Rus' under the Mongol-Tatar yoke existed in an extremely humiliating way. She was completely subjugated both politically and economically. Therefore, the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus', the date of standing on the Ugra River - 1480, is perceived as most important event in our history. Although Rus' became politically independent, the payment of tribute in a smaller amount continued until the time of Peter the Great. The complete end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke is the year 1700, when Peter the Great canceled payments to the Crimean khans.
Mongol army
In the 12th century, Mongol nomads united under the rule of the cruel and cunning ruler Temujin. He mercilessly suppressed all obstacles to unlimited power and created a unique army that won victory after victory. He, creating great empire, was named Genghis Khan by his nobility.
Having conquered East Asia, Mongol troops reached the Caucasus and Crimea. They destroyed the Alans and Polovtsians. The remnants of the Polovtsians turned to Rus' for help.
First meeting
There were 20 or 30 thousand soldiers in the Mongol army, it is not precisely established. They were led by Jebe and Subedei. They stopped at the Dnieper. And at this time, Khotchan persuaded the Galich prince Mstislav the Udal to oppose the invasion of the terrible cavalry. He was joined by Mstislav of Kiev and Mstislav of Chernigov. By different sources, the total Russian army numbered from 10 to 100 thousand people. The military council took place on the banks of the Kalka River. A unified plan was not developed. spoke alone. He was supported only by the remnants of the Cumans, but during the battle they fled. The princes who did not support Galician still had to fight the Mongols who attacked their fortified camp.
The battle lasted three days. Only by cunning and a promise not to take anyone prisoner did the Mongols enter the camp. But they didn’t keep their words. The Mongols tied up the Russian governors and princes alive and covered them with boards and sat on them and began to feast on the victory, enjoying the groans of the dying. So the Kiev prince and his entourage died in agony. The year was 1223. The Mongols, without going into details, went back to Asia. In thirteen years they will return. And all these years in Rus' there was a fierce squabble between the princes. It completely undermined the strength of the Southwestern principalities.
Invasion
The grandson of Genghis Khan, Batu, with a huge half-million army, having conquered the Polovtsian lands in the east and the south, approached the Russian principalities in December 1237. His tactics were not to give a big battle, but to attack individual detachments, defeating everyone one by one. Approaching the southern borders of the Ryazan principality, the Tatars ultimatively demanded tribute from him: a tenth of horses, people and princes. There were barely three thousand soldiers in Ryazan. They sent for help to Vladimir, but no help came. After six days of siege, Ryazan was taken.
The inhabitants were killed and the city was destroyed. This was the beginning. The end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke will occur in two hundred and forty difficult years. Next was Kolomna. There the Russian army was almost all killed. Moscow lies in ashes. But before that, someone who dreamed of returning to their native places buried a treasure of silver jewelry. It was found by accident during construction in the Kremlin in the 90s of the 20th century. Next was Vladimir. The Mongols spared neither women nor children and destroyed the city. Then Torzhok fell. But spring was coming, and, fearing muddy roads, the Mongols moved south. Northern swampy Rus' did not interest them. But the defending tiny Kozelsk stood in the way. For almost two months the city resisted fiercely. But reinforcements came to the Mongols with battering machines, and the city was taken. All the defenders were slaughtered and no stone was left unturned from the town. So, all of North-Eastern Rus' by 1238 lay in ruins. And who can doubt whether there was a Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'? From brief description It follows that there were wonderful good neighborly relations, doesn’t it?
Southwestern Rus'
Her turn came in 1239. Pereyaslavl, the Chernigov principality, Kyiv, Vladimir-Volynsky, Galich - everything was destroyed, not to mention smaller cities and villages. And how far away is the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke! How much horror and destruction its beginning brought. The Mongols entered Dalmatia and Croatia. Western Europe trembled.
However, news from distant Mongolia forced the invaders to turn back. But they didn’t have enough strength for a second campaign. Europe was saved. But our Motherland, lying in ruins and bleeding, did not know when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke would come.
Rus' under the yoke
Who suffered the most from the Mongol invasion? Peasants? Yes, the Mongols did not spare them. But they could hide in the forests. Townspeople? Certainly. There were 74 cities in Rus', and 49 of them were destroyed by Batu, and 14 were never restored. Craftsmen were turned into slaves and exported. There was no continuity of skills in crafts, and the craft fell into decline. They forgot how to cast glassware, boil glass to make windows, and there was no more multi-colored ceramics or jewelry with cloisonné enamel. Masons and carvers disappeared, and stone construction stopped for 50 years. But it was hardest of all for those who repelled the attack with weapons in their hands - the feudal lords and warriors. Of the 12 Ryazan princes, three remained alive, of the 3 Rostov princes - one, of the 9 Suzdal princes - 4. But no one counted the losses in the squads. And there were no less of them. Professionals in military service were replaced by other people who were accustomed to being pushed around. So the princes began to have full power. This process subsequently, when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke comes, will deepen and lead to the unlimited power of the monarch.
Russian princes and the Golden Horde
After 1242, Rus' fell under the complete political and economic oppression of the Horde. In order for the prince to legally inherit his throne, he had to go with gifts to the “free king,” as our princes called the khans, to the capital of the Horde. I had to stay there for quite a long time. Khan slowly considered the lowest requests. The whole procedure turned into a chain of humiliations, and after much deliberation, sometimes many months, the khan gave a “label,” that is, permission to reign. So, one of our princes, having come to Batu, called himself a slave in order to retain his possessions.
The tribute to be paid by the principality was necessarily specified. At any moment, the khan could summon the prince to the Horde and even execute anyone he disliked. The Horde pursued a special policy with the princes, diligently fanning their feuds. The disunity of the princes and their principalities was to the advantage of the Mongols. The Horde itself gradually became a colossus with feet of clay. Centrifugal sentiments intensified within her. But this will be much later. And at first its unity is strong. After the death of Alexander Nevsky, his sons fiercely hate each other and fight fiercely for the Vladimir throne. Conventionally, reigning in Vladimir gave the prince seniority over everyone else. In addition, a decent plot of land was added to those who brought money to the treasury. And for the great reign of Vladimir in the Horde, a struggle flared up between the princes, sometimes to the death. This is how Rus' lived under the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The Horde troops practically did not stand in it. But if there was disobedience, punitive troops could always come and start cutting and burning everything.
The Rise of Moscow
The bloody feuds of the Russian princes among themselves led to the fact that during the period from 1275 to 1300, Mongol troops came to Rus' 15 times. Many principalities emerged from the strife weakened, and people fled to quieter places. Little Moscow turned out to be such a quiet principality. It went to the younger Daniel. He reigned from the age of 15 and pursued a cautious policy, trying not to quarrel with his neighbors, because he was too weak. And the Horde did not pay close attention to him. Thus, an impetus was given to the development of trade and enrichment in this area.
Settlers from troubled places poured into it. Over time, Daniil managed to annex Kolomna and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, increasing his principality. His sons after his death continued their father's relatively quiet policy. Only the Tver princes saw them as potential rivals and tried, while fighting for the Great Reign in Vladimir, to spoil Moscow’s relations with the Horde. This hatred reached the point that when the Moscow prince and the prince of Tver were simultaneously summoned to the Horde, Dmitry Tverskoy stabbed Yuri of Moscow to death. For such arbitrariness he was executed by the Horde.
Ivan Kalita and “great silence”
The fourth son of Prince Daniil seemed to have no chance of winning the Moscow throne. But his older brothers died, and he began to reign in Moscow. By the will of fate, he also became the Grand Duke of Vladimir. Under him and his sons, Mongol raids on Russian lands stopped. Moscow and the people in it became richer. Cities grew and their population increased. An entire generation grew up in North-Eastern Rus' and stopped trembling at the mention of the Mongols. This brought closer the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus'.
Dmitry Donskoy
By the birth of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich in 1350, Moscow was already turning into the center of political, cultural and religious life in the northeast. The grandson of Ivan Kalita lived a short, 39 years, but bright life. He spent it in battles, but now it is important to dwell on the great battle with Mamai, which took place in 1380 on the Nepryadva River. By this time, Prince Dmitry defeated the punitive Mongol detachment between Ryazan and Kolomna. Mamai began to prepare a new campaign against Rus'. Dmitry, having learned about this, in turn began to gather strength to fight back. Not all princes responded to his call. The prince had to turn to Sergius of Radonezh for help in order to gather a people's militia. And having received the blessing of the holy elder and two monks, at the end of summer he gathered a militia and moved towards the huge army of Mamai.
On September 8 at dawn it took place great battle. Dmitry fought in the front ranks, was wounded, and was found with difficulty. But the Mongols were defeated and fled. Dmitry returned victorious. But the time has not yet come when the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' will come. History says that another hundred years will pass under the yoke.
Strengthening Rus'
Moscow became the center of the unification of Russian lands, but not all princes agreed to accept this fact. Dmitry's son, Vasily I, ruled for a long time, 36 years, and relatively calmly. He defended the Russian lands from the encroachments of the Lithuanians, annexed Suzdal and the Horde weakened, and was taken into account less and less. Vasily visited the Horde only twice in his life. But there was no unity within Rus' either. Riots broke out endlessly. Even at the wedding of Prince Vasily II a scandal broke out. One of the guests was wearing the gold belt of Dmitry Donskoy. When the bride found out about this, she publicly tore it off, causing an insult. But the belt was not just a piece of jewelry. He was a symbol of the grand ducal power. During the reign of Vasily II (1425-1453) they walked feudal wars. The Moscow prince was captured, blinded, his entire face was wounded, and for the rest of his life he wore a bandage on his face and received the nickname “Dark.” However, this strong-willed prince was released, and young Ivan became his co-ruler, who, after the death of his father, would become the liberator of the country and receive the nickname the Great.
The end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Rus'
In 1462, the legitimate ruler Ivan III ascended the Moscow throne, who would become a transformer and reformer. He carefully and prudently united the Russian lands. He annexed Tver, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Perm, and even obstinate Novgorod recognized him as sovereign. He made the double-headed Byzantine eagle his coat of arms and began building the Kremlin. This is exactly how we know him. Since 1476, Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Horde. A beautiful but untrue legend tells how this happened. Having received the Horde embassy, Grand Duke trampled the Basma and sent a warning to the Horde that the same thing would happen to them if they did not leave his country alone. The enraged Khan Ahmed, having gathered a large army, moved towards Moscow, wanting to punish her for disobedience. About 150 km from Moscow, near the Ugra River on Kaluga lands, two troops stood opposite each other in the fall. The Russian was headed by Vasily's son, Ivan the Young.
Ivan III returned to Moscow and began supplying the army with food and fodder. So the troops stood opposite each other until early winter came with lack of food and buried all of Ahmed’s plans. The Mongols turned around and went to the Horde, admitting defeat. This is how the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke took place bloodlessly. Its date is 1480 - a great event in our history.
The meaning of the fall of the yoke
Having permanently suspended political, economic and cultural development Rus', the yoke pushed the country to the margins of European history. When in Western Europe The Renaissance began and flourished in all areas, when the national identities of peoples took shape, when countries became rich and flourished with trade, sent a naval fleet in search of new lands, there was darkness in Rus'. Columbus discovered America already in 1492. For Europeans, the Earth was growing rapidly. For us, the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' marked the opportunity to leave the narrow medieval framework, change laws, reform the army, build cities and develop new lands. In short, Rus' gained independence and began to be called Russia.
The question of the date of the beginning and end of the Tatar Mongol yoke V national historiography generally did not cause controversy. In this short post I will try to dot all the i’s in this matter, at least for those who are preparing for the Unified State Exam in history, that is, as part of the school curriculum.
The concept of the “Tatar-Mongol yoke”
However, first it is worth getting rid of the very concept of this yoke, which represents an important historical phenomenon in the history of Russia. If we turn to ancient Russian sources (“The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”, “Zadonshchina”, etc.), then the invasion of the Tatars is perceived as a God-given reality. The very concept of “Russian land” disappears from the sources and other concepts arise: “Zalesskaya Horde” (“Zadonshchina”), for example.
The “yoke” itself was not called that word. The words “captivity” are more common. Thus, within the framework of medieval providential consciousness, the Mongol invasion was perceived as an inevitable punishment of the Lord.
Historian Igor Danilevsky, for example, also believes that this perception is due to the fact that, due to their negligence, the Russian princes in the period from 1223 to 1237: 1) did not take any measures to protect their lands, and 2) continued to maintain a fragmented state and create civil strife. It was for this fragmentation that God punished the Russian land, in the view of his contemporaries.
The very concept Tatar-Mongol yoke"introduced by N.M. Karamzin in his monumental work. From it, by the way, he deduced and substantiated the need for an autocratic form of government in Russia. The emergence of the concept of the yoke was necessary in order, firstly, to justify Russia’s lag behind European countries, and, secondly, to justify the need for this Europeanization.
If you look at various school textbooks, the dating of this historical phenomenon will be different. However, it often dates from 1237 to 1480: from the beginning of Batu’s first campaign against Rus' and ending with the Standing on the Ugra River, when Khan Akhmat left and thereby tacitly recognized the independence of the Moscow state. In principle, this is a logical dating: Batu, having captured and defeated Northeastern Rus', has already subjugated part of the Russian lands to himself.
However, in my classes I always determine the date of the beginning of the Mongol yoke as 1240 - after Batu’s second campaign against Southern Rus'. The meaning of this definition is that then the entire Russian land was already subordinated to Batu and he had already imposed duties on it, established Baskaks in the captured lands, etc.
If you think about it, the date of the beginning of the yoke can also be determined as 1242 - when Russian princes began to come to the Horde with gifts, thereby recognizing their dependence on the Golden Horde. Quite a bit of school encyclopedias they place the date of the beginning of the yoke precisely under this year.
The date of the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke is usually placed at 1480 after the Standing on the river. Eel. However, it is important to understand that for a long time the Muscovite kingdom was disturbed by the “splinters” of the Golden Horde: the Kazan Khanate, the Astrakhan, the Crimean... Crimean Khanate and it was completely liquidated in 1783. Therefore, yes, we can talk about formal independence. But with reservations.
Best regards, Andrey Puchkov
To thoroughly understand how the First began World War(1914-1918), you must first become familiar with the political situation that developed in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. The background to the global military conflict was Franco-Prussian War(1870-1871). It ended with the complete defeat of France, and the confederate union of German states was transformed into the German Empire. Wilhelm I became its head on January 18, 1871. Thus, a powerful power emerged in Europe with a population of 41 million people and an army of almost 1 million soldiers.
Political situation in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century
At first, the German Empire did not strive for political dominance in Europe, since it was economically weak. But over the course of 15 years, the country gained strength and began to claim a more worthy place in the Old World. Here it must be said that politics is always determined by the economy, and German capital had very few markets. This can be explained by the fact that Germany in its colonial expansion was hopelessly behind Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, France, and Russia.
Map of Europe by 1914 Brown color Germany and its allies are shown. Green Entente countries shown
It is also necessary to take into account the small area of the state, whose population was growing rapidly. It required food, but there was not enough of it. In a word, Germany gained strength, but the world was already divided, and no one was going to voluntarily give up the promised lands. There was only one way out - to take away the tasty morsels by force and provide a decent, prosperous life for your capital and people.
The German Empire did not hide its ambitious claims, but it could not resist England, France and Russia alone. Therefore, in 1882, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed a military-political bloc (Triple Alliance). Its consequences were the Moroccan crises (1905-1906, 1911) and the Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912). It was a test of strength, a rehearsal for a more serious and large-scale military conflict.
In response to increasing German aggression in 1904-1907, the military-political bloc of Cordial Concord (Entente) was formed, which included England, France and Russia. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, two powerful military forces emerged in Europe. One of them, led by Germany, sought to expand its living space, and the other force tried to counteract these plans in order to protect its economic interests.
Germany's ally, Austria-Hungary, represented a hotbed of instability in Europe. It was a multinational country, which constantly provoked interethnic conflicts. In October 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Herzegovina and Bosnia. This caused sharp discontent in Russia, which had the status of protector of the Slavs in the Balkans. Russia was supported by Serbia, which considered itself the unifying center of the South Slavs.
A tense political situation was observed in the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire, which once dominated here, began to be called the “sick man of Europe” at the beginning of the 20th century. And therefore, stronger countries began to lay claim to its territory, which provoked political disagreements and local wars. All the above information gave general idea about the preconditions of the global military conflict, and now it’s time to find out how the First World War began.
Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife
The political situation in Europe was heating up every day and by 1914 it had reached its peak. All that was needed was a small push, a pretext for unleashing a global military conflict. And soon such an opportunity presented itself. It went down in history as the Sarajevo murder, and it happened on June 28, 1914.
Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophia
On that ill-fated day, Gavrilo Princip (1894-1918), a member of the nationalist organization Mlada Bosna (Young Bosnia), killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) and his wife Countess Sofia Chotek (1868-1914). “Mlada Bosna” advocated the liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the rule of Austria-Hungary and was ready to use any methods for this, including terrorism.
The Archduke and his wife arrived in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, at the invitation of the Austro-Hungarian governor, General Oscar Potiorek (1853-1933). Everyone knew about the arrival of the crowned couple in advance, and members of Mlada Bosna decided to kill Ferdinand. For this purpose it was created battle group of 6 people. It consisted of young people, natives of Bosnia.
Early on the morning of Sunday, June 28, 1914, the crowned couple arrived in Sarajevo by train. She was met on the platform by Oscar Potiorek, journalists and an enthusiastic crowd of loyal colleagues. The arrivals and high-ranking greeters were seated in 6 cars, while the Archduke and his wife found themselves in the third car with the top folded. The motorcade took off and rushed towards the military barracks.
By 10 o'clock the inspection of the barracks was completed, and all 6 cars drove along the Appel embankment to the city hall. This time the car with the crowned couple was the second in the motorcade. At 10:10 a.m. the moving cars caught up with one of the terrorists named Nedeljko Chabrinovic. This young man threw a grenade, aiming at the car with the Archduke. But the grenade hit the convertible top, flew under the third car and exploded.
Detention of Gavrilo Princip, who killed Archduke Ferdinand and his wife
The driver of the car was killed by shrapnel, passengers were injured, as well as people who were near the car at that moment. A total of 20 people were injured. The terrorist himself swallowed potassium cyanide. However, it did not give the desired effect. The man vomited, and he jumped into the river to escape the crowd. But the river in that place turned out to be very shallow. The terrorist was dragged ashore, and angry people brutally beat him. After this, the crippled conspirator was handed over to the police.
After the explosion, the motorcade increased speed and reached the city hall without incident. There, a magnificent reception awaited the crowned couple, and, despite the assassination attempt, the official part took place. At the end of the celebration, it was decided to curtail the further program due to the emergency situation. It was decided only to go to the hospital to visit the wounded there. At 10:45 a.m. the cars started moving again and drove along Franz Joseph Street.
Another terrorist, Gavrilo Princip, was waiting for the moving motorcade. He was standing outside the Moritz Schiller Delicatessen store next to the Latin Bridge. Seeing the crowned couple sitting in a convertible car, the conspirator stepped forward, caught up with the car and found himself next to it at a distance of only one and a half meters. He shot twice. The first bullet hit Sophia in the stomach, and the second in Ferdinand's neck.
After shooting people, the conspirator tried to poison himself, but, like the first terrorist, he only vomited. Then Princip tried to shoot himself, but people ran up, took the gun away and began beating the 19-year-old man. He was beaten so badly that the killer's arm was amputated in the prison hospital. Subsequently, the court sentenced Gavrilo Princip to 20 years of hard labor, since according to the laws of Austria-Hungary he was a minor at the time of the crime. In prison, the young man was kept in the most difficult conditions and died of tuberculosis on April 28, 1918.
Ferdinand and Sofia, wounded by the conspirator, remained sitting in the car, which rushed to the governor’s residence. There they were going to provide medical assistance to the victims. But the couple died on the way. First, Sofia died, and 10 minutes later Ferdinand gave his soul to God. Thus ended the Sarajevo murder, which became the reason for the outbreak of the First World War.
July crisis
The July Crisis was a series of diplomatic clashes between the leading powers of Europe in the summer of 1914, provoked by the Sarajevo assassination. Of course, this political conflict could have been resolved peacefully, but the powers that be really wanted war. And this desire was based on the confidence that the war would be very short and effective. But it became protracted and claimed more than 20 million human lives.
Funeral of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Countess Sophia
After the assassination of Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary stated that Serbian state structures were behind the conspirators. At the same time, Germany publicly announced to the whole world that in the event of a military conflict in the Balkans, it would support Austria-Hungary. This statement was made on July 5, 1914, and on July 23, Austria-Hungary issued a harsh ultimatum to Serbia. In particular, in it the Austrians demanded that their police be allowed into the territory of Serbia for investigative actions and punishment of terrorist groups.
The Serbs could not do this and announced mobilization in the country. Literally two days later, on July 26, the Austrians also announced mobilization and began to gather troops to the borders of Serbia and Russia. The final touch in this local conflict was July 28. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and began shelling Belgrade. After artillery bombardment, Austrian troops crossed the Serbian border.
On July 29, Russian Emperor Nicholas II invited Germany to resolve the Austro-Serbian conflict at the Hague Conference peacefully. But Germany did not respond to this. Then on July 31st Russian Empire general mobilization was announced. In response to this, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, and war on France on August 3. It's already August 4th German troops entered Belgium, and its king Albert turned to European countries as guarantors of its neutrality.
After this, Great Britain sent a note of protest to Berlin and demanded an immediate end to the invasion of Belgium. The German government ignored the note, and Great Britain declared war on Germany. And the final touch of this general madness came on August 6th. On this day, Austria-Hungary declared war on the Russian Empire. This is how the First World War began.
Soldiers in the First World War
Officially it lasted from July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918. Military operations took place in Central, Eastern Europe, in the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, Africa, China, Oceania. Human civilization had never known anything like this before. It was the largest military conflict that shook the state foundations of the leading countries of the planet. After the war, the world became different, but humanity did not grow wiser and by the middle of the 20th century unleashed an even larger massacre that claimed many more lives.
The horrors of the planetary massacre of 1939-1945 made us think of the previous World War I as a relatively minor conflict. Indeed, losses among the armies of the warring countries and their civilian populations were then several times smaller, although they were calculated in multi-million dollar figures. However, it should also be remembered that the warring parties actively used combat weapons, and the participation in combat operations of submarine, surface and air fleets, as well as tanks, indicates that the nature of the First World War was as close as possible to modern ideas about strategy and tactics.
On June 28, 1914, a terrorist attack occurred in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, as a result of which members of the august Austro-Hungarian family Archduke Ferdinand and Sophia, his wife, were killed. The culprits were subjects of the empire, but their nationality gave rise to accusing the Serbian government of supporting terrorists, and at the same time holding this country responsible for fanning separatism.
When it began, even those who started it did not imagine that it would drag on for four years, cover vast areas from the Arctic to South America and will lead to such large-scale losses. Serbia, suffering internally and weakened by two in a row, was a practically defenseless victim, and defeating it was not a problem. The question was which countries would react to this attack and how.
Despite the fact that the Serbian government accepted almost all the conditions of the ultimatum presented to it, this was no longer taken into account. When the First World War began, the government of Austria-Hungary announced mobilization, enlisting the support of Germany and assessing the combat readiness of possible opponents, as well as the degree of their interest in territorial redistribution. As subsequent events showed, not all factors were taken into account.
Exactly a month after the Sarajevo murders began fighting. At the same time, the German Empire informed France and Russia of its intentions to support Vienna.
In the days when the First World War began, the population of both Austria-Hungary and Germany was swept by a single patriotic impulse. The citizens of the opposing countries did not lag behind in their desire to “teach a lesson” to the enemy. The mobilized soldiers were showered with flowers and treats on both sides of the border, which soon became the front line.
When the First World War began, the general staffs made plans for rapid offensives, captures and encirclements of enemy army groups, but soon the fighting acquired a pronounced positional character. For all this time, there was only one breakthrough of layered defense; it was named after General Brusilov, who commanded this operation. The winners in such conditions were determined not so much by the quality of equipment or the talents of the command staff, but by the economic potential of the warring countries.
The Austro-Hungarian and German empires turned out to be weaker. Exhausted by the four-year confrontation, despite the favorable situation for them with Russia, they suffered a defeat, the result of which was that the Heroes of the First World War in Russia, engulfed in the flames of revolution, and in Germany and Austria turned out to be unnecessary human material, rejected by society.
The First World War was a war between two coalitions of powers: Central Powers, or Quadruple Alliance(Germany, Austria-Hungary, Türkiye, Bulgaria) and Entente(Russia, France, Great Britain).
A number of other states supported the Entente in the First World War (that is, they were its allies). This war lasted approximately 4 years (officially from July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918). This was the first military conflict on a global scale, in which 38 of the 59 independent states that existed at that time were involved.
During the war, the composition of the coalitions changed.
Europe in 1914
Entente
British Empire
France
Russian empire
In addition to these main countries, more than twenty states grouped on the side of the Entente, and the term “Entente” began to be used to refer to the entire anti-German coalition. Thus, the anti-German coalition included the following countries: Andorra, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy (from May 23, 1915), Japan, Liberia, Montenegro , Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Siam, USA, Uruguay.
Cavalry of the Russian Imperial Guard
Central Powers
German Empire
Austria-Hungary
Bulgarian kingdom(since 1915)
The predecessor of this block was Triple Alliance, formed in 1879-1882 as a result of agreements concluded between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. According to the treaty, these countries were obliged to provide support to each other in the event of war, mainly with France. But Italy began to move closer to France and at the beginning of the First World War declared its neutrality, and in 1915 withdrew from the Triple Alliance and entered the war on the side of the Entente.
Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined Germany and Austria-Hungary during the war. The Ottoman Empire entered the war in October 1914, Bulgaria in October 1915.
Some countries participated in the war partially, others entered the war already in its final phase. Let's talk about some of the features of individual countries' participation in the war.
Albania
As soon as the war began, the Albanian prince Wilhelm Wied, a German by origin, fled the country to Germany. Albania assumed neutrality, but was occupied by Entente troops (Italy, Serbia, Montenegro). However, by January 1916, most of it (Northern and Central) was occupied by Austro-Hungarian troops. In the occupied territories, with the support of the occupation authorities, the Albanian Legion was created from Albanian volunteers - a military formation consisting of nine infantry battalions and numbering up to 6,000 fighters in its ranks.
Azerbaijan
On May 28, 1918, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was proclaimed. Soon she concluded a treaty “On Peace and Friendship” with the Ottoman Empire, according to which the latter obliged “ provide assistance armed force the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, if necessary to ensure order and security in the country" And when armed forces Baku Council people's commissars launched an attack on Elizavetpol, this became the basis for the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic to turn to the Ottoman Empire for military assistance. As a result, the Bolshevik troops were defeated. On September 15, 1918, the Turkish-Azerbaijani army occupied Baku.
M. Diemer "World War I. Air combat"
Arabia
By the beginning of the First World War, it was the main ally of the Ottoman Empire in the Arabian Peninsula.
Libya
The Muslim Sufi religious and political order Senusiya began to wage military operations against the Italian colonialists in Libya back in 1911. Senusia- a Muslim Sufi religious-political order (brotherhood) in Libya and Sudan, founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Great Senussi, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Senussi, and aimed at overcoming the decline of Islamic thought and spirituality and the weakening of Muslim political unity). By 1914, the Italians controlled only the coast. With the outbreak of the First World War, the Senusites received new allies in the fight against the colonialists - the Ottoman and German empires, with their help, by the end of 1916, Senussia drove the Italians out of most of Libya. In December 1915, Senusite troops invaded British Egypt, where they suffered a crushing defeat.
Poland
With the outbreak of the First World War, Polish nationalist circles in Austria-Hungary put forward the idea of creating a Polish Legion in order to gain the support of the Central Powers and with their help partially resolve the Polish question. As a result, two legions were formed - Eastern (Lviv) and Western (Krakow). The Eastern Legion, after the occupation of Galicia by Russian troops on September 21, 1914, dissolved itself, and the Western Legion was divided into three brigades of legionnaires (each with 5-6 thousand people) and in this form continued to participate in hostilities until 1918.
By August 1915, the Germans and Austro-Hungarians occupied the territory of the entire Kingdom of Poland, and on November 5, 1916, the occupation authorities promulgated the “Act of Two Emperors,” which proclaimed the creation of the Kingdom of Poland - an independent state with a hereditary monarchy and a constitutional system, the boundaries of which were clearly defined were not.
Sudan
By the beginning of the First World War, the Darfur Sultanate was under the protectorate of Great Britain, but the British refused to help Darfur, not wanting to spoil their relations with their Entente ally. As a result, on April 14, 1915, the Sultan officially declared the independence of Darfur. The Darfur Sultan expected to receive the support of the Ottoman Empire and the Sufi order of Senusiya, with which the Sultanate established strong union. A two-thousand-strong Anglo-Egyptian corps invaded Darfur, the army of the sultanate suffered a number of defeats, and in January 1917 the annexation of the Darfur Sultanate to Sudan was officially announced.
Russian artillery
Neutral countries
The following countries maintained complete or partial neutrality: Albania, Afghanistan, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg (it did not declare war on the Central Powers, although it was occupied by German troops), Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Persia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tibet, Venezuela, Italy (August 3, 1914 - May 23, 1915)
As a result of the war
As a result of the First World War, the Central Powers bloc ceased to exist with defeat in the First World War in the fall of 1918. When signing the truce, they all unconditionally accepted the terms of the victors. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire disintegrated as a result of the war; states created on the territory of the Russian Empire were forced to seek support from the Entente. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland retained their independence, the rest were again annexed to Russia (directly to the RSFSR or entered the Soviet Union).
World War I- one of the largest-scale armed conflicts in human history. As a result of the war, four empires ceased to exist: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and German. The participating countries lost about 12 million people killed (including civilians), and about 55 million were wounded.
F. Roubaud "The First World War. 1915"
