End of World War I. Important dates and events of the First World War

There was a sharp aggravation of contradictions between the leading countries of the world as a result of their uneven development. An equally important reason was the arms race, on the supply of which the monopolies received super profits. The militarization of the economy and the consciousness of huge masses of people took place, the mood of revanchism and chauvinism grew. The most profound were the contradictions between Germany and Great Britain. Germany sought to put an end to British dominance at sea, to seize her colonies. Germany's claims to France and Russia were great.

The plans of the top German military leadership included the seizure of the economically developed regions of northeastern France, the desire to wrest the Baltic states, the "Don region", the Crimea and the Caucasus from Russia. In turn, Great Britain wanted to maintain its colonies and dominance at sea, to take oil-rich Mesopotamia and part of the Arabian Peninsula from Turkey. France, which suffered a crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian war, hoped to regain Alsace and Lorraine, annex the left bank of the Rhine and the Saar coal basin. Austria-Hungary hatched expansionist plans for Russia (Volhynia, Podolia), Serbia.

Russia sought to annex Galicia and take possession of the Black Sea straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. By 1914 the contradictions between the two military-political groupings of the European powers the Triple Alliance and the Entente escalated to the limit. The Balkan Peninsula became a zone of special tension. The ruling circles of Austria-Hungary, following the advice of the German emperor, decided to finally establish their influence in the Balkans with one blow against Serbia. Soon there was a reason to declare war. The Austrian command launched military maneuvers near the Serbian border. The head of the Austrian "military party" heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand defiantly inflicted
visit to the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. On June 28, a bomb was thrown into his carriage, which the Archduke threw away, demonstrating the presence of mind. On the way back, another route was chosen.

But for some unknown reason, the carriage returned through the labyrinth of poorly guarded streets to the same place. A young man ran out of the crowd and fired two shots. One bullet hit the Archduke in the neck, the other in the stomach of his wife. Both died within minutes. The terrorist act was carried out by Serbian patriots Gavrilo Princip and his associate Gavrilovich from the Black Hand paramilitary organization. July 5, 1914 Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austrian government received assurances from Germany to support its claims against Serbia. Kaiser Wilhelm II promised the Austrian representative, Count Hoyos, that Germany would support Austria even if the conflict with Serbia led to war with Russia. On July 23, the Austrian government delivered an ultimatum to Serbia.

It was presented at six in the evening, the answer was expected in 48 hours. The terms of the ultimatum were harsh, some seriously hurting Serbia's pan-Slavic ambitions. The Austrians neither expected nor desired that the terms would be accepted. On July 7, having received confirmation of German support, the Austrian government decided to provoke a war with an ultimatum and was drawn up with this in mind. Austria was also encouraged by the conclusion that Russia was not ready for war: the sooner it happens, the better, they decided in Vienna. The response of the Serbs to the ultimatum of July 23 was rejected, although it did not contain an unconditional recognition of the demands, and on July 28, 1914. Austria declared war on Serbia. Both sides began to mobilize even before the answer was received.

August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia, and two days later on France. After a month of mounting tension, it became clear that a major European war could not be avoided, although Britain still hesitated. A day after the declaration of war on Serbia, when Belgrade was already bombed, Russia began to mobilize. The initial order for general mobilization, an act tantamount to a declaration of war, was almost immediately canceled by the tsar in favor of partial mobilization. Perhaps Russia did not expect large-scale action from Germany. On August 4, German troops invaded Belgium. Luxembourg suffered the same fate two days earlier. Both states had international guarantees against attack, however, only Belgian guarantees provided for the intervention of the guaranteeing power. Germany made public the "reasons" for the invasion, accusing Belgium of "non-neutral behaviour", but no one took it seriously. The invasion of Belgium brought England into the war. The British government issued an ultimatum demanding an immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of German soldiers.

The demand was ignored, thus, all the great powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Russia and England were drawn into the war. Although the great powers had been preparing for war for many years, it still took them by surprise. For example, England and Germany spent huge amounts of money on the construction of a navy, but bulky floating fortresses played an insignificant role in the battles, although they undoubtedly had strategic importance. Similarly, no one expected that the infantry (especially on the Western Front) would lose their ability to move, being paralyzed by the power of artillery and machine guns (although this was predicted by the Polish banker Ivan Bloch in his work "The Future of War" in 1899). In terms of training and organization, the German army was the best in Europe. In addition, the Germans burned with patriotism and faith in their great mission, not yet realized.

In Germany, the importance of heavy artillery and machine guns in modern combat, as well as the importance of railway communications, was best understood. The Austro-Hungarian army was a cast of the German one, but was inferior to it because of the explosive mixture of different nationalities in its composition and mediocre performance in previous wars.

The French army was only 20% smaller than the German one, but its manpower was barely more than half. The main difference, then, was in the reserves. Germany had a lot of them, France had nothing at all. France, like most other countries, hoped for a short war. She was unprepared for a prolonged conflict. Like the rest, France believed that movement would decide everything, and did not expect static trench warfare.

Russia's main advantage was its inexhaustible manpower and the proven courage of the Russian soldier, but its leadership was corrupt and incompetent, and its industrial backwardness made Russia unsuitable for modern warfare. Communications were very poor, the borders were endless, and the allies were geographically cut off. The Russian involvement, billed as a "Pan-Slavic crusade", was supposed to be a desperate attempt to restore ethnic unity, led by the Tsarist government. The position of Britain was quite different. Britain never had a large army and as early as the 18th century depended on naval forces, and traditions rejected a "standing army" from even more ancient times.

The British army was thus extremely small, but highly professional and had the main goal of maintaining order in overseas possessions. There were doubts whether the British command would be able to run a real company. Some of the generals were too old, although this defect was also inherent in Germany. The most striking example of the misjudgment of the nature of modern warfare by the commanders on both sides was the widespread belief that the cavalry was the most important role. At sea, traditional British superiority was challenged by Germany.

In 1914 Britain possessed 29 capital ships, Germany 18. Britain also underestimated enemy submarines, although it was particularly vulnerable to them due to its dependence on overseas supplies of food and raw materials for its industry. Britain became the main factory for the allies, what Germany was for its own. The First World War was fought on almost a dozen fronts in different parts of the globe. The main fronts were the Western, where the German troops fought against the British, French and Belgian troops; and Vostochny, where Russian troops opposed the combined forces of the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. The human, raw material and food resources of the Entente countries significantly exceeded the resources of the Central Powers, so the chances of Germany and Austria-Hungary to win the war on two fronts were small.

The German command understood this and therefore relied on a lightning war. The plan of military operations, developed by the Chief of the General Staff of Germany, von Schlieffen, proceeded from the fact that Russia would need at least a month and a half to concentrate its troops. During this time, it was supposed to defeat France and force her to surrender. Then it was planned to transfer all German troops against Russia.

According to the Schlieffen Plan, the war was to end in two months. But these calculations did not come true. In early August, the main forces of the German army approached the Belgian fortress of Liege, which covered the crossings across the Meuse River, and after bloody battles captured all its forts. On August 20, German troops entered the capital of Belgium, Brussels. German troops reached the Franco-Belgian border and in the "border battle" defeated the French, forcing them to retreat deep into the territory, which posed a threat to Paris. The German command overestimated its successes and, considering the strategic plan in the West fulfilled, transferred two army corps and a cavalry division to the East. In early September, German troops reached the Marne River in an effort to encircle the French. In the Battle of the Marne, September 3-10, 1914. Anglo-French troops stopped the German advance on Paris and even for a short time managed to go on the counteroffensive. One and a half million people participated in this battle.

Losses on both sides amounted to almost 600 thousand people killed and wounded. The result of the Battle of the Marne was the final failure of the "blitzkrieg" plans. The weakened German army began to "burrow" into the trenches. The Western Front, stretching from the English Channel to the Swiss border, by the end of 1914. stabilized. Both sides began to build earth and concrete fortifications. The wide strip in front of the trenches was mined and covered with thick rows of barbed wire. The war on the Western Front turned from "maneuverable" into positional. The offensive of the Russian troops in East Prussia ended unsuccessfully, they were defeated and partially destroyed in the Masurian swamps. The offensive of the Russian army under the command of General Brusilov in Galicia and Bukovina, on the contrary, threw back the Austro-Hungarian units to the Carpathians. By the end of 1914 on the Eastern Front, too, there was a respite. The belligerents switched to a long positional war.

August Icon of the Mother of God

The August icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is an icon revered in the Russian church, painted in memory of her appearance in 1914 to Russian soldiers on the North-Western Front, shortly before the victory in the August battle, near the city of Augustow, Suwalki province of the Russian Empire (now in Eastern Poland). The very event of the appearance of the Mother of God took place on September 14, 1914. The Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo Cuirassier Life Guards Regiments were moving towards the Russian-German border. At about 11 am, the Mother of God appeared to the soldiers of the cuirassier regiment, the vision lasted 30-40 minutes. All the soldiers and officers knelt down and prayed, observing the Mother of God in the dark night starry sky: in an extraordinary radiance, with the Divine Infant Jesus Christ sitting on Her left hand. With her right hand, She pointed to the west - the troops were just moving in this direction.

A few days later, at Headquarters, a message was received from General Sh., commander of a separate unit in the Prussian theater of operations, which said that after our retreat, a Russian officer with a whole half-squadron saw a vision. It was 11 o'clock in the evening, a private comes running with a surprised face and says; "Your Honor, go." Lieutenant R. went and suddenly sees the Mother of God in heaven with Jesus Christ on one hand, and with the other hand pointing to the West. All the Lower ranks are on their knees and pray to the Heavenly Patroness. He looked at the vision for a long time, then this vision changed into a Grand Cross and disappeared. After that, a great battle broke out in the west near Augustow, which was marked by a great victory.

Therefore, this appearance of the Mother of God was called the "Sign of the August Victory", or the "August Appearance". The appearance of the Mother of God in the Augustow forests was reported to Emperor Nicholas II, and he gave the order to paint an icon-painting image of this phenomenon. The Holy Synod considered the issue of the appearance of the Mother of God for about a year and a half and on March 31, 1916, decided: "to bless the celebration in the temples of God and the houses of believers of icons depicting the aforementioned appearance of the Mother of God to Russian soldiers ...". On April 17, 2008, at the suggestion of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia blessed the celebration of the August Icon of the Mother of God into the official calendar.

The celebration is set to take place on September 1 (14). November 5, 1914 Russia, England and France declared war on Turkey. In October, the Turkish government closed the Dardanelles and the Bosporus to Allied ships, effectively isolating Russia's Black Sea ports from the outside world and causing irreparable damage to its economy. Such a move by Turkey was an effective contribution to the military efforts of the Central Powers. The next provocative step was the shelling of Odessa and other southern Russian ports at the end of October by a squadron of Turkish warships. The declining Ottoman Empire gradually fell apart and during the last half century lost most of its European possessions. The army was exhausted in the unsuccessful military operations against the Italians in Tripoli, and the Balkan Wars caused further depletion of its resources. The Young Turk leader Enver Pasha, who, as Minister of War, was a leading figure on the Turkish political scene, believed that an alliance with Germany would serve his country's interests to the greatest extent, and on August 2, 1914, a secret treaty was signed between the two countries.

The German military mission has been active in Turkey since the end of 1913. She was instructed to carry out the reorganization of the Turkish army. Despite strong objections from his German advisers, Enver Pasha decided to invade the Caucasus, which belonged to Russia, and in mid-December 1914 launched an offensive in difficult weather conditions. Turkish soldiers fought well, but suffered a severe defeat. Nevertheless, the Russian high command was concerned about the threat posed by Turkey to the southern borders of Russia, and the German strategic plans were well served by the fact that this threat in this area pinned down Russian troops, which were in great need on other fronts.

How the 1st World War began. Part 1.

Sarajevo murder

On August 1, 1914, the First World War began. There were many reasons for it, and all that was needed was an excuse to start it. This occasion was the event that occurred a month before - June 28, 1914.

The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Franz Ferdinand Karl Ludwig Joseph von Habsburg was the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig, brother of Emperor Franz Joseph.

Archduke Karl Ludwig

Emperor Franz Joseph

The aged emperor ruled by that time for the 66th year, having managed to outlive all the other heirs. The only son and heir of Franz Joseph, Crown Prince Rudolf, according to one version, shot himself in 1889 in Mayerling Castle, having killed his beloved Baroness Maria Vechera before that, and according to another version, he became the victim of a carefully planned political assassination that simulated the suicide of the only direct heir to the throne. In 1896, Franz Joseph's brother Karl Ludwig died after drinking water from the Jordan River. After that, the son of Karl Ludwig Franz Ferdinand became the heir to the throne.

Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand was the main hope of the decaying monarchy. In 1906, the Archduke drew up a plan for the transformation of Austria-Hungary, which, if implemented, could prolong the life of the Habsburg Empire, reducing the degree of interethnic conflicts. According to this plan, the Patchwork Empire would turn into a federal state of the United States of Greater Austria, in which 12 national autonomies would be formed for each of the large nationalities living in Austria-Hungary. However, this plan was opposed by the Prime Minister of Hungary, Count István Tisza, since such a transformation of the country would put an end to the privileged position of the Hungarians.

Istvan Tisza

He resisted so much that he was ready to kill the hated heir. He spoke about this so frankly that there was even a version that it was he who ordered the assassination of the Archduke.

On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, at the invitation of the viceroy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Feldzeugmeister (that is, general of artillery) Oscar Potiorek, arrived in Sarajevo for maneuvers.

General Oskar Potiorek

Sarajevo was the main city of Bosnia. Before the Russian-Turkish war, Bosnia belonged to the Turks, and as a result, it was supposed to go to Serbia. However, Austro-Hungarian troops were brought into Bosnia, and in 1908 Austria-Hungary officially annexed Bosnia to its possessions. Neither the Serbs, nor the Turks, nor the Russians were satisfied with this situation, and then, in 1908-09, because of this accession, a war almost broke out, but the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky warned the tsar against rash actions, and the war took place a little later.

Alexander Petrovich Izvolsky

In 1912, the Mlada Bosna organization was created in Bosnia and Herzegovina to liberate Bosnia and Herzegovina from occupation and unite with Serbia. The arrival of the heir was most welcome for the Young Bosnians, and they decided to kill the Archduke. Six Young Bosnians suffering from tuberculosis were dispatched for the assassination attempt. They had nothing to lose: in the coming months, death awaited them anyway.

Trifko Grabetsky, Nedeljko Chabrinovich, Gavrilo Princip

Franz Ferdinand and his morganatic wife Sophia-Maria-Josephina-Albina Hotek von Hotkow und Wognin arrived in Sarajevo early in the morning.

Sofia-Maria-Josephina-Albina Hotek von Hotkow und Vognin

Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie of Hohenberg

On the way to the town hall, the couple was subjected to the first assassination attempt: one of these six Nedeljko Chabrinovich threw a bomb on the route of the cortege, but the fuse turned out to be too long, and the bomb exploded only under the third car. The bomb killed the driver of this car and wounded its passengers, the most significant person of which was Piotrek's adjutant Erich von Merizze, as well as a policeman and passers-by from the crowd. Chabrinovich tried to poison himself with potassium cyanide and drown himself in the Milyatsk River, but neither of them worked. He was arrested and sentenced to 20 years, but he died a year and a half later from the same tuberculosis.

Upon arrival at the town hall, the Archduke delivered a prepared speech and decided to go to the hospital to visit the wounded.

Franz Ferdinand was dressed in a blue uniform, black trousers with red stripes, a high cap with green parrot feathers. Sofia was wearing a white dress and a wide hat with an ostrich feather. Instead of the driver, Archduke Franz Urban, the owner of the car, Count Harrach, sat behind the wheel, and Potiorek sat to his left to show the way. A Gräf & Stift car raced along the Appel embankment.

Diagram of the murder scene

At the Latin Bridge junction, the car braked slightly, downshifting, and the driver began to turn right. At this time, having just drunk coffee in Stiller's shop, one of the same tubercular six, 19-year-old high school student Gavrilo Princip, went out into the street.

Gavrilo Princip

He was just walking along the Latin Bridge and saw the turning Gräf & Stift quite by accident. Without a moment's hesitation, Princip pulled out Browning and pierced the archduke's stomach with the first shot. The second bullet went to Sofia. He wanted to spend the Third Principle on Potiorek, but did not have time - the people who had run away disarmed the youth and began to beat him. Only the intervention of the police saved Gavrila's life.

Browning Gavrilo Princip

Arrest of Gavrilo Princip

As a minor, instead of the death penalty, he was sentenced to the same 20 years, and during his imprisonment they even began to treat him for tuberculosis, extending his life right up to April 28, 1918.

The site where the Archduke was killed today. View from the Latin bridge.

For some reason, the wounded Archduke and his wife were taken not to the hospital, which was already a couple of blocks away, but to the residence of Potiorek, where, under the howling and lamentations of the retinue, both died of blood loss, without receiving medical care.

Everyone knows what followed: since the terrorists were Serbs, Austria delivered an ultimatum to Serbia. Russia stood up for Serbia, threatening Austria, and Germany stood up for Austria. As a result, a month later, a world war broke out.

Franz Joseph survived this heir, and after his death, the 27-year-old Karl, the son of the imperial nephew Otto, who died in 1906, became emperor.

Karl Franz Joseph

He had to rule for a little less than two years. The collapse of the empire found him in Budapest. In 1921 Charles tried to become king of Hungary. Having organized a rebellion, he, with troops loyal to him, reached almost all the way to Budapest, but was arrested and on November 19 of the same year he was taken to the Portuguese island of Madeira, designated to him as a place of exile. A few months later, he died suddenly, allegedly from pneumonia.

The same Gräf & Stift. The car had a four-cylinder 32-horsepower engine, which allowed it to develop a 70-kilometer speed. The working volume of the engine was 5.88 liters. The car did not have a starter and was started by a crank. It is located in the Vienna Military Museum. It even retained a number plate with the number "A III118". Subsequently, one of the paranoid deciphered this number as the date of the end of the First World War. In accordance with this decoding, it means "Armistice", that is, a truce, and for some reason in English. The first two Roman units mean "11", the third Roman and the first Arabic units mean "November", and the last unit and eight indicate the year 1918 - it was on November 11, 1918 that the Compiègne truce took place, which put an end to the First World War.

World War I could have been avoided

After Gavrila Princip assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo, the possibility of preventing the war remained, and neither Austria nor Germany considered this war inevitable.

Three weeks elapsed between the day the Archduke was assassinated and the day Austria-Hungary announced the ultimatum to Serbia. The alarm that arose after this event soon subsided, and the Austrian government and personally Emperor Franz Joseph hastened to assure St. Petersburg that they did not intend to take any military actions. The fact that Germany was not thinking of fighting at the beginning of July is also evidenced by the fact that a week after the assassination of the Archduke, Kaiser Wilhelm II went on a summer vacation to the Norwegian fjords

Wilhelm II

There was a political lull, usual for the summer season. Ministers, members of parliament, high-ranking government and military officials went on vacation. The tragedy in Sarajevo didn't particularly alarm anyone in Russia either: most politicians were immersed in the problems of domestic life.

Everything was ruined by an event that happened in mid-July. In those days, taking advantage of the parliamentary recess, the President of the French Republic, Raymond Poincare, and the Prime Minister and, at the same time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, René Viviani, paid an official visit to Nicholas II, arriving in Russia aboard a French battleship.

French battleship

The meeting took place on July 7-10 (20-23) at the Tsar's summer residence, Peterhof. In the early morning of July 7 (20) the French guests moved from the battleship anchored in Kronstadt to the royal yacht, which took them to Peterhof.

Raymond Poincaré and Nicholas II

After three days of negotiations, banquets and receptions, interspersed with visits to the traditional summer maneuvers of the guards regiments and units of the St. Petersburg Military District, the French visitors returned to their battleship and departed for Scandinavia. However, despite the political lull, this meeting did not go unnoticed by the intelligence of the Central Powers. Such a visit unequivocally testified: Russia and France are preparing something, and this something is being prepared against them.

It must be frankly admitted that Nikolai did not want war and tried his best to prevent it from starting. In contrast, the highest diplomatic and military officials were in favor of military action and tried to put the strongest pressure on Nicholas. As soon as on July 24 (11), 1914, a telegram arrived from Belgrade stating that Austria-Hungary had presented an ultimatum to Serbia, Sazonov joyfully exclaimed: “Yes, this is a European war.” On the same day, at breakfast with the French ambassador, which was attended by the British ambassador, Sazonov called on the allies to take decisive action. And at three o'clock in the afternoon, he demanded to convene a meeting of the Council of Ministers, at which he raised the question of demonstrative military preparations. At this meeting, it was decided to mobilize four districts against Austria: Odessa, Kyiv, Moscow and Kazan, as well as the Black Sea, and, strangely, the Baltic Fleet. The latter was already a threat not so much to Austria-Hungary, which had access only to the Adriatic, as against Germany, the sea border with which passed exactly along the Baltic. In addition, the Council of Ministers proposed to introduce from July 26 (13) throughout the country a "regulation on the preparatory period for war."

Vladimir Alexandrovich Sukhomlinov

On July 25 (12) Austria-Hungary announced that it refused to extend the deadline for Serbia's response. The latter, in its response on the advice of Russia, expressed its readiness to satisfy the Austrian demands by 90%. Only the demand for the entry of officials and the military into the country was rejected. Serbia was also ready to refer the case to the Hague International Tribunal or to the consideration of the great powers. However, at 6:30 p.m. that day, the Austrian envoy in Belgrade notified the Serbian government that its response to the ultimatum was unsatisfactory, and he, along with the entire mission, was leaving Belgrade. But even at this stage, the possibilities for a peaceful settlement were not exhausted.

Sergei Dmitrievich Sazonov

However, through the efforts of Sazonov, it was reported to Berlin (and for some reason not to Vienna) that on July 29 (16) the mobilization of four military districts would be announced. Sazonov did everything possible to offend Germany as much as possible, which was bound to Austria by allied obligations. And what were the alternatives? some will ask. After all, it was impossible to leave the Serbs in trouble. That's right, you can't. But the steps that Sazonov took led precisely to the fact that Serbia, which had neither sea nor land connections with Russia, found itself face to face with the furious Austria-Hungary. The mobilization of four districts could not help Serbia in any way. Moreover, the notification of its beginning made Austrian steps even more decisive. It seems that Sazonov wanted a declaration of war on Serbia by Austria more than the Austrians themselves. On the contrary, in their diplomatic moves, Austria-Hungary and Germany maintained that Austria was not seeking territorial gains in Serbia and was not threatening its integrity. Its sole purpose is to ensure its own peace and public safety.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire (1910-1916) Sergei Dmitrievich Sazonov and German Ambassador to Russia (1907-1914) Count Friedrich von Pourtales

The German ambassador, trying to somehow even out the situation, visited Sazonov and asked if Russia would be satisfied with the promise of Austria not to violate the integrity of Serbia. Sazonov gave the following written answer: “If Austria, realizing that the Austro-Serbian conflict has acquired a European character, declares its readiness to exclude from its ultimatum items that violate the sovereign rights of Serbia, Russia undertakes to stop its military preparations.” This answer was tougher than the position of England and Italy, which provided for the possibility of accepting these points. This circumstance indicates that the Russian ministers at that time decided to go to war, completely disregarding the opinion of the emperor.

The generals hastened to mobilize with the greatest noise. On the morning of 31 (18) July, announcements printed on red paper appeared in St. Petersburg, calling for mobilization. The excited German ambassador tried to get explanations and concessions from Sazonov. At 12 o'clock in the morning Pourtales visited Sazonov and, on behalf of his government, gave him a statement that if Russia did not start demobilization at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, the German government would give the order for mobilization.

It was worth canceling the mobilization, and the war would not have started.

However, instead of announcing mobilization after the expiration of the term, as Germany would have done if she really wanted war, the German Foreign Ministry several times demanded that Pourtales seek a meeting with Sazonov. Sazonov deliberately delayed the meeting with the German ambassador in order to force Germany to be the first to take a hostile step. Finally, at the seventh hour, the Minister of Foreign Affairs arrived at the Ministry building. Soon the German ambassador was already entering his office. In great agitation, he asked whether the Russian government would agree to respond to yesterday's German note in a favorable tone. At that moment, it depended only on Sazonov whether or not there would be a war.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire (1910-1916) Sergei Dmitrievich Sazonov

Sazonov could not but know the consequences of his answer. He knew that three years remained before the full implementation of our military program, while Germany completed its program in January. He knew that the war would hit foreign trade, cutting off our export routes. He also could not help but know that the majority of Russian manufacturers were opposed to the war, and that the sovereign himself and the imperial family were opposed to the war. If he had said yes, peace would have continued on the planet. Russian volunteers through Bulgaria and Greece would get to Serbia. Russia would help her with weapons. Meanwhile, conferences would be convened that, in the end, would be able to extinguish the Austro-Serbian conflict, and Serbia would not be occupied for three years. But Sazonov said his "no". But this was not the end. Pourtales again asked if Russia could give Germany a favorable answer. Sazonov again firmly refused. But then it was not difficult to guess what was in the pocket of the German ambassador. If he asks the same question a second time, it is clear that something terrible will happen if the answer is no. But Pourtales asked this question for the third time, giving Sazonov one last chance. Who is this Sazonov to make such a decision for the people, for the thought, for the tsar and for the government? If history forced him to give an immediate answer, he had to remember the interests of Russia, whether she wanted to fight in order to work off Anglo-French loans with the blood of Russian soldiers. And still Sazonov repeated his "no" for the third time. After the third refusal, Pourtales took from his pocket a note from the German embassy, ​​which contained a declaration of war.

Friedrich von Pourtales

It seems that individual Russian officials did everything possible to start the war as soon as possible, and if they did not, then the First World War could, if not be avoided, then at least postponed until a more convenient time.

As a sign of mutual love and eternal friendship, shortly before the war, the “brothers” changed their dress uniforms.

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