One of the myths of the Civil War is the idea that the Entente powers diligently helped the White movement against the Bolsheviks. They were loyal to the last and helped in the evacuation after the defeat.

In reality, England, France, and the United States helped both the Bolsheviks (or rather, their agents among them) and the Whites. Their goal was to pit the Russians against each other, to ignite a large-scale fratricidal war, the eternal principle of “divide and conquer.” The main agents of influence among the “Reds” in the leadership were Sverdlov and Trotsky, but also in the “White” governments there were a lot of freemason liberals who participated in the campaign to discredit the tsarist government during the war, in the February Revolution, and in the Provisional Governments. In addition, the White movement, despite all its contradictions, declared a “united and indivisible” Russia, which did not fit into the plans of the West. Thus, Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain from December 1916 to October 1922, speaking in parliament, said: “The advisability of assisting Admiral Kolchak and General Denikin is all the more controversial because they are fighting for a united Russia. It is not for me to say whether this slogan is consistent with British policy.”

The Entente countries did everything to prevent the Whites from winning, supporting them only to prolong the war.

Examples of coordination of actions of invaders and “strangers”

On April 27, 1918, at the request of the Entente powers, Trotsky suspended the movement of the Czechoslovak corps to Vladivostok, from where they planned to take them to France. Their units stretched along the railway from the Volga to Lake Baikal - an excellent location, plus control over the entire east of the country, via the Trans-Siberian Railway. On May 11, in England it was decided not to remove the corps from Russia, but to use it as interventionists. Trotsky immediately helped - on May 25 he issued a provocative order for the complete disarmament of Czechoslovaks, those who were found armed were ordered to be shot, the train where even one armed soldier was found was to be sent entirely to a concentration camp. Naturally, the corps rebelled, Soviet power collapsed over vast areas, and “white” governments and armed units began to be created in the territories occupied by the corps.

In the summer of 1918, the Czechoslovak corps slowly began an offensive from Samara to Kazan, where the empire's gold reserves were located. Trotsky, the military people's commissar, did nothing at this time: he did not send reinforcements, he did not take out the gold. And only when Kazan was taken almost without a fight, Trotsky “came to his senses,” sent troops, and personally arrived. But it was not the Czechoslovaks who seized the gold, but Kappel’s Whites; he did everything to ensure that it remained with the White movement.

In October 1919, Yudenich’s army almost took Petrograd, Trotsky arrives, establishes “revolutionary order” - his specialty was mass executions, mass forced mobilizations, the use of barrier detachments, and his armored train was a serious combat unit. In the rear of Yudenich, the most interesting phenomena immediately begin to occur: the English squadron, which was supposed to support the Whites from the sea, leaves for Riga; allies - Estonians - abandon the front and leave; Trotsky, the “genius of military art,” aims the Red Army’s attacks precisely at the exposed areas of the front. When the defeated white units and refugees poured into Estonia, they were robbed and imprisoned in concentration camps. The Estonian authorities seized the property of the defeated North-Western Army for their own benefit. Thousands of military and civilians died from starvation and a typhus epidemic. In fact, it was genocide, for some reason current Estonian politicians do not remember it, they only remember the Soviet “occupation”.

For such assistance, the Reds concluded the Tartu Peace Treaty with Estonia (February 2, 1920), according to which: Estonia was recognized as independent; they gave up the Russian Pechora region (now the Pechora district of the Pskov region of Russia), Russian territories on the right bank of the Narva River (now part of the Slantsevsky and Kingisepp districts of the Leningrad region of the Russian Federation); Estonia was released from any obligations towards Soviet Russia; transferred 11.6 tons of gold from Russia's gold reserves and the right to a concession for 1 million dessiatines of forest.

The Entente also played a significant role in the catastrophic collapse of Kolchak’s army. During the retreat of Kolchak’s army, the Czechoslovak army, which was subordinate to General J. Syroev and the commander of Entente units in Siberia Janen, raised another rebellion, this time against the whites, and captured the Trans-Siberian Railway. This paralyzed the whites' ability to continue organized resistance. They did not allow them to retreat to the east; the whites were forced to retreat through the taiga in winter. They stopped trains that were already running - more than a hundred trains with wounded and refugees remained at stations, in dead ends, and many died. In addition, they were engaged in outright robbery. Kolchak was isolated, cut off from his units, he was forced to renounce the post of “Supreme Ruler”, and then he was given out as a Red.

Trotsky thanked the Czechoslovaks: their trains were freely allowed into Vladivostok, and the local head of the Soviet customs, Kovalevsky (Soviet power had already been established there), ordered them to pass without inspection and allow them to take everything they had, without restrictions. At home, robbers and traitors were greeted with joy - they organized their own bank, its initial capital amounted to 70 million gold crowns.

The Entente powers actively supported the power of all kinds of separatists and nationalists, which also ran counter to the interests of the White movement. True, almost all nationalist movements (perhaps with the exception of Poland and Finland) were worthless without the support of Western countries. Therefore, the Reds crushed their armed forces quite easily.

While England and France officially supported the Whites, the United States was in full swing to improve relations with Moscow. President Woodrow Wilson addressed friendly messages to the Third and Fourth Congresses of the Soviets, promising that the United States would help “the people of Russia to free themselves forever from the autocratic regime.” Just like B. Obama the other day – he supported the Arabs’ desire for “freedom”, “self-determination” and “democracy”. For the Arabs, this is a very bad Sign - they will face further wars, fratricidal massacres, famine, epidemics and the death of thousands and thousands of people.

On May 1, 1918, the American League for Relief and Cooperation with Russia was created, and on October 18, 1918, a plan for economic cooperation with Soviet Russia was adopted. At the end of 1918, the Soviet Bureau was created in the USA, it was headed by Ludwig Martens (vice-president of the Weinberg and Posner company), the managers were Grigory Weinstein (Trotsky's former employer), Kenneth Durand (former adjutant of Colonel House), an active employee was Yu. Lomonosov (former Deputy Minister of Railways of the Russian Empire - one of the “outsiders”). This bureau received financial assistance from the Morgan Bank. In 1919, the American Russian Syndicate Inc. was created to develop business contacts with Russia; it was created by such figures as Guggenheim, White, Sinclair and others. That is, from the very beginning, the United States did not believe that whites would gain power, and bypassed their competitors from France and England, intending to rule in Russia not through direct colonization, but through finance, economics, and “democratic” values. So, when the Red Army occupied Transcaucasia and the British were forced to leave it (in London they considered this territory their share), the United States received concessions there.

In 1920, the Red Army could relatively easily return the territories of the Baltic regions. But she didn’t do this, there was no order. Trotsky made Estonia and Latvia “windows” for pumping out loot from Russia. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, this process was repeated - in the 90s, a lot of resources were “laundered” through these territories. Gold was exported in tons for fictitious orders - for example, to order steam locomotives in Estonia, Sweden, and Germany. Sweden also took part in the “laundering” of the loot – Olaf Aschberg was in charge there. Most of the gold “flowed” to the United States in one way or another; in just 8 months of 1921, $460 million worth of gold was exported to the United States.

Sources:
Anti-Soviet intervention and its collapse. 1917 – 1922. M., 1982.
Merkulov D.N., Bobrovnik V.M. Counter-revolution and the National Idea of ​​Russia. M., 2003.
Sirotkin V. Foreign gold of Russia. M., 1999.
Shambarov V. E. Antisovetchina.M., 2011.
http://militera.lib.ru/h/kornatovsky_na/index.html
http://rus-sky.com/history/library/sutton/index.html

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On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia. The local conflict between Vienna and Belgrade that preceded this escalated into a five-year bloodbath

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Our country lost about 2 million people in it. Without these victims, the Western allies - France and England - could have lost the war. People in Russia began to remember this quite recently. But the Great War always remained part of the historical memory of white emigrants. Family legends were passed down from generation to generation. Descendants looked after the graves of fallen soldiers and tried to remind them of the huge role of Russia in the victory of the Entente. The latter, alas, is not always successful.

Narrated by Dmitry de Koshko, a famous French journalist, chairman of the Coordination Council of Compatriots in France, great-grandson of the Russian Sherlock Holmes Arkady Frantsevich Koshko. At the beginning of the 20th century, he headed the criminal investigation of the Russian Empire. By the way, in 1913 the Russian criminal police were recognized as the best in the world.

HOW KAISER WILHELM DECIDED MY GRANDFATHER'S FATE

Arkady Frantsevich's two sons were officers. They took part in the Prussian campaign of 1914. One, Dmitry, was killed, and Ivan was wounded. The family learned through the Red Cross that he was being held captive by the Germans. Arkady Frantsevich, naturally, asked the tsar for help. And since contacts between the Romanov and Hohenzollern families (the ruling dynasty in Germany - Ed.) remained, they were able to agree on the exchange of captured officers. He was supposed to be exchanged for, it seems, an Austrian officer, who was then a prisoner in Irkutsk. The Germans agreed to release Ivan immediately on parole, and he went to Copenhagen to wait for the Austrian to arrive. But on the way he got into a fight with a guard and killed him. And, of course, he was imprisoned for murder.

Ivan Koshko, true to his word, was ready to go back to Berlin. He has already arrived at the station. And then a telegram arrived from the German Kaiser Wilhelm, releasing him from the promise and he could remain free. This was my future grandfather, my father's father.

FRENCH HISTORY A LA BOLSHEVISM

In France, Russia's contribution to the victory of the Entente in the First World War is completely forgotten. In the textbooks I studied from, the approach is Bolshevik-Leninist: “a rotten empire, a totalitarian state, the Germans beat it, the soldiers refused to fight and therefore a revolution happened. Then they concluded a separate peace in Brest-Litovsk, they left us alone with the Germans, the Americans came and saved us.”

Of course, everything was not entirely like that. There is a nice story in France that the important victory over the Germans at the Battle of the Marne in early September 1914 was achieved because reinforcements were flown in from Paris in 600 taxis at the decisive moment. In fact, at the request of France and faithful to its allied duty, Russia launched an attack on Prussia back in August, for which it was not at all ready. Because of this, the Germans had to transfer two army corps and a cavalry division from west to east. Russia lost about 100 thousand people in the Prussian campaign, but this saved France from quick defeat.

1915 was a very difficult year for Russia. It was terrible. The old people told me that they went to the front like this: one of the three had a rifle, another had an icon, and the third had a pitchfork. The rifles were then taken from the dead. But Russia did not give up, despite the offer from the Austrians of a separate peace. Nicholas II did not agree to this, although he was promised Constantinople. The front was held together with bones and flesh. In 1916, on the contrary, France found itself in the same position as Russia in 1915. In Russia, on the contrary, in 1916 production increased greatly. This was the year of the Brusilov breakthrough. Turkey was beaten. We reached present-day Iraq. Few people know that the legendary Lawrence of Arabia was given the opportunity to turn around largely due to the fact that the Russians weakened the northern front of the Ottoman Empire.

In the most difficult year for France, 1916, Nicholas II sent a 45,000-strong expeditionary force to help her. The 1st Russian Brigade arrived in Marseille (pictured) and immediately went to the Western Front. The fallen are buried in the Russian military cemetery in the town Photo: RIA Novosti

BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND

And the Americans entered the war only at the end of 1916 - beginning of 1917. Their losses were small, but they are praised as saviors. The same thing happens with World War II. The USA landed in Western Europe after Stalingrad and Kursk, but they are considered the saviors of Europe. And this “forgetfulness” plays a very important role in the modern information war against Russia.

Fortunately, there was Sergei Andolenko, a general and historian of Russian origin. He wrote a book for the French army about Russia's role in the First World War, where he showed that if not for the colossal Russian sacrifices of 1914-1915 and not for its successes in 1916, France would not have survived. And that her defeat in the war was not explained by failures at the front, but by the fact that after the abdication of the tsar, a chaos began in the country.

By the way, during World War II, French officer Sergei Andolenko practically saved Marseille. He invited the German commander, who received an order from Hitler to destroy the city, to surrender, retaining his personal weapons. It was a reception for Suvorov, Andolenko’s idol.

WAR PROPAGANDA THEN AND NOW

In 1918, at the end of the war, French journalists adopted a code of ethics to ensure that unbridled wartime propaganda would never happen again. I will give you several quotes from leading French publications during the war.

"Our troops laugh at machine guns." “It’s only dangerous here about 5 minutes a month...” “Boche corpses smell worse than French ones.”

Unfortunately, today journalism is returning again to the schemes of the First World War, and journalists are becoming soldiers in the new Cold War between the West and Russia.

Quotes

Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch:“If France was not erased from the map of Europe, it was primarily thanks to the courage of Russian soldiers.”

Winston CHURCHILL:“Fate has never been as cruel to any country as to Russia. Her ship sank while the harbor was in sight. She had already weathered the storm when everything collapsed. All the sacrifices have already been made, all the work has been completed. Despair and treason took hold of power when the task was already completed.”

The historian's word

The Russian Empire fought without self-interest

Nicholas II did not strive either for Constantinople or the Bosporus.

What started the First World War? Germany was late to the division of colonial territories, felt left out, and wanted to acquire something. By the beginning of the First World War, it had reached second place in the world in terms of economic indicators after the United States and dreamed of becoming number one. Germany had its own plans regarding a number of Russian and French territories. Plus, she wanted to defeat the English fleet and take England’s place in the sea.

Austria-Hungary wanted to gain a foothold in the Balkans. The British wanted to curb the Germans. The French wanted to regain the mines of Alsace and Lorraine, lost after the 1870 war with Prussia. They were infuriated that the Germans were strengthening their military power at the expense of their ore.

But why did Russia enter the war? There are some simple answers. First, allied obligations. Since we have signed an agreement with the Entente, we must fulfill it. Secondly, if the Germans really want to chop off a piece of your territory, then, naturally, you have to resist and fight. This is also understandable. But what was often said in Soviet times about the war for the straits - the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles and the like - is all a big question. It must be admitted that Russia, throughout the entire period of the First World War, before the arrival of the principled defeatists of the Bolsheviks, fulfilled its allied obligations. Whether she advanced or retreated depended only on her physical and material capabilities. But there were no selfish interests.

Petr ROMANOV

MORE OPINION

First World War: 1914 – 1918 from front to rear

Facts, opinions, rumors and gossip of the Great War are commented on by historian and journalist Pyotr Romanov

What goals did Russia set for itself when entering the war?

BY THE WAY

Heroes of the First World War: Spy Dog and Colonel Pigeon

What feats did animals and birds perform at the fronts?

During the First World War, the 100th anniversary of which historians are celebrating this year, many things happened for the first time. So, it was at that time that animals began to be “conscripted” en masse to the front. Antonina Nefedova, senior researcher at the State Darwin Museum, told KP about the four-legged and feathered warriors of the great massacre of the early 20th century.

MEMORY

Add your page to the chronicle of the First World War!

On the centenary of the First World War, the Russian Military Historical Society opened an Internet service “The Great War. 1914-1918". Anyone can create their own page on the site with documents from the family archive or memories related to the events of the First World War.

History of world civilizations Fortunatov Vladimir Valentinovich

§ 14. World War I: causes, stages, victory of the Entente

Since the beginning of the 20th century. There was a strong smell of gunpowder in the European air. Two opposing coalitions emerged: the Entente, or Cordial Concord (England, Russia, France), and the Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria). Intensive preparations were underway for the upcoming battles.

On June 28, 1914, a 20-year-old member of the Young Bosnia organization, Tavrilo Princip, killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife in Sarajevo (a city in Bosnia, which was part of Austria-Hungary). This event became the reason for the outbreak of the First World War. Austria-Hungary believed that Serbian counterintelligence was behind Princip, which, in turn, wanted to create a situation in which Russia would not be able to avoid entering the war. Already in 1911–1913. Two wars broke out on the Balkan Peninsula: first the Slavs and Greeks against the Ottoman Empire, then the Serbs against all former allies. But then Russia was able to get out of the situation with dignity, and was completely unprepared for a big war. (By the way, the terrorist himself, who was officially considered a minor, was convicted and died in prison in 1918.)

After the “Sarajevo incident,” a cunning diplomatic game began, quite dirty, in which the ruling circles of all states made maximum efforts to ensure that war became inevitable. At the same time, each side sought to place responsibility for the war on the enemy, accusing him of intractability and aggressiveness.

On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia, who picked up the thrown glove. On August 3, Germany declared war on France. On August 4, Great Britain opposed Germany, and on August 10, Japan entered the war on the side of the Entente against the Fourth Bloc.

War 1914–1918 became the First World War. 38 states took part in it, albeit with varying degrees of activity. In all the warring countries there lived 1.5 billion people, i.e. more than three-quarters of the world's population. The number of active armies exceeded 29 million people, and the total number of mobilized ones was 74 million. 10 million healthy young men were killed and another 20 million were wounded and shell-shocked.

The war covered the territory of Europe, Asia and Africa with a total area of ​​4 million km 2. The length of the fronts was 2500–4000 km. To the traditional armed struggle on land in the past, combat operations by aviation and submarines were added, and chemical warfare was carried out. Machine guns, tanks and the latest, more powerful and faster-firing artillery systems were widely used. Airships, bicycles, cars, and motorcycles were used for military purposes. A huge burden fell on railway transport.

Innovation. Airplane

In 1903, the American Orville Wright made the first controlled flight in a heavier-than-air craft. In 1905, his brother Wilbur Wright flew 45 km non-stop in the new Flyer III airplane. The Wright brothers held a public demonstration of their devices. Progress in aircraft construction made it possible already in the First World War to use aircraft for reconnaissance, bombing and air combat. During the war years, 200 thousand aircraft were produced.

Mortal instruments, a product of the latest industrial civilizations turned into insatiable millstones grinding human lives. The First World War turned out to be five times more destructive than all the wars of the 18th century combined. In terms of the number of people killed on average daily, this war exceeded the Franco-Prussian war by 9.5 times, the Russian-Japanese war by 23 times, the Russian-Turkish war by 30 times, and the Crimean War by 45 times. The war left millions of soldiers' graves, millions of widows and orphans. For hundreds of millions of people, the war became a terrible psychological shock and only for a few - a means of enormous enrichment.

Innovation. Machine gun

Attempts to create rapid-fire weapons were made back in the Middle Ages (rebodecons, grapeshots or organs). In 1860, the American engineer Gatling created a canister (mitrailleuse) with a firing rate of up to 600 rounds per minute. But the system was difficult to use. The first machine gun (400 rounds per minute) was designed by the American inventor Hiram Maxim in 1883. The British War Ministry gave the machine gun a “start in life.” Some idealists believed that fear of deadly weapons of mass destruction would discourage politicians from pursuing wars and demonstrations. The assumptions were not justified. Politicians in power sent hundreds of thousands of people against the machine guns, and opposition politicians continued to bring people to demonstrations.

In 1914, the goals of the warring parties were quite definite and specific. Germany set its sights on the Anglo-French colonies, Ukraine and the Baltic states, and, together with Austria-Hungary, sought to absolutely dominate the Balkan Peninsula and further – the Middle East. Germany was considered the main initiator and culprit of the war. England defended its vast possessions and was not averse to expanding them at the expense of German colonies in Africa. France had its own interests in the Middle East. I wanted to return Alsace and Lorraine, lost in 1870, and also to “grab” the rich Saar basin. In Russia, it was considered vitally important to take away the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, along with Constantinople, from Turkey. This guaranteed the interests of Russian trade and strengthened strategic positions on the Balkan Peninsula. From Austria-Hungary, Russia wanted to take Galicia, the last of those lands that were once part of Ancient Rus' (remember the Principality of Galicia-Volyn and Daniil Galitsky). In Russia, many believed that East Prussia, part of Germany, was inhabited by Slavic tribes in ancient times, and would also not be out of place as part of the Russian Empire. Austria-Hungary sought to strengthen its influence in the Balkans and take away some areas in Western Russia. Türkiye was counting on revenge against Russia and the Slavic states in the Balkans.

“The German is coming!”, “Damned Boches!”, “Damned Englishmen!”, “Let’s arrange a new Sedan for the “paddling pools”,” - under these and similar slogans, the ruling circles incited their peoples to mutual slaughter, capitalizing on patriotic feelings. Most political parties, including socialists and social democrats of the Second International, spoke out in defense of their “fatherlands” and voted for war loans.

The exceptions were Serbian socialists and Russian social democrats. The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks - deputies of the Fourth State Duma - demonstratively left the meeting room during the vote for the military budget. Subsequently, the Bolshevik faction was arrested during one of the party meetings. The deputies were deprived of parliamentary immunity for preparing a coup d'etat during the war, were sentenced to death, but then exiled to Siberia forever.

The leader of the Bolsheviks, V.I. Lenin, was arrested in the town of Nowy Targ (Austria-Hungary) as a “Russian spy.” Later, at the request of the Austrian Social Democrats, who could easily prove that in fact the prisoner was the worst enemy of the autocracy, V.I. Lenin was able to leave for neutral Switzerland.

In the Manifesto of the Central Committee of the RSDLP “War and Russian Social Democracy,” the outbreak of the war was characterized as imperialist, aggressive and unfair on both sides. “The seizure of lands and the conquest of foreign nations, the ruin of a rival nation, the plunder of its wealth, the diversion of the attention of the working masses from the internal political crises of Russia, Germany, England and other countries, the disunity and nationalist fooling of the workers and the extermination of their vanguard in order to weaken the revolutionary movement of the proletariat - this is the only real content, significance and meaning of modern war,” explained V.I. Lenin.

Not only far-left politicians, but also the most far-sighted figures of the ruling elite spoke from a critical position and predicted revolutionary cataclysms. So, in February 1914, Pyotr Nikolaevich Durnovo (1845–1915) addressed a note to the Tsar. He served as director of the police department, minister of internal affairs and was considered a reactionary. The main sections of his note were entitled: “1. The future Anglo-German war will turn into an armed conflict between two groups of powers; 2. It is difficult to discern any real benefits received by Russia as a result of its cooperation with England. 3. The vital interests of Germany and Russia do not collide anywhere. 4. In the field of economic interests, Russian benefits and needs do not contradict German ones. 5. Even victory over Germany promises extremely unfavorable prospects for Russia. 6. The struggle between Russia and Germany is deeply undesirable for both sides, as it boils down to the weakening of the monarchical principle. 7. Russia will be plunged into hopeless anarchy, the outcome of which is difficult to foresee. 8. Germany, in case of defeat, will have to endure no less social upheaval. 9. The peaceful coexistence of cultural nations is most threatened by England’s desire to maintain its eluding dominance over the seas.” The author considered new territorial acquisitions pointless, predicted Italy's hesitation and its accession to the Entente, the participation of the United States and Japan also on the side of the Entente, described how the governmental, revolutionary crisis would take shape and develop in Russia.

Unfortunately, the head of the Russian state in the field of foreign policy, as well as in the field of domestic policy, “went with the flow.” The mobilization plan was signed three days before the start of the war. A new bloody harvest was not long in coming.

The German leadership believed that it had best prepared its country and army for war. By 1913, its share in world foreign trade was 13% (France - 8%, Great Britain - 15%). Germany's arms expenditures in 1913–1914. amounted to 3.2 billion marks (France - 1.3; Great Britain - 1.6 billion). Germany became a great power and was a growing dangerous force. For the Germans to hesitate meant to miss a favorable moment. They did not count on a long war. Actions began in accordance with the "Schlieffen Plan". Alfred Schlieffen (1833–1913) was a count, field marshal, and developed his plan while chief of the general staff of the German army in 1891–1905. According to this plan "lightning war" was envisaged first on the Western Front, against France, and then a “blitzkrieg” was envisaged against Russia.

In August - September 1914, the German military was ready to celebrate victory. Their troops, deploying according to the “opening door” principle, passed through neutral Belgium on a wide front and hung over Paris from the North. At the beginning of September 1914, the French government fled the capital to Bordeaux, in the south of France. No one expected that this war would end only in the fall of 1918.

And in September 1914, the “miracle on the Marne” happened. On this river, French troops stopped the Germans. In fact, there was no “miracle”: the French were saved from complete defeat by the onset of the Russian army’s offensive in East Prussia. The Germans never expected that mobilization in Russia would take place so quickly and in an organized manner. In addition, Russian troops went on the offensive against the Austro-Hungarian army, took Lvov and captured most of Galicia. The “Russian Skating Rink”, which immediately became famous, began to operate.

Due to incompetent command, poor training, and personal enmity between two corps commanders, Russian troops suffered a heavy defeat in East Prussia. The Germans transferred 2.5 corps to the Eastern Front. The Russians had one corps defeated, the second suffered heavy losses. Hundreds of guards officers, people from the best noble families, died. But France and Paris were saved, and the Schlieffen Plan failed.

In October 1914, Türkiye came out on the side of the German bloc. Fronts were formed in Transcaucasia, Mesopotamia, and on the eastern border of Syria and Palestine. The Turkish army in December 1914 - January 1915 was defeated by Russian troops.

By the end of 1916, the superiority of the Entente forces in human, material resources, and weapons, especially in aviation and tanks, was clearly revealed. The Entente had 425 divisions, the enemy - 331. On all fronts, Germany switched to strategic defense. “Unlimited submarine warfare” was launched against England.

In April 1917, Entente troops launched a decisive offensive, which resulted in heavy losses, including more than a hundred tanks, the practice of using which was just beginning to be developed. Smaller scale operations during 1917 also failed. The Italians, who had sided with the Entente since 1915, suffered a major defeat at Caporetto by the fall of 1917 and left most of the Venetian region to the Austro-German troops. On the Eastern Front, the Germans managed to repel the June offensive prepared by the Provisional Government. At the beginning of September, Riga was surrendered to the Germans.

In April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany, and China, Greece, Brazil, Cuba, Panama, Liberia and Siam also took the side of the Entente.

By 1917, in most of the warring countries, the economic and domestic political situation was difficult. In Germany in 1915–1916. cards were introduced for bread, butter, fats, meat products, potatoes, and for the purchase of clothing. The peasants handed over the entire harvest, excluding a strictly defined norm for personal consumption. In the spring of 1917, the bread ration was reduced to 170 grams of flour per day. Queues have become commonplace. V. I. Lenin called the German experience of distribution “a brilliantly organized famine.”

Economic problems everywhere have caused increased government intervention in the organization of the national economy. Thus, in England, laws “for the defense of the kingdom” provided for the introduction of state control over railways, shipping, military factories and strategic raw materials. Strikes were strictly prohibited at state-controlled enterprises, and forced arbitration in labor conflicts was introduced. In Germany, a “military raw materials department” was created at the Ministry of War, which was responsible for accounting for reserves of industrial raw materials and their requisition for military needs.

In all countries, the positions of large industrial and financial magnates have strengthened. They created various associations, received lucrative military orders, huge military profits, and actually controlled the governments of their countries. About the families of Krupp, Rathenau, Stinnes, Tochkiss, Creuzot and others, whose enterprises produced weapons, one can say: “For some, war, and for others, mother is dear.”

Revolution in Russia worried the warring countries. The most popular among the population were the calls of the Peace Decree for a “democratic peace without annexations and indemnities.” Many politicians, trade unionists, and workers' organizations expressed solidarity with the position of the Soviet government.

The growth of anti-war sentiment and the sad experience of the Provisional Government in Russia prompted retaliatory measures. An adviser to American President Woodrow Wilson, Colonel House, proposed in November 1917 to make a statement on the goals of the war “in view of the Bolshevik peace proposals and the growing demands on the part of the liberal and working-class elements of the allied countries to ensure that the war in the name of imperialist goals does not continue further.”

On January 8, 1918, President Wilson addressed the US Congress with a message that contained 14 points for the post-war world order. The program provided for deciding the fate of many states and territories. The establishment of a bourgeois system was envisaged in Russia. It was proposed to create League of Nations– international organization to prevent new wars. In many countries, governments began to portray war as a means of achieving justice, as a necessary weapon of defense against the reactionary Kaiser's regime. In England, wages for war industry workers were increased. In February 1918, for the first time in the history of England, voting rights were granted to women over 30 years of age (men had the right to vote from the age of 21).

The interests of the warring coalitions, however, did not coincide at all. The remaining contradictions could only be resolved in battles. The Entente powers expected to achieve final victory only in 1919, since fresh American troops began to arrive in Europe only in mid-1917. The Germans, realizing that time was working against them, began new offensive operations in March-April 1918 . In July, on the Marne River and in the Reims area, the German command launched decisive actions, which were presented as a “battle for peace.” But, as General Ludendorff later wrote: “The attempt by the victorious efforts of the Germans to persuade the Entente peoples to peace before the arrival of American reinforcements failed.” The French, supported by 1,500 guns and 340 tanks, launched a powerful counterattack, which in August–September turned into a powerful general offensive. The German leadership at the end of September 1918 asked for peace. In September–October 1917, Bulgaria capitulated, and a little later a truce was signed with Turkey and Austria-Hungary. On November 3, 1918, a revolution began in Germany.

On November 11, 1918, the commander of the Entente forces, French General Foch, dictated the terms of the truce to the German delegation in his headquarters carriage at the Retonde station in the Compiegne Forest. The terrible and largely absurd First World War is over.