The eastern front of the First World War. Russia in the First World War

What is known about that terrible disaster that has affected many countries to modern man? The year began - 1914. The First World War ended in 1918. Russia participated in it, but did not become a victorious country. Many people died. Soviet historians called this war imperialistic and unjust. Why is that? Because the massacre occurred due to the contradictions of the capitalist countries. The question of who attacked whom was somehow missed. The chances of victory were not considered, but Russia had them, and one hundred percent. The enemy was forced to capitulate even without the participation of our country; he did not have the resources for further struggle. If the Eastern Front of World War I had not been practically destroyed by revolutionary events and anti-war propaganda, this would have happened earlier. If…

German militancy

There is a persistent stereotype of disciplined Germans, natural born soldiers who are capable of creating a powerful and reliable military machine. However, there are well-known facts that speak against the idea of ​​natural German militarism.

Two world wars occurred in the twentieth century. Both were started by Germany, and in both it suffered a crushing defeat. Congenital discipline did not help. The vaunted German technology turned out to be powerless. The famous German generals showed insufficient competence. The most punctual soldiers in the world were surrendered by entire armies, led by commanders. Perhaps the matter is in the special atmosphere of the 20th century, and before the Nordic spirit was stronger and invincible? No, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, German soldiers also did not happen to cover themselves with laurels of unfading glory. Do not shine ...

The events of the First World War today, despite the chronological remoteness, are of interest not only because of the centenary. Stories tend to repeat, albeit not literal, but a certain similarity is sometimes visible. A comparison of two world catastrophes is also interesting, especially in the aspect of the participation of Russia and the USSR in them. It would be harmless for historians and politicians to think about the lessons of the past so that fatal mistakes would not be repeated.

Between the First and Second, as the popular wisdom says, a breaker ... Twenty-three years is quite a bit, this term does not even fall within the definition of generation. For more than two decades, people for the most part cannot give birth to children, raise them and create the conditions for the next stage of reproduction of the generation, it is believed that this takes 30 years. But the man manages to live up to military age .

What were preparing to fight

The weapons of the First World War were imperfect, but by 1914 three main types of troops had already formed: the army, navy and aviation. Airplanes and airships were then used for aerial reconnaissance and bombing. Submarines appeared, delivering unexpected blows to warships and merchant ships from the abyss of water. Sea mines acquired quite modern “horned” outlines. Of course, the First World War was very different from the later and modern armed conflicts. Photos taken on its fronts surprise the current man with an abundance of cavalry. Cavalry was still the main maneuvering striking force, but armored vehicles and tanks, initially heavy and slow, gradually took their place in the theater of operations. Artillery developed so rapidly that many of its samples of the 10s served for another decade. Small arms became quick-firing, Maxim, Colt and Hotchkiss machine guns could mow the enemy infantry more efficiently than conventional rifles.

And, of course, the worst weapons of the First World War are poisonous gases. Even Hitler did not dare to use them in front-line operations under the conditions of the complete collapse of the Third Reich.

Not all of this arsenal was at the disposal of the hostile parties by the beginning of hostilities in 1914, some were being finalized and created “along the way”, but judging by the speed of the rearmament processes, the backlogs already existed at the level of projects and prototypes. The impulse for revitalizing the defense industry was given by the First World War. The table, which shows the volume of production of military equipment and equipment in Russia over four years, illustrates the tremendous rise in the domestic industry:

These indicators today seem quite significant.

Maybe this weapon was bad? No, it fully complied with the standards of that time, and some samples turned out to be quite suitable for use during the Great Patriotic War. Were the Russian soldiers badly equipped? No, both the form and the ammunition were quite suitable for our climatic conditions, at least better than the Austrian one. Nobody remembered anything bad about food supply either. The First World War, whose participants experienced hardship in all countries, did not cause a food crisis in Russia. The Prohibition Act was in force, and no one protested against it. The same goes for technical support. Samples of weapons, the production of which has not yet been mastered by domestic enterprises, the Russian army received from Britain and France. The Farman and Newpor aircraft were built at our plants using allied documentation, and there were enough competent engineers and workers. The myth of the backward "bast" Russia, which suddenly fell upon World War I in 1914, is time to dispel.

Occasion

In 1914, of course, there was no television and especially the Internet, so the information war was fought only by newspapers, which were delayed by one day and reported on June 16 the terrible news of the murder of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary and his wife. This crime occurred in the Serbian city of Sarajevo, and it became the reason for which the First World War of 1914-1918 began, which brought disaster to many peoples. The government of the affected country demanded the fulfillment of two conditions for the peaceful settlement of the incident: the admission of the Austrian police group to the site of the killing and troop entry. The Serbs agreed to a joint investigation, but the interventions opposed. Then Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Mobilization began in Russia, accompanied by warnings about the possibility of using force to protect the fraternal Orthodox people. Germany, without waiting for the outbreak of hostilities, declared war. This time, not Serbia, but Russia.

Background

But was the First World War inevitable? The history of the subjunctive mood does not tolerate what was, cannot be changed. But anyway, people like to fantasize, and from time to time there are versions about what would happen if a student Gavril took and missed? Or would he not shoot at all, suddenly engulfed by the Orthodox Christian aversion to murder?

It seems that, in this case, it could be another day or year, but World War I would have begun. Its participants were in a state of permanent rivalry in the vastness of the globe. Germany wanted colonies, and neither France nor England were in a hurry to share African, Asian and other overseas territories with it. Russia did not want to part with the Baltic States and Poland, moreover, the country was gaining such economic momentum that, according to Bismarck’s forecasts, by the 50s she was simply doomed to the role of a regional, and possibly world leader. There was a big fight for a "place in the sun."

The calculations of the German General Staff

The eastern front of World War I has long been the main battleground, but in order to assess the military potential of Russia, the Austro-German command took some time. Like Hitler after 23 years, von Moltke, the commander of the Austro-Hungarian-German General Staff, believed that victory can be achieved by a swift attack, untying his hands to fight one enemy. Ignoring the predominantly positional nature of the impending battle, the leadership of the Triple Alliance did not take into account the colossal economic potential of the Russian Empire, its food independence and huge human reserves, so the fronts of the First World War were unevenly staffed. The East Austrians sent only a tenth of their army, everything else was concentrated on the border of Luxembourg and Belgium. From the 2nd to the 5th of August, in just three days, practically without fighting, they captured both countries and invaded France. By August 25, having defeated the enemy on the Marne River, the Austro-Hungarians and Germans went to Paris. Victory seemed close. But…

Meanwhile in Russia

The growth of patriotic sentiments happens at the initial stage of any war. After its announcement to the people, it usually seems that the army will split the adversary in two counts. This is facilitated by visual propaganda in the form of posters, newspapers, and today more effective media. According to many historians, Russia did not rearm, did not have time, but Austria-Hungary had enough time for this. However, the pre-war condition of the Soviet armed forces in 1941 is estimated basically the same. The result, however, was different for these two unpreparednesses. The eastern front of the First World War did not advance deeper into Russian territory further than the Carpathians, which suggests that our army was not so badly armed and equipped. The same applies to supply issues. The military industry quickly gained momentum, the produced weapons and ammunition were enough not only until the end of hostilities. After the First World War (1914-1918) ended, Russia was embroiled in a long fratricidal massacre, which lasted another four years. All this time, factories were practically inactive, and cartridges, shells, guns, howitzers, rifles, machine guns and ammunition from the warring parties (“red” and “white”) were not transferred, all this was taken from the warehouses. Food cards were introduced later than in France, England, Germany and Austria-Hungary, and there was no shortage of food products until the Bolsheviks came to power.

It is practically impossible to fight against a country with such a vast territory and such a powerful industrial and agricultural potential. The countries of the Triple Alliance did not have enough forces to carry out a swift offensive with a guaranteed victorious conclusion, and positional combat operations to exhaustion could only lead to a deplorable result. The Kaiser leadership had to hope for a ghostly opportunity to lead Russia out of the war by inflicting impressive defeats or some other ingenious tricks.

Further events of the First World War showed that these plans were partially implemented, but they did not lead to the victory of Austria-Hungary.

First stage

Russia has always tried to bail out its allies in difficult moments for them. The First World War was no exception. The history of the beginning of the active operations of the Russian imperial army is full of drama. After the defeat on the Marne in August 1914, hasty planning of front-line operations was carried out, which could have been prepared better. Two armies (under the command of Generals A.V. Samsonov and P.K. Rennenkampf) rushed to attack the East Prussia and defeated the Austrian 8th army of M. Pritvice. The German Kaiser was discouraged by the defeat, but, despite this, he made the only right decision from a military point of view. He suspended the offensive on Paris and sent significant forces east. The pendulum swung the other way, the Russian high command made a strategic mistake. Army attacks were carried out in diverging directions, on Berlin and Koenigsberg. Such a split extended the Eastern Front of the First World War, it led to a decrease in operational concentration, which the German General Staff did not fail to take advantage of. The Russian armies suffered heavy damage, after which, it seemed, there was nothing to think about the offensive. Actions acquired a positional character, which, generally speaking, was in the Entente's favor. Austrian troops were constrained, deprived of the possibility of maneuver, and time worked against them.

Losses

The fronts of the First World War were unprecedented in history. Russia was forced to conduct military operations against Turkey and Bulgaria, which joined the Triple Alliance. 38 countries were embroiled in an expanding funnel of bloody conflict. The Entente side was taken by Egypt and even the recent enemy of Russia - Japan. Italy did not show principle, preferring national interests to allied duty. Having started the war on the side of the Triple Alliance, in its course it changed the orientation of the bayonets of its soldiers.

Other countries also became participants in the hostilities. The First World War, its four years, was enough to cripple two tens of millions and kill ten million people. Special attention should be paid to the ratio of casualties of the armies of the warring states. It is characteristic that with a rather large number of dead soldiers (Russia did not count almost 1.7 million soldiers), this figure is less than that of the countries of the Triple Alliance. Who did the most victims of the First World War? The table of human losses looks like this:

The Russian army, despite the miscalculations of the command (they have always been and will be with any belligerent), has demonstrated rather high efficiency. She did not allow the penetration of enemy troops deep into her territory and in many cases beat the enemy not with numbers, but with skill. And yet, for all the years of the First World War, not a single case of the transfer of Russian soldiers to the enemy’s side was recorded, not to mention the acquisition of regiments, divisions or armies from defectors. It just could not be. In most cases, all sides of this armed international conflict showed nobility and generosity in relation to prisoners of war.

Position and offensive preparedness

The eastern front of World War I, like the Western one, stabilized after 1915. The troops took up positions and were engaged in their strengthening, digging trenches and building fortified areas. At times, there have been attempts at a breakthrough, but neither powerful artillery preparation, nor the use of tanks, nor even poisonous chlorine, have helped to succeed and enter the operational space. It was possible to do this only once in all the years of the First World War. The author of this victory was General Brusilov, who in the spring and early summer of 1916 planned and brilliantly broke through the layered defense of the Austro-German troops on the Southwestern Front. The success was facilitated by the low morale of the enemy, skillful management and successful concentration of Russian units. Miscalculations were also, in particular, insufficient reserves, which prevented the full use of the results of the strategic operation.

The sequence of military operations in the years 1914-1918

Each year of the terrible war was characterized by a certain character of the strategic situation. In 1914, a certain dependence of the actions of the Russian Army and the Entente armed forces was observed. Distracting part of the German and Austrian forces, they carried out a successful attack on Galicia.

1915 became a positional year, but the Germans nevertheless showed a certain initiative, they managed to take possession of Poland, part of Western Ukraine, the Baltic states and Belarus.

In 1916, a precarious balance was observed, which was characterized at the final stage of the entire First World War. The main attack direction of German troops came in France, in the Verdun area. The Brusilovsky breakthrough again violated the plans of the countries of the Triple Alliance; they had to hastily transfer troops to the east in order to avoid a military catastrophe.

In 1917, Russia emerged from the war, subsequently concluding (1918) a separate peace with Germany and Austria-Hungary .

Ending?

All troubles and catastrophes once come to an end. The First World War ended. 1918 was the date when the guns fell silent. The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. The winners triumphed, they sought to take advantage of the situation in order to compensate for the material costs incurred during the hostilities, punish Germany, impose indemnities on it, annex part of its territory. Russia did not participate in this process. The February Revolution of 1917, and then the October Revolution demoralized the army, undermined the economy, and political considerations prompted the Bolshevik leadership to abandon certain regions of the Russian Empire in favor of other states or granting them sovereignty. The First World War, the participants of which signed a peace agreement, and after its completion left many unresolved problems. Germany, the main enemy of the Entente, was defeated, humiliated and robbed, but the German people still had a sense of injustice and resentment. After a decade and a half, a leader was found who managed to take advantage of these emotions, compressed like a spring. The Versailles Accords were annulled, and quite a bit of time passed until the moment when the French leadership had to capitulate in the very place where the First World War ended. A photo of a railway carriage from Kempien, in which the world shameful for Germany was signed in 1918, will bypass all the newspapers in the world.

But this is another story ...