The first world war

The First World War is an international conflict that occurred in 1914 AD, and it was fought by most of Europe, in addition to Russia, the United Stat

The first world war

Wars

In the early twentieth century, the world witnessed a number of political and military developments, which led to the outbreak of war between the major powers, which most of the countries of the world joined, and was known as the First World War; And it was named by this name because most countries in the world had participated in it, directly or indirectly.

First World War

The First World War is an international conflict that occurred in 1914 AD, and it was fought by most of Europe, in addition to Russia, the United States, the Middle East, and other regions, in which the countries of the world were divided into two conflicting parties, the Axis countries (the central countries) that included Germany and Austria, Hungary, Turkey, and the Allied countries that formed from France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and the United States, which joined them in 1917, and this war ended with the defeat of the Axis powers in 1918. 

Causes of World War I

The largest powers in Europe - Austria, Hungary, Germany, Russia, France, and Great Britain - entered the conflict known as the First World War, within eight days during its extension from the end of July to the beginning of August 1914 AD, and these war actions cost these countries A high cost that astonished the statesmen who were aware of its minutest details.

The basis of these conflicts between the great powers was deeply rooted, as the victory achieved by Germany under Ottophon Bismarck in the Franco-Prussian War between 1870 and 1871 led to the beginning of the emergence of a unified Germany, and thus created a state of continuous tension. The rapid emergence of Germany as the dominant power on the continent had cast a shadow over Britain's interests and greatly worsened relations between them.

In addition to that, there are also a set of other factors, such as Germany's building a huge fleet that relies on warships, and it seemed to Britain that this fleet, which contains ships of great strength, is able to confront its large fleet in the North Sea, and there is also a great possibility to control it. The Germans are on the sea lanes surrounding Britain, thus working to threaten their food security. 

All of the aforementioned are among the indirect causes that contributed to the outbreak of the First World War, but the main reason for its outbreak was the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria Franz Ferdinand with his wife, by a Serbian student named Gavrilo Princip, and it happened on June 28 of In 1914, during their visit to Sarajevo, specifically in the region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after this incident Austria declared war on Serbia, and Russia supported Serbia by declaring war on Austria, while Germany declared war on Russia.

Countries were divided during this war into two parts: the Allied forces led by the United Kingdom and the Central countries led by Germany, then the circle of alliances expanded with the expansion of the circle of wars, and many countries entered the side of each of the two parties, and the war lasted for more than four years. During it a world war after it was on a European scale.

The course of the First World War

The First World War began in August 1914, with a major German attack on the Western Front, and the Germans thought that they would be able to destroy the enemy's forces with a single blow, but the French, in return, had begun an attack on German lands in turn, but these two plans did not They met with success, the two attacks ended in failure.

With the beginning of 1915, the attacks began to take a completely different turn, and the pattern of the attacks became clear, and resulted in only terrifying numbers of victims, then new types of weapons were introduced into the battles due to the stalemate that afflicted the war, and both sides used poison gas from the beginning of 1915. And in 1916 tanks appeared for the first time on the battlefield.

The despair prevailing on both sides became more evident in 1917, when the French began an offensive against the Germans in Champagne, but it was severely unsuccessful as a result of the steadfastness of the Germans, which pushed many in the French army to revolt, and the Germans also took desperate steps to achieve victory, Where they began to use submarines, which were considered a tool that was used for the first time in the First World War, as these submarines were able to achieve a victory that the army failed to achieve, but by the end of 1917 it became clear that these submarines would not achieve the desired victory.

Then the last year of the war began with the German offensive, through which the Germans directed powerful blows along the western front, holding their hopes that both the French and the British would be defeated before the huge American forces reached them, but in the end the coalition forces withstood this fierce attack.

Mobilization in World War I

A group of weapons were used for the first time during the First World War, including:

• Sprinklers. 

• Cannons and submarines. 

• Primitive aircraft that were used in combat and espionage.

•  Balloons attached to the antenna for surveillance operations.

•  Tanks. 

• Poison gas to get soldiers out of trenches or choke them.

Europe was divided before this war into two camps, namely:

• The Triple Alliance : Germany, under the leadership of Chancellor Ottophon Bismarck - the Prime Minister of Germany - formed alliances with Austria-Hungary, and in 1879 both countries agreed to take part in the war together in the event that one of them was attacked, then Italy joined this alliance, in what became known At that time, the tripartite alliance, and they all agreed to help each other in the event of any aggression on any of these countries, and this alliance continued until the outbreak of the war. 

• The Three Emperors : Bismarck urged Austria-Hungary and Germany to enter an alliance with Russia, as these countries agreed to remain neutral in the event that one of them participated in the war, and Bismarck tried to prevent any alliance between France and Russia.

Personalities that preceded the First World War

There is a group of people who can be said to have been the reason for the prelude to the outbreak of the First World War, we mention:

Napoleon

Napoleon was the first emperor of France and one of the strongest and greatest powers at that time, and Napoleon had many foreign adventures, in which he won at one time and failed at another time, and his wars multiplied in the European continent, provoking all the great powers, including what exceeded his capabilities such as his invasion of Russia in the year 1812, and in this period a system of alliances between European countries appeared against him, which ended with the defeat of Waterloo.

And he entered the war in 1805 against three of the greatest powers of the time, namely: Russia, Austria, and Britain, through which he succeeded in defeating Austria and Russia, and Russia defied Napoleon's alliance and attacked it, and at first overpowered its army, but upon his entry into Moscow had been destroyed by its people, his army was exhausted and suffering from starvation, and that was his last defeat that destroyed all his hopes. 

Utovo Bismarck

He was the first chancellor of the German Reich, and he was described in the history books as the Iron Man, whose orientations and policies were among the indirect causes, and which paved the way for the emergence of the First World War.

The policy of iron and blood that Bismarck pursued worked to unify Germany, but on the other hand it represented a fertile environment for the emergence of ideological and national extremism, then the victory of Prussia over Austria increased tension between it and France, and Bismarck was not afraid to go to war against France, but this was not lacking. The war is but a small spark, and that happened in 1870 when Prince Leopold was offered to ascend the Spanish throne, so France opposed this nomination, and in order to push France to declare war on Prussia, Bismarck intended to publish the dialogue that took place between King Philhem and the French ambassador in Prussia, in a manner. It was an insult to Prussia, and France responded by mobilizing its armies, and the Franco-Prussian War was a great victory for Prussia.

After the end of the war, Bismarck proceeded to secure the Union of Germany, and then the king declared their first elephant Emperor of Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, and the new empire was a federation consisting of 25 states. 

Results of World War I

One of the results of the First World War was the collapse of the forces of the Central Powers, and Bulgaria was the first to sign the armistice, on September 29, 1918, in Thessaloniki, then collapsed and surrender agreements were signed, as Germany signed the Compen armistice with The Allies, inside a railroad vehicle on November 11, 1918, and a ceasefire came into effect at the eleventh hour on November 11.

Among the losses suffered by both sides were the human losses, as more than eight million people were killed, while millions were injured and lost, and among its results was also the occurrence of great economic losses, as poverty and unemployment spread, and the warring countries reached a stifling financial crisis due to the high The exorbitant war expenses, and consequently the indebtedness of European countries increased, which led to a decline in their economic dominance, and all of this was in the interest of the United States of America and Japan.

The map of Europe changed after the First World War, as the old imperial regimes disintegrated, after that the ruling families fell, and the borders of the European continent changed through the emergence of new countries, then the Russian Revolution, which implemented the first socialist system in the framework of the Soviet Union.

As for the Arab states, the Ottoman Caliphate was joined to the Central Powers in the First World War, and this constituted the beginning of the end of the history of the Ottoman State, where the defeat of Germany and with it the Ottoman Empire placed the fate of the Arab states under the hands of Britain and France.