles and its authors would be considered one of the main reasons that provoked World War II.

Results of the First World War

The First World War claimed the lives of more than 9 million soldiers and injured more than 21 million. Civilian casualties amounted to about 10 million. The most significant losses were suffered by Germany and France, which sent about 80 percent of their male populations aged 15 to 49 to fight in 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 social shift, as millions of women were forced into blue-collar jobs to support the men fighting at the front and to 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, 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”, since it was the first to use the latest military developments at that time, such as machine guns, tanks, aircraft and radio transmissions.

The serious consequences caused by the use of chemical weapons such as mustard gas and phosgene against soldiers and civilians have galvanized public opinion towards prohibiting their further use as weapons.

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

1914, June 28 Murder of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Franz Ferdinand and his wife by the secret organization “Young Bosnia” in Sarajevo. The reason for the outbreak of the First World War.

1914, August - September East Prussian operation of the Russian North-Western Front. It ended in the defeat of the Russian troops.

1914, August - September In the Galician operation, troops of the Russian Southwestern Front repelled the offensive of the Austro-Hungarian armies in Galicia and Poland.

1914, September Marne operation of the Anglo-French troops. The German troops advancing on Paris were stopped on the Marne River. The German plan to quickly defeat France was thwarted.

1914, October November First battle of Ypres (Hungary). Failures of the German armies. The continuous line of the Western Front stretched to the North Sea. The war became protracted and positional.

1914, December Naval battle between the German and British squadrons near the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. Almost all German ships were sunk; the English squadron had no losses.

1915, April - May Second Battle of Ypres. German troops used chemical weapons for the first time - chlorine.

1916, February - December Verdun operation on the Western Front. The German army tried to break through the front of French troops in the Verdun area, but met stubborn resistance. In long, fierce battles, both sides suffered huge losses.

1916, May 31 - June 1, Battle of Jutland between the English and German fleets. England retained its dominance at sea.

1916, June - August Offensive of the Russian South-Western Front ("Brusilovsky breakthrough"), commander - General Brusilov. Russian troops broke through the positional defenses of the Austro-Hungarians.

1916, July - November Anglo-French troops on the Somme River (east of Amiens) tried to break through the positional defenses of the German army. On the Somme, on September 15, British troops used tanks for the first time.

1916, August Romania entered the war against Germany (by the end of the year the Romanian army was defeated). Italy declared war on Germany.

1917, July - November Third Battle of Ypres. On July 12, the Germans used mustard gas for the first time, which was called mustard gas (after the battlefield).

1917, October - December German-Austrian troops inflicted a major defeat on the Italian army near the village of Kobarid in Slovenia.

1917, December 15 (2) The Soviet government signed an armistice agreement with Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey.

1918, March 3 Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty between Russia and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey. Germany annexes Poland, the Baltic states, part of Belarus and Transcaucasia.

1918, May - June German offensive on the Aisne and Oise rivers. Having broken through the French defenses, German troops reached the Marne River, finding themselves less than 70 km from Paris.

1918, July 15 - August 4 Second Battle of the Marne. German troops crossed the river. But during the counteroffensive, the Allies advanced 40 km and saved Paris from the threat of capture.

1918, September 26 Beginning of the offensive of the armies of the anti-German coalition (Entente) on the Western Front.

1918, September - November Surrender of Bulgaria (September 29), Austria-Hungary (November 3) and Germany (November 11); Truce between Turkey and England (October 30). The end of the First World War.

1919, June 28 Treaty of Versailles. Secured the redivision of the world in favor of the victorious powers. Germany recognized the independence of all territories that were part of the former Russian Empire by August 1, 1914, as well as the abolition of the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty of 1918 and all treaties concluded by it with the Soviet government. The Statute of the League of Nations was an inseparable part of the treaty.

1917, November 7 (October 25) October socialist revolution in Russia. Head - Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin).

1918, November 9 Abdication and flight to Holland of Kaiser Wilhelm I. Overthrow of the monarchy in Germany.

1918 - 1922 Civil War in Russia. Armed struggle between Soviet power and its opponents. According to various sources, during the civil war, from 8 to 13 million people died from hunger, disease, terror and battles; about 2 million ended up in exile. Main events:

1918, March - April - troops of England, France and the USA landed in Murmansk, troops of Japan landed in Vladivostok;

1918, May - August - mutiny of the Czechoslovak military corps (former prisoners of war) in the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia;

1918, summer - formation of the White Guard, Russian military formations that fought against Soviet power;

1919, March - May - offensives of the White Guard forces from the east, south and west (Admiral A.V. Kolchak, generals A.I. Denikin and N.N. Yudenich), all of them were defeated;

1919, autumn - defeat of Yudenich's army near Petrograd;

1921, March 1-18 - Kronstadt uprising, caused by dissatisfaction with the Soviet government due to famine, economic ruin and repression; suppressed by Red Army units

1919, July 31, the German Constituent National Assembly adopted the Weimar Constitution, which formalized the replacement of the semi-absolutist monarchy with a parliamentary republic.

1920, June 12 Official opening of the Panama Canal (the first ship passed through the canal in August 1914).

1922, April 16 Rapallo Soviet-German Treaty on the restoration of diplomatic relations and trade and economic ties. It meant a breakthrough in the economic and political blockade of Soviet Russia.

1922, October 27 Fascists came to power in Italy, led by Benito Mussolini (head of government since October 30).

1922, December 30 Treaty on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) consisting of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Federation of Transcaucasian Republics.

1922, October 29 A republic was proclaimed in Turkey, and Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) became its first president.

1923, November Nazi "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munich to overthrow the Bavarian government. The organizers are General Erich Ludendorff and the leader of the National Socialist Party, Adolf Hitler. The latter was arrested and imprisoned.

1924, January 21 Death of the leader of the USSR Lenin. The beginning of the struggle for leadership between Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky.

1929, October The world economic crisis (1929-1933) began with a sharp drop in stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange.

1929, December 27 Proclamation of I.V. Stalin set a course for the beginning of “complete collectivization” in the USSR.

1931, April Overthrow of the monarchy and proclamation of a republic in Spain. In December 1931, a republican constitution was adopted.

1931, February - March Formation of the state of Manchukuo on the territory of Northeast China occupied by Japanese troops.

1933-1945 Franklin Roosevelt - 32nd President of the United States. He carried out a number of reforms to eliminate the economic crisis of 1929-1933 and mitigate the contradictions of American capitalism. On November 17, 1933, the Roosevelt government established diplomatic relations with the USSR. Since the beginning of the Second World War, he offered to provide support to Great Britain, France and the USSR (from June 1941) in their fight against Nazi Germany. He made a significant contribution to the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition. He attached great importance to the formation of the UN and post-war international cooperation, including between the USA and the USSR.

1934, July 25 Austrian Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated by supporters of the Anschluss (annexation to Germany).

1934, August 2, Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler became President of Germany. He concentrated legislative and executive power in his hands, established a regime of Nazi dictatorship in the country and launched active preparations for war.

1935-1936 Italo-Ethiopian War. Ended with the annexation of Ethiopia by Italy.

1936-1939 Spanish Civil War. The Republican government of socialists and communists was defeated by the army of General Franco. With the military support of Italy and Germany, a far-right regime led by Franco was established.

1936, October The Berlin Agreement formalized the military-political alliance of Germany and Italy (“Berlin-Rome axis”).

1936, November “Anti-Comintern Pact” between Germany and Japan. A year later, Italy joined them.

1937, July - 1938, October Invasion of Japanese troops into China, capture of Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing and Guangzhou.

1938, March German troops occupied Austria; Its annexation to Germany (Anschluss) was proclaimed.

1938, September Munich Agreement between Great Britain (N. Chamberlain), France (E. Daladier), Germany (A. Hitler) and Italy (B. Mussolini). It provided for the separation from Czechoslovakia and the transfer of the Sudetenland to Germany, as well as the satisfaction of territorial claims to Czechoslovakia from Hungary and Poland.

1939, August Soviet-German non-aggression pact (“Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”) with a secret annex establishing the delimitation of the “spheres of interest” of the parties; The Soviet Union, under this agreement, could annex Eastern Poland, the Baltic states, Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and part of Finland (the seizure occurred in 1939-1940).

On November 11, 1918, the Compiègne Armistice, which meant the surrender of Germany, ended the First World War, which lasted four years and three months. Almost 10 million people died in its fire, and about 20 million were injured.

First World War(July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918) - one of the most large-scale armed conflicts in human history. The name “First World War” itself became established in historiography only after the outbreak of World War II in 1939. In the interwar period, the name “Great War” was used; in the Russian Empire it was sometimes called the “Second Patriotic War”, and also informally (both before the revolution and after) - “German”; then in the USSR - the “imperialist war”.

As a result of the First World War, the world map had to be rebuilt. Germany had to give up not only aviation and navy, but also give up a number of lands and lands. Germany's comrades in military operations, Austria-Hungary and Turkey, were dismembered into pieces, and Bulgaria lost a significant part of its lands.

The First World War destroyed the last significant and significant empires existing on the European continent - the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire collapsed in Asia.

The results of the First World War were the February and October Revolutions in Russia and the November Revolution in Germany, the liquidation of three empires: the Russian, Ottoman Empires and Austria-Hungary, and the latter two were divided. Germany, having ceased to be a monarchy, is reduced territorially and weakened economically.

The Civil War began in Russia. On July 6-16, 1918, the left Socialist Revolutionaries (supporters of Russia's continued participation in the war) organized the murder of the German ambassador Count Wilhelm von Mirbach in Moscow and the royal family in Yekaterinburg, with the aim of disrupting the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Soviet Russia and Kaiser Germany. After the February Revolution, the Germans, despite the war with Russia, were worried about the fate of the Russian imperial family, because the wife of Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, was German, and their daughters were both Russian princesses and German princesses.

The USA has become a great power. The difficult conditions of the Treaty of Versailles for Germany (payment of reparations, etc.) and the national humiliation it suffered gave rise to revanchist sentiments, which became one of the prerequisites for the Nazis coming to power and unleashing World War II.