First World War campaign 1915. Important dates and events of the First World War

The 1915 campaign revealed the true extent of the world war and outlined further stages for its completion. The determination of Great Britain to break the military and naval power of Germany as the most dangerous rival for dominion on the seas was clearly revealed. The struggle with Germany, which began in the political sphere several years before the armed conflict, was conducted in terms of the plan and scope of its economic strangulation, as the most reliable way to bring it to its knees. Due to the economic situation, Germany had to fight a short, decisive war according to the Schlieffen plan of operations. But it failed; England skillfully took advantage of this and based the Entente’s action plan on slowly exhausting German energy. The 1915 campaign develops the struggle of both coalitions at the collision of these opposing aspirations. Germany continues to try to strike a decisive blow and, at the same time, move apart the iron ring that is squeezing it ever closer. In appearance, Germany's military achievements in 1915 were enormous: Eastern Front - the Russian army was finally pushed back from its borders into the swamps of Polesie (beyond the Stokhod River) and paralyzed at least until the late spring of next year; Galicia is liberated; Poland and part of Lithuania are cleared of Russians; Austria-Hungary is saved from ultimate defeat; Serbia is destroyed; Bulgaria joined the Central Union; Romania refused to join the Entente; the complete failure of the Dardanelles expedition and the precarious position of the Anglo-French troops at Thessaloniki. All these laurels of German weapons in 1915 could reassure the Central Powers of the final victory. Even Italy’s military performance provides an opportunity for its ally, Austria, to restore its military prestige with cheap successes. The merciless submarine war that was undertaken, although it soon died down, revealed in German hands a formidable means of infringing on the vital interests of England.

But the results of the victory in the east could seem especially abundant for Germany, going far beyond just the defeat of the Russian army. Inside Russia, general dissatisfaction with the existing regime broke out, which showed a complete inability to cope with the supply of the front and with the elimination of food difficulties in the country itself. The autocracy seriously wavered, and in the frequent changes of some ministers one could only see the blindness and impotent stubbornness of the supreme power to ignore the formidable harbingers of the impending revolution. Under the pressure of internal discontent in the country, an outlet was opened for the manifestation of “public initiative” to help the government supply the front. On June 7, 1915, a Special Meeting was formed to provide the army with supplies with the participation of State Duma deputies and representatives of industrialists. At the same time, military-industrial committees arose with the goal of uniting and regulating the activities of industry for the needs of war. The total number of such committees reached 200. By 1917, the results of this activity of the bourgeoisie, of course, greatly facilitated the work of the military department, but at the same time, this activity prepared the transfer of power from the decaying tsarism into the hands of the bourgeois parties. Germany was already quite confident in the Russian revolution, and such confidence served as one of the reasons to plan a strike on France at Verdun by 1916.

But along with the listed great achievements of the central coalition in 1915, some fractures within this so far victorious alliance could not hide from the inquisitive eye. The most serious danger, not yet clearly felt in the depths of the people of Germany and Austria-Hungary, was the prospect of a long war, on which the Entente relied. The submarine war stirred up public opinion in America and in England itself it was cleverly used by Lloyd George to implement the law on universal conscription, as a result of which Great Britain could eventually field up to 5,000 thousand soldiers. Meanwhile, if official Germany still breathed the slogan “win or die,” then all its allies were numb pendants that had to be constantly revived with material support in all forms, since otherwise they would turn into dead ballast. Germany, which by the end of 1915 itself already felt an extreme lack of many vital resources for the struggle, had to share them with Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

The awareness of this true, not ostentatious position among the commanding tops of Germany is confirmed by the fact that twice in 1915 its government sounded the ground for concluding a separate peace with Russia. Falkenhayn twice raised the issue of this peace with the Imperial Chancellor. At the second attempt in July 1915, Bethmann-Hollweg willingly agreed and took some diplomatic steps, which met with resistance from Russia, and Germany, as Falkenhayn writes, considered it more appropriate to “temporarily completely destroy the bridges to the East.”

The German population was finally transferred to starvation rations and felt a complete lack of the most necessary products national nutrition, which cannot be eliminated by any food substitutes. These deprivations had a depressing effect on the people's psyche, especially when the long-term nature of the war began to become clear.

The German fleet - this is the expression of the "German future on the seas" - was firmly locked in the "sea triangle" (Helgoland Bight) and, after a timid attempt to be active in January 1915 at the Dogger Bank, doomed itself to complete inactivity. In return, the German high command began to launch zeppelin raids on Paris and London. But these raids were considered random means of intimidating the civilian population of the capitals and, after taking air defense measures, could not produce major results. In supply technical means fighting, especially with heavy artillery shells, by the end of 1915, with rapid development military industry, the Entente had already caught up with Germany, and later began to even surpass it.

At the turn of 1915 and 1916. England and France acquired much more confidence in their final victory than a year earlier, and the upcoming loss of Russia from the alliance was replaced by preparations for the entry of the United States into the alliance, to which the efforts of Great Britain were already directed. Finally, the results of the 1915 campaign on the Russian Front raised the question of Russia's position. There was no longer any doubt that the existing regime was leading the country to final defeat, and the Entente sought to quickly squeeze out all the benefits for itself while the Russian army had not yet surrendered. The balance of forces of the Central Union on the Russian and French fronts at the beginning of the war and by the end of 1915 was as follows:

Troops of the Central Union:

1) At the beginning of the war:
a) against Russia - 42 infantry. and 13 cavalry. divisions;
b) against France - 80 infantry. and 10 cavalry. divisions.

a) against Russia - 116 infantry. and 24 cavalry. divisions;
b) against France - the same number of troops - 90 infantry. and 1 cavalry division.

If at the beginning of the war Russia attracted only 31% of all hostile forces, then a year later Russia attracted more than 50% of the enemy forces.

In 1915, the Russian Theater was the main theater of the world war and provided France and England with a respite, which they widely used to achieve the final victory over Germany. The 1915 campaign clearly revealed the service role of tsarism for Anglo-French capital. The 1915 campaign in the Russian Theater also revealed that Russia, economically and politically, could not adapt to the scope and nature of the war. Since the beginning of the war, the Russian army has lost almost all of its personnel (3,400 thousand people, of which 312,600 were killed and 1,548 thousand were captured and missing; 45 thousand officers and doctors, of which 6,147 were killed and 12,782 were captured and wounded). Subsequently, the Russian army could not recover enough to successfully wage a war with Germany.

On August 10, 1915, on the initiative of the State Duma and military-industrial committees, a Special Conference on Defense was formed, replenished with representatives of legislative institutions and public organizations. The regulations on them were approved only on August 27, 1915. Associations of small and medium industry were not within the purview of the military-industrial committees and did not enjoy their support.

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

Causes

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

Progress of the war

1914

The war consisted of five campaigns. During the First Campaign, 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 by the German and Austro-Hungarian counter-offensive. As a result, there was a transition from maneuvering to positional forms of combat.

1915

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

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

On the Western Front, both sides fought a strategic defense. Private operations (at Ypres, Champagne and Artois) were unsuccessful, despite the use of poison gases.

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

1916

The city's campaign is associated with the entry of Romania into the war and the waging of a grueling positional war on all fronts. Germany again turned its efforts against France, but was unsuccessful at the Battle of Verdun. The operations of the Anglo-French troops on Somna were also unsuccessful, despite the use of tanks.

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

On the Transcaucasian front, the Russian army carried out the Erzurum and then Trebizond offensive operations, which remained unfinished.

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

1917

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

1918

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

From the second half of the year, with the entry of the United States into the war, 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 they launched a general offensive, forcing Germany to surrender ( Truce of Compiegne).

Results

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

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

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

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

Used materials

• Dictionary "War and Peace in Terms and Definitions", First World War
• Encyclopedia "Around the World"

Sends a secret ultimatum China, the “21 Demands,” which demands that it be granted rights to exploit mineral resources and use the railway network on the Shandong Peninsula, as well as the lease of all of Manchuria.

the date is only according to the Gregorian calendar, and the date according to the Julian calendar is indicated in parentheses along with the description of the event. In chronological tables describing the periods before the introduction of the new style by Pope Gregory XIII (in the DATES column) Dates are based on the Julian calendar only.. At the same time, translation to Gregorian calendar is not done because one did not exist.

Read about the events of the year:

Spiridovich A.I. "The Great War and the February Revolution of 1914-1917" All-Slavic Publishing House, New York. 1-3 books. 1960, 1962

Vel. book Gabriel Konstantinovich. In the marble palace. From the chronicle of our family. NY. 1955:

Chapter thirty two. Autumn 1914 - winter 1915. At the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in Baranovichi - In Petrograd - Trip to Ostashevo and Moscow - Prince Vladimir Paley.

Chapter Thirty Three. Spring 1915. Rumors of “betrayal” - Death at the front of Kostya Bagration.

Chapter thirty-four. Autumn 1915 - winter 1916. Trip to Crimea - Bad things at the front - Nicholas II assumes the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809
	Europe, Africa and the Middle East (briefly in China and the Pacific Islands)
	Economic imperialism, territorial and economic claims, trade barriers, arms race, militarism and autocracy, balance of power, local conflicts, allied obligations of European powers.
	Victory of the Entente. The February and October revolutions in Russia and the November revolution in Germany. Collapse of the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. The beginning of the penetration of American capital into Europe.
Opponents
	Bulgaria (since 1915)
Italy (since 1915)
Romania (since 1916)
USA (since 1917)
Greece (since 1917)
Commanders
Nicholas II †	Franz Joseph I †
Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich
M. V. Alekseev †	F. von Goetzendorf
A. A. Brusilov	A. von Straussenburg
L. G. Kornilov †	Wilhelm II
A. F. Kerensky	E. von Falkenhayn
N. N. Dukhonin †	Paul von Hindenburg
N. V. Krylenko	H. von Moltke (the Younger)
R. Poincaré
J. Clemenceau	E. Ludendorff
	Crown Prince Ruprecht
	Mehmed V †
R. Nivelle
	Enver Pasha
	M. Ataturk
G. Asquith	Ferdinand I
D. Lloyd George
J. Jellicoe	G. Stoyanov-Todorov
G. Kitchener †
L. Dunsterville
Prince Regent Alexander
R. Putnik †
Albert I
J. Vukotich
Victor Emmanuel III
L. Cadorna
Prince Luigi
Ferdinand I
K. Prezan
A. Averescu
T. Wilson
J. Pershing
P. Danglis
Okuma Shigenobu
Terauchi Masatake
Hussein bin Ali
Military losses
Military deaths: 5,953,372 Military injured: 9,723,991 Missing military personnel: 4,000,676	Military deaths: 4,043,397 Military injured: 8,465,286 Missing military personnel: 3,470,138

(July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918) - one of the most large-scale armed conflicts in human history.

This name was established in historiography only after the outbreak of World War II in 1939. During the interwar period the name " Great War"(English) TheGreatWar, fr. La Grandeguerre), V Russian Empire she was sometimes called " Second Patriotic War", as well as informally (both before the revolution and after) - " German"; then to the USSR - “ imperialist war».

The immediate cause of the war was the Sarajevo assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 by nineteen-year-old Serbian student Gavrilo Princip, who was one of the members of the terrorist organization Mlada Bosna, which fought for the unification of all South Slavic peoples into one state.

As a result of the war, four empires ceased to exist: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German and Ottoman. The participating countries lost about 12 million people killed (including civilians), and about 55 million were wounded.

Participants

Allies of the Entente(supported the Entente in the war): USA, Japan, Serbia, Italy (participated in the war on the side of the Entente since 1915, despite being a member of the Triple Alliance), Montenegro, Belgium, Egypt, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Brazil, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Siam, Haiti, Liberia, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador.

Timeline of declaration of war
	Who declared war	To whom was war declared?
	Germany
	Germany
	Germany
		Germany
		Germany
		Germany
	British Empire and France
		Germany
	British Empire and France
	Germany	Portugal
		Germany
		Germany
	Panama and Cuba	Germany
		Germany
		Germany
		Germany
		Germany
	Brazil	Germany
	End of the war

Background to the conflict

Long before the war, contradictions were growing in Europe between the great powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Great Britain, and Russia.

The German Empire, formed after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, sought political and economic dominance on the European continent. Having joined the struggle for colonies only after 1871, Germany wanted the redistribution of the colonial possessions of England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal in its favor.

Russia, France and Great Britain sought to counteract the hegemonic aspirations of Germany. Why was the Entente formed?

Austria-Hungary, being a multinational empire, was a constant source of instability in Europe due to internal ethnic contradictions. She sought to retain Bosnia and Herzegovina, which she captured in 1908 (see: Bosnian crisis). It opposed Russia, which took on the role of protector of all Slavs in the Balkans, and Serbia, which claimed to be the unifying center of the South Slavs.

In the Middle East, the interests of almost all powers collided, striving to achieve the division of the collapsing Ottoman Empire (Turkey). According to the agreements reached between the members of the Entente, at the end of the war, all the straits between the Black and Aegean Seas would go to Russia, thus Russia would gain full control of the Black Sea and Constantinople.

The confrontation between the Entente countries on the one hand and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other led to the First World War, where the opponents of the Entente: Russia, Great Britain and France - and its allies were the bloc of Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria - in which Germany played a leading role. By 1914, two blocks had finally taken shape:

Entente bloc (formed by 1907 after the conclusion of the Russian-French, Anglo-French and Anglo-Russian alliance treaties):

• Great Britain;

Block Triple Alliance:

• Germany;

Italy, however, entered the war in 1915 on the side of the Entente - but Turkey and Bulgaria joined Germany and Austria-Hungary during the war, forming the Quadruple Alliance (or bloc of the Central Powers).

The reasons for the war mentioned in various sources include economic imperialism, trade barriers, the arms race, militarism and autocracy, the balance of power, local conflicts that took place the day before (the Balkan Wars, the Italian-Turkish War), orders for general mobilization in Russia and Germany, territorial claims and the alliance obligations of the European powers.

The state of the armed forces at the beginning of the war

A strong blow to the German army was the reduction in its numbers: the reason for this is considered to be the short-sighted policy of the Social Democrats. For the period 1912-1916 in Germany, a reduction in the army was planned, which did not contribute in any way to increasing its combat effectiveness. The Social Democratic government constantly cut funding for the army (which, however, does not apply to the navy).

This policy, destructive of the army, led to the fact that by the beginning of 1914, unemployment in Germany increased by 8% (compared to 1910 levels). The army experienced a chronic lack of necessary military equipment. There was a lack of modern weapons. There were not enough funds to sufficiently equip the army with machine guns - Germany lagged behind in this area. The same applied to aviation - the German aircraft fleet was numerous, but outdated. The main aircraft of the German Luftstreitkrafte was the most popular, but at the same time hopelessly outdated aircraft in Europe - a Taube-type monoplane.

The mobilization also saw the requisitioning of a significant number of civilian and mail aircraft. Moreover, aviation was designated as a separate branch of the military only in 1916; before that it was listed in the “transport troops” ( Kraftfahrers). But aviation was given little importance in all armies except the French, where aviation had to carry out regular air raids on the territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Rhineland, and the Bavarian Palatinate. The total financial costs for military aviation in France in 1913 amounted to 6 million francs, in Germany - 322 thousand marks, in Russia - about 1 million rubles. The latter achieved significant success, having built, shortly before the start of the war, the world's first four-engine aircraft, which was destined to become the first strategic bomber. Since 1865, the State Agrarian University and the Obukhov plant have successfully collaborated with the Krupp company. This Krupp company collaborated with Russia and France until the very beginning of the war.

German shipyards (including Blohm & Voss) built, but did not have time to complete before the start of the war, 6 destroyers for Russia, based on the design of the later famous Novik, built at the Putilov plant and armed with weapons produced at the Obukhov plant. Despite the Russian-French alliance, Krupp and other German firms regularly sent their latest weapons for testing to Russia. But under Nicholas II, preference began to be given to French guns. Thus, Russia, taking into account the experience of two leading artillery manufacturers, entered the war with good artillery of small and medium calibers, having 1 barrel per 786 soldiers against 1 barrel per 476 soldiers in the German army, but in heavy artillery the Russian army lagged significantly behind the German army, having 1 gun per 22,241 soldiers and officers versus 1 gun per 2,798 soldiers in the German army. And this is not counting the mortars, which were already in service with the German army and which were not available at all in the Russian army in 1914.

Also, it should be noted that the saturation of infantry units with machine guns in the Russian army was not inferior to the German and French armies. So the Russian infantry regiment of 4 battalions (16 companies) had in its staff on May 6, 1910 a machine gun team of 8 Maxim heavy machine guns, that is, 0.5 machine guns per company, “in the German and French armies there were six of them per regiment of 12 companies.

Events before the start of the First World War

On June 28, 1914, Gavriil Princip, a nineteen-year-old Bosnian Serb student and member of the nationalist Serbian terrorist organization Mlada Bosna, assassinates the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sofia Chotek in Sarajevo. The Austrian and German ruling circles decided to use this Sarajevo murder as a pretext for starting a European war. July 5 Germany promises support for Austria-Hungary in the event of a conflict with Serbia.

On July 23, Austria-Hungary, declaring that Serbia was behind the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, announces an ultimatum, in which it demands that Serbia fulfill obviously impossible conditions, including: purge the state apparatus and army of officers and officials found in anti-Austrian propaganda; arrest suspects of promoting terrorism; allow the Austrian-Hungarian police to conduct investigations and punishments for those responsible for anti-Austrian actions on Serbian territory. Only 48 hours were given for a response.

On the same day, Serbia begins mobilization, however, it agrees to all the demands of Austria-Hungary, except for the admission of the Austrian police to its territory. Germany is persistently pushing Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia.

On July 25, Germany begins hidden mobilization: without officially announcing it, they began sending out summonses to reservists at recruiting stations.

July 26 Austria-Hungary announces mobilization and begins to concentrate troops on the border with Serbia and Russia.

On July 28, Austria-Hungary, declaring that the demands of the ultimatum had not been fulfilled, declared war on Serbia. Russia says it will not allow the occupation of Serbia.

On the same day, Germany presents Russia with an ultimatum: stop conscription or Germany will declare war on Russia. France, Austria-Hungary and Germany are mobilizing. Germany is massing troops to the Belgian and French borders.

At the same time, on the morning of August 1, the British Foreign Minister E. Gray promised the German ambassador in London Lichnowsky that in the event of a war between Germany and Russia, England would remain neutral, provided that France was not attacked.

1914 Campaign

The war unfolded in two main theaters of military operations - in Western and Eastern Europe, as well as in the Balkans, Northern Italy (from May 1915), in the Caucasus and the Middle East (from November 1914) in the colonies of European states - in Africa, in China, in Oceania. In 1914, all participants in the war were going to end the war in a few months through a decisive offensive; no one expected the war to become protracted.

Beginning of the First World War

Germany, in accordance with a pre-developed plan for waging a lightning war, the “blitzkrieg” (Schlieffen plan), sent the main forces to the western front, hoping to defeat France with a quick blow before the completion of the mobilization and deployment of the Russian army, and then deal with Russia.

The German command intended to deliver the main blow through Belgium to the unprotected north of France, bypass Paris from the west and take the French army, whose main forces were concentrated on the fortified eastern, Franco-German border, into a huge “cauldron”.

On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, and on the same day the Germans invaded Luxembourg without any declaration of war.

France appealed to England for help, but the British government, by a vote of 12 to 6, refused France's support, declaring that "France should not count on help that we are currently unable to provide," adding that "if the Germans invade to Belgium and will occupy only the “corner” of this country closest to Luxembourg, and not the coast, England will remain neutral.”

To which the French Ambassador to Great Britain, Kambo, said that if England now betrays its allies: France and Russia, then after the war it will have a bad time, regardless of who the winner is. The British government, in fact, pushed the Germans to aggression. The German leadership decided that England would not enter the war and moved on to decisive action.

On August 2, German troops finally occupied Luxembourg, and Belgium was given an ultimatum to allow German armies to enter the border with France. Only 12 hours were given for reflection.

On August 3, Germany declared war on France, accusing it of “organized attacks and aerial bombardments of Germany” and “violating Belgian neutrality.”

On August 4, German troops poured across the Belgian border. King Albert of Belgium turned for help to the guarantor countries of Belgian neutrality. London, contrary to its previous statements, sent an ultimatum to Berlin: stop the invasion of Belgium or England will declare war on Germany, to which Berlin declared “betrayal”. After the ultimatum expired, Great Britain declared war on Germany and sent 5.5 divisions to help France.

The First World War has begun.

Progress of hostilities

French Theater of Operations - Western Front

Strategic plans of the parties at the beginning of the war. At the beginning of the war, Germany was guided by a fairly old military doctrine - the Schlieffen plan - which provided for the instant defeat of France before the “clumsy” Russia could mobilize and advance its army to the borders. The attack was planned through the territory of Belgium (with the aim of bypassing the main French forces); Paris was initially supposed to be taken in 39 days. In a nutshell, the essence of the plan was outlined by William II: “We will have lunch in Paris and dinner in St. Petersburg”. In 1906, the plan was modified (under the leadership of General Moltke) and acquired a less categorical character - a significant part of the troops was still supposed to be left on the Eastern Front; the attack should have been through Belgium, but without touching neutral Holland.

France, in turn, was guided by a military doctrine (the so-called Plan 17), which prescribed starting the war with the liberation of Alsace-Lorraine. The French expected that the main forces of the German army would initially be concentrated against Alsace.

Invasion of the German army into Belgium. Having crossed the Belgian border on the morning of August 4, the German army, following the Schlieffen Plan, easily swept away the weak barriers of the Belgian army and moved deeper into Belgium. The Belgian army, which the Germans outnumbered by more than 10 times, unexpectedly put up active resistance, which, however, was unable to significantly delay the enemy. Bypassing and blocking the well-fortified Belgian fortresses: Liege (fell on August 16, see: Assault of Liege), Namur (fell on August 25) and Antwerp (fell on October 9), the Germans drove the Belgian army in front of them and took Brussels on August 20, at which the same day coming into contact with the Anglo-French forces. The movement of the German troops was rapid; the Germans, without stopping, bypassed the cities and fortresses that continued to defend themselves. The Belgian government fled to Le Havre. King Albert I, with the last remaining combat-ready units, continued to defend Antwerp. The invasion of Belgium came as a surprise to the French command, but the French were able to organize the transfer of their units in the direction of the breakthrough much faster than expected by German plans.

Actions in Alsace and Lorraine. On August 7, the French, with the forces of the 1st and 2nd armies, began an offensive in Alsace, and on August 14 - in Lorraine. The offensive had symbolic significance for the French - the territory of Alsace-Lorraine was torn away from France in 1871, after defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Although they initially managed to penetrate deeper into German territory, capturing Saarbrücken and Mulhouse, the simultaneously unfolding German offensive in Belgium forced them to transfer part of their troops there. The subsequent counterattacks did not meet sufficient resistance from the French, and by the end of August the French army retreated to its previous positions, leaving Germany with a small part of French territory.

Border battle. On August 20, the Anglo-French and German troops came into contact - the Border Battle began. At the start of the war, the French command did not expect that the main offensive of German troops would take place through Belgium; the main forces of the French troops were concentrated against Alsace. From the beginning of the invasion of Belgium, the French began actively moving units in the direction of the breakthrough; by the time they came into contact with the Germans, the front was in sufficient disarray, and the French and British were forced to fight with three groups of troops that were not in contact. On the territory of Belgium, near Mons, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was located, and to the southeast, near Charleroi, there was the 5th French Army. In the Ardennes, approximately along the French border with Belgium and Luxembourg, the 3rd and 4th French armies were stationed. In all three regions, the Anglo-French troops suffered a heavy defeat (the Battle of Mons, the Battle of Charleroi, the Ardennes operation (1914)), losing about 250 thousand people, and the Germans from the north invaded France on a wide front, delivering the main blow to the west, bypassing Paris, thus taking the French army in a giant pincer.

The German armies were rapidly moving forward. The British units retreated to the coast in disarray; the French command was not confident in the ability to hold Paris; on September 2, the French government moved to Bordeaux. The defense of the city was led by the energetic General Gallieni. The French forces were regrouping to a new line of defense along the Marne River. The French prepared energetically to defend the capital, taking extraordinary measures. The episode is widely known when Gallieni ordered an urgent transfer of an infantry brigade to the front, using Parisian taxis for this purpose.

The unsuccessful August actions of the French army forced its commander, General Joffre, to immediately replace a large number of(up to 30% of the total number) poorly performing generals; the renewal and rejuvenation of the French generals was subsequently assessed extremely positively.

Battle of the Marne. The German army did not have enough strength to complete the operation to bypass Paris and encircle the French army. The troops, having marched hundreds of kilometers in battle, were exhausted, communications were stretched out, there was nothing to cover the flanks and emerging gaps, there were no reserves, they had to maneuver with the same units, driving them back and forth, so the Headquarters agreed with the commander’s proposal: making a roundabout maneuver 1 Von Kluck's th army reduced the front of the offensive and did not make a deep envelopment of the French army bypassing Paris, but turned east north of the French capital and hit the rear of the main forces of the French army.

Turning east north of Paris, the Germans exposed their right flank and rear to the attack of the French group concentrated to defend Paris. There was nothing to cover the right flank and rear: 2 corps and a cavalry division, originally intended to strengthen the advancing group, were sent to East Prussia to help the defeated 8th German Army. However, the German command took a fatal maneuver: it turned its troops east before reaching Paris, hoping for the passivity of the enemy. The French command did not fail to take advantage of the opportunity and struck the exposed flank and rear of the German army. The First Battle of the Marne began, in which the Allies managed to turn the tide of hostilities in their favor and push German troops on the front from Verdun to Amiens 50-100 kilometers back. The Battle of the Marne was intense, but short-lived - the main battle began on September 5, on September 9 the defeat of the German army became obvious, and by September 12-13 the German army's retreat to the line along the Aisne and Vel rivers was completed.

The Battle of the Marne had great moral significance for all sides. For the French, it was the first victory over the Germans, overcoming the shame of defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the Battle of the Marne, capitulatory sentiment in France began to decline. The British realized the insufficient combat power of their troops, and subsequently set a course to increase their armed forces in Europe and strengthen their combat training. German plans for the rapid defeat of France failed; Moltke, who headed the Field General Staff, was replaced by Falkenhayn. Joffre, on the contrary, acquired enormous authority in France. The Battle of the Marne was the turning point of the war in the French theater of operations, after which the continuous retreat of the Anglo-French troops ceased, the front stabilized, and the enemy forces were approximately equal.

"Run to the Sea". Battles in Flanders. The Battle of the Marne turned into the so-called “Run to the Sea” - moving, both armies tried to encircle each other from the flank, which only led to the fact that the front line closed, resting against the shore of the North Sea. The actions of the armies in this flat, populated area, saturated with roads and railways, were characterized by extreme mobility; as soon as one clash ended in the stabilization of the front, both sides quickly moved their troops north, towards the sea, and the battle resumed at the next stage. At the first stage (second half of September), the battles took place along the borders of the Oise and Somme rivers, then, at the second stage (September 29 - October 9), the battles took place along the Scarpa River (Battle of Arras); at the third stage, battles took place near Lille (October 10-15), on the Isère River (October 18-20), and at Ypres (October 30-November 15). On October 9, the last center of resistance of the Belgian army, Antwerp, fell, and the battered Belgian units joined the Anglo-French, occupying the extreme northern position at the front.

By November 15, the entire space between Paris and the North Sea was densely filled with troops of both sides, the front had stabilized, the offensive potential of the Germans had been exhausted, and both sides switched to positional warfare. An important success of the Entente can be considered that it managed to retain the ports that were most convenient for sea communications with England (primarily Calais).

By the end of 1914, Belgium was almost completely conquered by Germany. The Entente retained only a small western part of Flanders with the city of Ypres. Further, south to Nancy, the front passed through the territory of France (the territory lost by the French had the shape of a spindle, 380-400 km long along the front, 100-130 km deep at its widest point from the pre-war border of France towards Paris). Lille was given to the Germans, Arras and Laon remained with the French; The front came closest to Paris (about 70 km) in the area of ​​Noyon (behind the Germans) and Soissons (behind the French). The front then turned east (Reims remained with the French) and moved to the Verdun fortified area. After this, in the Nancy region (behind the French), the zone of active hostilities of 1914 ended, the front continued generally along the border of France and Germany. Neutral Switzerland and Italy did not participate in the war.

Results of the 1914 campaign in the French theater of operations. The 1914 campaign was extremely dynamic. Large armies of both sides maneuvered actively and quickly, which was facilitated by the dense road network of the combat area. The deployment of troops did not always form a continuous front; the troops did not erect long-term defensive lines. By November 1914, a stable front line began to take shape. Both sides, having exhausted their offensive potential, began building trenches and barbed wire barriers designed for permanent use. The war entered a positional phase. Since the length of the entire Western Front (from the North Sea to Switzerland) was a little over 700 kilometers, the density of troops on it was significantly higher than on the Eastern Front. A special feature of the company was that intensive military operations were carried out only on the northern half of the front (north of the Verdun fortified area), where both sides concentrated their main forces. The front from Verdun and to the south was considered by both sides as secondary. The zone lost to the French (of which Picardy was the center) was densely populated and important both agriculturally and industrially.

By the beginning of 1915, the warring powers were faced with the fact that the war had taken on a character that was not foreseen by the pre-war plans of either side - it had become protracted. Although the Germans managed to capture almost all of Belgium and a significant part of France, their main goal - a swift victory over the French - turned out to be completely inaccessible. Both the Entente and the Central Powers had, in essence, to start a new type of war that had not yet been seen by mankind - exhausting, long, requiring the total mobilization of the population and economies.

Germany's relative failure had another important result - Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance, refrained from entering the war on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

East Prussian operation. On the Eastern Front, the war began with the East Prussian operation. On August 4 (17), the Russian army crossed the border, launching an attack on East Prussia. The 1st Army moved towards Königsberg from the north of the Masurian Lakes, the 2nd Army - from the west of them. The first week of operations of the Russian armies was successful; the numerically inferior Germans gradually retreated; The Gumbinen-Goldap battle on August 7 (20) ended in favor of the Russian army. However, the Russian command was unable to reap the benefits of victory. The movement of the two Russian armies slowed down and became inconsistent, which the Germans were quick to take advantage of, striking from the west on the open flank of the 2nd Army. On August 13-17 (26-30), the 2nd Army of General Samsonov was completely defeated, a significant part was surrounded and captured. In German tradition, these events are called the Battle of Tanneberg. After this, the Russian 1st Army, under threat of encirclement by superior German forces, was forced to fight back to its original position; the withdrawal was completed on September 3 (16). The actions of the commander of the 1st Army, General Rennenkampf, were considered unsuccessful, which became the first episode of the later characteristic distrust of military leaders with German surnames, and, in general, disbelief in the abilities of the military command. In the German tradition, events were mythologized and considered greatest victory German weapons, a huge memorial was built at the site of the fighting, in which Field Marshal Hindenburg was subsequently buried.

Galician battle. On August 16 (23), the Battle of Galicia began - a huge battle in terms of the scale of forces involved between the Russian troops of the Southwestern Front (5 armies) under the command of General N. Ivanov and four Austro-Hungarian armies under the command of Archduke Frederick. Russian troops went on the offensive along a wide (450-500 km) front, with Lviv as the center of the offensive. The fighting of large armies, taking place on a long front, was divided into numerous independent operations, accompanied by both offensives and retreats of both sides.

Actions on the southern part of the border with Austria initially developed unfavorably for the Russian army (Lublin-Kholm operation). By August 19-20 (September 1-2), Russian troops retreated to the territory of the Kingdom of Poland, to Lublin and Kholm. Actions in the center of the front (Galich-Lvov operation) were unsuccessful for the Austro-Hungarians. The Russian offensive began on August 6 (19) and developed very quickly. After the first retreat, the Austro-Hungarian army put up fierce resistance on the borders of the Zolotaya Lipa and Rotten Lipa rivers, but was forced to retreat. The Russians took Lvov on August 21 (September 3), and Galich on August 22 (September 4). Until August 31 (September 12), the Austro-Hungarians did not stop trying to recapture Lviv, the battles took place 30-50 km west and north-west of the city (Gorodok - Rava-Russkaya), but ended in complete victory for the Russian army. On August 29 (September 11), a general retreat of the Austrian army began (more like a flight, since resistance to the advancing Russians was insignificant). The Russian army maintained a high tempo of offensive and in the shortest possible time captured a huge, strategically important territory - Eastern Galicia and part of Bukovina. By September 13 (26), the front had stabilized at a distance of 120-150 km west of Lvov. The strong Austrian fortress of Przemysl was under siege in the rear of the Russian army.

The significant victory caused jubilation in Russia. The seizure of Galicia, with its predominant Orthodox (and Uniate) Slavic population, was perceived in Russia not as an occupation, but as the return of a seized part of historical Rus' (see Galician General Government). Austria-Hungary lost faith in the strength of its army, and in the future did not risk embarking on major operations without the help of German troops.

Military operations in the Kingdom of Poland. The pre-war border of Russia with Germany and Austria-Hungary had a configuration that was far from smooth - in the center of the border, the territory of the Kingdom of Poland jutted sharply to the west. Obviously, both sides began the war by trying to smooth out the front - the Russians tried to level out the "dents" by advancing in the north into East Prussia and in the south into Galicia, while Germany sought to remove the "bulge" by advancing centrally into Poland. After the Russian offensive in East Prussia failed, Germany could only advance further south, in Poland, to prevent the front from falling apart into two disjointed parts. In addition, the success of the offensive in southern Poland could also help the defeated Austro-Hungarians.

On September 15 (28), the Warsaw-Ivangorod operation began with the German offensive. The offensive went in a north-eastern direction, targeting Warsaw and the Ivangorod fortress. On September 30 (October 12), the Germans reached Warsaw and reached the Vistula River. Fierce battles began, in which the advantage of the Russian army gradually became clear. On October 7 (20), the Russians began to cross the Vistula, and on October 14 (27), the German army began a general retreat. By October 26 (November 8), the German troops, having achieved no results, retreated to their original positions.

On October 29 (November 11), the Germans launched a second offensive from the same positions along the pre-war border in the same northeastern direction (Lodz operation). The center of the battle was the city of Lodz, captured and abandoned by the Germans a few weeks earlier. In a dynamically unfolding battle, the Germans first surrounded Lodz, then they themselves were surrounded by superior Russian forces and retreated. The results of the battles turned out to be uncertain - the Russians managed to defend both Lodz and Warsaw; but at the same time, Germany managed to capture the northwestern part of the Kingdom of Poland - the front, stabilized by October 26 (November 8), went from Lodz to Warsaw.

Positions of the parties by the end of 1914. By the new year of 1915, the front looked like this - on the border of East Prussia and Russia, the front followed the pre-war border, followed by a gap poorly filled by troops of both sides, after which a stable front began again from Warsaw to Lodz (northeast and east of the Kingdom of Poland with Petrokov , Czestochowa and Kalisz were occupied by Germany), in the Krakow region (remained by Austria-Hungary) the front crossed the pre-war border of Austria-Hungary with Russia and crossed into Austrian territory captured by the Russians. Most of Galicia went to Russia, Lvov (Lemberg) fell into the deep (180 km from the front) rear. In the south, the front abutted the Carpathians, which were practically unoccupied by troops of both sides. Bukovina and Chernivtsi, located east of the Carpathians, passed to Russia. The total length of the front was about 1200 km.

Results of the 1914 campaign on the Russian front. The campaign as a whole turned out in favor of Russia. Clashes with the German army ended in favor of the Germans, and on the German part of the front Russia lost part of the territory of the Kingdom of Poland. The defeat of Russia in East Prussia was morally painful and was accompanied by heavy losses. But Germany was not able to achieve the results it had planned at any point; all its successes from a military point of view were modest. Meanwhile, Russia managed to inflict a major defeat on Austria-Hungary and seize significant territories. A certain pattern of actions of the Russian army formed - the Germans were treated with caution, the Austro-Hungarians were considered a weaker enemy. Austria-Hungary turned from a full ally for Germany into a weak partner requiring continuous support. By the new year 1915, the fronts had stabilized, and the war entered the positional phase; but at the same time, the front line (unlike the French theater of operations) continued to remain unsmoothed, and the armies of the sides filled it unevenly, with large gaps. This unevenness next year will make events on the Eastern Front much more dynamic than on the Western Front. By the new year, the Russian army began to feel the first signs of a coming crisis in the supply of ammunition. It also turned out that Austro-Hungarian soldiers were prone to surrender, but German soldiers were not.

The Entente countries were able to coordinate actions on two fronts - Russia's offensive in East Prussia coincided with the most difficult moment of the fighting for France; Germany was forced to fight on two fronts simultaneously, as well as to transfer troops from front to front.

Balkan theater of operations

On the Serbian front, things were not going well for the Austrians. Despite their great numerical superiority, they managed to occupy Belgrade, which was located on the border, only on December 2, but on December 15, the Serbs recaptured Belgrade and drove the Austrians out of their territory. Although Austria-Hungary's demands on Serbia were the immediate cause of the outbreak of the war, it was in Serbia that military operations in 1914 proceeded rather sluggishly.

Japan's entry into the war

In August 1914, the Entente countries (primarily England) managed to convince Japan to oppose Germany, despite the fact that the two countries had no significant conflicts of interest. On August 15, Japan presented an ultimatum to Germany, demanding the withdrawal of troops from China, and on August 23, it declared war (see Japan in the First World War). At the end of August, the Japanese army began the siege of Qingdao, the only German naval base in China, ending on November 7 with the surrender of the German garrison (see Siege of Qingdao).

In September-October, Japan actively began to seize the island colonies and bases of Germany (German Micronesia and German New Guinea. On September 12, the Caroline Islands were captured, and on September 29, the Marshall Islands. In October, the Japanese landed on the Caroline Islands and captured the key port of Rabaul. In the end August, New Zealand troops captured German Samoa. Australia and New Zealand entered into an agreement with Japan on the division of German colonies, the equator was accepted as the dividing line of interests. German forces in the region were insignificant and sharply inferior to the Japanese, so the fighting was not accompanied by major losses.

Japan's participation in the war on the side of the Entente turned out to be extremely beneficial for Russia, completely securing its Asian part. Russia no longer needed to spend resources on maintaining the army, navy and fortifications directed against Japan and China. In addition, Japan gradually became an important source of supplying Russia with raw materials and weapons.

Entry of the Ottoman Empire into the war and opening of the Asian theater of operations

Since the beginning of the war in Turkey, there was no agreement on whether to enter the war and on whose side. In the unofficial Young Turk triumvirate, War Minister Enver Pasha and Interior Minister Talaat Pasha were supporters of the Triple Alliance, but Cemal Pasha was a supporter of the Entente. On August 2, 1914, the German-Turkish Treaty was signed alliance treaty, according to which the Turkish army was actually placed under the leadership of the German military mission. Mobilization was announced in the country. However, at the same time, the Turkish government published a declaration of neutrality. On August 10, the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau entered the Dardanelles, having escaped pursuit of the British fleet in the Mediterranean. With the advent of these ships, not only the Turkish army, but also the navy found themselves under the command of the Germans. On September 9, the Turkish government announced to all powers that it had decided to abolish the capitulation regime (preferential legal status for foreign citizens). This caused protest from all powers.

However, most members of the Turkish government, including the Grand Vizier, still opposed the war. Then Enver Pasha, together with the German command, started the war without the consent of the rest of the government, presenting the country with a fait accompli. Türkiye declared “jihad” (holy war) against the Entente countries. On October 29-30 (November 11-12), the Turkish fleet under the command of German Admiral Souchon fired at Sevastopol, Odessa, Feodosia and Novorossiysk. On November 2 (15), Russia declared war on Turkey. England and France followed on November 5 and 6.

The Caucasian Front arose between Russia and Turkey. In December 1914 - January 1915, during the Sarykamysh operation, the Russian Caucasian Army stopped the advance of Turkish troops on Kars, and then defeated them and launched a counteroffensive (see Caucasian Front).

Turkey's usefulness as an ally was diminished by the fact that the Central Powers had no communication with it either by land (between Turkey and Austria-Hungary there was still uncaptured Serbia and still neutral Romania) or by sea (the Mediterranean was controlled by the Entente).

At the same time, Russia has also lost the most convenient route of communication with its allies - through the Black Sea and the Straits. Russia has two ports left suitable for transporting large quantities of cargo - Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok; the carrying capacity of the railways approaching these ports was low.

Combat at sea

With the outbreak of the war, the German fleet launched cruising operations throughout the World Ocean, which, however, did not lead to a significant disruption of the merchant shipping of its opponents. However, part of the Entente fleet was diverted to fight the German raiders. The German squadron of Admiral von Spee managed to defeat the British squadron in the battle at Cape Coronel (Chile) on November 1, but later it itself was defeated by the British in the Battle of Falklands on December 8.

In the North Sea, the fleets of the opposing sides carried out raiding operations. The first major clash occurred on August 28 near the island of Heligoland (Battle of Heligoland). The English fleet won.

The Russian fleets behaved passively. The Russian Baltic Fleet occupied a defensive position, which the German fleet, busy with operations in other theaters, did not even approach. The Black Sea Fleet, which did not have large ships of the modern type, did not dare to engage in a collision with the two newest German-Turkish ships.

1915 Campaign

Progress of hostilities

French Theater of Operations - Western Front

Actions beginning in 1915. The intensity of action on the Western Front decreased significantly from the beginning of 1915. Germany concentrated its forces on preparing operations against Russia. The French and British also preferred to take advantage of the resulting pause to accumulate forces. For the first four months of the year, there was almost complete calm on the front, fighting took place only in Artois, in the area of ​​​​the city of Arras (an attempted French offensive in February) and southeast of Verdun, where German positions formed the so-called Ser-Miel salient towards France (an attempt French advance in April). The British made an unsuccessful attempt to attack near the village of Neuve Chapelle in March.

The Germans, in turn, launched a counterattack in the north of the front, in Flanders near Ypres, against English troops (April 22 - May 25, see Second Battle of Ypres). At the same time, Germany, for the first time in the history of mankind and with complete surprise to the Anglo-French, used chemical weapons (chlorine was released from the cylinders). The gas affected 15 thousand people, of whom 5 thousand died. The Germans did not have sufficient reserves to take advantage of the gas attack and break through the front. After the Ypres gas attack, both sides very quickly managed to develop gas masks of various designs, and further attempts to use chemical weapons no longer took large numbers of troops by surprise.

During these military operations, which produced the most insignificant results with noticeable casualties, both sides became convinced that an assault on well-equipped positions (several lines of trenches, dugouts, barbed wire fences) was futile without active artillery preparation.

Spring operation in Artois. On May 3, the Entente launched a new offensive in Artois. The offensive was carried out by joint Anglo-French forces. The French advanced north of Arras, the British - in an adjacent area in the Neuve Chapelle area. The offensive was organized in a new way: huge forces (30 infantry divisions, 9 cavalry corps, more than 1,700 guns) were concentrated on a 30-kilometer offensive area. The offensive was preceded by a six-day artillery preparation (2.1 million shells were spent), which was supposed to completely suppress the resistance of German troops. The calculations did not come true. The huge losses of the Entente (130 thousand people) suffered over six weeks of fighting did not completely correspond to the results achieved - by mid-June the French had advanced 3-4 km along a 7 km front, and the British had advanced less than 1 km along a 3 km front.

Autumn operation in Champagne and Artois. By the beginning of September, the Entente had prepared a new major offensive, the task of which was to liberate the north of France. The offensive began on September 25 and took place simultaneously in two sectors separated by 120 km - on the 35 km front in Champagne (east of Reims) and on the 20 km front in Artois (near Arras). If successful, the troops advancing from both sides were supposed to close in 80-100 km on the French border (at Mons), which would lead to the liberation of Picardy. Compared to the spring offensive in Artois, the scale was increased: 67 infantry and cavalry divisions, up to 2,600 guns, were involved in the offensive; During the operation, over 5 million shells were fired. The Anglo-French troops used new attack tactics in several “waves”. At the time of the offensive, the German troops managed to improve their defensive positions - a second defensive line was built 5-6 kilometers behind the first defensive line, poorly visible from enemy positions (each of the defensive lines consisted, in turn, of three rows of trenches). The offensive, which lasted until October 7, led to extremely limited results - in both sectors it was possible to break through only the first line of German defense and recapture no more than 2-3 km of territory. At the same time, the losses of both sides were enormous - the Anglo-French lost 200 thousand people killed and wounded, the Germans - 140 thousand people.

Positions of the parties by the end of 1915 and the results of the campaign. Throughout 1915, the front practically did not move - the result of all the fierce offensives was a movement of the front line by no more than 10 km. Both sides, increasingly strengthening their defensive positions, were unable to develop tactics that would allow them to break through the front, even under the conditions of an extremely high concentration of forces and many days of artillery preparation. Huge sacrifices on both sides did not produce any significant results. The situation, however, allowed Germany to increase its pressure on the Eastern Front - the entire strengthening of the German army was aimed at fighting Russia, while the improvement of defensive lines and defense tactics allowed the Germans to be confident in the strength of the Western Front while gradually reducing the troops involved on it.

The actions of early 1915 showed that the current type of military action creates a huge burden on the economies of the warring countries. New battles required not only the mobilization of millions of citizens, but also a gigantic amount of weapons and ammunition. Pre-war reserves of weapons and ammunition were exhausted, and the warring countries began to actively rebuild their economies for military needs. The war gradually began to turn from a battle of armies into a battle of economies. The development of new military equipment has intensified as a means of breaking out of the stalemate at the front; armies became more and more mechanized. The armies noticed the significant benefits brought by aviation (reconnaissance and artillery fire adjustment) and automobiles. Methods of trench warfare improved - trench guns, light mortars, and hand grenades appeared.

France and Russia again made attempts to coordinate the actions of their armies - the spring offensive in Artois was intended to distract the Germans from an active offensive against the Russians. On July 7, the first Inter-Allied Conference opened in Chantilly, aimed at planning joint actions of the allies on different fronts and organizing various types of economic and military assistance. The second conference took place there on November 23-26. It was considered necessary to begin preparations for a coordinated offensive by all allied armies in the three main theaters - French, Russian and Italian.

Russian Theater of Operations - Eastern Front

Winter operation in East Prussia. In February, the Russian army made another attempt to attack East Prussia, this time from the southeast, from Masuria, from the city of Suwalki. Poorly prepared and unsupported by artillery, the offensive instantly floundered and turned into a counterattack by German troops, the so-called Augustow operation (named after the city of Augustow). By February 26, the Germans managed to advance to oust Russian troops from the territory of East Prussia and advance deeper into the Kingdom of Poland 100-120 km, capturing Suwalki, after which in the first half of March the front stabilized, Grodno remained with Russia. The XX Russian Corps was surrounded and surrendered. Despite the victory of the Germans, their hopes for the complete collapse of the Russian front were not justified. During the next battle - the Prasnysh operation (February 25 - end of March), the Germans encountered fierce resistance from Russian troops, which turned into a counterattack in the Prasnysh area, which led to the withdrawal of the Germans to the pre-war border of East Prussia (the Suwalki province remained with Germany).

Winter operation in the Carpathians. On February 9-11, Austro-German troops launched an offensive in the Carpathians, putting especially strong pressure on the weakest part of the Russian front in the south, in Bukovina. At the same time, the Russian army launched a counter-offensive, hoping to cross the Carpathians and invade Hungary from north to south. In the northern part of the Carpathians, closer to Krakow, the enemy forces turned out to be equal, and the front practically did not move during the battles in February and March, remaining in the foothills of the Carpathians on the Russian side. But in the south of the Carpathians, the Russian army did not have time to regroup, and at the end of March the Russians lost most of Bukovina with Chernivtsi. On March 22, the besieged Austrian fortress of Przemysl fell, more than 120 thousand people surrendered. The capture of Przemysl was the last major success of the Russian army in 1915.

Gorlitsky breakthrough. The beginning of the Great Retreat of the Russian armies - the loss of Galicia. By mid-spring the situation at the front in Galicia had changed. The Germans expanded their area of ​​operations by transferring their troops to the northern and central part of the front in Austria-Hungary; the weaker Austro-Hungarians were now responsible only for the southern part of the front. In an area of ​​35 km, the Germans concentrated 32 divisions and 1,500 guns; Russian troops were outnumbered by 2 times and were completely deprived of heavy artillery; the shortage of main (three-inch) caliber shells also began to affect them. On April 19 (May 2), German troops launched an attack on the center of the Russian position in Austria-Hungary - Gorlice - aiming the main blow at Lvov. Further events were unfavorable for the Russian army: the numerical dominance of the Germans, unsuccessful maneuvering and the use of reserves, an increasing shortage of shells and the complete predominance of German heavy artillery led to the fact that by April 22 (May 5) the front in the Gorlitsy area was broken through. The beginning of the retreat of the Russian armies continued until June 9 (22) (see the Great Retreat of 1915). The entire front south of Warsaw moved towards Russia. The Radom and Kielce provinces were left in the Kingdom of Poland, the front passed through Lublin (behind Russia); from the territories of Austria-Hungary, most of Galicia was abandoned (the newly taken Przemysl was abandoned on June 3 (16), and Lviv on June 9 (22), only a small (up to 40 km deep) strip with Brody remained for the Russians, the entire region Tarnopol and a small part of Bukovina. The retreat, which began with the German breakthrough, by the time Lvov was abandoned, had acquired a planned character, the Russian troops were withdrawing in relative order. But nevertheless, such a major military failure was accompanied by a loss of fighting spirit in the Russian army and mass surrenders.

Continuation of the Great Retreat of the Russian armies - the loss of Poland. Having achieved success in the southern part of the theater of operations, the German command decided to immediately continue an active offensive in its northern part - in Poland and in East Prussia - the Baltic region. Since the Gorlitsky breakthrough did not ultimately lead to the complete collapse of the Russian front (the Russians were able to stabilize the situation and close the front at the cost of a significant retreat), this time the tactics were changed - it was not supposed to break through the front at one point, but three independent offensives. Two directions of attack were aimed at the Kingdom of Poland (where the Russian front continued to form a salient towards Germany) - the Germans planned front breakthroughs from the north, from East Prussia (a breakthrough to the south between Warsaw and Lomza, in the area of ​​the Narew River), and from the south, from sides of Galicia (to the north along the Vistula and Bug rivers); at the same time, the directions of both breakthroughs converged on the border of the Kingdom of Poland, in the area of ​​​​Brest-Litovsk; If the German plan was carried out, Russian troops had to leave all of Poland to avoid encirclement in the Warsaw area. The third offensive, from East Prussia towards Riga, was planned as an offensive on a broad front, without concentration on a narrow area and without a breakthrough.

The offensive between the Vistula and Bug was launched on June 13 (26), and the Narew operation began on June 30 (July 13). After fierce fighting, the front was broken in both places, and the Russian army, as envisaged by the German plan, began a general retreat from the Kingdom of Poland. On July 22 (August 4) Warsaw and the Ivangorod fortress were abandoned, on August 7 (20) the Novogeorgievsk fortress fell, on August 9 (22) the Osovets fortress fell, on August 13 (26) the Russians abandoned Brest-Litovsk, and on August 19 (September 2) Grodno.

The offensive from East Prussia (Rigo-Schavel operation) began on July 1 (14). During a month of fighting, Russian troops were pushed back beyond the Neman, the Germans captured Courland with Mitau and the most important naval base of Libau, Kovno, and came close to Riga.

The success of the German offensive was facilitated by the fact that by the summer the crisis in the military supply of the Russian army had reached its maximum. Of particular importance was the so-called “shell famine” - an acute shortage of shells for the 75-mm guns that predominated in the Russian army. The capture of the Novogeorgievsk fortress, accompanied by the surrender of large parts of troops and intact weapons and property without a fight, caused a new outbreak of spy mania and rumors of treason in Russian society. The Kingdom of Poland gave Russia about a quarter of coal production, the loss of Polish deposits was never compensated, and from the end of 1915 a fuel crisis began in Russia.

Completion of the great retreat and stabilization of the front. On August 9 (22), the Germans moved the direction of the main attack; Now the main offensive took place along the front north of Vilno, in the Sventsyan region, and was directed towards Minsk. On August 27-28 (September 8-9), the Germans, taking advantage of the loose location of Russian units, were able to break through the front (Sventsyansky breakthrough). The result was that the Russians were able to fill the front only after they withdrew directly to Minsk. The Vilna province was lost to the Russians.

On December 14 (27), the Russians launched an offensive against the Austro-Hungarian troops on the Strypa River, in the Ternopil region, caused by the need to distract the Austrians from the Serbian front, where the position of the Serbs had become very difficult. Attempts at the offensive did not bring any success, and on January 15 (29) the operation was stopped.

Meanwhile, the retreat of the Russian armies continued south of the Sventsyansky breakthrough zone. In August, Vladimir-Volynsky, Kovel, Lutsk, and Pinsk were abandoned by the Russians. On the more southern part of the front, the situation was stable, since by that time the Austro-Hungarian forces were distracted by fighting in Serbia and on the Italian front. By the end of September - beginning of October, the front stabilized, and there was a lull along its entire length. The offensive potential of the Germans was exhausted, the Russians began to restore their troops, which were badly damaged during the retreat, and strengthen new defensive lines.

Positions of the parties by the end of 1915. By the end of 1915, the front had become almost a straight line connecting the Baltic and Black Seas; The frontline in the Kingdom of Poland completely disappeared - Poland was completely occupied by Germany. Courland was occupied by Germany, the front came close to Riga and then went along the Western Dvina to the fortified area of ​​​​Dvinsk. Further, the front passed through the North-Western region: Kovno, Vilna, Grodno provinces, the western part of the Minsk province was occupied by Germany (Minsk remained with Russia). Then the front passed through the South-Western region: the western third of the Volyn province with Lutsk was occupied by Germany, Rivne remained with Russia. After this, the front moved to the former territory of Austria-Hungary, where the Russians retained part of the Tarnopol region in Galicia. Further, to the Bessarabia province, the front returned to the pre-war border with Austria-Hungary and ended at the border with neutral Romania.

The new configuration of the front, which had no protrusions and was densely filled with troops of both sides, naturally pushed for a transition to trench warfare and defensive tactics.

Results of the 1915 campaign on the Eastern Front. The results of the 1915 campaign for Germany in the east were in some ways similar to the 1914 campaign in the west: Germany was able to achieve significant military victories and capture enemy territory, Germany's tactical advantage in maneuver warfare was obvious; but at the same time, the general goal - the complete defeat of one of the opponents and its withdrawal from the war - was not achieved in 1915. While winning tactical victories, the Central Powers were unable to completely defeat their leading opponents, while their economy became increasingly weaker. Russia, despite large losses in territory and manpower, fully retained the ability to continue the war (although its army lost its offensive spirit during the long period of retreat). In addition, by the end of the Great Retreat, the Russians managed to overcome the military supply crisis, and the situation with artillery and shells for it returned to normal by the end of the year. Fierce fighting and heavy losses of life led the economies of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary to overstrain, the negative results of which would be more and more noticeable in the coming years.

Russia's failures were accompanied by important personnel changes. On June 30 (July 13), Minister of War V. A. Sukhomlinov was replaced by A. A. Polivanov. Subsequently, Sukhomlinov was put on trial, which caused another outbreak of suspicion and spy mania. On August 10 (23), Nicholas II assumed the duties of commander-in-chief of the Russian army, moving Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich to the Caucasian front. The actual leadership of military operations passed from N. N. Yanushkevich to M. V. Alekseev. The Tsar's assumption of supreme command entailed extremely significant domestic political consequences.

Italy's entry into the war

Since the beginning of the war, Italy remained neutral. On August 3, 1914, the Italian king informed William II that the conditions for the outbreak of war did not correspond to those conditions in the Treaty of the Triple Alliance under which Italy should enter the war. On the same day, the Italian government published a declaration of neutrality. After lengthy negotiations between Italy and the Central Powers and the Entente countries, the London Pact was concluded on April 26, 1915, according to which Italy pledged to declare war on Austria-Hungary within a month, as well as to oppose all enemies of the Entente. A number of territories were promised to Italy as “payment for blood.” England provided Italy with a loan of 50 million pounds. Despite subsequent reciprocal offers of territories from the Central Powers, against the backdrop of fierce internal political clashes between opponents and supporters of the two blocs, on May 23, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary.

Balkan theater of war, Bulgaria's entry into the war

Until the autumn there was no activity on the Serbian front. By the beginning of autumn, after the completion of a successful campaign to oust Russian troops from Galicia and Bukovina, the Austro-Hungarians and Germans were able to transfer a large number of troops to attack Serbia. At the same time, it was expected that Bulgaria, impressed by the successes of the Central Powers, intended to enter the war on their side. In this case, sparsely populated Serbia with a small army found itself surrounded by enemies on two fronts, and faced inevitable military defeat. Anglo-French assistance arrived very late - only on October 5 did troops begin to land in Thessaloniki (Greece); Russia could not help, since neutral Romania refused to let Russian troops through. On October 5, the offensive of the Central Powers from Austria-Hungary began; on October 14, Bulgaria declared war on the Entente countries and began military operations against Serbia. The troops of the Serbs, British and French were numerically inferior to the forces of the Central Powers by more than 2 times and had no chance of success.

By the end of December, Serbian troops left the territory of Serbia, going to Albania, from where in January 1916 their remnants were evacuated to the island of Corfu and Bizerte. In December, Anglo-French troops retreated to Greek territory, to Thessaloniki, where they were able to gain a foothold, forming the Thessaloniki Front along the Greek border with Bulgaria and Serbia. The personnel of the Serbian Army (up to 150 thousand people) were retained and in the spring of 1916 they strengthened the Thessaloniki Front.

The accession of Bulgaria to the Central Powers and the fall of Serbia opened up direct land communication for the Central Powers with Turkey.

Military operations in the Dardanelles and Gallipoli Peninsula

By the beginning of 1915, the Anglo-French command developed a joint operation to break through the Dardanelles Strait and reach the Sea of ​​Marmara, towards Constantinople. The objective of the operation was to ensure free maritime communication through the straits and divert Turkish forces from the Caucasian front.

According to the original plan, the breakthrough was to be made by the British fleet, which was to destroy the coastal batteries without landing troops. After initial unsuccessful attacks by small forces (19–25 February), the British fleet launched a general attack on 18 March, which involved more than 20 battleships, battlecruisers and obsolete ironclads. After the loss of 3 ships, the British, without achieving success, left the strait.

After this, the Entente’s tactics changed - it was decided to land expeditionary forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula (on the European side of the straits) and on the opposite Asian coast. The Entente landing force (80 thousand people), consisting of the British, French, Australians and New Zealanders, began landing on April 25. The landings took place on three beachheads, divided between the participating countries. The attackers managed to hold out only on one of the sections of Gallipoli, where the Australian and New Zealand Corps (ANZAC) was landed. Fierce fighting and the transfer of new Entente reinforcements continued until mid-August, but none of the attempts to attack the Turks produced any significant results. By the end of August, the failure of the operation became obvious, and the Entente began to prepare for the gradual evacuation of troops. The last troops from Gallipoli were evacuated in early January 1916. The bold strategic plan, initiated by W. Churchill, ended in complete failure.

On the Caucasian Front in July, Russian troops repelled the offensive of Turkish troops in the area of ​​Lake Van, while ceding part of the territory (Alashkert operation). The fighting spread to Persian territory. On October 30, Russian troops landed in the port of Anzeli, by the end of December they defeated pro-Turkish armed forces and took control of the territory of Northern Persia, preventing Persia from attacking Russia and securing the left flank of the Caucasian army.

1916 campaign

Having failed to achieve decisive success on the Eastern Front in the 1915 campaign, the German command decided in 1916 to deliver the main blow in the west and take France out of the war. It planned to cut it off with powerful flank attacks at the base of the Verdun ledge, encircling the entire Verdun enemy group, and thereby create a huge gap in the Allied defense, through which it was then supposed to strike the flank and rear of the central French armies and defeat the entire Allied front.

On February 21, 1916, German troops launched an offensive operation in the area of ​​the Verdun fortress, called the Battle of Verdun. After stubborn fighting with huge losses on both sides, the Germans managed to advance 6-8 kilometers forward and take some of the forts of the fortress, but their advance was stopped. This battle lasted until December 18, 1916. The French and British lost 750 thousand people, the Germans - 450 thousand.

During the Battle of Verdun, a new weapon was used for the first time by Germany - a flamethrower. In the skies over Verdun, for the first time in the history of wars, the principles of aircraft combat were worked out - the American Lafayette squadron fought on the side of the Entente troops. The Germans pioneered the use of a fighter aircraft in which machine guns fired through the rotating propeller without damaging it.

On June 3, 1916, a major offensive operation of the Russian army began, called the Brusilov breakthrough after the front commander A. A. Brusilov. As a result of the offensive operation, the Southwestern Front inflicted a heavy defeat on German and Austro-Hungarian troops in Galicia and Bukovina, whose total losses amounted to more than 1.5 million people. At the same time, the Naroch and Baranovichi operations of the Russian troops ended unsuccessfully.

In June, the Battle of the Somme began, which lasted until November, during which tanks were used for the first time.

On the Caucasian front in January-February, in the Battle of Erzurum, Russian troops completely defeated the Turkish army and captured the cities of Erzurum and Trebizond.

The successes of the Russian army prompted Romania to take the side of the Entente. On August 17, 1916, an agreement was concluded between Romania and the four Entente powers. Romania undertook to declare war on Austria-Hungary. For this she was promised Transylvania, part of Bukovina and the Banat. On August 28, Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary. However, by the end of the year the Romanian army was defeated and most of the country was occupied.

The military campaign of 1916 was marked important event. On May 31 - June 1, the largest naval battle of Jutland took place in the entire war.

All previous described events demonstrated the superiority of the Entente. By the end of 1916, both sides had lost 6 million people killed, and about 10 million were wounded. In November-December 1916, Germany and its allies proposed peace, but the Entente rejected the offer, pointing out that peace was impossible “until the restoration of violated rights and freedoms, recognition of the principle of nationalities and the free existence of small states is ensured.”

1917 campaign

The situation of the Central Powers in 17 became catastrophic: there were no longer reserves for the army, the scale of hunger, transport devastation and the fuel crisis grew. The Entente countries began to receive significant assistance from the United States (food, industrial goods, and later reinforcements), while simultaneously strengthening the economic blockade of Germany, and their victory, even without offensive operations, was only a matter of time.

However, when after the October Revolution the Bolshevik government, which came to power under the slogan of ending the war, concluded a truce with Germany and its allies on December 15, the German leadership began to hope for a favorable outcome of the war.

Eastern front

On February 1-20, 1917, the Petrograd Conference of the Entente countries took place, at which plans for the 1917 campaign and, unofficially, the internal political situation in Russia were discussed.

In February 1917, the size of the Russian army, after a major mobilization, exceeded 8 million people. After the February Revolution in Russia, the Provisional Government advocated continuing the war, which was opposed by the Bolsheviks led by Lenin.

On April 6, the United States came out on the side of the Entente (after the so-called “Zimmerman telegram”), which finally changed the balance of forces in favor of the Entente, but the offensive that began in April (the Nivelle Offensive) was unsuccessful. Private operations in the area of ​​Messines, on the Ypres River, near Verdun and Cambrai, where tanks were used on a massive scale for the first time, did not change the general situation on the Western Front.

On the Eastern Front, due to the defeatist agitation of the Bolsheviks and the indecisive policies of the Provisional Government, the Russian army was disintegrating and losing its combat effectiveness. The offensive launched in June by the forces of the Southwestern Front failed, and the front armies retreated 50-100 km. However, despite the fact that the Russian army had lost the ability for active combat operations, the Central Powers, which suffered huge losses in the 1916 campaign, could not use the favorable opportunity created for themselves to inflict a decisive defeat on Russia and take it out of the war by military means.

On the Eastern Front, the German army limited itself to only private operations that did not in any way affect the strategic position of Germany: as a result of Operation Albion, German troops captured the islands of Dago and Ezel and forced the Russian fleet to leave the Gulf of Riga.

On the Italian front in October-November, the Austro-Hungarian army inflicted a major defeat on the Italian army at Caporetto and advanced 100-150 km deep into Italian territory, reaching the approaches to Venice. Only with the help of British and French troops deployed to Italy was it possible to stop the Austrian offensive.

In 1917, there was relative calm on the Thessaloniki front. In April 1917, the Allied forces (which consisted of British, French, Serbian, Italian and Russian troops) carried out an offensive operation that brought minor tactical results to the Entente forces. However, this offensive could not change the situation on the Thessaloniki front.

Due to the extremely harsh winter of 1916-1917, the Russian Caucasian Army did not conduct active operations in the mountains. In order not to suffer unnecessary losses from frost and disease, Yudenich left only military guards at the achieved lines, and placed the main forces in the valleys in populated areas. At the beginning of March, the 1st Caucasian Cavalry Corps Gen. Baratova defeated the Persian group of Turks and, having captured the important road junction of Sinnah (Sanandaj) and the city of Kermanshah in Persia, moved southwest to the Euphrates to meet the British. In mid-March, units of the 1st Caucasian Cossack Division of Raddatz and the 3rd Kuban Division, having covered more than 400 km, joined the allies at Kizil Rabat (Iraq). Türkiye lost Mesopotamia.

After the February Revolution, there were no active military operations by the Russian army on the Turkish front, and after the Bolshevik government concluded the truce with the countries of the Quadruple Alliance in December 1917, it ceased completely.

On the Mesopotamian front, British troops achieved significant success in 1917. Having increased the number of troops to 55 thousand people, the British army launched a decisive offensive in Mesopotamia. The British captured a number of important cities: Al-Kut (January), Baghdad (March), etc. Volunteers from the Arab population fought on the side of the British troops, who greeted the advancing British troops as liberators. Also, by the beginning of 1917, British troops invaded Palestine, where fierce fighting ensued near Gaza. In October, having increased the number of their troops to 90 thousand people, the British launched a decisive offensive near Gaza and the Turks were forced to retreat. By the end of 1917, the British captured a number of settlements: Jaffa, Jerusalem and Jericho.

IN East Africa German colonial troops under the command of Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck, significantly outnumbered by the enemy, put up prolonged resistance and in November 1917, under pressure from the Anglo-Portuguese-Belgian troops, invaded the territory of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique.

Diplomatic efforts

On July 19, 1917, the German Reichstag adopted a resolution on the need for peace by mutual agreement and without annexations. But this resolution did not meet with a sympathetic response from the governments of England, France and the USA. In August 1917, Pope Benedict XV offered his mediation to conclude peace. However, the Entente governments also rejected the papal proposal, since Germany stubbornly refused to give unequivocal consent to the restoration of Belgian independence.

1918 Campaign

Decisive victories of the Entente

After the conclusion of peace treaties with the Ukrainian People's Republic (Ukr. Beresteysky world), Soviet Russia and Romania and the liquidation of the Eastern Front, Germany was able to concentrate almost all of its forces on the Western Front and try to inflict a decisive defeat on the Anglo-French troops before the main forces of the American army arrived at the front.

In March-July, the German army launched a powerful offensive in Picardy, Flanders, on the Aisne and Marne rivers, and during fierce battles advanced 40-70 km, but was unable to defeat the enemy or break through the front. Germany's limited human and material resources were depleted during the war. In addition, having occupied vast territories of the former Russian Empire after the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the German command, in order to maintain control over them, was forced to leave large forces in the east, which negatively affected the course of hostilities against the Entente. General Kuhl, Chief of Staff of Prince Ruprecht's Army Group, puts the number of German troops on the Western Front at approximately 3.6 million; There were about 1 million people on the Eastern Front, including Romania and excluding Turkey.

In May, American troops began operating at the front. In July-August, the second Battle of the Marne took place, which marked the beginning of the Entente counter-offensive. By the end of September, Entente troops, in the course of a series of operations, eliminated the results of the previous German offensive. In a further general offensive in October and early November, most of the captured French territory and part of Belgian territory were liberated.

In the Italian Theater at the end of October, Italian troops defeated the Austro-Hungarian army at Vittorio Veneto and liberated Italian territory captured by the enemy the previous year.

In the Balkan theater, the Entente offensive began on September 15. By November 1, Entente troops liberated the territory of Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, entered the territory of Bulgaria after the truce and invaded the territory of Austria-Hungary.

On September 29, Bulgaria concluded a truce with the Entente, on October 30 - Turkey, on November 3 - Austria-Hungary, on November 11 - Germany.

Other theaters of war

There was a lull on the Mesopotamian front throughout 1918; the fighting here ended on November 14, when the British army, without encountering resistance from Turkish troops, occupied Mosul. There was also a lull in Palestine, for the eyes of the parties were turned to more important theaters of military operations. In the fall of 1918, the British army launched an offensive and occupied Nazareth, the Turkish army was surrounded and defeated. Having captured Palestine, the British invaded Syria. The fighting here ended on October 30.

In Africa, German troops, pressed by superior enemy forces, continued to resist. After leaving Mozambique, the Germans invaded the territory of the British colony of Northern Rhodesia. Only when the Germans learned of Germany's defeat in the war did the colonial troops (which numbered only 1,400 people) lay down their arms.

Results of the war

Political results

In 1919, the Germans were forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which was drawn up by the victorious states at the Paris Peace Conference.

Peace treaties with

• Germany (Treaty of Versailles (1919))
• Austria (Treaty of Saint-Germain (1919))
• Bulgaria (Treaty of Neuilly (1919))
• Hungary (Treaty of Trianon (1920))
• Turkey (Treaty of Sèvres (1920)).

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.

Territorial changes

As a result of the war, England annexed Tanzania and South-West Africa, Iraq and Palestine, parts of Togo and Cameroon; Belgium - Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda; Greece - Eastern Thrace; Denmark - Northern Schleswig; Italy - South Tyrol and Istria; Romania - Transylvania and Southern Dobrudzha; France - Alsace-Lorraine, Syria, parts of Togo and Cameroon; Japan - the German islands in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator; French occupation of the Saarland.

The independence of the Belarusian People's Republic, the Ukrainian People's Republic, Hungary, Danzig, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland and Yugoslavia was proclaimed.

The Republic of Austria is founded. The German Empire became a de facto republic.

The Rhineland and the Black Sea straits have been demilitarized.

Military results

The First World War spurred the development of new weapons and means of combat. For the first time, tanks, chemical weapons, gas masks, anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns were used. Airplanes, machine guns, mortars, submarines, and torpedo boats became widespread. The firepower of the troops increased sharply. New types of artillery appeared: anti-aircraft, anti-tank, infantry escort. Aviation has become independent kind troops, which began to be divided into reconnaissance, fighter and bomber forces. Tank troops, chemical troops, air defense troops, and naval aviation emerged. The role of engineering troops increased and the role of cavalry decreased. “Trench tactics” of warfare also appeared with the aim of exhausting the enemy and depleting his economy, working on military orders.

Economic results

The enormous scale and protracted nature of the First World War led to an unprecedented militarization of the economy for industrial states. This had an impact on the course of economic development of all major industrial states in the period between the two world wars: strengthening state regulation and economic planning, the formation of military-industrial complexes, accelerating the development of national economic infrastructures (energy systems, a network of paved roads, etc.) , an increase in the share of production of defense products and dual-use products.

Opinions of contemporaries

Humanity has never been in such a situation. Without having reached a much higher level of virtue and without the benefit of much wiser guidance, people for the first time received in their hands such instruments with which they could destroy all mankind without fail. This is the achievement of all their glorious history, all the glorious labors of previous generations. And people will do well to stop and think about this new responsibility. Death stands on the alert, obedient, expectant, ready to serve, ready to sweep away all peoples "en masse", ready, if necessary, to turn into powder, without any hope of revival, all that remains of civilization. She is only waiting for the word of command. She is waiting for this word from the fragile, frightened creature, who has long served as her victim and who has now become her master for the only time. Churchill

Churchill on Russia in the First World War:

Losses in the First World War

The losses of the armed forces of all powers participating in the world war amounted to about 10 million people. There is still no generalized data on civilian casualties from the effects of military weapons. Famine and epidemics caused by the war caused the death of at least 20 million people.

Memory of the war

France, UK, Poland

Armistice Day (French) jour de l'Armistice) 1918 (November 11) is national holiday Belgium and France, celebrated annually. In England, Armistice Day ArmisticeDay) is celebrated on the Sunday closest to November 11 as Remembrance Sunday. On this day, the fallen of both the First and Second World Wars are remembered.

In the first years after the end of the First World War, every municipality in France erected a monument to fallen soldiers. In 1921, the main monument appeared - the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The main British monument to those killed in the First World War is the Cenotaph (Greek Cenotaph - “empty coffin”) in London on Whitehall Street, the monument to the Unknown Soldier. It was built in 1919 to mark the first anniversary of the end of the war. On the second Sunday of every November, the Cenotaph becomes the center of national Remembrance Day. A week before this, small plastic poppies appear on the chests of millions of Englishmen, which are bought from a special charity Fund for Veterans and War Widows. At 11pm on Sunday, the Queen, ministers, generals, bishops and ambassadors lay poppy wreaths at the Cenotaph and the whole country pauses for two minutes of silence.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw was also originally built in 1925 in memory of those who fell on the fields of the First World War. Now this monument is a monument to those who fell for their Motherland in various years.

Russia and Russian emigration

There is no official day of remembrance in Russia for those killed in the First World War, despite the fact that Russia's losses in this war were the largest of all the countries involved in it.

According to the plan of Emperor Nicholas II, Tsarskoe Selo was to become a special place for the memory of the war. The Sovereign's Military Chamber, founded there back in 1913, was to become a Museum Great War. By order of the emperor, a special plot was allocated for the burial of the dead and deceased ranks of the Tsarskoye Selo garrison. This site became known as the “Heroes’ Cemetery.” At the beginning of 1915, the “Cemetery of Heroes” was named the First Fraternal Cemetery. On its territory, on August 18, 1915, the foundation stone of a temporary wooden church took place in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Quench My Sorrows” for the funeral service of soldiers who died and died from wounds. After the end of the war, instead of a temporary wooden church, it was planned to erect a temple - a monument to the Great War, designed by architect S. N. Antonov.

However, these plans were not destined to come true. In 1918, a people's museum of the war of 1914-1918 was created in the building of the War Chamber, but already in 1919 it was abolished, and its exhibits replenished the funds of other museums and repositories. In 1938, the temporary wooden church at the Fraternal Cemetery was dismantled, and what remained of the graves of soldiers was a wasteland overgrown with grass.

On June 16, 1916, a monument to the heroes of the Second Patriotic War was unveiled in Vyazma. In the 1920s, this monument was destroyed.

On November 11, 2008, a memorial stele (cross) dedicated to the heroes of the First World War was erected on the territory of the Fraternal Cemetery in the city of Pushkin.

Also in Moscow on August 1, 2004, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the start of the First World War, on the site of the Moscow City Fraternal Cemetery in the Sokol district, memorial signs were placed “To those who fell in the World War of 1914-1918”, “To the Russian Sisters of Mercy”, “To the Russian Aviators” , buried in the Moscow city fraternal cemetery."

#war #history #World War I

The year 1915 began with an intensification of military actions by the warring parties. Symbolizing the emergence of sinister new means of warfare, on January 19, German Zeppelins began raiding the east coast of England. Several people died in the ports of Norfolk, and several bombs fell near the royal house at Sandringham. On January 24, a short but fierce battle took place off Dogger Bank in the North Sea, during which the German cruiser Blücher was sunk and two battlecruisers were damaged. The British battlecruiser Lion was also seriously damaged.

Second Battle of Masuria

In February 1915, Germany began major offensive operations in East Prussia (Augustow and Prasnysz), which were called the Second Battle of Masuria. On February 7, 1915, the 8th (General von Below) and 10th (General Eichhorn) German armies went on the offensive from East Prussia. Their main blow fell in the area of ​​the Polish city of Augustow, where the 10th Russian Army (General Sievers) was located. Having created numerical superiority in this direction, the Germans attacked the flanks of Sievers’ army and tried to encircle it.

The second stage provides for a breakthrough of the entire North-Western Front. But due to the tenacity of the soldiers of the 10th Army, the Germans failed to completely capture it in pincers. Only the 20th Corps of General Bulgakov was surrounded. For 10 days, he valiantly repelled attacks by German units in the snowy forests near Augustus, preventing them from further advancing. Having used up all the ammunition, the remnants of the corps attacked the German positions in the hope of breaking through to their own. Having overthrown the German infantry in hand-to-hand combat, the Russian soldiers died heroically under the fire of German guns. “The attempt to break through was complete madness.

But this is holy madness, heroism, which showed the Russian warrior in his full light, which we know from the time of Skobelev, the times of the storming of Plevna, the battle in the Caucasus and the storming of Warsaw! The Russian soldier knows how to fight very well, he endures all sorts of hardships and is able to be persistent, even if certain death is inevitable!”, wrote the German war correspondent R. Brandt in those days. Thanks to this courageous resistance, the 10th Army was able to withdraw most of its forces from attack by mid-February and took up defense on the Kovno-Osovets line. The Northwestern Front held out and then managed to partially restore the lost

positions. The heroic defense of the Osovets fortress provided great assistance in stabilizing the front. Almost simultaneously, fighting broke out on another section of the East Prussian border, where the 12th Russian Army (General Plehve) was stationed. On February 20, in the area of ​​Prasnysz (Poland), it was attacked by units of the 8th German Army (General von Below). The city was defended by a detachment under the command of Colonel Barybin, who for several days heroically repelled the attacks of superior German forces. On February 24, 1915, Prasnysh fell. But its staunch defense gave the Russians time to bring up the necessary reserves, which were being prepared in accordance with the Russian plan for a winter offensive in East Prussia. On February 25, the 1st Siberian Corps of General Pleshkov approached Prasnysh and immediately attacked the Germans. In a two-day winter battle, the Siberians completely defeated the German formations and drove them out of the city. Soon, the entire 12th Army, replenished with reserves, went on a general offensive, which, after stubborn fighting, drove the Germans back to the borders of East Prussia; Meanwhile, the 10th Army also went on the offensive, clearing the Augustow Forest from the Germans. The front was restored, but the Russian troops could not achieve more. The Germans lost about 40 thousand people in this battle, the Russians - about 100 thousand. On February 12, the French launched a new offensive in Champagne. The losses were enormous, the French lost about 50 thousand people, having advanced almost 500 yards. This was followed by a British offensive on Neuschtal in March 1915 and a new French offensive in April in an easterly direction. However, these actions did not bring tangible results to the Allies.

In the east, on March 22, after a siege, Russian troops captured the Przemysl fortress, which dominated the bridgehead on the San River in Galicia. Over 100 thousand Austrians were captured, not counting the heavy losses suffered by Austria in unsuccessful attempts to lift the siege. Russia's strategy at the beginning of 1915 amounted to an offensive in the direction of Silesia and Hungary while securing reliable flanks. During this company, the capture of Przemysl was the main success of the Russian army (although it managed to hold this fortress only for two months). At the beginning of May 1915, a major offensive by the troops of the Central Powers in the East began. Gorlitsky breakthrough. The beginning of the Great Retreat Having failed to push back Russian troops at the borders of East Prussia and in the Carpathians, the German command decided to implement the third breakthrough option. It was supposed to be carried out between the Vistula and the Carpathians, in the Gorlitsa region. By that time, over half of the armed forces of the Austro-German bloc were concentrated against Russia. But, before launching an offensive in the Gorlitsa area, the German command undertook a series of offensive operations in

East Prussia and Poland against the troops of the Northwestern Front. Moreover, in the offensive against Russian troops near Warsaw on May 31, 1915, the Germans successfully used gases for the first time. More than nine thousand Russian soldiers were poisoned, of which 1,183 died. Russian troops did not use gas masks at that time. In the 35-kilometer section of the breakthrough at Gorlitsa, a strike group was created under the command of General Mackensen. It included the newly formed 11; the German army, consisting of three selected German corps and the 6th Austrian corps, which included Hungarians (the Hungarians were considered the best soldiers of the multi-tribal Austrian army). In addition, the 10th German Corps and the 4th Austrian Army were subordinated to Mackenzin. Mackenzin's group was superior to the Russian 3rd Army (General Radko-Dmitriev) stationed in this area in manpower - twice, in light artillery - three times, in heavy artillery - 40 times, in machine guns - two and a half times . On May 2, 1915, Mackensen’s group (357 thousand people) went on the offensive. The Russian command, knowing about the build-up of forces in this area, did not provide a timely counterattack. Large reinforcements were sent here late, were brought into battle piecemeal and quickly died in battles with superior enemy forces. The Gorlitsky breakthrough clearly revealed the problem of shortage of ammunition, especially shells.

The overwhelming superiority in heavy artillery was one of the main reasons for this, the largest German success on the Russian front. “Eleven days of the terrible roar of German heavy artillery, literally tearing down entire rows of trenches along with their defenders,” recalled General A. I. Denikin, a participant in those events. - We almost didn’t answer - we had nothing. The regiments, exhausted to the last degree, repulsed one attack after another - with bayonets or point-blank shooting, blood flowed, the ranks thinned, grave mounds grew... Two regiments were almost destroyed by one fire.” The Gorlitsky breakthrough created a threat of encirclement of Russian troops in the Carpathians. Other Austro-Hungarian armies, reinforced by German corps, also went on the offensive. The troops of the Southwestern Front began a widespread withdrawal. At the same time, the 48th division of General L.G. Kornilov found itself in a difficult situation, which fought out of encirclement, but Kornilov himself and his headquarters were captured. We also had to leave the cities conquered by the Russians with such great blood: Przemysl, Lvov, and others. By June 22, 1915, having lost 500 thousand people, Russian troops abandoned all of Galicia. The enemy lost a lot, only Mackensen’s group lost two-thirds of its personnel. Thanks to courageous resistance

Russian soldiers and Mackensen’s group were unable to quickly enter the operational space. In general, its offensive was reduced to “pushing through” the Russian front. It was seriously pushed back to the east, but not defeated. The strike forces of Field Marshal Mackensen's 11th German Army, supported by the 40th Austro-Hungarian Army, went on the offensive along a 20-mile front in Western Galicia. Russian troops were forced to leave Lvov and

Warsaw. In the summer, the German command broke through the Russian front near Gorlitsa. Soon the Germans launched an offensive in the Baltic states, and Russian troops lost Galicia, Poland, part of Latvia and Belarus. The enemy was preoccupied with the need to repel the impending attack on Serbia, as well as to return troops to the Western Front before the start of a new French offensive. During the four-month campaign, Russia lost 800 thousand soldiers alone as prisoners. However, the Russian command, switching to strategic defense, managed to withdraw its armies from the enemy’s attacks and stop his advance. Concerned and exhausted, the Austro-German armies went on the defensive along the entire front in October. Germany faced the need to continue a long war on two fronts. Russia bore the brunt of the struggle, which provided France and England with a respite to mobilize the economy for the needs of the war. On February 16, 1915, British and French warships began shelling Turkish defenses in the Dardanelles. With interruptions caused in part by bad weather, this naval operation continued for two months.

The Dardanelles operation was undertaken at the request of Russia to launch a diversionary attack on Turkey, which would relieve pressure on the Russians fighting the Turks in the Caucasus. In January, the Dardanelles Strait, about 40 miles long and 1 to 4 miles wide, connecting the Aegean Sea with the Marmara Sea, was chosen as a target. The operation to capture the Dardanelles, opening the way to an attack on Constantinople, figured in the Allied military plans before the war, but was rejected as too difficult. With Turkey's entry into the war, this plan was revised as possible, although risky. A purely naval operation was initially planned, but it immediately became clear that a combined naval and land operation had to be undertaken. This plan found active support from the English First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. The outcome of the operation, and if it was successful, would be open" backdoor"for Russia was called into question by the reluctance of the allies to immediately send sufficiently large forces and the choice mainly

outdated warships. At the beginning, Türkiye had only two divisions to defend the strait. At the time of the Allied landings, it had six divisions and outnumbered five Allied divisions, not counting the presence of magnificent natural fortifications. Early on the morning of April 25, 1915, Allied troops landed at two points on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The British landed at Cape Ilyas, at the southern tip of the peninsula, while the Australians and New Zealand units advanced along the Aegean coast about 15 miles to the north. At the same time, the French brigade launched a diversionary attack on Kumkala on the Anatolian coast. Despite barbed wire and heavy machine-gun fire, both groups managed to seize a bridgehead. However, the Turks controlled the heights, as a result of which the British, Australian and New Zealand troops were unable to advance.

As a result, as on the Western Front, there was a lull here. In August, British troops landed at Suvla Bay in an attempt to capture the central part of the peninsula opposite the pass. Although the landing in the Gulf was sudden, the command of the troops was unsatisfactory, and the opportunity for a breakthrough was lost. The offensive in the south also proved unsuccessful. The British government decided to withdraw troops. W. Churchill was forced to resign as First Lord of the Admiralty. On May 23, 1915, Italy declared war on Austria, signing a secret treaty with the Allies in London in April. The Triple Alliance, which linked Italy with the Central Powers, was denounced, although at this time it refused to declare war on Germany.

At the beginning of the war, Italy declared its neutrality on the grounds that the Triple Alliance did not oblige it to take part in a war of aggression. However, the main reason for Italy's actions was the desire to gain territorial gains at the expense of Austria. Austria was unwilling to make the concessions that Italy sought, such as giving up Trieste. Moreover, by 1915, public opinion began to swing in favor of the Allies, and both former pacifists and radical socialists, led by Mussolini, saw an opportunity to bring about a revolution in the face of the lack of stability in society during the war. In March, the Austrian government took steps to satisfy Italy's demands, however, it was already too late. Under the Treaty of London, the Italians got what they wanted, or most of what they wanted. Under this treaty, Italy was promised Trentino, South Tyrol, Trieste, Istria and other predominantly Italian-speaking regions. On May 30, the Italians began military operations against Austria with the launch of an offensive by the 2nd and 3rd armies under the overall command of General Cadorna in the northeast direction.

Italy had very limited capabilities for warfare; its army had low combat effectiveness, especially after the Libyan campaign. The Italian offensive floundered, and the fighting in 1915 took on a positional character.

Change of Supreme Commander-in-Chief During the Great Retreat, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief moved from Baradovichi to Mogilev in mid-August 1915. Soon after the change in Headquarters, there was a change in the commander-in-chief. On September 5, 1915, this mission was undertaken by the sovereign himself, Nicholas II. He took command of the army during the most critical period of the struggle against an external enemy, thereby demonstrating a close bond of unity with his people and the Russian Imperial Army. Many tried to dissuade him, but the sovereign insisted on his own. Nikolai Alexandrovich was then 47 years old: By nature, he was a modest person, extremely delicate, easy to communicate with people. He loved his wife and children very much and was an impeccable family man.

He shunned pomp, flattery, and luxury, and almost never drank alcohol. He was also distinguished by his deep faith. Those around him often did not understand the king’s actions, but only because they themselves had lost the sincerity and purity of their faith. The Emperor managed to preserve it. He directly and directly perceived his calling as God's anointed and was guided by it in the way he understood. All his contemporaries noted his colossal restraint and self-control, and Nikolai Alexandrovich explained: “If you see that I am so calm, it is because I have a firm and decisive belief that the fate of Russia, my fate and the fate of my family is in the will of God who gave me this power. Whatever happens, I commit myself to His will, knowing that I can think of nothing else but serving the country He has entrusted to me.”

It was common in many states for the monarch to become commander-in-chief. But this was always done in anticipation of victorious laurels. Nicholas II took on a colossal burden at the most difficult moment of the war. Nikolai Nikolaevich was appointed commander of the Caucasian Front, but, concentrating rear affairs in his hands, he left the leadership of military operations to General Yudenich. The army took the change of supreme commander calmly. The soldiers already considered the king their highest superior. And the officers understood that the chief of staff would play an important role under the sovereign, and they heatedly discussed who would take this position. When they found out that it was General Alekseev, it made everyone happy. General Evert became the commander-in-chief of the Northwestern Front. The year 1916 began with the offensive of Russian troops in the Caucasus. On February 16, they took the Turkish fortress of Erzurum. Meanwhile, in England, parliament approved a law on universal conscription, which was strongly opposed by trade unions and Labor. Conservatives voted for the introduction of the law and

some liberals led by D. Lloyd George. And in the capital of Germany, a food riot broke out in Berlin; there was a catastrophic shortage of food. In the same year, the battles of Verdun and the Somme River ended.

These battles were the bloodiest of the war on the Western Front. They were distinguished by the massive use of artillery, aviation, infantry, and cavalry and did not bring success to either side. The main reason for this balance was the unconditional advantage of defensive methods of warfare over offensive methods. The Verdun Offensive signified the desire of the Chief of the German General Staff, Falkenhayn, to deliver a decisive blow on the Western Front, which was postponed in 1915 after the successes achieved in the East. Falkenhayn believed that Germany's main enemy was England, but at the same time he recognized that England could not be conquered, partly because an offensive in the English sector had little chance of success, and also because a military defeat in Europe would not England from the war. Submarine warfare was the best hope for realizing this possibility, and Falkenhayn saw his task as defeating the British allies in Europe.

Russia seemed already defeated, and the Austrians showed that they could cope with the Italians. That left France. Given the proven strength of the defenses in trench warfare, Falkenhayn abandoned the idea of ​​​​trying to break through the French lines. At Verdun, he chose a strategy of war of attrition. He planned a series of attacks to lure out the French reserves and destroy them with artillery. Verdun was chosen partly because it was on a salient and disrupted German communications, but also because of the important historical significance of this major fortress. As soon as the battle began, the Germans were determined to capture Verdun and the French to defend it. Falkenhayn was right in his assumption that the French would not give up Verdun easily. However, the task was complicated by the fact that Verdun was no longer a strong fortress and was practically deprived of artillery. And yet, forced to retreat, the French maintained their forts, while reinforcements filtered through a very narrow corridor that was not exposed to German artillery fire. By the time General Petain, commanding the Second Army, was sent to Verdun at the end of the month to lead its defense, the immediate threat had passed. The German crown prince, who commanded the army corps, scheduled the main offensive for March 4. After two days of shelling, the offensive began, but by March 9 it was stopped. However, Falkenhayn's strategy remained the same.

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

German troops continued their offensive. On 24 October, having taken over the 2nd Army after Pétain became commander-in-chief, General Nivelle launched a counter-offensive at Verdun. With the start of the Somme offensive in July, German reserves were no longer sent to Verdun. The French counterattack was covered by the "creeping artillery attack," a new invention in which infantry advanced behind a gradually moving wave of artillery fire according to a precisely timed schedule. As a result, the troops captured the initially set objectives and captured 6 thousand prisoners. The next offensive was hampered by bad weather at the end of November, but was resumed in December and became known as the Battle of Luvemen.

Almost 10 thousand prisoners were taken and more than 100 guns were captured. In December, the Battle of Verdun ended. About 120 divisions were ground in the Verdun meat grinder, including 69 French and 50 German. During the battle of Verdun, the Allies on July 1, 1916, after a week of artillery preparation, began an offensive on the Somme River. As a result of the exhaustion of the French troops near Verdun, the British units began the bulk of the offensive force, and England the leading Allied power on the Western Front. The Battle of the Somme was where tanks, a new type of weapon, first appeared on September 15. The effect of the British vehicles, which were initially called “landships,” was quite uncertain, but so was the number The number of tanks that took part in the battle was small.In the fall, the British advance was blocked by swamps.

The Battle of the Somme River, which lasted from July to the end of November 1916, did not bring success to either side. Their losses were enormous: 1 million 300 thousand people. The situation on the Eastern Front was more successful for the Entente. At the height of the battles near Verdun, the French command again turned to Russia for help. On June 4, the Russian 8th Army under the command of General Kaledin advanced into the Lutsk area, which was considered as a reconnaissance operation. To the surprise of the Russians, the Austrian defense line collapsed. And General Alexei Brusilov, who exercised overall command of the southern sector of the front, immediately intensified his offensive, bringing 3 armies into battle. The Austrians were soon put into panic flight. In three days, the Russians captured 200 thousand prisoners. The army of General Brusilov broke through the Austrian front on the Lutsk-Chernivtsi line. Russian troops again occupied most of

Galicia and Bukovina, putting Austria-Hungary on the brink of military defeat. And, although the offensive dried up by August 1916, the “Brusilovsky breakthrough” suspended the activity of the Austrians on the Italian front and greatly eased the position of the Anglo-French troops at Verdun and the Somme.

The war at sea came down to the question of whether Germany could successfully resist England's traditional superiority at sea. As on land, the presence of new types of weapons - aircraft, submarines, mines, torpedoes, and radio equipment - made defense easier than attack. The Germans, having a smaller fleet, believed that the British would seek to destroy it in a battle that they tried to avoid. However, the British strategy was aimed at achieving other goals. Having relocated the fleet to Scala Flow in the Orkney Islands at the beginning of the war and thereby establishing control over the North Sea, the British, wary of mines and torpedoes and the inaccessible coast of Germany, chose a long blockade, being constantly ready in case of an attempt to break through the German fleet. At the same time, being dependent on supplies by sea, they had to ensure security on ocean routes.

In August 1914, the Germans had relatively few battleships based abroad, although the cruisers Goeben and Breslau successfully reached Constantinople early in the war, and their presence contributed to Turkey's entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers. The most significant forces, including the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, were destroyed during the fighting off the Falkland Islands, and by the end of 1914 the oceans were, at least on the surface, cleared of German raiders. The main danger to ocean trade routes was not combat squadrons, but submarines. As the war progressed, Germany's inferiority in capital ships forced her to increasingly concentrate her efforts on submarines, which the British, suffering heavy losses in the Atlantic, viewed as an illegal means of warfare. Ultimately, the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare boats, which turned out to be almost disastrous for England, indirectly brought death to Germany, since it was the direct reason for the entry of the United States of America into the war in 1917.

On May 7, 1915, the huge American liner Lusitania, on a voyage from New York to Liverpool, was sunk by a torpedo attack by a German submarine off the Irish coast. The steamer quickly sank, and with it, about 1,200 people, almost three-quarters of all those on board, went forever into the cold waters of the ocean. The sinking of the Lusitania, whose speed was thought to make it invulnerable to torpedoes, necessitated a response. The fact that the Germans gave a cautious warning to the Americans not to sail on this ship only confirmed that the attack on it was most likely pre-planned. It caused sharp anti-German protests in many countries, primarily in the USA. Among the dead were nearly 200 American citizens, including such famous figures as millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt.

This sinking had a major impact on President Woodrow Wilson's declared policy of strict neutrality, and from that time on, US entry into the war became a potential possibility. On July 18, 1915, the Italian cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi sank after being torpedoed by an Austrian submarine. A few days earlier, the English cruiser Dublin was attacked in a similar way, however, she managed to escape despite serious damage. The French fleet, based in Malta, fell to the task of implementing a blockade in the Adriatic Sea. Austrian submarines were active, and after the loss of the battleship Jean Bart in December 1914, the French were wary of releasing their heavy ships, relying on cruisers and destroyers. German U-boats also entered the Mediterranean in the summer of 1915, and the Allies' position was complicated by the task of protecting numerous transports and supply ships making raids to and from the Gallipoli Peninsula and, later, to Thessaloniki. In September, an attempt was made to block the Strait of Otranto using nets, but German submarines managed to pass under them. Military operations in the Baltic intensified.

Russian sailors disabled a German minelayer, and a British submarine torpedoed the cruiser Prinz Adalbert. The Russian naval forces, supplemented by several British submarines, as a rule, successfully thwarted German plans to land troops in Courland and prevented the laying of mines. British submarines also tried to disrupt the supply of iron and steel from Sweden to Germany, later sinking 14 ships engaged in these shipments in 1915. But the British losses also grew. By the end of 1915, the total number of British merchant ships sunk by German submarines exceeded 250. The Battle of Jutland between the British and German fleets in the summer of 1916 led to large mutual losses, but in strategic terms it changed little. England retained naval superiority and the blockade of Germany continued. The Germans had to return to submarine warfare again. However, its effectiveness became less and less, especially after the United States entered the war.