RUSSIA's role in the First World War
The Russia's entry into World War I was a key element for the history of this nation, since the serious consequences in all aspects that resulted from its participation in the conflict led to a series of changes in the nation that would end the important Russian Revolution. To learn about all aspects of this event, in this lesson from a Teacher we offer you a summary of the role of Russia in the First World War.
Index
- Russia before World War I
- When does Russia enter the First World War?
- What is the role of Russia in the First World War?
- Why did Russia withdraw from the first world war?
Russia before the First World War.
As for the other participating nations, Russia's entry into the First World War was due to numerous background. Therefore, it is necessary to comment on all these causes to understand the scope of this conflict.
Situation in Europe
In the years prior to the start of the war, one of the most relevant situations was that of the confrontation between France and Germany
who, for various reasons, had become rivals in many respects. Although at first Russia had approached the Germans, it did not take too long to break the pact, so the Russians approached positions with the French, so that in much of the beginning of the century there was a rivalry between the alliances France-Russia and Germany-Austria-Hungary.Russia's military situation
The idea of France was that, in the event of a German attack, the Russians could quickly go to their nation to help them in defense, although for the Russian government its main adversary they did not stop being Austria-Hungary. The Russian situation was more complicated than that of the rest of the nations, since the Russians always had to keep an eye on Asia due to the continuous confrontations against the Japanese.
Crisis in the Balkans
One of the main causes of the First World War was the crisis that occurred in the Balkans. In the Balkan area, the interests of almost all the peoples participating in the war clashed, with the Ottoman Empire losing areas and a confrontation between Russians and Austro-Hungarians for taking the zone. The serious crises of the towns of the zone united to the entrance of military of other nations, caused a situation that could explode at any moment.
When does Russia enter the First World War?
Behind the assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, all European nations mobilized to start World War IJuly 1914 being the date that is usually used to give the war started.
The first moments of the war were those that had been planned for years: with the French and Germans clashing on the border of both regions and the Russians entering the East Prussian area. The idea of Russia was that, having such a large army and with most of the German troops in the Belgian area, it would be easy to take the region, sending part of the army from it to take prussia and the other part to the confrontation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In the first moment, victory seemed obvious to the Russians in the Prussian area, defeating German troops and forcing him to go backwards due to his great superiority in numbers. But everything turned around change the Prussians from generals in command, entertaining one of the Russian armies while attacking another, taking advantage of the bad relationship of the two Russian generals, since they knew that one of the generals would not help the other. In this situation the Russians had to retreat to Poland.
What is the role of Russia in the First World War?
In the following months, the Russians managed to stop the Austro-Hungarians, but the arrival of the Germans forced them to retreat to Warsaw, being another failure of the Russians in the war.
While in the north the Germans and Austro-Hungarians were blocking the Russians from the south, the Ottoman Empire had joined the the war and faced the Russians causing the supply cut and the Russian population had problems to feed. The situation in the eastern zone was slow, with Russia holding on, but not moving forward, causing the war to be decided far away from Russia.
In 1916 was when the war changed, starting the Russian army offensives that, although they did not help the Russians to make great advances in the war, they did work to slow down the advance of the Germans and give the Russians some air in the war.
Why did Russia withdraw from the first world war?
When talking about Russia in the First World War we must understand that a key factor was the Russian Revolution, since the appearance of this movement during the war it caused Russia to have problems both inside and outside her own nation.
The bad results in war, together with the hunger that both the soldiers and the citizens went through, made society very tense and at the first spark they could jump. In this situation, the Russians formed assemblies to help each other, demonstrating the increasing distance between the people and the tsar, and initiating the enormous revolutionary changes in Russia, at the same time that the Germans were being fought.
With the arrival of the Russian revolution and civil war in the nation, an agreement took place between the new Russian rulers and the Central Powers in which Russia ended the First World War and ceased to be one of the nations in conflict.
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Bibliography
- Renouvin, P., & Translator, V. (1972). The first World War. Oikos-tau.
- Casanova, J. (2017). Revenge of the serfs: Russia 1917. SOCIOLOGY, 429, 436.
- AIRES, P. D. B. UNIT I: THE FIRST WORLD WAR. THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.
