The world war 1 It is a highly complex historical period. We will talk about the causes of the conflict, the alliances, the new war techniques, the combat fronts, its outcome and the enormous consequences it had.
Context and causes of the First World War
There’s a historical fact punctual that is considered to trigger the First World War: the assassination of Prince Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist.
However, there were diverse and profound Causes that gave the context for the outbreak of the conflict:
1) The Imperialism unleashed at the end of the 19th century by the main world powers, it promoted a fierce race for control of colonial territories and markets, it promoted an arms race and various war conflicts that preceded the First World War:
2) There were many latent conflicts given that some empires they dominated nations (peoples) who sought their aspiration to have their own government:
- in the Austro-Hungarian Empirewith Romanians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats, Slovenians;
- in the Russian empire with Poles and Finns;
- in the ottoman empire with Greeks and Armenians.
3) There were strong rivalries between some of the great powers that were carried over from previous war conflicts, the greatest was between France Y Germany.
4) There were also alliance pacts between different powers (prior to the outbreak of the First World War):
- The Triple Entente: Great Britain, France and the Russian empire
- The Triple Alliance: German empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy.
The outbreak of the First World War
As we mentioned before, on June 28, 1914, a Serbian nationalist militant committed the so-called “Sarajevo bombing”, murdering Franz Ferdinand of Austria (heir to Austro-Hungarian Empire) and his wife. This generated an international crisis that diplomacy could not resolve.
A month later, the July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared the war a Serbian. The next day Russia (self-proclaimed protector of the Pan-Slavism) ordered the general mobilization of his troops. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, since he considered the Russian military mobilization an act of war against Austria-Hungary (with whom he was allied in the Triple Alliance). Secondly, France –ally of Russia– declared the war on germany the same day.
Started the Big war, Britain joined the Kind regardsand in 1915 he did too Italy (breaking his alliance with Austria-Hungary). On the other hand, the ottoman empire joined the Central Powers.
Alliances of World War I
Thus was the nucleus of the alliances in World War I. As the conflict progressed, more countries became involved in the conflict, facing each other on two different sides:
- The Kind regards or the allies: France, Russia, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and the USAand 22 other countries.
- The Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, Germanythe ottoman empire Y Bulgaria.
Development of the First World War – Combat Fronts
Once declared the warthe germans invade Belgium Y Luxembourg seeking a quick victory, but were stopped by the French near the River Marne in the First Battle of the Marne. They both settled there. armies (western front) that was based on a bloody trench warfare for three years, where there were no significant advances on either side.
Meanwhile, the army German opened a second focus of attack against Russia (eastern front). There they defeated the tsarist troops that are retreating without major difficulties; and the Germans advance into Russian territory. There are also clashes on the border between Russia Y Austria-Hungary where the tsarist armies continue to weaken and by 1916 there are no longer any major offensive actions on their part. Here the armies used their cavalry as the main combat tactic.
The Western and the Oriental were the main combat fronts on land, but not the only ones. other fronts of the First World War were (see map):
- the balkan front
- the middle east front
- the italian front
- the front African
- there were also smaller military operations on certain islands of the Peaceful.
- naval fight in English Channel, North Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic, South Pacific Y Adriatic sea.
In 1915 and 1916, German submarines sank two ships with American crews, killing dozens of civilians. in april 1917the USA enter the conflict in support of the allies. Months later, provoking the October 1917 revolution of Russia (in full Revolution Bolshevik), withdraws from the war by signing an armistice with the Central Powerswhich implies great economic and territorial losses.
After the Russian surrender, Germany occupies Poland, Ukraine, Finlandthe Baltic countries and part of Belarus. His strategy is to send all his troops to the western front to seek a quick victory before the arrival of the Americans. The decisive campaign begins in March 1918but the German army -weakened and tired- did not reach their goal of attackingParis. French and American troops win a defining victory in the second battle of the marne, where British tanks and aviation take on crucial importance.
From here the Central Powers they will not be able to recover. Shortly after Bulgaria calls for an armistice and subsequently surrenders ottoman empire and the Italians beat the Austrians. The army German is disjointed in a battle in Amiens. The defeat is irreversible. The Emperor Wilhelm II run away to Hollandthe new one German Republic sign the Rethondes Armistice, on November 11 1918.
Human casualties in World War 1
The 1st World War is considered one of the bloodiest in history and the second on record with the highest number of deaths, only surpassed by the 2nd GM. In the 1GM around 20 million peoplea truly incredible figure considering that many of the military advances that exist today did not yet exist and a good part of the battles took place practically hand-to-hand.
The countries that had the highest number of casualties in the conflict were:
- Russian empire: Another of the empires that was involved in more fronts and suffered more casualties. Nearly 2,000,000 casualties in his army and 1,500,000 civilian deaths.
- German empire: The German Empire lost around 2,000,000 members of the army, while civilian casualties are estimated at around 600,000.
- ottoman empire: It was one of the empires that suffered the most from the hardships and devastation of war. More than 2,000,000 civilians died during the conflict, which makes it the territory with the highest number of civilian casualties. Around 500,000 soldiers also lost their lives.
- France: He lost almost 2,000,000 men, including civilians and members of his army.
- British Empire: About 1,000,000 dead soldiers and more than 100,000 civilians.
- Italy: 700,000 casualties among soldiers and 600,000 civilians.
- Serbian: More than 300,000 soldiers and 600,000 civilian casualties.
- Austro-Hungarian Empire: The casualties of his army are calculated around 1,200,000, and the civilian casualties 500,000.
To these figures must be added other countries such as the United States, Romania, Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria or Greece, all of them with a number of deaths between soldiers and civilians above 100,000.
It should be said that the United States, which has been present in almost all war conflicts in modern history since the 1st World War, did not have a prominent participation in WW1, in fact the total casualties of the US Army are around to 115,000, with hardly any documented civilian casualties.
Consequences of the First World War
The effects of First World War were devastating, we invite you to learn about their multiple and profound impact in the next video.
Curiosities of the First World War
The 1st World War was the conflict with the highest number of casualties up to that moment, although it was later widely surpassed by the 2nd World War. More than 20 million people lost their lives during the conflict, the most affected country being the Soviet Union, which was also in the midst of an internal revolution. It is estimated that almost 4 million Soviets lost their lives during this war, half of them civilians.
During the war about 65 million soldiers were mobilized, of which approximately 8.5 million died. As for the number of wounded, the main official organizations estimate them at around 22 million. Another 8 million soldiers were taken prisoner by enemy armies. The country that sent the largest number of soldiers to the war was the Soviet Union, around 12 million men.
The war also brought about a new European and world order, in which some of the empires that had dominated during previous centuries no longer had a place, as was the case with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In fact, this empire lost 90% of the combatants it sent to the war.
It was also in this war that other types of more advanced and sophisticated weapons began to be used, such as chemical weapons. For example, mustard gas bombing was used for the first time in World War 1.
Soldiers in the English army used to carry a bible in a chest bag, because they thought the bible and faith could stop bullets. However, only two cases were recorded in which this happened, and more than 10,000 million bullets were manufactured in Great Britain. It seems that the bible/bullet ratio was not very remarkable.
USA He had a practically token participation during this war (in fact, he did not enter it almost until the end, on April 7, 1917), unlike during the 2nd GM, when his role was key. The scarcity of casualties, the null damage to its infrastructure and the poor state of the main countries made the United States the main world power, experiencing a time of economic boom that was called the Roaring 20s or the Golden 20s. As we well know, this would lead to the famous stock market crash of 1929.
Finally, it should be noted that people who at the time were not known within the military or political sphere participated in this war, but who over the years had a leading role in the future of the world. It is the case of a young Adolf Hitlerwho participated in the First World War as a corporal in the German army.
Links of interest:
In Superhistory we have more articles that may interest you about the 1st and 2nd World War, the two war conflicts that have shaken humanity.
Bibliography:
- sleepwalkers How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark ISBN 978-84-672-5801-1
- Zeppelins of World War I. New York: by Wilbur L. Cross ISBN 978-1-55778-382-0
- General History of Civilizations: The Nineteenth Century, Volume V. by Maurice Crouzet ISBN 84-233-0126-5