This incident became the fuse of the First World War. On July 28th, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. According to relevant treaties, Russia announced its general mobilization on July 30th to support Serbia. 1 In August, Germany declared war on Russia. On August 3rd, Germany declared war on France. On August 4th, Britain declared war on Germany. The war began in full swing.
The war that first started on the European continent quickly spread to the Middle East, the Far East and parts of Africa. Among them, the European battlefield is the main battlefield, which consists of the western battlefield, the eastern battlefield, the Balkan battlefield and the Italian battlefield. The participating countries also conducted many naval battles and used the air force in actual combat for the first time. World War I can be divided into the following stages according to the course of the war:
19 14, the quick decision plan of both sides went bankrupt, and the western front changed from mobile warfare to positional warfare. After the war broke out, the German army as the main attack and the troops as the containment task acted as planned. On August 2 1-25, the Germans fought many battles with the French and British expeditionary forces on the northeast border of France, namely "19 14 border war". The Germans broke through France's defense and marched into the heart of France. In September, the French army organized the "Battle of the Marne River" to counter the Germans, forcing them to retreat south and disintegrating their quick-decision strategy. At this point, military operations in most parts of the western front began to form positional warfare.
However, from September to June in 65438+ 10, in northern France, the German army and the British and French allied forces bypassed each other's flank and carried out continuous mobile operations. On the eastern front, the Germans in East Prussia defeated the attack of Russian superior forces, forcing Russian troops to retreat to Niemann River and Bo River. But the Russian army defeated the troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Galicia. In order to help Austria-Hungary, Germany launched a large-scale attack on the Russian army, and the Germans suffered heavy losses. The expansion of the Eastern Front War in Germany put it in a disadvantageous position to fight on two fronts at the same time. In August 19 14, Japan took advantage of the situation in the Far East and declared war on Germany, seizing the opportunity to seize Germany's interests in China, and the battlefield in the Far East appeared. Turkey announced its joining the Allied Forces in June191411,which opened up a new battlefield in the Near East. The war situation has become more complicated. In addition, the competition between Britain, France and Germany in North Africa is also very fierce. At this stage, the naval military actions of the British and German navies were mainly the Helgolan naval battle in the North Sea in August and 165438+ 10 and the Falkland Islands naval battle in the South Atlantic in May 438+February. Around the blockade and anti-blockade, the two sides carried out a series of maritime battles of different scales.
19 15, the focus of the war shifted to the eastern front, and the eastern front battlefield entered a state of confrontation. The war made both sides consume huge manpower and material resources, and the reserve soldiers and logistics supplies of the army were seriously difficult, forcing countries to step up the general mobilization of the national economy. In order to recharge their batteries and regain their vitality, Britain and France basically turned to strategic defense in the western front. In order to relieve the pressure of the Germans on the western front, they asked Russia to strengthen its attack on the eastern front. Germany changed its strategic policy and concentrated its forces on attacking Russia in order to defeat Russia in one fell swoop and then Britain and France. 19151-In March, the Russian army launched two large-scale winter offensives against the German-Austrian Coalition forces, both of which were disastrous. Germany seized fighter planes and concentrated its superior forces. At the beginning of May, it launched the famous Battle of Gorcha in the middle of the Russian front, forcing the Russian army to retreat across the board and suffered heavy losses. The Germans went deep into Russia with victory in an attempt to force Russia out of the war. In May of the same year, Italy, a former member of the Allies, turned to declare war on Austria-Hungary, opening up a new war zone in the southeast of Austria-Hungary. 10 from September to June, the entire eastern front also changed from mobile warfare to positional warfare. In June 5438+10 of the same year, Bulgaria participated in the Allied War, and the German-Austrian Coalition forces occupied Serbia with superior forces.
This year, the war on the western front was relatively calm. Taking advantage of the eastward shift of the Germans, the British and French allied forces launched several small-scale offensive campaigns in an attempt to contain the Germans and reduce the pressure on the Russian front. The Germans also launched several partial counterattacks. Among them, during the battle of Hippert in April-May, the Germans used poison gas in large quantities for the first time.
19 16, the focus of the war shifted to the western front again, and the allies gradually gained the strategic initiative.
19 16, Germany once again turned its attack focus to the western front, striving to defeat France.
From February1year, Germany and France launched the Battle of Verdun, which lasted for 10 months. Due to the shortage of troops, the Germans stormed and suffered heavy casualties, and gradually went to the final failure. At the same time, in order to relieve the pressure on Verdun, the British and French allied forces launched a fierce attack on the German solid defense line on the Somme, which was called the Battle of Somme in history.
In this campaign, the British army used tanks for the first time.
According to the strategic policy of allied coordinated attack, the Russian army on the eastern front launched a large-scale attack on the German army in order to cooperate with the British and French allied forces on the western front, breaking through the defense lines of the Austro-Hungarian imperial army. During this period, the Italian army also carried out several offensive campaigns of different scales against the troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In August of the same year, Romania fought in the Allies. On the naval battle field of 19 16, from May 3 1 day to June 1 day, the main forces of the British and German navies carried out the largest naval battle in western jutland during the whole war.
19 17, Germany turned to full defense, Russia broke out in revolution, and the United States entered the war.
After two and a half years of war, Germany consumed huge manpower and material resources, but the strength of the allied forces increased, and the battlefield situation became increasingly unfavorable to Germany. The Germans were forced to turn to the eastern and western defense, and at the same time hoped to launch an "unrestricted submarine war" at sea in an attempt to cut off the British-French maritime communication line. The United States, which remained neutral in the war, used Germany's windfall to announce the resumption of "unrestricted submarine warfare" and Germany's secret telegram Mexico attempted to form a German-Mexican anti-American alliance, and declared war on Germany in April 19 17, becoming the financial and military pillar and direct participant of the Allies. At the same time, it also enables the United States to participate in redrawing the world.
19 17, the main battle of the western front was the "Neville offensive" launched by the French army against the Germans from April to May. Because the Germans came prepared, the French attack suffered a fiasco and caused a large-scale riot in the French army. In order to cooperate with the French army, the British army also launched several limited attacks respectively, and no significant progress was made. On the eastern front, in September of that year, the Germans launched the Riga campaign, which was the last large-scale military operation on the eastern front. 165438+ (Russian calendar 65438+1October 25th)1October 7th, October socialist revolution broke out in Russia, which opened a new era in human history. The Soviet government headed by Lenin announced its withdrawal from the imperialist war.
19 18, the allied forces launched a general attack and the allied forces collapsed.
After Russia withdrew from the war, Germany got a breathing space. 19 18, Germany concentrated its forces on the western front in an attempt to force Britain and France to yield before the main American forces arrived in France. Britain and France decided to hold their ground on the western front and launch a general attack when the main American forces arrived. In order to achieve unified command, French general Fauci was appointed as the supreme military commander of the Allied Forces. From July to September, British and French troops launched local attacks and made progress. In September, the American Expeditionary Force led by Commander Pershing launched the Battle of Saint Mill. On September 26, the British, French and American allied forces launched a general attack. Under the pressure of allied forces, German hindenburg line completely collapsed. Bulgaria surrendered on September 29th, Turkey1October 30th,110, Austria-Hungary1October 30th. 165438+1At the beginning of October, the November Revolution broke out in Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated, and the Social Democratic Party formed an interim government and announced the establishment of a republic. On June165438+1October 1 1 day, the Comigne Forest Armistice Agreement was signed and Germany surrendered. World War I, which lasted four years and three months, ended in the victory of the Allies.
The First World War brought unprecedented disasters to people all over the world. During the war, the Allied forces mobilized 42010.8 million troops, with losses of 22010.5 million, including deaths of 510.5 million. Allied forces mobilized 22.85 million troops, with losses of more than 6.5438+0.54 million, including 3.8 million deaths. The direct war cost of the warring parties is about 654.38 $+086.3 billion.