On August 1, our country celebrates the Day of Remembrance of the Russian soldiers who died in the First World War. On this day in 1914, Germany declared war on the Russian Empire and invaded its territory on August 2.

Thus, our country became a participant in the largest and bloodiest armed conflict in the history of mankind at that time, which claimed the lives of more than 2 million Russian soldiers and officers.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Germany, which was late to the colonial division of the world, sought military expansion and longed for a redistribution of spheres of influence. “We demand a place in the sun,” declared Reich Chancellor Bernhard von Bulow.

Obsessed with militarism, Germany strengthened the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy. Fearing a growing threat from the West, Russia was forced to move closer to the Entente and allied with Britain and France. Divided into two hostile camps, Europe was inexorably sliding towards war.

The reason for its beginning was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Gavril Princip, a member of the nationalist organization Mlada Bosna, in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. On July 23, Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum containing obviously impossible demands.

Russia, historically considered the defender of the Orthodox Slavic peoples of the Balkans, could not stand aside and announced a general mobilization on the night of July 31.

Images above: Crowds gather as Russia declares entering the war. Soldiers march to war. The Putlovskaya Wharf producing shells.

From the manifesto of Emperor Nicholas II on the outbreak of war with Germany:

“Following its historical precepts, Russia, united by faith and blood with the Slavic peoples, has never looked at their fate indifferently. The fraternal feelings of the Russian people towards the Slavs have been awakened with complete unanimity and special force in recent days, when Austria-Hungary made demands to Serbia that were obviously unacceptable for a sovereign state. <…>

In the terrible hour of trial, may internal strife be forgotten. May the Tsar’s unity with His people be strengthened even more closely, and may Russia, which has risen as one man, repel the audacious onslaught of the enemy.

With deep faith in the righteousness of Our cause and humble hope in We prayerfully invoke God’s blessing on Holy Russia and Our valiant troops.”

38 states were gradually drawn into the war. The total number of people mobilized in the army reached 73.5 million. During the fighting, 10 million people were killed (the same number died in all European wars over the previous thousand years) and 20 million people were injured – 3.5 million of them were crippled.

During the war, the Russian Empire had to simultaneously fulfill its allied duty and solve its strategic tasks. The Southwestern and Caucasian fronts were considered the most important from the point of view of the country’s interests, while the northwestern and western directions were of secondary importance. But the Russian command, bound by contractual conditions, instead of limiting itself to restraining strikes in East Prussia in 1914, was forced to launch a full-scale offensive there.

In such difficult conditions, our soldiers and officers showed exceptional bravery and courage.

The defense of the Osovets fortress became a symbol of Russian valor (https://t.me/MID_Russia/15884 ). German troops used chemical weapons (a mixture of chlorine and bromine), destroying most of its garrison. The surviving defenders, to the surprise of the enemy, launched a bayonet attack, putting the enemy to flight. This event went down in history as the “attack of the dead.”

One of the most important and most striking episodes of the First World War is the famous Brusilovsky Breakthrough (https://history.ru/read/articles/kratkii-kurs-istorii-brusilovskii-proryv ), which brought Austria-Hungary to the brink of disaster and forced the German Empire to transfer significant forces from the French Verdun to the “Russian theater of war.”

It is difficult to overestimate the sacrificial feat of soldiers and officers of the Russian army.

In our country, the memory of heroes is revered: in 2004, the Memorial and Park Complex of the Heroes of the First World War was opened in Moscow, and in 2014, the monument to the heroes of the First World War on Poklonnaya Gora. In total, 20 monuments and memorials have been installed in Russia and abroad.