War of the triple alliance

At the beginning of the 20th century, the differences between the world's powers reached their peak. A relatively long period without major European conflicts (around the sixties) made it possible to build up conflicts between the world's leading powers. There was no single mechanism to solve such issues that inevitably led to "satisfaction". At that time it could only be war.

Background and background of the First World War

The prehistory of the First World War dates back to the 19th century, when the German Empire gained power and entered into colonial competition with other world powers. Germany, late for colonial division, often had to conflict with other countries to obtain a piece of cake for the African and Asian capital markets.

On the other hand, the weakened Ottoman Empire also caused many inconveniences to the European powers who tried to participate in the division of the inheritance. The result of this tensions was the outbreak of the Tripolitan War (which led Italy to Libya, which had previously belonged to the Turks) and two Balkan wars, during which it reached the highest point of Slavic nationalism in the Balkans.

He carefully monitored the situation in the Balkans and Austria-Hungary. It was important for the empire to lose prestige, regain respect and consolidate the various national groups. For this purpose, as well as an important strategic bridgehead from which Serbia could be threatened, in 1908 the Austrian occupied Bosnia and later included its composition.

At the beginning of the 20th century, two military-political blocs were formed in Europe: Ententa (Russia, France, Great Britain) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). These two alliances associate states primarily with foreign policy objectives. Therefore, the agreement was primarily concerned with maintaining colonial redistribution of the world with little change in its favor (for example, the division of the German colonial empire), while Germany and Austria-Hungary wanted a complete redistribution of colonies, achieving economic and military hegemony in Europe and expanding their markets.

So by 1914, the situation in Europe had become quite tense. The interests of the superpowers collided in almost all areas: commercial, economic, military and diplomatic. In fact, in the spring of 1914, war became inevitable and only a "push" was needed, which would lead to conflict.

 On 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo (Bosnia) he and his wife were killed by the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The murderer was Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, who belonged to the organization Mlada Bosna. Austria's reaction was not long. As early as July 23, the Austrian government, believing that Serbia was behind the "Young Bosnia" organization, submitted an ultimatum to the Serbian government requiring Serbia to stop anti-German actions, ban pro-Austrian organizations, and allow Austrian police to enter the country of investigation

The Serbian government, which rightly believes that this ultimatum is an aggressive diplomatic attempt by Austria-Hungary to limit or totally destroy Serbian sovereignty, has decided to satisfy almost all Austrian demands except one: the admission of Austrian police to Serbia was clearly unacceptable. This rejection for the Austro-Hungarian government was enough to accuse Serbia of indeterminacy and the preparation of provocations against Austria-Hungary and begin to concentrate troops on the border. Two days later, on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

War of the triple alliance: Objectives and Plans of Parties in World War I

Germany's military doctrine at the beginning of World War I was Schlieffen's famous plan. The plan envisaged a rapid defeat for France, as in 1871. The French campaign was to be completed within 40 days before Russia could mobilize and concentrate its army near the eastern borders of the German Empire. After the defeat of France, the German headquarters planned to quickly transfer troops to the Russian border and launch a victorious offensive there. Victory should therefore be achieved in a very short period of time - from four months to six months.

The plans of Austria and Hungary consisted of a victorious offensive against Serbia and a strong defense against Russia in Galicia. After the defeat of the Serbian army was to transfer all available units against Russia and together with Germany to defeat.

he military plans of the agreement also assumed the achievement of military victory in the shortest time. So it was assumed that Germany would not long resist wars on two fronts, especially with the active attack of France and Russia on the ground and the naval blockade of the United Kingdom.

Beginning of the First World War - August 1914

Russia, which traditionally supported Serbia, could not remain free of conflict. On July 29 was the telegram of Emperor Nicholas II. Sent to the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who proposed to resolve the Austro-Serbian conflict by international arbitration in The Hague. However, fascinated by the idea of ​​hegemony in Europe, the German Kaiser left his cousin's telegram without answer.

Meanwhile, mobilization began in the Russian Empire. It was originally held exclusively against Austria-Hungary, but after Germany clearly stated its position, mobilization measures became universal. The reaction of the German Empire to Russian mobilization was the end result, which tried to stop these massive preparations under threat of war. However, it was already impossible to stop mobilization in Russia. As a result, on August 1, 1914, Germany announced war on Russia.

Along with these events, the German General Staff started implementing the Schlieffen Plan. On the morning of August 1, German troops invaded Luxembourg and the next day they fully occupied the state. At the same time, an ultimatum was submitted to the Belgian Government. It consisted in demanding the undisturbed passage of German troops across the Belgian state for action against France. However, the Belgian government rejected the ultimatum.

A day later, on August 3, 1914, Germany declared war on France and the next day with Belgium. At the same time, the United Kingdom entered the war on the side of Russia and France. On August 6, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia. Unexpectedly, Italy refused to enter the war for the countries of the Triple Alliance.

The First World War deteriorated - August-November 1914

At the beginning of the First World War, the German army was not fully prepared for active hostility. However, two days after the declaration of war, the Germans managed to seize the cities of Kalisz and Czestochowa in Poland. At the same time, Russian forces with the forces of both armies (1st and 2nd) launched an offensive in East Prussia with the aim of detaining Koenigsberg and straightening the front line from the north in order to remove the unsuccessful configuration of the pre-war borders.

Initially, the Russian offensive developed quite successfully, but soon due to the lack of coordination of the actions of the two Russian armies, the 1st Army came under a strong German side attack and lost about half of its personnel. Army Commander Samsonov shot and the army itself until 3 September 1914 retreated to its original positions. Since the beginning of September, Russian soldiers in the northwest direction went to defense.

At the same time, the Russian army launched a large offensive against the Austro-Hungarian troops in Galicia. In this sector of the queue fought five Austro-Hungarian against five Russian armies. The struggle that originally developed here was not entirely favorable to the Russian side: Austrian soldiers on the southern flank issued strong resistance, which forced the Russian army in mid-August to retreat to their original positions. However, soon after the fierce battles, the Russian army on August 21 managed to catch Lviv. Then the Austrian army began to withdraw towards the southwest, which soon turned into a real flight. The disaster before the Austro-Hungarian troops rose to its full height. Only in mid-September was the offensive of the Russian army in Galicia completed about 150 kilometers west of Lviv. At the rear of the Russian troops was also a strategically significant fortress Przemysl, in which about 100,000 Austrian soldiers took over. The siege of the fortress continued until 1915.

After the events in East Prussia and Galicia, the German headquarters decided to launch an offensive to eliminate the Warsaw Challenge and straighten the front line by 1914. Already on 15 September, Operation Warsaw-Ivangorod began, during which German troops approached Warsaw, but the Russian army managed them to move back to its original position with strong counterattacks.

In the west of August 4, German troops launched an attack on the territory of Belgium. Initially, the Germans did not become a serious defense and the centers of resistance coped with them forward units. On August 20, occupying the capital of Belgium in Brussels, the German army came into contact with French and British troops. There was a so-called Border Battle. During the battle, the German army seriously defeated the Allied forces and captured the northern part of France and most of Belgium

In early September 1914, the situation on the Western Front became a threat to the Allies. German troops were 100 kilometers from Paris and the French government fled to Bordeaux. At the same time, however, the Germans acted with the full expense of the forces that disappeared. Last morning, the Germans decided to make a deep bypass of the Allied forces, which covers Paris from the north. However, the sides of the German offensive forces were not covered, which the Union leadership used. As a result of this battle, part of the German troops were defeated and the chance of taking Paris in the fall of 1914 was lost. The miracle of the Marne allowed the Allies to regroup and build a solid defense.

After the failure of Paris, German headquarters launched an attack on the North Sea coast to reach the Anglo-French forces. At the same time, the Allied forces also moved toward the sea. This period, which lasted from mid-September to mid-November 1914, was called "Running into the Sea".

In the Balkan Combat Theater, events for the Central Powers evolved very poorly. Since the very beginning of the war, the Serbian army furiously appealed from the Austro-Hungarian army, which managed to capture Belgrade only in early December. A week later, however, the Serbs managed to return the capital back.

Entering the Ottoman Empire War and prolonging the conflict (November 1914 - January 1915)

Since the very beginning of the First World War, the Ottoman Empire has been closely following its course. At the same time, there was no consensus on which side they spoke, the country's government did not. However, it was clear that the Ottoman Empire could not avoid conflict.

During many diplomatic maneuvers and intrigues in the Turkish government, adherents of pro-German positions took over. As a result, virtually the entire country and army were under the control of German generals. On October 30, 1914, the Ottoman fleet launched a series of Russian tidal ports, which Russia immediately used as a pretext for declaring war on November 2. A few days later, the Ottoman Empire was declared war by France and Great Britain.

Along with these events began offensive Ottoman army in the Caucasus, aimed at capturing the cities of Kars and Batumi and the long-term Transcaucasus. However, here the Russian soldiers managed to first stop and then throw the enemy across the border. As a result, the Ottoman Empire was also drawn into a vast war without hope of a quick victory

From October 1914 on the Western Front troops occupied positional defense, which had a significant impact on the next four years of war. The stabilization of the front and the lack of offensive capabilities on both sides led to the building of a strong and deep defense of the German and Anglo-French forces.

First World War - 1915

1915 on the Eastern Front proved to be more active than in the West. First of all, this explains the fact that the German headquarters, when planning combat operations in 1915, decided to strike a major blow in the east and bring Russia out of the war.

In the winter of 1915, German troops launched an attack in Poland in the Avgustov region. Here, despite initial success, the Germans faced stubborn resistance from Russian troops and could not achieve decisive success. After these failures, the German leadership decided to shift the direction of the main blow south to the southern Carpathians and Bukovina.

This strike almost immediately reached the target and the German troops managed to break the Russian front in the Gorlice area. As a result, to prevent encirclement, the Russian army had to start retreating to level the front. This departure, which began on April 22, lasted 2 months. As a result, the Russian troops lost large territories in Poland and Galicia, while the Austro-German forces were almost close to Warsaw. However, the main events of the 1915 campaign were still ahead of us

German headquarters, although he managed to achieve a relatively good operational success, but still failed to overthrow the Russian front. The aim of neutralizing Russia since the beginning of June was to begin planning a new offensive, which, according to the German leadership plan, should lead to a complete collapse of the Russian front and the early withdrawal of Russians from the war. It had two blows under the base of the Warsaw outcropping to encircle or expel enemy troops from this scene. At the same time, it was decided to attack the Baltic States to avert at least part of the Russian forces from the central sector of the front.

War of the triple alliance

On 13 June 1915 the German offensive began and a few days later the Russian front was broken. To prevent encirclement near Warsaw, the Russian army began to retreat eastward to create a new united front. As a result of this "Great Retreat" Russian troops left Warsaw, Grodno, Brest-Litovsk and the front stabilized until autumn on the track Dubno-Baranovichi-Dvinsk. In the Baltic, the Germans occupied the entire territory of Lithuania and approached Riga. After these operations on the Eastern Front of the First World War until 1916, there was a quiet state.

On the Caucasus front in 1915, hostility spread to the territory of Persia, which after long diplomatic maneuvers got to the side of the agreement.

On the Western Front in 1915 was characterized by reduced activity of German troops with higher activity Anglo-French. So at the beginning of the year hostilities took place only in the Artois area, but did not lead to any significant results. In terms of their intensity, however, these positional actions could not in any way claim a state of serious operation.

Unsuccessful attempts by the Allies to cross the German front subsequently led to a German offensive with limited targets in the Ypres (Belgium). Here, the German troops for the first time in history used poisonous gases, which turned out to be very unexpected and overwhelming for their adversary. However, they did not have sufficient reserves to succeed, the Germans were soon forced to stop the attack, achieved very modest results (their backup was only 5 to 10 kilometers).

In early May 1915 the Allies launched a new offensive in Artois, which, according to the plan of their command led to the liberation of a larger territory of France and a large defeat of German troops. However, neither thorough artillery training (which lasted 6 days), nor large forces (about 30 divisions concentrated on an area of ​​30 kilometers) did not allow the Anglo-French leadership to achieve victory. Last but not least, this was due to the fact that German troops built here a deep and strong defense, which was a reliable tool against allied frontal attacks.