The First World War (July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918) is the first military conflict on a global scale between two major coalitions of powers: the Entente states (Russia, Great Britain, France) and the Central Powers bloc (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria).
Participants of the First World War:
Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria.
Allies (Entente): France, Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Serbia, USA, Italy (participated in the war on the side of the Entente since 1915).
Friends of the Entente (supported the Entente in the war): Montenegro, Belgium, Greece, Brazil, China, Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua, Siam, Haiti, Liberia, Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica.
The question of the causes of the First World War has been one of the most discussed in world historiography since the outbreak of the war in August 1914.
The beginning of the war was facilitated by the widespread strengthening of nationalist sentiments. France hatched plans for the return of the lost territories of Alsace and Lorraine. Italy, even being in alliance with Austria-Hungary, dreamed of returning her lands to Trentino, Trieste and Fiume. The Poles saw in the war an opportunity to recreate a state destroyed by the divisions of the 18th century. Many peoples who inhabited Austria-Hungary aspired to national independence. Russia was convinced that it could not develop without limiting German competition, protecting the Slavs from Austria-Hungary and expanding influence in the Balkans. In Berlin, the future was associated with the defeat of France and Great Britain and the unification of the countries of Central Europe under the leadership of Germany. In London, it was believed that the people of Great Britain would live in peace, only by crushing the main enemy - Germany.
In addition, international tensions were exacerbated by a series of diplomatic crises - the Franco-German clash in Morocco in 1905-1906; the Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908-1909; Balkan wars in 1912-1913.
The immediate cause of the war was the Sarajevo assassination on June 28, 1914 of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by the nineteen-year-old Serbian student Gavrilo Princip, who was a member of the secret organization "Young Bosnia", fighting for the unification of all South Slavic peoples in one state.
On July 23, 1914, Austria-Hungary, with the support of Germany, delivered an ultimatum to Serbia and demanded that its military formations be allowed into the territory of Serbia in order to prevent hostile actions together with the Serbian forces.
Serbia's response to the ultimatum did not satisfy Austria-Hungary, and on July 28, 1914, it declared war on Serbia. Russia, having received assurances of support from France, openly opposed Austria-Hungary and on July 30, 1914 announced a general mobilization. Germany, taking advantage of this occasion, declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914 , and on France on August 3, 1914 . After the Germans invaded Belgium on August 4, 1914, Great Britain declared war on Germany.
The First World War consisted of five campaigns. During the first campaign in 1914, Germany invaded Belgium and northern France, but was defeated at the Battle of the Marne. Russia captured part of East Prussia and Galicia (the East Prussian operation and the Battle of Galicia), but then was defeated as a result of the German and Austro-Hungarian counter-offensive.
The 1915 campaign was associated with Italy's entry into the war, the disruption of the German plan to withdraw Russia from the war, and bloody inconclusive battles on the Western Front.
The 1916 campaign was associated with the entry into the war of Romania and the waging of an exhausting positional war on all fronts.
The 1917 campaign was associated with the US entry into the war, Russia's revolutionary exit from the war, and a number of successive offensive operations on the Western Front (Operation Nivelle, operations in the Messines region, on Ypres, near Verdun, near Cambrai).
The campaign of 1918 was characterized by a transition from positional defense to a general offensive by the armed forces of the Entente. From the second half of 1918, the Allies prepared and launched retaliatory offensive operations (Amiens, Saint-Miyel, Marne), during which they eliminated the results of the German offensive, and in September 1918 they switched to a general offensive. By November 1, 1918, the allies liberated the territory of Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, entered the territory of Bulgaria after the armistice and invaded the territory of Austria-Hungary. On September 29, 1918, Bulgaria signed a truce with the Allies, on October 30, 1918 - Turkey, on November 3, 1918 - Austria-Hungary, on November 11, 1918 - Germany.
On June 28, 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference, the Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany, officially ending the First World War of 1914-1918.
On September 10, 1919, the Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed with Austria; November 27, 1919 - Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria; June 4, 1920 - Treaty of Trianon with Hungary; August 20, 1920 - Treaty of Sevres with Turkey.
In total, the First World War lasted 1568 days. 38 states participated in it, in which 70% of the world's population lived. The armed struggle was carried out on the fronts with a total length of 2500-4000 km. The total losses of all warring countries amounted to about 9.5 million people killed and 20 million people wounded. At the same time, the losses of the Entente amounted to about 6 million people killed, the losses of the Central Powers were about 4 million people killed.
During the First World War, for the first time in history, tanks, aircraft, submarines, anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns, mortars, grenade launchers, bomb throwers, flamethrowers, super-heavy artillery, hand grenades, chemical and smoke shells, poisonous substances were used. New types of artillery appeared: anti-aircraft, anti-tank, infantry escorts. Aviation became an independent branch of the military, which began to be subdivided into reconnaissance, fighter and bomber. There were tank troops, chemical troops, air defense troops, naval aviation. The role of the engineering troops increased and the role of the cavalry decreased.
The results of the First World War were the liquidation of four empires: German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman, the latter two being divided, and Germany and Russia were cut down territorially. As a result, new independent states appeared on the map of Europe: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Finland.
