November 11 is the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the First World War. On this day in 1918, Germany, the last of the Middle Powers, concluded a truce with the Entente countries and laid down its arms. For Europeans, a monstrous nightmare four seconds long has ended. more than a year. Losses armed forces of all powers participating in the world war amounted to about 10 million people. Civilian casualties from hostilities will forever remain unknown. Famine and epidemics caused by the war caused the death of at least 20 million people. The result of the war was another repartition of Europe, the collapse of several empires. And for Russia, which by the end of 1917 had lost millions killed and maimed on the fronts, the First World War generally became the road to a national catastrophe.
There were many things that happened for the first time, or almost for the first time, at that pan-European massacre. The use of chemical weapons, tanks, aviation, aerial bombing, underwater warfare at sea.
It was also the first war to be widely captured in color photography. Especially on the French side, where autochrome masters from Albert Kahn’s group became war correspondents: Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud, Jules Gervais-Courtellemont, Leon Gimpel, Paul Castelnau.
They left a legacy of thousands of photographs, some of which began to leak into last years in Internet. Two or three dozen pictures of terrible quality from this series have been circulating on the Internet for several years, but now more and more new pictures have begun to appear, and in much higher resolution. They allow us to feel much more strongly the spirit of that time, from which we are now separated by almost a century.

Heavy long-range gun on French positions, 1917:

Another super-heavy weapon (unfortunately, the photo is in poor quality):

French soldiers in the trenches on June 16, 1916 near Hirtzbach:

You can look at their faces:

Famous photo of a French soldier on the streets of Reims, 1917:



In the original, this wonderful photograph by Paul Castelnau is called " Déjeuner de poilu, Reims, 1st April 1917", i.e. "breakfast poil". This nickname was worn by French soldiers of the First World War. Translated as "overgrown".

And this is what the city of Reims itself looked like in 1917:

Consequences of the bombing of 2 and 3 September 1916 in Dunkirk:

Exhibition of shells:

In a French military hospital on July 30, 1916:

French soldiers at a field press kiosk, September 6, 1917:

Senegalese soldiers in the town of Saint-Ulrich, Haut-Rhin department, June 16, 1917:



The photo is also quite famous, but I have never seen it in good quality before.

There:

Military field still life:

French airplane, 1916:

Meanwhile, in the rear, French boys dreamed of becoming pilots and also beating the Germans:

This guy will have such an opportunity, somewhere in Normandie-Niemen.

P.S. When preparing the post, I carried out color correction and minor restoration of the images.
Perhaps I'll make a sequel.

Part 1. Introduction

From the author (Alan Taylor). A hundred years ago, a terrorist, a Serbian nationalist, killed the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary while he was visiting Sarajevo. This act sparked a massive conflict that lasted four years. More than 65 million soldiers were mobilized in more than 30 countries, and battles took place all over the world. The industrialization of that time brought modern weapons, vehicles and new military tactics, which significantly increased the lethal force of armies. Conditions on the battlefields were horrendous, characterized by the hellish landscapes of the craters of the Western Front, against which soldiers in dirty trenches were constantly exposed to bullets, bombs, gases, bayonet attacks and much more...

For the 100th anniversary, I've pulled together photographs of the Great War from dozens of collections, some digitized for the first time, to try to tell the story of the conflict and all those caught up in it, and how it all affected the world. Today's post is the first in a series of 10 articles on the First World War that will run weekly until the end of June. In this article I hope to give an idea of ​​the beginning of the war and a preview of what is to come.

Soldiers of the Australian 4th Battalion Field Artillery Brigade walk along a walkway built through the mud of a battlefield in Chateau Forest, near Hooge, Belgium, 29 October 1917. This was during the Battle of Passchendaele, where they fought with British forces and their allies against Germany for control of territory near Ypres (Belgium) / (James Francis Hurley/State Library of New South Wales)

2.

Nine European rulers gathered at Windsor for the funeral of King Edward VII in May 1910, four years before the outbreak of war. Standing, from left to right: King Haakon VII of Norway, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Manuel II of Portugal, Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, King George I of Greece and King Albert I of Belgium. Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King Emperor George V of the United Kingdom and King Frederick VIII of Denmark. Over the next decade, Kaiser Wilhelm II and King Ferdinand's empire would engage in a bloody war with the nations led by King Albert I and King George V. The war also became a family affair: Kaiser Wilhelm II was the cousin of King George V and the uncle of King Albert I Of the remaining monarchs in the photo, over the next decade one will be killed (Greece), three will remain neutral in the war (Norway, Spain, and Denmark), and two will be removed from power by revolutions in their countries. / (W. & D. Downey)

3.

In 1914, Austria-Hungary was a powerful and huge country, larger than Germany in territory and with almost the same population. It had been ruled since 1848 by Emperor Franz Joseph I, who saw his nephew, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, as heir to the throne. This photograph, taken in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, shows Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Czech Countess Sophie Chotek, leaving a reception at City Hall. That morning, on the way to City Hall, their motorcade was attacked by one of the Serbian nationalist groups, whose bombs damaged one car in the motorcade and injured dozens of passers-by. After the photograph was taken, the Archduke and his wife drove in an open car to the hospital to visit the wounded. Just a few blocks from the filming location, the car was attacked by another conspirator, who fired two shots, killing both Franz Ferdinand and his wife. / (AP Photo)

4.

The murderer Gavrilo Princip (left) and his victim, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in a photo from 1914. Princip, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb, was recruited along with five other conspirators by Danilo Ilic, their friend and comrade who was a member of the Black Hand secret society. Their ultimate goal was the creation of a Serbian nation. The plot, with the help of the Serbian military, was quickly exposed, but the attack was already the catalyst that soon moved huge armies all over the world against each other. All of the murderers and conspirators were captured and put on trial. Thirteen of them received average and short time prison sentences, including Princip (he was too young for the death penalty and received a maximum of 20 years in prison). Three of the conspirators were executed by hanging. Four years after the murder, Gavrilo Princip died in prison from tuberculosis, complicated by poor conditions caused by the war he had set in motion. / (Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek)

5.

A Bosnian Serb nationalist (possibly Gavrilo Princip, but more likely the nearby Ferdinand Behr) is captured by police and taken to a police station in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife. / (National Archives)

6.

Shortly after the assassination, Austria-Hungary published a list of demands on Serbia, demanding that the latter stop all anti-Austro-Hungarian activities, dissolve certain political groups, eliminate certain political figures and arrest those within its borders who participated in the assassination, as well as other requirements with their execution within 48 hours. Serbia, with the support of its ally Russia, politely refused to fully comply and mobilized its army. Shortly thereafter, Austria-Hungary, backed by its ally Germany, declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. The package of agreements and obligations has accelerated and month period allowed Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, France, Great Britain and Japan to mobilize their troops and declare war. In this photograph taken in August 1914, Prussian infantrymen in their new uniforms leave Berlin, Germany, heading towards the front lines. Girls and women along the way greet them and give them flowers. / (AP Photo)

7.

Belgian soldiers with their bicycles, Boulogne, France, 1914. Belgium asserted its neutrality from the very beginning of the conflict, but on the condition that Belgium be a clear route for Germany to France. Otherwise, Germany announced that it would “treat it as an enemy” if Belgium did not allow German troops free passage. / (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

8.

The conflict, called the Great War by its participants, was the first example of large-scale modern warfare, some technologies of which are still in basic use today, although some others (such as chemical attacks) were outlawed and then treated as war crimes. Thus, the newly invented airplane took its place as observation deck, bomber and anti-personnel weapons, even as air defense, shooting down enemy aircraft. Pictured here are French soldiers gathered around a priest as he blesses an airplane on the Western Front in 1915. / (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

9.

From 1914 until the end of the war in 1918, more than 65 million soldiers were mobilized worldwide, requiring massive amounts of supplies and equipment. The table shows the various stages of production of the Stahlhelms helmet for the Imperial German Army, created at the ironworks in Lübeck, Germany. / (National Archives/Official German Photograph)

10.

A Belgian soldier smokes a cigarette during the battle of Dendermonde and Oudegem, Belgium, in 1914. Germany hoped for a quick victory against France and invaded Belgium in August 1914, heading for France. German army swept through Belgium, but was met more harshly than expected in France. The Germans did not reach 70 kilometers to Paris, but were driven back to a more stable position. In this opening month of the First World War, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded—France suffered its greatest single-day casualties on August 22, when more than 27,000 soldiers were killed and several thousand more wounded. / (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

11.

German soldiers celebrate Christmas, December 1914. / (AP Photo)

a12.

On the front line in France, night battle scenes. Opposing armies were sometimes in trenches only a few meters apart. / (National Archief)

13.

An Austrian soldier who died on the battlefield in 1915. / (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

14.

Austro-Hungarian troops execute Serbian civilians, probably c. 1915. The Serbs suffered greatly during the war, with more than a million casualties by 1918, including casualties in battle, mass executions, and the worst typhus epidemic in history. / (Brett Butterworth)

15.

The Japanese fleet off the coast of China in 1914. Japan sided with Great Britain and its allies, infringing on German interests in Pacific Ocean, including its island colonies and leased territories on the Chinese mainland. / (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

16.

View from an airplane of biplanes flying in formation, ca. 1914-18. / (U.S. Army Signal corps/Library of Congress)

17.

Thessaloniki Front (Macedonia), Indian soldiers in gas masks. The Allied forces, together with the Serbs in the battles of the armies of the Central Powers, formed a stable front throughout most of the war. / (National Archief)

18.

Horse unloading at Tschanak Kale, Türkiye, intended for the Austro-Hungarian army. / (Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek)

19.

French Battleship Bouvet, in the Dardanelles. He was assigned to escort convoys across the Mediterranean at the beginning of the war. Early in 1915, as part of a group of British and French ships sent to clear the Dardanelles from Turkish defenses, Bouvet was hit by at least eight Turkish shells and then struck a mine, which caused such heavy damage that the ship sank within a few minutes. More than 650 people were saved. / (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

20.

1915, British soldiers on motorcycles at the Dardanelles, from the Ottoman Empire, before the Battle of Gallipoli. / (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

21.

A dog owned by Mr Dumas Realier, dressed as a German soldier, in 1915. / (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

22.

"Pill box demolishers" being unloaded on the Western Front. These huge shells weighed 1400 kg. Their explosions left craters more than 15 feet deep and 15 meters across. / (Australian official photographs/State Library of New South Wales)

23.

A motorcyclist studies the inscriptions on a grave cross, against the backdrop of a rising balloon. The inscription on the cross says in German: "Hier ruhen tapfere franzosische Krieger", or "Here lie the brave French soldiers." / (Brett Butterworth)

24.

Highlanders, soldiers from Great Britain, with their sandbags (for stunning) at the front, in 1916. / (National Archief)

25.

British artillery bombards German positions on the Western Front. / (Library of Congress)

26.

A British officer rouses his soldiers to attack against the backdrop of exploding German shells. / (John Warwick Brooke/National Library of Scotland)

27.

American soldiers, members of the 117th Maryland Mortar Battery, load a mortar. This unit maintained continuous fire throughout the offensive of 4 March 1918 at Badonviller, Muerthe et Modselle, France. / (U.S. Army Signal Corps)

28.

A German soldier throws a grenade towards enemy positions in an unknown battle during the First World War. / (AP Photo)

29.

French soldiers, some wounded, at the capture of Courcelles, in the department of Oise, France, in June 1918. / (National Archives)

30.

Soldiers with a wounded man on a stretcher struggle through knee-deep mud near Bol Singhe during the British advance in Flanders, August 20, 1917. / (AP Photo)

31.

32.

Candor, Oise, France. Soldiers and a dog near the ruins of a house, 1917. / (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

33.

British tanks drive past dead Germans. Here we see the debut tank battles, with a generally low degree of success. Many of the early models often broke down or became stuck in mud, fell into trenches, or (due to their slowness) made easy targets for artillery. / (National Library of Scotland)

34.

Western Front, German tanks A7V passing through a village near Reims, in 1918. / (National Archive/Official German Photograph of WWI)

35.

Mechanized corps of the Ottoman Turks in Tel esh Sheria, Gaza Strip, in 1917, during the Sinai and Palestine campaigns. British forces fought the Ottoman Empire (backed by Germany) for control of the Suez Canal, the Sinai Peninsula and Palestine. / (Library of Congress)

36.

Footbridges through the mud of the battlefields of Flanders, Belgium, in 1918. / (Library of Congress)

37.

Aerial photograph of the hellish lunar landscape of the Western Front during the First World War, Combres Hill, St. Mihiel sector, north of Hattonchâtel and Vigneulles. Note the criss-crossing trenches and thousands of craters left by mortars, artillery and collapsing underground mines. / (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)

38.

Color photograph of Allied soldiers on the battlefield on the Western Front. This image was produced using the Paget process, early in the experimentation with color photography. / (James Francis Hurley/State Library of New South Wales)

39.

A German ammunition column, men and horses wearing gas masks, passes through a forest contaminated in June 1918. / (National Archives/Official German Photograph)

40.

German soldiers flee through a gas curtain in Flanders, Belgium, in September 1917. Chemical weapons were an integral part of the First World War's arsenal from its very beginning, ranging from irritating tear gases and painful mustard gas to lethal chlorine and phosgene. / (National Archive/Official German Photograph of WWI)

41.

Members of the German Red Cross help those who have been gassed. / (AP Photo)

42.

British troops enter Lille, France, in October 1918, after four years of German occupation. In the early summer of 1918, Allied forces launched a series of successful counteroffensives, breaking through German lines and cutting off supply routes for the Austro-Hungarian forces. As autumn approached, the end of the war seemed inevitable. / (Library of Congress)

43.

The USS Nebraska, a US Navy battleship, with camouflage on her hull, in Norfolk, Virginia, April 20, 1918. Decoy camouflage was widely used during the war and was designed to make it difficult for the enemy to judge the type or speed of a ship, and to make it harder to target. /(NARA)

44.

German veterinary hospital where wounded dogs coming from the front lines are treated, ca. 1918. / (National Archive/Official German Photograph of WWI)

45.

US Army, 9th Machine Gun Battalion. Three machine gunners railway, at Chateau-Thierry, France, June 7, 1918 / (NARA)

GERMAN EMPIRE
6

AUSTROHUNGARIAN
EMPIRE
CAPTURE
SERBIA,
BULGARIA,
MONTENEGRO,
ROMANIA
GOALS:
DOMINATION ON
BLACK,
AEGEAN,
ADRIATIC
SEAS
7

AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE
8

MILITARY POLITICAL
BLOCK
ENTENTE
9

10.

GREAT
BRITANNIA
RUSSIAN EMPIRE
FRANCE
10

11.

GOALS
GREAT BRITAIN
INCREASE INFLUENCE ON:
VEL.
BRITAIN
Mesopotamia (IRAQ),
NEAR EAST
MEDITERRANEAN
GERMAN COLONIES
GET RID OF THE MAIN THINGS
ECONOMIC COMPETITOR –
GERMAN EMPIRE!!!
11

12.

GREAT
BRITANNIA
12

13.

GOALS
FRANCE
FRANCE RETURN
ALSACE AND
LORRAINE,
CAPTURE SAAR,
PART OF THE RHINE
13

14.

FRANCE
14

15.

GOALS
RUSSIA:
RUSSIAN
EMPIRE
CONTROL
OVER THE STRAITS
BOSPORUS AND DARDANELLES,
STRENGTHEN INFLUENCE ON
BALKAN,
ECONOMICALLY WEAKEN
GERMANY
15

16.

RUSSIAN EMPIRE
16

17. Time frame of the First World War

For the whole world: July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918
For Russia: July 28, 1914 – March 3, 1918

18. Causes of the war

Conflicts between the world's major powers
for the redistribution of the already divided world (sources of raw materials,
sales markets, spheres of influence)
The desire of governments to distract people from
social problems and conflicts within their own
countries

19. Cause for war

Assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne, the Archduke
Franz Ferdinand by the Serb Gabriel Princip.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
with his wife
Gabriel Princip

20.

Beginning of the war

21. Campaign of 1914

The war unfolded in two main theaters of military operations - Western and
Eastern Europe, Northern Italy, as well as the Balkans (since May 1915),
in the Caucasus and the Middle East (since November 1914) in the European colonies
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 that the war would become protracted
character.

22. First year of the war

Combat
actions
on the Western
front
Millions of soldiers were involved in the fighting.
6 million people fought on the side of the Entente,
and on the side of the Triple Alliance - 3.5 million.
In September, the Germans, developing an offensive in France,
crossed the Marne River and reached the direction of direct attack
around Paris.
France was on the verge of defeat.

23. First year of the war

Offensive
Russian army
in 1914.
At the request of the French authorities at the end of September, Russia did not
waiting for the end of mobilization, she launched an offensive in
East Prussia and won a victory at Gumbinnen.
The Germans transferred some troops from France to the East and Paris
was saved.
Soon the Russian army launched an offensive in the Southwestern
front.
The Germans helped the Austrians, but the Schlieffen plan failed.

24. First year of the war

Sending German
soldier to the front.
The Entente began a naval blockade of Germany and defeated
her fleet off Heligoland.
At the end of 1914, Türkiye joined Germany, but
she suffered defeats from Russia in the Caucasus.
Triple Alliance, trying to end the war in two
front, struck Russia in 1915 and his armies broke through
front. Russia turned out to be unprepared for war.

25. Transition to trench warfare.

"Trench" warfare.
Retreating with heavy losses,
the Russians were able to in the summer of 1915
stabilize the front, but
Poland, Galicia and Lithuania were
lost.
Fighting moved into the stage
positional war.
In an effort to break through the defenses, the Germans
in 1915 it was used near Ypres
poisonous gases,
and the Entente in 1916 - tanks on
Somme river.
But neither side has an advantage
received.

26. Transition to trench warfare.

English tank of the times
First World War
war.
The situation did not change even after Bulgaria entered the war
on the side of the Triple Alliance.
And soon Italy joined the Entente.
Her attempt to seize the Adriatic ended in failure.
In 1916 The Germans launched an offensive near Verdun.
But, having lost 600,000 soldiers, they did not achieve success.
Entente losses on the Somme amounted to 900,000 with the same result.

27. Fight of attrition.

Battle of Jutland.
1916
It became clear that the war would be won not by the front, but by the rear. Germany was
blocked by the British fleet and launched a submarine attack in response
war.
In 1915, an American passenger ship was sunk
"Lusitania" and after the US ultimatum Germany
suspended the submarine war.
In May 1916, the Battle of Jutland took place.
The Germans were unable to defeat the enemy.

28. Fight of attrition

Military factory
in England.
The economies of the warring countries have moved
for the production of military products.
Supply of the population
was carried out using cards.
In Germany, universal
labor service.
To boost morale
governments incited
spy mania.
In 1917, the Allies shot
Mata Hari, accusing her of espionage
in favor of Germany.

29. Changing the balance of forces

In the summer of 1916, the war began to
turning point: Germany has become
lack resources.
The Entente undertook
simultaneous attack on
West and East.
As a result of Brusilovsky
Austria-Hungary breakthrough
was on the verge of disaster.
At the end of 1916 - beginning of 1917. To
Greece joined the Entente
and Romania.
Russian general
A.A. Brusilov

30. Changing the balance of forces

Lifebuoy
from the Lusitania
sunk
by the Germans.
In April 1917, taking advantage of the resumption of submarine
war, the United States entered the war.
Their economic potential was enormous and became decisive
factor in the victory of the Entente.
But after the revolution of 1917, Russia concluded with the Germans
separate peace and left the war, which eased the situation
Germany.

31. Surrender of the Fourth Bloc countries

Soldatskoe
cemetery
near Paris.
The Germans had only one chance left - to transfer troops to
Western Front.
In 1918, they launched 5 offensives here, but, having spent
their own strength, they did not achieve success.
In September, the Entente launched an offensive;
revolution and on November 11, 1918, Marshal Foch signed
surrender in his carriage in the Compiègne forest.

32. Results of the war

First World War accelerated the development of new weapons and means

Conducting the battle.
Tanks were used for the first time chemical weapon, gas mask,
anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns, flamethrower.
Widespread
airplanes, machine guns, mortars, submarines, torpedo boats.
Has grown sharply firepower troops.
New types of artillery have appeared: anti-aircraft, anti-tank,
infantry escort.
Aviation has become independent kind troops who became
divided into reconnaissance, fighter and bomber.
Tank troops, chemical troops, air defense troops, naval
aviation.
The role of engineering troops increased and the role of cavalry decreased.
Also, “trench tactics” of warfare with the aim of exhausting
the enemy and the depletion of his economy, which works for military orders.

33.

The war accelerated the development of new weapons and means
fighting. Tanks were used for the first time
Tank A7V
Length
8 m.
Height
3.5 m.
Width
3.2 m.
armor
10-30 mm.
Maximum
nyaya
speed
9 km/h
Weight
32.5 tons.
Armed
no
57 mm.
cannon + 6
machine guns
MG08/15
caliber
7,92
Engines
Crew
2
gasoline
x Daimler
power
u 75 kW
18
person
13 pounder QF horse gun
arr. 1903
Caliber, mm.
76,2 (3
inches)
Combat
weight, kg.
1014
Length
trunk,
24 caliber
(1.86 m.)
Corner
elevations,
from -5° to +16°
Corner
horizontally
Wow
guidance
8°
Type and weight
projectile
shrapnel;
5.67 kg.
Initial
speed
projectile, m/s.
510
Maximum
range
shooting, m.
5395

34. About Russia in the First World War

Winston Churchill on Russia in the First World War:
Fate has never been as cruel to any country as to Russia. Her ship went down
when the harbor was in sight. She had already weathered the storm when everything collapsed. All victims
have already been brought, all work is completed.
The selfless impulse of the Russian armies that saved Paris in 1914; overcoming
a painful, shell-free retreat; slow recovery; Brusilov's
victories; Russia's entry into the 1917 campaign invincible, stronger than
ever. Holding victory already in her hands, she fell to the ground, alive, like Ichrod of old,
devoured.
Estimates in post-Soviet Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin June 27, 2012, answering a question from a senator
A.I. Lisitsyn in the Federation Council, how Russia is going to celebrate its centenary
World War I, blamed the Bolshevik leadership for Russia's loss
The First World War - “...the result of the betrayal of the then
government... the Bolsheviks committed an act of national betrayal...".
Putin called Russia’s loss unique: “our country lost this war
the losing side. A unique situation in the history of mankind. We lost
lost Germany, in fact, capitulated to it, after some time
itself capitulated to the Entente,” Putin said[

35. Memory of the war

Armistice Day 1918 (November 11)
is national holiday Belgium and France and is celebrated
annually.
In England, Armistice Day is celebrated on the Sunday closest to 11
November as Memorial Day. On this day the fallen are remembered as the First,
and the Second World War.
In the first years after the end of the First World War, everyone
The municipality of France erected a monument to fallen soldiers. In 1921
year the main monument appeared - the Tomb of the Unknown
soldier under Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The main British monument to those killed in the First World War
is the Cenotaph (Greek Cenotaph - “empty tomb”) in London on the street
Whitehall, Monument to the Unknown Soldier. It was built in 1919
on 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 is why millions of English people have small plastic marks on their chests.
poppies that are purchased from a special charitable foundation
assistance to veterans and military widows. At 11 o'clock on Sunday
the queen, ministers, generals, bishops and ambassadors lay at the Cenotaph
poppy wreaths, and the whole country stops 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.

36. Memory of the war

There was no official day of remembrance for those killed in the First World War in Russia.
According to the plan of Emperor Nicholas II, it should have become a special place to remember the war.
Tsarskoye Selo. The Sovereign's Military Chamber, founded there back in 1913, was supposed to
become a Museum Great War. However, these plans were not destined to come true.
In 1918, the People's Museum of the War of 1914-1918 was created in the building of the Military Chamber.
but already in 1919 it was abolished, and its exhibits replenished the funds of other museums
and storage facilities. In 1938, a temporary wooden church at the Fraternal Cemetery
was dismantled, and what remained from the graves of the 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
war." In the 1920s, this monument was destroyed.
On November 11, 2008, on the territory of the Fraternal Cemetery in the city of Pushkin there was
a memorial stele (cross) dedicated to the heroes of the First World War was erected
Also in Moscow on August 1, 2004, on the 90th anniversary of the start of the First World War, on
place of the Moscow City Fraternal Cemetery in the Sokol district were erected
memorial signs “To those who fell in the world war of 1914-1918”, “Russian
sisters of mercy", "Russian aviators buried in Moscow
city ​​fraternal cemetery."
On August 14, 2011, the Minsk Fraternal Cemetery was revived in Minsk
heroes of the First World War, founded in November 1914 and closed in 1932.
A stone chapel was erected in the cemetery, next to which there are
bronze plaques with the names of the 2,500 officers and soldiers buried in the cemetery
Russian army.
On November 11, 2011, the Day of Remembrance of those who fell in the cemetery was celebrated for the first time at the cemetery.
First World War.

First World War (July 28 or new style 1 August 1914 – 11 November 1918)

About the name of the war:

• It became established in historiography only after the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

• During the interwar period the name "Great War" was used.

• IN Russian Empire it was sometimes called the “Second Patriotic War”, and also informally (both before and after the revolution) - “German”.

• During the USSR - “imperialist war”.

Concept: World War- a war of large coalitions, alliances, states, in which, directly or indirectly, all the leading states of the world are involved.

Causes of the war:

• military-political contradictions between the Entente and Tr. union
• the struggle of states for spheres of influence, markets, raw materials, for the redistribution of colonies

Entente (France, Russia, England) versus the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary). 38 states and 1.5 billion people are involved in the war.

Occasion: The assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo. The killer turned out to be 19-year-old Serbian student Gavriil Princip, a member of Mlada Bosna, which fought for the unification of all South Slavic peoples into one state. Austria-Hungary put forward ultimatum, which requires Serbia to fulfill obviously impossible conditions, including:

1. cessation of anti-Austrian propaganda (purges in the army and government apparatus)

2. Conducting a joint investigation with Austrian investigators on Serbian territory;

3. Entry of Austrian troops into the country, etc. C The Erbs agreed with 8 points out of 10, but Austria-Hungary, under pressure from Germany (Wilhelm II), started a war against Serbia.

• July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia

Goals of countries in war:

France - return Alsace and Lorraine, seize the Saar coal basin

Russia - strengthen positions in the Balkans, ensure a favorable regime for Russia in the Black Sea straits, seize the Polish lands of Austria and Germany;

Germany - to seize parts of the English and French colonies, to establish itself in the Balkans and the Middle East, to tear Ukraine, the Baltic states, and Belarus away from Russia;

Austria - seize part of Russian Poland, subjugate the Balkans;

Italy - laid claim to the western regions of the Balkans and competed here with Austria-Hungary (in 1915 Italy entered the war on the side of the Entente).

On July 25, Germany begins hidden mobilization, on July 26, Austria-Hungary begins mobilization, on July 30 - France, on July 31 - Russia.On the same day, Germany presented Russia with an ultimatum:stop conscription or Germany will declare war on Russia.

Plans of the parties:

Germany:

• "Schlieffen Plan"

• defeat opponents during the first weeks of the war (“blitzkrieg”)
• main attack on France via Belgium and Luxembourg
• the Austro-Hungarian army holds the onslaught of Russian troops in the east

Russia: It is necessary to ensure decisive success against Austria-Hungary in the first period of the war, and then strike at Germany

Supreme Commanders of the Russian Army:from July 1914 to August 1915 - Prince Nikolai Nikolaevich, from August 1915 - Emperor Nicholas II

Russian military ministers during WWI:

• from March 1909 to June 1915 Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sukhomlinov
• from June 1915 to March 1916 Alexey Andreevich Polivanov
• from March 1916 to January 1917. Dmitry Savelievich Shuvaev
• from January 1917 to March 1917Mikhail Alekseevich Belyaev -the last Minister of War of the Russian Empire

SW Front

• Carpathian operation:On March 9 (22), Przemysl fell, 120 thousand soldiers, 9 generals, 2 thousand officers of the Austrian army were captured

• April 19 (May 2) – June 10 (23)

Gorlitsky breakthroughGerman troops, the Russian army was forced to retreat, leaving Galicia, Poland and Lithuania.As a result, the successes of Russian troops in the 1914 campaign were negated.

Western Front: May 1915 Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, at the same time it was formedQuadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire), in May 1915The large English passenger liner Lusitania with 1,196 passengers was sunk.

Osovets Fortress - attack of the “dead”

On August 6, 1915, at 4 a.m., simultaneously with the opening of artillery fire, German units used poisonous gases against the defenders of the fortress (the Germans first used gas in the town of Ypres (Belgium) in April 1915. 15 thousand people were poisoned, 5 thousand died. With At this time, a gas mask became a mandatory part of a soldier’s equipment).

Several dozen half-dead Russian soldiers put units of the 18th Landwehr Regiment to flight. The attack was supported by fortress artillery. Later, German participants and European journalists dubbed this counterattack “the attack of the dead.”

Russian economy during war:

• The country was not ready to meet the needs of the army

• In 1915, the army experienced a severe “shell famine”

• Transport crisis (coal shortage)

• Difficult situation in agriculture (the majority of the army were peasants)

• A food problem has arisen (shortage of bread in large cities)

Situation in the village Agricultural production

On September 23, 1916, the tsarist government announced surplus appropriation (mandatory norm for donating bread to the state)and introduced it on December 2, 1916. The amount of grain to be delivered was 772 million poods.

The year 1916 was marked by the Entente's advantage in the growth of military production, stocks of weapons and ammunition, and replenishment of the army.

“In 1916, it began to arise new Russia» N. Stone. Weapon production

	1914	1917
Light guns	6278	7694
Light howitzers		1868
Heavy weapons		1086
Anti-aircraft guns
Total number	7477	11321

• Russia has surpassed France and Britain in the production of guns
• Russia began producing nine million shells a year
• 222 airplanes were produced per month for the front
• Five automobile factories were producing trucks and were already preparing the production of tanks

The liberal bourgeoisie of Russia strives to take power into their own hands

• July 1915 – Special meeting(State Duma deputies)

• August 1915 – Progressive block(State Duma deputies + State Council)

• There was a growing wave of criticism of the authorities, in Soviet historiography the formula was accepted:“The Tsar was ruled by the Tsarina, and she was ruled by Rasputin”

Attitude to war

• "Defensemen" Plekhanov: Defense of the Fatherland, forget about the revolution
• "Centrists" Martov, Chernov: Immediate peace with everyone
• "Defeaters" Lenin: The desire for defeat of the government. The development of an imperialist war into a civil one.

Progress of hostilities in 1916:

Conference of the Allies of the Entente V

Chantilly March 12 - November 19, 1916. Solved: launch a general offensive on all fronts against Germany and Austria-Hungary, Russia will begin its offensive first in May 1916, and other countries in 2-3 weeks.

Western Front:

• Verdun operation February 21 - December 18, 1916, the Germans are defeated by the French.The French generals Petain and Nivelle especially showed themselves. The battle lasted 10 months and went down in history as the “Verdun Meat Grinder” - i.e. senseless bloodshed.

• May 31, 1916 The Battle of Jutland took place - the largest naval battle, the German fleet against the English, the victory of the British.
• July-August – Somme offensive, first use of tanks
• http://first-world.rf

Caucasian Front:

• Erzurum operation(January-February) of the Russian army in the Caucasus, as a result of which Turkish army was thrown back to the west and the position of the British in Syria improved.
• Brusilovsky breakthrough of the German-Austrian front.

In the summer of 1916, there was a turning point in the war - Germany began to experience a lack of resources.

• The Entente undertook a simultaneous attack in the West and in the East

• May 1-6 (14-19) march of a squadron of Russian ships to the Bosporus

• May 22 (June 4) – July 31 (August 13) – Brusilovsky breakthrough

Alexey Alekseevich Brusilov ((1853-1926) “No matter what they say, one cannot but admit that the preparation for this operation was exemplary... Everything was thought out and everything was done in a timely manner. This operation also proves that the opinion ... that after the failures of 1915 the Russian the army has already collapsed - wrong: in 1916 it was still strong, and, of course, combat-ready..."

• The main blow was to be delivered by the 8th Army b/w Lutsk and Kovel

• South of the 8th Army - 11th Army

• South of the 11th – 7th and 9th armies

Breakthrough results:

• They occupied Lutsk, Chernivtsi, reached Galich and the Carpathians, liberated the territory of Bukovina and Southern Galicia

• Russia saved its allies again: England and France

• Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente

• During WWII, a radical change occurred in favor of the Entente

Progress of hostilities in 1917:

On April 6, 1917 Taking advantage of the resumption of submarine warfare, the United States entered the war. Their economic potential was enormous. And it became a decisive factor in the victory of the Entente.

But after the revolutions 1917 Russia concluded a separate peace with the Germans -March 3, 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovskand left the war, which eased the situation for Germany.

Western Front 1917: October-November battle of Cambrai.

Progress of hostilities in 1918:

Western Front:

March-Juil – attempts of an offensive by German troops in the Paris direction. The offensive of the Anglo-French troops near Arrasam.

November - the offensive of the Anglo-French troops from the North Sea to the river. Maas. Armistice and withdrawal from the war of Austria-Hungary.

November 11 – signing in Compiègneforest of truce after the abdication of German Kaiser Wilhelm II. The surrender was signed by Marshal Foch. End of WWI.

Eastern front:

• Separate peace with Germany and Austria-Hungary

• Signed by the Bolshevik government represented by: Deputy. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Affairs G. Ya. Sokolnikov, deputy. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Affairs G.V. Chicherin, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. Affairs G.I. Petrovsky and secretary of the delegation L.M. Karakhan.

Peace terms

• Ending the war (1st century)

• Germany annexed Poland, the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), part of Belarus and Transcaucasia

• Payment of indemnity by Russia (6 billion Marks)

• Soviet Russia d.b. conclude a peace treaty with the Ukrainian Rada

• On November 13, 1918, the treaty was annulled by the Soviet government after Germany's defeat in WWI.

Heroes of WWI: writer M. Zoshchenko (1894-1958), Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova (1864-1918), A. Palshina (1897-1992).

The First World War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles
June 28, 1919 is the main document of the post-war world order.

• Germany transferred Alsace and Lorraine to France within the 1870 borders.

• Belgium districts of Malmedy and Eupen, Poland - Poznpan, part of Pomerania, the city of Danzig was declared a free city.

• The lands on the right bank of the Oder, Lower Silesia and most of Upper Silesia remained with Germany, etc.
• The Saar region was transferred to the League of Nations, created in 1919 as a result of WWI, for a period of 15 years.
• The agreement determined reparations – principle of payment; finally decided in 1921 - the total amount is 132 billion marks, of which: France - 52%, England -22%, Italy - 10%, Belgium -8%.
• Martial law: German army should have been only 100 thousand soldier for hire a ban has been introduced for universal conscription, had no right the General Staff, tank formations and heavy artillery were dissolved into submarines, naval aviation.
• It was Germany that was declared to be the culprit for starting the war, and therefore was morally humiliated.

The US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles.

The beginning of the war.

On June 28, 1914, in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, a student member of the conspiratorial Serbian organization “Black Hand” killed the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand. This was the reason for unleashing international conflict. On July 10 (after consultations with Germany), Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with a deliberately impossible ultimatum. Fulfillment of all its conditions insulted Serbia and dealt a blow to its sovereignty. Despite Serbia's compliance, on July 14, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on it.

In response, Russia, as the guarantor of Serbian independence, began a general mobilization.

Germany demanded an ultimatum to stop it and, having encountered a refusal, declared war on Russia on July 19 (old style; August 1 - new style), France, an ally of Russia, entered the war on July 21, and England the next day.

Progress of military operations.

Implementing the “Schlieffen Plan”, at the beginning of August 1914, German troops launched an offensive against France. Germany planned to defeat France with a lightning strike and then transfer troops against Russia, which would allow it to avoid a war on two fronts. However, Russia, immediately acting at the request of the allies, thwarted the strategic plan of the German General Staff. And on August 8, the North-Western Front, deployed against Germany, received instructions to prepare an offensive.

In Europe, two fronts emerged - Western (in France and Belgium) and Eastern (against Russia).

The Russian Front was divided into the North-Western (East Prussia, the Baltic States, Poland) and the South-Western (Western Ukraine, Transcarpathia along the Russian border with Austria-Hungary).

Timeline of the First World War

Years	Western Front	Eastern front	The most important political events
	1. The implementation of the Schlieffen plan began - the German offensive on France through Belgium 2. The Allied offensive and victory on the Marne River 3. Turkey entered the war on the side of Germany	1. The offensive of the Russian army in East Prussia - defeat of the 1st army of Rennenkampf and the 2nd army of Samsonov 2. Battle of Galicia - the offensive of the Russian army in Galicia - successful	Collapse of the Second International
Result: Failure of the Schlieffen plan. Germany is forced to fight a war on two fronts. On the Western Front, German troops are forced to switch to trench warfare.
April May	1.German plans: the main blow is on the Eastern Front, to force Russia to leave the war 2. The first gas attack. Germany used chlorine near Ypres (Belgium) 3. Italy’s entry into the war (on the side of the Entente)	1. The direction of the main attack of the German troops is Galicia, the offensive of Germany and Austria-Hungary 2. The Russian retreat to the border of 1914	Italy's withdrawal from the Triple Alliance. Formation of the Quadruple Alliance
Result: Formation of the Quadruple Alliance = Germany, Austria - Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey. The beginning of the German submarine war against the British fleet
February May 31-June 1 July-November	1. Germany's plans: the main blow is on the Western Front 2. Preparations for the offensive of the Anglo-French troops 3. The Germans' assault on the Verdun fortress - the Verdun meat grinder. German losses were 600 thousand. 4. Jutland sea ​​battle Victory English fleet 5. Allied offensive on the Somme River to ease German pressure on Verdun, losses of 900 thousand. The British used tanks.	1. Brusilovsky breakthrough (July 4 - August 13, 1916). 2. Defeat of the Austro-Hungarian troops. 3. Transfer of German troops from the Western Front	Growing social tension in warring countries
Result: Positional war is a war without active military operations on both fronts. Naval blockade of the German coast
1917-1918	1. The United States enters the war against Germany 2. Five powerful German offensives did not break through the Entente front On November 3, 1918, Germany signed an act of surrender. Compiègne truce in the Compiègne forest, in the headquarters car of Foch - commander of the Allied troops	1.February 1917 - revolution in Russia, fall of the monarchy, the Provisional Government was formed. 2. Miliukov’s note on participation in the war to the victorious end. 3. In October, the Bolsheviks came to power and in December they concluded a truce with the Quadruple Alliance 4. On March 3, 1918, Russia signed the Treaty of BREST in Brest-Litovsk: - leave Ukraine - renounce claims to Finland and the Baltic states - give Turkey the regions with Kars, Ardahan and Batumi - pay reparations in the amount of 6 billion marks	1. In March, the bourgeois-democratic revolution in Russia. Overthrow of the autocracy. 2. September - November 1918, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 3. November 11, 1918 revolution in Germany

IN during military operations Four campaigns stand out:

1914.

The first military operations in Eastern Front- Russian offensive in East Prussia and Galicia. The East Prussian operation initially developed successfully for the Russian army. Germany was forced to transfer some troops from the Western Front, which allowed the French-British army to win the Battle of the Marne River and prevented the fall of Paris. Reinforced German units, taking advantage of the lack of coordination between the 1st and 2nd Russian armies in East Prussia, inflicted a heavy defeat on them. The situation on the Southwestern Front was more successful for the Russian army. The Austro-Hungarian troops were defeated; All of Galicia is busy. Germany saved Austria-Hungary from final defeat by sending reinforcements to Poland, which forced the Russians to go on the defensive.

The 1914 campaign did not bring decisive success to any of the warring Parties.

The Western Front stabilized, and positional warfare took place there. Germany planned to concentrate its forces against Russia in order to defeat it. Germany's spring-summer offensive on the Eastern Front ended in Russia's defeat.

As a result of heavy fighting, she lost Poland, part of the Baltic states, Western Belarus and Ukraine.

However, Germany's strategic task - to take Russia out of the war - was not fulfilled.

Germany again directed the main blow against France. In February 1916 there were fierce battles near the Verdun fortress. To assist the allies, Russia launched an offensive on the Southwestern Front. The army of General A. A. Brusilov broke through the front and defeated the Austro-Hungarian troops. Once again, Germany was forced to transfer its units from the Western Front to save Austria-Hungary. The Russian offensive helped the defenders of Verdun and pushed Romania to side with the Entente. On the Caucasian Front, formed in 1915 against Turkey (an ally of Germany), Russian troops carried out a number of successful operations and occupied Trebizond and Erzurum.

In 1916, Germany lost the strategic initiative.

The February Revolution did not lead to Russia's exit from the war. The Provisional Government declared its allegiance to its allied duty.

Two military operations (June - in Galicia, July - in Belarus) ended in failure. German troops captured the city of Riga and the Moonsund archipelago in the Baltic.

The Russian army by this time was completely demoralized. At the front, fraternization with the enemy began. The whole country demanded an immediate end to the war. In this regard, the Bolsheviks, having come to power, proclaimed the Peace Decree and began negotiations with Germany. Soviet Russia emerged from the First World War by concluding the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany and its allies in March 1918.

The fighting on the Western Front ended after the Compiegne Armistice in November 1918.

Germany and all allies were defeated.

The final results of the war were summed up by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Soviet Russia did not take part in its signing