World War I (1914 - 1918)

The Russian Empire collapsed. One of the goals of the war is solved.

Chamberlain

The First World War lasted from August 1, 1914 to November 11, 1918. 38 states with a population of 62% of the world took part in it. This war was rather ambiguous and extremely contradictory described in modern history. I specifically cited Chamberlain's words in the epigraph to once again emphasize this inconsistency. A prominent politician in England (Russia's ally in the war) says that one of the goals of the war has been achieved by overthrowing the autocracy in Russia!

The Balkan countries played an important role in the beginning of the war. They were not independent. Their policy (both foreign and domestic) was greatly influenced by England. Germany by that time had lost its influence in this region, although it controlled Bulgaria for a long time.

• Entente. Russian Empire, France, Great Britain. The allies were the USA, Italy, Romania, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.
• Triple Alliance. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire. Later, the Bulgarian kingdom joined them, and the coalition became known as the Quadruple Union.

The following major countries took part in the war: Austria-Hungary (July 27, 1914 - November 3, 1918), Germany (August 1, 1914 - November 11, 1918), Turkey (October 29, 1914 - October 30, 1918), Bulgaria (October 14, 1915 - 29 September 1918). Entente countries and allies: Russia (August 1, 1914 - March 3, 1918), France (August 3, 1914), Belgium (August 3, 1914), Great Britain (August 4, 1914), Italy (May 23, 1915), Romania (August 27, 1916) .

Another important point. Initially, a member of the "Triple Alliance" was Italy. But after the outbreak of the First World War, the Italians declared neutrality.

Causes of World War I

The main reason for the outbreak of the First World War is the desire of the leading powers, primarily England, France and Austria-Hungary, to redistribute the world. The fact is that the colonial system collapsed by the beginning of the 20th century. The leading European countries, which had prospered for years by exploiting the colonies, were no longer allowed to obtain resources simply by taking them away from the Indians, Africans and South Americans. Now resources could only be won back from each other. Therefore, contradictions arose:

• Between England and Germany. England sought to prevent the strengthening of German influence in the Balkans. Germany sought to gain a foothold in the Balkans and the Middle East, and also sought to deprive England of naval dominance.
• Between Germany and France. France dreamed of regaining the lands of Alsace and Lorraine, which she had lost in the war of 1870-71. France also sought to seize the German Saar coal basin.
• Between Germany and Russia. Germany sought to take Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states from Russia.
• Between Russia and Austria-Hungary. Contradictions arose because of the desire of both countries to influence the Balkans, as well as the desire of Russia to subjugate the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.

Cause to start a war

The events in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) served as the reason for the start of the First World War. On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand organization of the Young Bosnia movement, assassinated Archduke Frans Ferdinand. Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, so the resonance of the murder was enormous. This was the reason for Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia.

The behavior of England is very important here, since Austria-Hungary could not start a war on its own, because this practically guaranteed a war throughout Europe. The British, at the level of the embassy, ​​convinced Nicholas 2 that Russia, in the event of aggression, should not leave Serbia without help. But then all (I emphasize this) the English press wrote that the Serbs were barbarians and Austria-Hungary should not leave the murder of the Archduke unpunished. That is, England did everything so that Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia did not shy away from war.

Important nuances of the reason for war

In all textbooks we are told that the main and only reason for the outbreak of the First World War was the assassination of the Austrian Archduke. At the same time, they forget to say that the next day, June 29, another significant murder took place. The French politician Jean Jaures, who actively opposed the war and had great influence in France, was killed. A few weeks before the assassination of the Archduke, there was an attempt on Rasputin, who, like Zhores, was an opponent of the war and had a great influence on Nicholas 2. I also want to note some facts from the fate of the main characters of those days:

• Gavrilo Principin. He died in prison in 1918 from tuberculosis.
• Russian Ambassador to Serbia - Hartley. In 1914 he died at the Austrian embassy in Serbia, where he came for a reception.
• Colonel Apis, leader of the Black Hand. Shot in 1917.
• In 1917 Hartley's correspondence with Sozonov (the next Russian ambassador to Serbia) disappeared.

All this indicates that there were a lot of black spots in the events of the days, which have not yet been revealed. And this is very important to understand.

The role of England in starting the war

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 2 great powers in continental Europe: Germany and Russia. They did not want to openly fight against each other, since the forces were approximately equal. Therefore, in the "July crisis" of 1914, both sides took a wait-and-see attitude. English diplomacy came to the fore. By means of the press and secret diplomacy, she conveyed to Germany the position - in the event of war, England would remain neutral or take the side of Germany. By open diplomacy, Nicholas 2 heard the opposite idea that in the event of a war, England would take the side of Russia.

It must be clearly understood that one open statement by England that she will not allow war in Europe would be enough for neither Germany nor Russia to even think about anything of the kind. Naturally, under such conditions, Austria-Hungary would not have dared to attack Serbia. But England, with all her diplomacy, pushed the European countries to war.

Russia before the war

Before the First World War, Russia reformed the army. In 1907, the fleet was reformed, and in 1910 the land forces were reformed. The country increased military spending many times over, and the total number of the army in peacetime was now 2 million people. In 1912, Russia adopts a new Field Service Charter. Today it is rightfully called the most perfect Charter of its time, since it motivated soldiers and commanders to take personal initiative. Important point! The doctrine of the army of the Russian Empire was offensive.

Despite the fact that there were many positive changes, there were also very serious miscalculations. The main one is the underestimation of the role of artillery in the war. As the course of events of the First World War showed, this was a terrible mistake, which clearly showed that at the beginning of the 20th century, Russian generals were seriously behind the times. They lived in the past when the role of the cavalry was important. As a result, 75% of all the losses of the First World War were caused by artillery! This is a sentence to the imperial generals.

It is important to note that Russia never finished preparing for the war (at the proper level), while Germany completed it in 1914.

The balance of forces and means before the war and after it

Artillery

According to the data from the table, it can be seen that Germany and Austria-Hungary were many times superior to Russia and France in terms of heavy guns. Therefore, the balance of power was in favor of the first two countries. Moreover, the Germans, as usual, before the war created an excellent military industry, which produced 250,000 shells daily. For comparison, Britain produced 10,000 shells a month! As they say, feel the difference...

Another example showing the importance of artillery is the battles on the Dunajec Gorlice line (May 1915). In 4 hours, the German army fired 700,000 shells. For comparison, during the entire Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), Germany fired just over 800,000 shells. That is, in 4 hours a little less than in the entire war. The Germans clearly understood that heavy artillery would play a decisive role in the war.

Armament and military equipment

Production of weapons and equipment during the First World War (thousand units).

This table clearly shows the weakness of the Russian Empire in terms of equipping the army. In all major indicators, Russia is far behind Germany, but also behind France and Great Britain. Largely because of this, the war turned out to be so difficult for our country.

Number of people (infantry)

The number of fighting infantry (millions of people).

The table shows that the smallest contribution, both in terms of combatants and in terms of deaths, was made by Great Britain to the war. This is logical, since the British did not really participate in major battles. Another example from this table is illustrative. We are told in all textbooks that Austria-Hungary, due to heavy losses, could not fight on its own, and it always needed Germany's help. But pay attention to Austria-Hungary and France in the table. The numbers are identical! Just as Germany had to fight for Austria-Hungary, so Russia had to fight for France (it is no coincidence that the Russian army saved Paris from capitulation three times during the First World War).

The table also shows that in fact the war was between Russia and Germany. Both countries lost 4.3 million killed, while Britain, France and Austria-Hungary together lost 3.5 million. The numbers are telling. But it turned out that the countries that fought the most and made the most efforts in the war ended up with nothing. First, Russia signed the shameful Brest peace for itself, losing a lot of land. Then Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, in fact, having lost its independence.

The course of the war

Military events of 1914

July 28 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. This entailed the involvement in the war of the countries of the Triple Alliance, on the one hand, and the Entente, on the other.

Russia entered World War I on August 1, 1914. Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov (uncle of Nicholas 2) was appointed supreme commander.

In the first days of the beginning of the war, Petersburg was renamed Petrograd. Since the war with Germany began, and the capital could not have a name of German origin - "burg".

History reference

German "Schlieffen Plan"

Germany was under the threat of a war on two fronts: East - with Russia, West - with France. Then the German command developed the "Schlieffen plan", according to which Germany should defeat France in 40 days and then fight with Russia. Why 40 days? The Germans believed that this is how much Russia would need to mobilize. Therefore, when Russia mobilizes, France will already be out of the game.

On August 2, 1914, Germany captured Luxembourg, on August 4 they invaded Belgium (a neutral country at that time), and by August 20 Germany had reached the borders of France. The implementation of the Schlieffen plan began. Germany advanced deep into France, but on September 5 was stopped at the Marne River, where a battle took place, in which about 2 million people participated on both sides.

Northwestern front of Russia in 1914

Russia at the beginning of the war made a stupid thing that Germany could not calculate in any way. Nicholas 2 decided to enter the war without fully mobilizing the army. On August 4, Russian troops, under the command of Rennenkampf, launched an offensive in East Prussia (modern Kaliningrad). Samsonov's army was equipped to help her. Initially, the troops were successful, and Germany was forced to retreat. As a result, part of the forces of the Western Front was transferred to the Eastern. The result - Germany repelled the Russian offensive in East Prussia (the troops acted disorganized and lacked resources), but as a result, the Schlieffen plan failed, and France could not be captured. So, Russia saved Paris, though by defeating its 1st and 2nd armies. After that, a positional war began.

Southwestern Front of Russia

On the southwestern front in August-September, Russia launched an offensive operation against Galicia, which was occupied by the troops of Austria-Hungary. The Galician operation was more successful than the offensive in East Prussia. In this battle, Austria-Hungary suffered a catastrophic defeat. 400 thousand people were killed, 100 thousand captured. For comparison, the Russian army lost 150 thousand people killed. After that, Austria-Hungary actually withdrew from the war, as it lost the ability to conduct independent operations. Austria was saved from complete defeat only by the help of Germany, which was forced to transfer additional divisions to Galicia.

The main results of the military campaign of 1914

• Germany failed to implement the Schlieffen plan for blitzkrieg.
• No one managed to win a decisive advantage. The war turned into a positional one.

Map of military events in 1914-15

Military events of 1915

In 1915, Germany decided to shift the main blow to the eastern front, directing all its forces to the war with Russia, which was the weakest country of the Entente, according to the Germans. It was a strategic plan developed by the commander of the Eastern Front, General von Hindenburg. Russia managed to thwart this plan only at the cost of colossal losses, but at the same time, 1915 turned out to be simply terrible for the empire of Nicholas 2.

The situation on the northwestern front

From January to October, Germany waged an active offensive, as a result of which Russia lost Poland, western Ukraine, part of the Baltic states, and western Belarus. Russia went into deep defense. Russian losses were gigantic:

• Killed and wounded - 850 thousand people
• Captured - 900 thousand people

Russia did not capitulate, but the countries of the "Triple Alliance" were convinced that Russia would not be able to recover from the losses it had received.

Germany's successes in this sector of the front led to the fact that on October 14, 1915, Bulgaria entered the First World War (on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary).

The situation on the southwestern front

The Germans, together with Austria-Hungary, organized the Gorlitsky breakthrough in the spring of 1915, forcing the entire southwestern front of Russia to retreat. Galicia, which was captured in 1914, was completely lost. Germany was able to achieve this advantage thanks to the terrible mistakes of the Russian command, as well as a significant technical advantage. German superiority in technology reached:

• 2.5 times in machine guns.
• 4.5 times in light artillery.
• 40 times in heavy artillery.

It was not possible to withdraw Russia from the war, but the losses on this sector of the front were gigantic: 150,000 killed, 700,000 wounded, 900,000 prisoners and 4 million refugees.

The situation on the western front

All is calm on the Western Front. This phrase can describe how the war between Germany and France in 1915 proceeded. There were sluggish hostilities in which no one sought the initiative. Germany was implementing plans in Eastern Europe, while England and France were calmly mobilizing the economy and the army, preparing for further war. No one provided any assistance to Russia, although Nicholas 2 repeatedly appealed to France, first of all, so that she would switch to active operations on the Western Front. As usual, no one heard him ... By the way, this sluggish war on the western front for Germany is perfectly described by Hemingway in the novel “Farewell to Arms”.

The main result of 1915 was that Germany was unable to withdraw Russia from the war, although all forces were thrown at it. It became obvious that the First World War would drag on for a long time, since in 1.5 years of the war no one was able to gain an advantage or a strategic initiative.

Military events of 1916

"Verdun meat grinder"

In February 1916, Germany launched a general offensive against France, with the aim of capturing Paris. For this, a campaign was carried out on Verdun, which covered the approaches to the French capital. The battle lasted until the end of 1916. During this time, 2 million people died, for which the battle was called the Verdun Meat Grinder. France survived, but again thanks to the fact that Russia came to its rescue, which became more active on the southwestern front.

Events on the southwestern front in 1916

In May 1916, Russian troops went on the offensive, which lasted 2 months. This offensive went down in history under the name "Brusilovsky breakthrough". This name is due to the fact that the Russian army was commanded by General Brusilov. The breakthrough of defense in Bukovina (from Lutsk to Chernivtsi) happened on June 5th. The Russian army managed not only to break through the defense, but also to advance into its depths in places up to 120 kilometers. German and Austro-Hungarian losses were catastrophic. 1.5 million dead, wounded and captured. The offensive was stopped only by additional German divisions, which were hastily transferred here from Verdun (France) and from Italy.

This offensive of the Russian army was not without a fly in the ointment. They threw it, as usual, the allies. On August 27, 1916, Romania enters the First World War on the side of the Entente. Germany very quickly inflicted a defeat on her. As a result, Romania lost its army, and Russia received an additional 2,000 kilometers of front.

Events on the Caucasian and Northwestern fronts

Positional battles continued on the North-Western Front in the spring-autumn period. As for the Caucasian front, here the main events continued from the beginning of 1916 to April. During this time, 2 operations were carried out: Erzumur and Trebizond. According to their results, Erzurum and Trebizond were conquered, respectively.

Outcome of 1916 in World War I

• The strategic initiative went over to the side of the Entente.
• The French fortress of Verdun survived thanks to the advance of the Russian army.
• Romania entered the war on the side of the Entente.
• Russia launched a powerful offensive - the Brusilovsky breakthrough.

Military and political events of 1917

The year 1917 in the First World War was marked by the fact that the war continued against the background of the revolutionary situation in Russia and Germany, as well as the deterioration of the economic situation of the countries. I will give an example of Russia. During the 3 years of the war, prices for basic products increased by an average of 4-4.5 times. Naturally, this caused discontent among the people. Add to this heavy losses and a grueling war - it turns out excellent ground for revolutionaries. The situation is similar in Germany.

In 1917, the United States enters World War I. The positions of the "Triple Alliance" are deteriorating. Germany with allies cannot effectively fight on 2 fronts, as a result of which it goes on the defensive.

End of the war for Russia

In the spring of 1917, Germany launched another offensive on the Western Front. Despite the events in Russia, the Western countries demanded that the Provisional Government implement the agreements signed by the Empire and send troops on the offensive. As a result, on June 16, the Russian army went on the offensive in the Lvov region. Again, we saved the allies from major battles, but we set ourselves up completely.

The Russian army, exhausted by the war and losses, did not want to fight. Issues of provisions, uniforms and supplies during the war years have not been resolved. The army fought reluctantly, but moved forward. The Germans were forced to re-deploy troops here, and Russia's Entente allies again isolated themselves, watching what would happen next. On July 6, Germany launched a counteroffensive. As a result, 150,000 Russian soldiers died. The army actually ceased to exist. The front has collapsed. Russia could no longer fight, and this catastrophe was inevitable.

People demanded that Russia withdraw from the war. And this was one of their main demands on the Bolsheviks, who seized power in October 1917. Initially, at the 2nd Congress of the Party, the Bolsheviks signed a decree "On Peace", in fact declaring Russia's withdrawal from the war, and on March 3, 1918, they signed the Brest Peace. The conditions of this world were as follows:

• Russia makes peace with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.
• Russia is losing Poland, Ukraine, Finland, part of Belarus and the Baltic states.
• Russia cedes Batum, Kars and Ardagan to Turkey.

As a result of its participation in the First World War, Russia lost: about 1 million square meters of territory, about 1/4 of the population, 1/4 of arable land and 3/4 of the coal and metallurgical industry were lost.

History reference

Events in the war in 1918

Germany got rid of the Eastern Front and the need to wage war in 2 directions. As a result, in the spring and summer of 1918, she attempted an offensive on the Western Front, but this offensive had no success. Moreover, in its course it became obvious that Germany was squeezing the maximum out of herself, and that she needed a break in the war.

Autumn 1918

The decisive events in the First World War took place in the autumn. The Entente countries, together with the United States, went on the offensive. The German army was completely ousted from France and Belgium. In October, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria signed a truce with the Entente, and Germany was left to fight alone. Her position was hopeless, after the German allies in the "Triple Alliance" essentially capitulated. This resulted in the same thing that happened in Russia - a revolution. On November 9, 1918, Emperor Wilhelm II was deposed.

End of World War I

On November 11, 1918, the First World War of 1914-1918 ended. Germany signed a complete surrender. It happened near Paris, in the forest of Compiègne, at the Retonde station. The surrender was accepted by the French Marshal Foch. The terms of the signed peace were as follows:

• Germany recognizes complete defeat in the war.
• The return of France to the province of Alsace and Lorraine to the borders of 1870, as well as the transfer of the Saar coal basin.
• Germany lost all its colonial possessions, and also pledged to transfer 1/8 of its territory to its geographical neighbors.
• For 15 years, the Entente troops are located on the left bank of the Rhine.
• By May 1, 1921, Germany had to pay the members of the Entente (Russia was not supposed to do anything) 20 billion marks in gold, goods, securities, etc.
• For 30 years, Germany must pay reparations, and the amount of these reparations is set by the victors themselves and can increase them at any time during these 30 years.
• Germany was forbidden to have an army of more than 100 thousand people, and the army was obliged to be exclusively voluntary.

The terms of "peace" were so humiliating for Germany that the country actually became a puppet. Therefore, many people of that time said that the First World War, although it ended, did not end with peace, but with a truce for 30 years. And so it eventually happened ...

Results of the First World War

The First World War was fought on the territory of 14 states. Countries with a total population of over 1 billion people took part in it (this is approximately 62% of the total world population at that time). In total, 74 million people were mobilized by the participating countries, of which 10 million died and another 20 million were injured.

As a result of the war, the political map of Europe changed significantly. There were such independent states as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Albania. Austria-Hungary split into Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Increased their borders Romania, Greece, France, Italy. There were 5 countries that lost and lost in the territory: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey and Russia.

Map of the First World War 1914-1918

As you might guess, the name began to be used only after the Second World War began on September 1, 1939. Prior to this, the name "Great War" was used more often than the West, somewhat less often - simply "World War". In Russia, before the October Revolution of 1917, in addition to the name "Great War", there were such official names as "Second Patriotic War" and "Great Patriotic War" and such unofficial names as "Big War", "Great European War" and " German war.

The latter name emphasized that this was the first war against the German state after the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763, as well as the fact that in the First World War the German Empire was the main enemy of the Russian Empire. After the revolution, the First World War in the USSR until the beginning of World War II was called the "imperialist war", and the name "World War I" was written with a lowercase letter, not with a capital letter. During the war, the propaganda of the tsarist government sought to liken it to the Patriotic War of 1812, which began to be called the "First Patriotic War". This was facilitated by the fact that shortly before the start of the First World War, in 1912, the 100th anniversary of the war of 1812 was celebrated on a large scale.

Following the example of the struggle against the “Great Army” of Napoleon, they tried to create cavalry partisan detachments from regular and Cossack cavalry, which turned out to be almost useless in a positional war and, at best, could only carry out reconnaissance searches. Most importantly, the Russian army has changed a lot over the past hundred years, and it has changed far from for the better. In 1812, the Russian army was a professional army, consisting of recruits and noblemen, the vast majority of whom already had sufficient combat experience by the beginning of the war. This army numbered about half a million people and could practically fight on equal terms with the French army - at that moment the best army in the world.

The general social and economic backwardness of Russia from Western Europe did not yet affect the army, since the significant population and resources of the Russian Empire made it possible to maintain a strong army that was not inferior to the best Western European armies. Then there were enough manufactories to equip the troops and supply them with cannons and guns with a sufficient supply of cores and bullets. During the war of 1914-1918 the bare situation was quite different. The Russian army by 1917 numbered about 10 million people, and the regular army was knocked out almost completely in the first three months of the war. In 1917, the army consisted mainly of recruits who did not have much combat experience and had little understanding of the goals of the war, since most of them were illiterate or semi-literate. The officers were also to a large extent wartime ensigns and second lieutenants who did not have much authority with their subordinates.

In the war of 1812, at least, the officers were fully aware of the goals of the war - serving the emperor and preserving the greatness of Russia, for which it was necessary to crush the enemy's army, and they knew how to impress this on their subordinates. During the First World War, wartime officers, who as a rule were not hereditary nobles, had a very vague idea of ​​​​the goals of the war and did not have much respect for the last Russian monarch, and for the monarchy as a whole. And for millions of soldiers, the goals of the war in the form of conquering Constantinople and the Straits or helping “fraternal Serbia” were frankly alien, if only because few people knew who the Serbs were. And, unlike the war with Napoleon, Russia in the First World War could not put up millions of sufficiently combat-ready soldiers and hundreds of thousands of sufficiently trained ones.

And Russian industry, in terms of volume and quality of products several times inferior to the USA, Germany, England and France, and in terms of production per capita - also to Belgium, Italy and Austria-Hungary, was not able to provide the army with the necessary number of rifles, machine guns and guns , as well as ammunition for them, not to mention such modern weapons as aircraft. Russia was not able to maintain transport at the proper level, which played a fatal role before the February Revolution. Finally, in 1812, Napoleon invaded the Russian provinces and reached Moscow, which caused a surge of patriotic feelings to protect their native land and the development of a partisan movement, to which the aggressor's army, especially after the burning of Moscow, turned out to be very vulnerable. A century later, the Germans reached the Russian provinces proper only in February 1918, when the resistance of the Russian army actually ceased. The development of the partisan movement was also out of the question. The patriotism associated with the declaration of war dried up by the end of 1914. As a result, the Russian army was able to fight on equal terms only with the Austro-Hungarian army, torn apart by ethnic conflicts, traditionally defeating the Turks, but completely losing to the German army. But the war led to the occupation of Russian Poland, Lithuania, large parts of Belarus and Latvia by the enemy, and ultimately to a revolution that ended the Romanov monarchy and brought the Bolsheviks to power, which determined the fate of Russia for almost the entire 20th century.

Russia suffered a general defeat, and the glorious victories of the Russian army over the Austrians and Turks served as little consolation. For all the above reasons, the First World War was not perceived by the overwhelming majority of the population, with the possible exception of a rather narrow stratum of Russian officers, as domestic. Therefore, the term "Great Patriotic War" or "Second Patriotic War" in relation to the First World War was used only in official publications, but practically did not become widespread among the general population, in diaries, private correspondence, etc.

One hundred great secrets of the First World War / B.V. Sokolov. - M .: Veche, 2014. - 416 e. - (100 great).

TSAR'S WORD TO THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE AND THE ARMY!
SECOND PATRIOTIC WAR

With calmness and dignity, Our great mother Russia met the news of the declaration of war on us. I am convinced that with the same sense of calmness We will bring the war, whatever it may be, to the end.

I solemnly declare here that I will not make peace until the last enemy warrior leaves Our land. strong as a granite wall, my army and I bless it for military labor.

Here's what's interesting - “until the last enemy warrior leaves Our land”

How did the 2nd Patriotic War, or the 1st World War (as we are used to) begin, according to official history?

On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, the same day the Germans invaded Luxembourg. On August 2, German troops finally occupied Luxembourg, and an ultimatum was put forward for Belgium to allow the German armies to pass to the border with France. Only 12 hours were given for reflection.

On August 3, Germany declared war on France, accusing her of "organized attacks and aerial bombardments of Germany" and "violation of Belgian neutrality."

On August 3, Belgium refused the German ultimatum. On August 4, German troops invaded Belgium. King Albert of Belgium appealed for help to the guarantor countries of Belgian neutrality. London sent an ultimatum to Berlin: stop the invasion of Belgium, or England will declare war on Germany. After the expiration of the ultimatum, Great Britain declared war on Germany and sent troops to help France.

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PATRIOTIC WAR - this is what those who have been subjected to aggression call the war, as they SHIELD THEIR FATHERLAND

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An interesting story turns out .. The king probably would not have thrown words like that - “until the last enemy warrior will not leave our land" etc..

But the enemy, at the time of the speech, invaded Luxembourg ..What does it mean? Is that what I think, or do you have other thoughts?

Let's see where we have Luxembourg?

Nice deal - Luxembourg is oriented in color with the Netherlands, it turns out that all the land belonged to Russia? Or was it a kingdom of a different kind, World and Global, with Russia as its flagship? And the rest of the countries were not countries, but counties, principalities, regions, or God knows what it was actually called ..

Because the Patriotic War, and the second one (the first one, I think, is 1812) And then after 100 years or so, again - 1914 .. You say - “Nuuuu, you never know what is written on the picture, so now, build a theory out of this?”But no, my friends .. There is not one picture here .. But two .. Or three .. Or thirty-three ..

The question is - who and when began to call the Second Patriotic War, the First World War? If this is being hidden from us (those who are involved in informing the population about the events of history - x / zTORIKI), then perhaps there is a reason for this? Will they foolishly do nothing to change the names of historical events? What a bummer..

And there are many such testimonies .. So there is something to hide.! What exactly? Probably the fact that our Fatherland was much wider at that time, so much so that Luxembourg was our territory, and perhaps it was not limited to this. We all know about the global nature of the world in the 19th century - when was this global world divided and severely demarcated?

Who lived in the Russian Empire?

Document:
“On the number of measures included in the draft lists of 1904 on the basis of Art. 152 military regulations of the edition of 1897”

Materials of the Samara recruiting presence. According to the materials of the Samara recruiting presence - Germans and Jews - religion

So the STATE was one but recently it was divided.

There were no nationalities back in 1904.

There were Christians, Mohammedans, Jews and Germans - this is how the masses were distinguished.

In "Saint John" by B. Shaw, an English nobleman says to a priest who used the word "Frenchman":

"Frenchman! Where did you get this word from? Have these Burgundians, Bretons, Picards and Gascons also begun to call themselves French, as ours have taken the fashion to be called English? They speak of France and England as if they were their own countries. Yours, do you understand? What will happen to me and to you if this way of thinking is spread everywhere?”

(See: Davidson B. The Black Man's Birden. Africa and the Cigse of the Nation-State. New York: Times B 1992, p. 95).

“In 1830, Stendhal spoke of a terrible triangle between the cities of Bordeaux, Bayonne and Valence, where “people believed in witches, could not read and did not speak French.”

Flaubert, walking through the fair in the commune of Rasporden in 1846, as if through an exotic bazaar, described the typical peasant he came across in the following way: “... suspicious, restless, dumbfounded by any phenomenon incomprehensible to him, he is in a great hurry to leave the city” ”

D. Medvedev. France of the 19th century: the country of savages (instructive reading)

So what was it about...
“UNTIL THE ENEMY LEAVES FROM OUR LAND” ?
And where is she, this "EARTH IS OUR" ?

It is known that during this war the SOLDIERS DID NOT WANT TO FIGHT - THEY MET ON NEUTRAL TERRITORY, DRINKED AND "BROTHER"

“Brotherhoods” on the Eastern Front began already in August 1914, and at the beginning of 1916, hundreds of regiments already participated in them from the Russian side, writes “Interpreter”.

On the eve of the new, 1915, year, sensational news spread around the world: a spontaneous truce and “fraternization” of soldiers of the warring British, French and German armies began on the Western Front of the Great War.

Soon the leader of the Russian Bolsheviks, Lenin, declared "fraternization" at the front as the beginning "transformations world wars into civil war"(note!!!)

Among these news about the Christmas truce, scanty information about “fraternizations” on the Eastern (Russian) front was completely lost. "Brotherhood" in the Russian army began in August 1914 on the Southwestern Front.

In December 1914, on the North-Western Front, cases of already massive “fraternization” of soldiers of the 249th Infantry Danube and 235th Infantry Belebeevsky regiments were noted.

HOW CAN THIS BE FOR MULTILINGUAL PEOPLES? THEY somehow had to UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER!!!?

One thing is clear - PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DRIVED TO THE SLAUGHTER by their leaders, GOVERNMENTS, who received the task from a certain “center”.

THIS WAS THE MUTUAL DESTRUCTION OF THE PEOPLE

Read the names of the settlements in Germany.. We rightfully considered this land to be ours!!!

(enlarge map - )

Read it, and you will immediately understand “what” Emperor Nicholas II was talking about when he said "Our land" I mean myself, or the society headed by him (this is a question of a different nature) ALL THIS WAS "EARTH IS OUR"(in addition to the Benelux countries - Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc.)

It turns out, if you follow the logic (why was it necessary to hide the name of the Second Patriotic War?), then the goal-setting was just the same concealment of the Global (at that time) World, the Fatherland, which this war “finished off”?

STATES IN THE PRESENT FORM FORMED VERY RECENTLY?

Even during the Great Patriotic war, the Nazis, in turn, considered our territory their, AND THE POPULATION BY ITS CITIZENS - they behaved as if they had equal rights with the Bolsheviks at least they thought so..Yes, and part of the population was quite loyal, especially at the beginning of the war ..

SO WHAT WAS IT - AGAIN "GETTER"?

WHO CONSTANTLY PUSHES OUR PEOPLES BETWEEN THEM, AND HAS A TRIPLE BENEFIT FROM THIS?

TIME OF TROUBLES

If we go back to the time of the Troubles (17th century), or rather after its end, then several foreign princes and even the King of England Jacob (with what such joy?) Claimed the Russian throne, but the Cossacks managed to “shove through” their candidate, Mikhail Feodorovich, by truth or falsehood, what were very dissatisfied with the rest of the applicants -

DOES THEY HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS..? And the Polish Tsarevich Vladislav never recognized Michael as king, not showing due respect, according to etiquette, calling him illegally elected, considering his rights to the Moscow throne more solid ..

And here, I would put it in a quote from the brilliant Leonid Filatov, from “About Fedot-Sagittarius, a daring fellow”

“THIS IS THE SAME, YOUR MOTHER, SORRY, UNDERSTAND?”

HOW THIS IS CONNECTED WITH THE LEGEND OF THE RUSSIAN Tsardom, AS WELL AS OTHER SEPARATELY TAKEN STATES, I CANNOT UNDERSTAND.

(wiki) According to the well-known Soviet historian, Professor A.L. Stanislavsky, a well-known specialist in the history of Russian society of the 16th-17th centuries, the key role in the accession of Michael, instead of foreign princes and King of England and Scotland, Jacob I, who wanted to be elected by the nobility and boyars , the Great Russian Cossacks, who then united with the Moscow common people, played, the liberties of which the tsar and his descendants subsequently took away in all possible ways. The Cossacks received a grain salary, and they feared that the bread that was supposed to go to their salary would instead be sold by the British for money around the world ..

That is, the Cossacks-Great Russians “stirred” fearing that the English king, sitting on the Moscow throne, would take away their grain salary, and why didn’t they embarrass the very fact that an Englishman would rule in Russia !? Was it normal, okay?

Interesting why the Cossacks did not participate in wars led by Russia? THE ARMY OF MICHAL FEODORICHA WAS HALF…. FOREIGN, GERMAN!!

S. M. Solovyov. Works in 18 volumes. Book V. History of Russia since ancient times, volumes 9-10.

..But we saw that in addition to hired and local foreigners, in the reign of Michael there were regiments of Russian people trained in a foreign system; Shein near Smolensk had: hired many German people, captains and captains and soldiers on foot; Yes, with them were Russian people with German colonels and captains, children of boyars and all sorts of ranks, people who were written for military doctrine: with the German colonel Samuil Charles Reiter, nobles and children of boyars from different cities were 2700; Greeks, Serbs and Voloshan fodder - 81; Colonel Alexander Leslie, and with him his regiment of captains and majors, all sorts of clerks and soldiers - 946; with Colonel Yakov Sharl - 935; with Colonel Fuchs - 679; with Colonel Sanderson - 923; with colonels - Wilhelm Keith and Yuri Mattheyson, initial people - 346 and ordinary soldiers - 3282: German people from different lands who were sent from the Ambassadorial order - 180, and all hired Germans - 3653;

Yes, with the colonels of the German Russian soldiers, who are in charge of a foreign order: 4 colonels, 4 large regimental lieutenants, 4 majors, in Russian large regimental watchmen, 2 quartermasters and captains, in Russian large regimental rounders, 2 regimental quartermasters, 17 captains , 32 lieutenants, 32 ensigns, 4 people of regimental judges and clerks, 4 wagon officers, 4 priests, 4 court clerks, 4 profosts, 1 regimental battalion officer, 79 Pentecostals, 33 ensigns, 33 watchmen over a gun, 33 company borrowers, 65 German capors, 172 Russian caporals, 20 German guards with a flute, 32 company clerks, 68 Russian guards, two German undersized children for interpretation; total German people and Russian and German soldiers in six regiments, but Poles and Lithuanians in four companies 14801 people ...

OKAY - LOOK AT THE PHOTOS

From the beginning of the 19th century .. Opposite ends of the world - from Vietnam to South Africa and Indonesia - what ends, it would seem! But no - the same architecture, style, materials, one office built everything, but globalization, however .. In general, there are a small fraction of photos, for overclocking, and at the end of the post, there is a link to MORE, for those who cannot stop right away)) for the braking distance for the sake of for..

PART 2 / AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY THE WORLD WAS GLOBAL!!!

Kyiv, Ukraine

Odessa, Ukraine

Tehran, Iran

Hanoi, Vietnam

Saigon, Vietnam

Padang, Indonesia

Bogota, Colombia

Manila, Philippines

Karachi, Pakistan

Karachi, Pakistan

Shanghai, China

Shanghai, China

Managua, Nicaragua

Kolkata, India. The Prince of Wales entered with an army. The palace in the “colonial” style is already standing

Kolkata, India

Calcutta 1813, India

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa

Seoul, Korea

Seoul, Korea

Melbourne, Australia

Brisbane, Australia

Oaxaca, Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico

Toronto, Canada

Toronto, Canada

Montreal, Canada

Penang Island, Georgetown, Malaysia

Penang Island, Georgetown, Malaysia

Bangladesh, Dhaka

Phuket, Thailand

COLUMNS

Subparagraph Brussels, Belgium

London

Kolkata, India

Vendôme Column in Paris. You can see the doors and people are standing at the top.

"ANTIQUITY"

This list must also include all the destroyed cities, which the manipulator has assigned the status of ancient Greek and ancient Roman. It's all nonsense. They were destroyed 200-300 years ago. Just because of the desertification of the territory, life on the ruins of such cities, basically, did not resume. These cities (Timgad, Palmyra and the like..)

were destroyed low air burst, unknown, terrible WMD..Look - top completely removed cities..and where are the wreckage? But it's up to 80% destroyed array!Who, when and where, and most importantly - with what, removed so much construction debris?

Timgad, Algeria, Africa

But a huge funnel 10 km from Palmyra (read more - )

The most interesting thing is that the entire territory with a diameter of 25-30 km from the conditional city center is littered with ruins - a real metropolis of the type of modern .. If Moscow is 37-50 km away. in diameter..

That is, it becomes clear that the cities were destroyed by low air explosions of enormous destructive power - COMPLETELY DEMOLIED ALL THE TOP PARTS OF THE BUILDINGS..

Here you can clearly see the territories of the city center covered with sand, and the mainland - even the pits of former reservoirs (greenish) are the remnants of the former luxury .. Palm trees grew here (hence the name - Palmyra) and so on and so forth .. It was an earthly paradise for enlightened people ..

In the photo above, I deliberately spaced the photographs of the objects into their locations in order to clearly demonstrate their remoteness from the center of Palmyra (let it be, for example, an amphitheater) and this is about 30 km in diameter ..

Compare buildings. Their design and original functionality is identical:

Lebanon, Baalbek

Orthodox Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Sevastopol.

Old Museum in Kerch on Mount Mithridates

Walhalla in Regensburg, Germany

Temple of Poseidon, Italy

Parthenon, Nashville, USA

Temple of Apollo at Delphi

Temple of Theseus in Vienna, Austria

Temple of Hephaestus in Athens

Paris. Church of the Madeleine. 1860

Temple of Garni in Armenia

You can continue indefinitely. The reader can verify this for himself, for this it is enough to google the name of any more or less large city in English plus the keyword old buildings or city + old photos or city + 19 century photos and click “show pictures”. Residential real estate will be very similar. Identical arches, pilasters, turrets, columns, balustrades.

For example, look at the pictures for the following keywords:

sidney old buildings / calcutta old buildings / boston old buildings
rangoon old buildings / manila old buildings / melbourne old photos

THE WHOLE WORLD IS HOMELAND!!!

Materials used - as well as “hurried senks” to Sandra Rimskaya for the idea of ​​the post and the photo -

Modern young people often do not understand why the war was called the Patriotic War, and even the Great. And how is World War II different from it?
Maybe these are completely different historical events that do not intersect with each other? And what other patriotic wars were on Russian soil? And why are they called that? There are a lot of questions. To find the answer to them, it is worth looking into the history of Russia.

Patriotic War of 1812
Every patriot should know the history of his Motherland. To find the answer to the question of why the war was called Patriotic, you need to understand what this word itself means. In another way, the country in which a person was born and lives is called the Fatherland. And all wars aimed at protecting their homeland bear this proud title.
In 1812, Napoleon attacked Russia in order to conquer and enslave the Russian people. But he didn't succeed. This war entered the history of Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812. Naturally, things were different for France. Even now they will not understand why the war was called the Patriotic War, because for them it was aggressive.

The Second World War

In September 1939, the first day, fascist Germany, together with its henchmen - Italy, Japan and some other states - unleashed a world fire in which 1.7 billion people took part. This is almost eighty percent of the entire population of the planet. And almost one hundred and ten million people fought directly in the armies of all the countries involved in this horror.
In 1941, Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. That is how our Motherland was called in those years. And the entire Soviet people stood up to defend the Fatherland.

On the part of the Nazis, it was a war of conquest. The Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler, did not understand why the war was called Patriotic War. Many still argue, arguing that it was an action to liberate peoples from communist terror. But in fact, there was no question of any liberation. The Nazis were simply trying to carry out a new division of land, to enslave other peoples.
But our people waged a liberation struggle, defended their homeland and other countries. Now it is clear why the war of 1941-1945 was called the Patriotic War? Although it is worthwhile to understand well that the name of the event depends on from whose point of view it is considered.

The perfidious attack in 1941 on the Soviet Union
Although the world war was already raging on earth, the Soviet people were sure that Hitler would not dare to encroach on our Motherland. Moreover, a non-aggression pact was concluded between the Soviet Union and Germany.
However, Hitler vilely violated it. On the night of June 21-22, a graduation ball was celebrated for everyone who graduated from school. No one could have thought that it was at dawn after such a wonderful holiday that shots would thunder, bombs would fall from the sky, blood would flow. And yet it happened. On June 22, 1941, at four o'clock in the morning, without warning, Germany made a perfidious attack on the Soviet Union. Immediately in a vast area, from the Carpathian Mountains to the Baltic Sea, the fascist troops crossed the border of our Motherland.

The Nazis planned to destroy the culture of a huge country, and turn its people into slaves who would work for Germany. The invaders bombed cities and villages, railways and ports, airfields and railway stations. A great many people, including children, the elderly and women, were killed in the most cruel ways: burned alive, buried, shot, torn to pieces.
But the people did not want to give up. Even the smallest settlements were heroically defended. Many beautiful songs about the exploits of unknown soldiers were invented by people. “At an unfamiliar village on a nameless height,” the heroes laid down their heads, the memory of which will live for centuries. That is why the war of 1941-1945 was called the Patriotic War. After all, the Soviet people fought for their Fatherland.

War is not a game, it is death and pain...
The search for an answer to the question of why the Great Patriotic War was called "Patriotic" makes us go back to those distant terrible years. Not liberation came to the Soviet Union, but a terrible monster called "fascism", insatiable and cruel. Nothing was sacred to him.
The fascists rampaged on the occupied lands as if they themselves had never been people. A huge part of the population was taken out and imprisoned in concentration camps. There, the atrocities of the invaders were especially sophisticated. Blood was taken from children for transfusion to the wounded, terrible diseases were instilled in people and they were observed. They even tried to create a new creature that would be the carrier of the human gene and the animal, using prisoners for their inhuman experiments.

Not only Patriotic, but also Great.
Not only men of military age went to the front. Volunteers simply blocked all the points that were engaged in mobilization. There were elderly people, and very young boys, and girls. There were many respectable elders and snotty children. These, at first, were immediately driven home, to their mother under the hem. "This war will not be cursed for long!" - everyone was talking.
However, after the first two years, it became clear that the end of these horrors would not come soon. And everyone remembered about the old people and the children who were so eager to fight at the beginning of the war. Now it became clear that each pair of hands is valuable. Twelve-year-old boys got up to the machines next to elderly men and women. All together they worked eighteen hours a day, releasing ammunition and military equipment.
Thus, having rallied against fascism, our Motherland managed to clear its lands of fascist cholera. But the Red Army did not stop there. Soviet tanks reached Berlin itself, freeing other countries from the fascist yoke along the way. Our country has done a great job. She saved a huge number of people, of various nationalities and religions. That is why the war is called the Great Patriotic War.
Author:

Was the First World War even a world war? For many eyewitnesses, it was just "war". Until now, in England, the First World War is considered the "Great War". And only the experience of the Second World War turned the "Great War" into the "First World War".

But authors who are critical of the Eurocentric picture of the world object: in 1914, the European powers unleashed a war because of intra-European conflicts. It then turned into a world war as the major powers mobilized their colonial empires, whose soldiers bled on the European battlefields. Therefore, the First World War is the war of Europe in the world. Parallels can be drawn with the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), which was fought in America, Africa, and Asia.

The German historian Oliver Janz wrote a book, Year 14 - The Great War (14 - Der große Krieg), which was the final speech against this position. A professor at the Free University in Berlin writes: "from a military, political and economic point of view, this was not just a global, but a long war that became an era in itself." And this is because the war did not start in 1914 and did not end in 1918. For many years the war continued to rage on the periphery, in Morocco and Libya, in Russia and Turkey. The war left deep marks in India, Australia and Japan. According to Janz, the war was world not only from the point of view of world history: it actually was.

If the author states in the introduction that he did not want to write a historical reference book, he did it out of academic modesty. It is hardly possible to find among the works published in connection with the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, a clearer, more understandable description of many of its main aspects. Janz easily made connections between big themes and expressive details, between – inherited – national and global perspectives.

The first global war in world history

Against this background, it is difficult to understand with understanding that Janz ignored the theory, which has become a priority for historical science, according to which the main responsibility for starting the war lies with Berlin. Perhaps the lack of references in the book to the relevant debate, which lasted for several months, is due to the decision of the editors to release the book ahead of schedule. In vain searches in the bibliographic list of the book by Christopher Clark (Christopher Clark) "Sleepwalkers" (Die Schlafwandler) in English, which appeared back in 2012.

However, on the other side of this old-new dispute, Janz puts the emphasis in a surprising way: “The First World War shows how globalized in 1914 the world and the world system of power were. It was not only the first total war in which all social forces and economic resources were involved: it was the first real global war in world history.

It has nothing to do with the battlefields where the war was fought. On October 20, 1914, when the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary, fronts appeared in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Arabian Peninsula. Prior to that, Japan entered the war on the side of the Entente (in 1905 it defeated the Russian Empire), a major power outside of Europe. It was followed by other non-European states: Cuba, Ecuador, Panama, San Diego, Siam, Liberia, China, Peru, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Haiti, and the United States is the most important player, who played a decisive role in the war. So, in 1918, three-quarters of the world's population was at war.

1.2 million from the dominion are involved in the war

Most of all the battlefields were in Europe. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, European dominance reflected the world order. This includes colonial empires - primarily England, France and Russia. In the British dominion alone - Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada - 1.2 million people were involved in the fighting. Of these, nine hundred thousand people fought in Europe. India made a similar contribution to the war. Five hundred and fifty thousand men were called up from the French colonies, of which four hundred and forty thousand were sent to the theater of operations. One hundred thousand were in reserve.

The same was true during the Spanish Civil War and the Seven Years' War. On November 7, 1914, the Japanese besiege the port of Qingdao, which belonged to Germany, which put an end to the German colonies. In contrast, the colonial troops, led by Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, survived until the end of the war and resisted strong British and Belgian associations. Janz gives figures that help to see the scale of the war: on the German and British sides, about twelve thousand soldiers, especially Africans, became victims. In addition, another hundred thousand people died on the British side. In German East Africa alone, famines and epidemics claimed the lives of 650,000 people—one tenth of the population.

Very soon, the Royal Navy succeeded in sinking the few German Kreuzers on the other side of the ocean. Since 1915, German submarines have turned the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean into a battlefield, with fatal consequences for themselves. Unlimited submarine warfare pushed the US to enter the war. However, this did not help break the trade blockade of the Entente countries. By depriving their opponents of strategic cargo, the Allies set an example of a successful economic war for industrial raw materials, which decisively led to the defeat of the Central Powers.

Janz rightly "sends" his colleagues to the East. Until now, the picture of statistical trench warfare personifies the war on the Western Front. A completely different situation developed on the Eastern Front, where it was often about extensive troop movements and breakthroughs.

Killed more in the East and Asia

The scorched-earth tactics used by the Russian Empire in its retreat in 1915 alone displaced three million people. Hundreds of thousands died. Also on the periphery of Europe, due to the deportation of Armenians and the Turkish "hunger policy", from eight hundred thousand to one and a half million people died. Perhaps Janz's thesis is correct: more soldiers and civilians died on the Eastern Front, between the Balkans and the Caucasus, the Tigris River and the Red Sea, than on the Western Front.

This thesis seems convincing when one analyzes the wars that were the result of the First World War and raged all over the world for a long time. Only the Revolution in Russia, the consequences of the Civil War, the famine claimed the lives of at least ten million people - primarily civilians. In 1922, the Greek invasion of Anatolia ended in disaster. Hundreds of thousands died, almost two million people were evicted.

The division of the territories of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, which, contrary to previous agreements, came under the control of England and France, marked the beginning of the modern conflict in the Middle East. Japan's activities in China in 1931 were to be the prelude to World War II in the Pacific. Mahatma Gandhi began the fight against colonial domination, pointing out the contribution of India to the victory of England. But even stronger was the "anti-colonial political push" in the French colonies. Already in 1921, the Rif War began in Morocco.

After the war, the victors were able to secure the right to own numerous territories. Thus the British Empire reached its maximum extent. However, personnel and economic losses hindered the consolidation of these rights, and this, too, turned the war into a truly global event. But at the same time, the war marked the beginning of the end of European domination of the world.