In early August 1914, we know that Germany declares
war on Russia, just as Russia's mobilizing troops
to get into a war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Because the Austro-Hungarians have declared war on Serbia.
And the Russians apparently, or ostensibly,
or used protection of Serbia as a pretext
for getting into war with the Austrians.
The Germans have an alliance with the Austrians.
So they feel the need to fight the Russians.
And then, because the Russians have an alliance
with the French, to fight the French as well.
The first actual combat on the Eastern Front
actually happens with Russia on the offensive.
And you actually have two Russian armies.
The Russian First Army and the Russian Second Army
attacking the Germans up here in Eastern Prussia.
And they were going against one German army, the German Eighth
Army.
And in theory, it should have been
a route of the German Eighth Army.
They had them outnumbered.
You had two Russian armies coming
from different directions.
But because of really bad coordination and, one
could even argue, bad leadership and other tactical problems,
it was actually a route the other way.
So the war, World War I, on the Eastern Front,
starts very badly for the Russians.
You actually have a huge route of them
at the Battle of Tannenberg.
And Tannenberg's interesting because it actually
did not even happen in Tannenberg.
Tannenberg is right around here.
It wasn't far from the point of the battle.
But there was other cities that would have been more,
the battle could have been named for.
But since the Germans won the battle,
they named it Tannenberg because there
was an ancient battle in medieval times in the 1400s
where the Slavic, some Slavic peoples
were able to route German Teutonic knights.
We're talking about medieval battles with knights.
And in order to redeem that, they labeled this other war
where it was Germans against Slavic people.
They said, oh, this is our second battle for Tannenberg.
So it helped bring out more German patriotism.
But this was a major, major, major route for the Russians.
The Second Army, in particular, got completely decimated.
The Second Army, the Russian Second Army
went into the battle-- I've seen estimates of 150,000
to 180,000 troops.
Roughly half were killed.
And only about 10,000 escaped the Battle of Tannenberg.
And it was such a humiliating defeat for the Russian Second
Army.
But that the general of the Russian Second Army, General
Samsonov-- and I'm sure once again,
I'm mispronouncing everything-- General Samsonov actually
shot himself.
He committed suicide.
He was so humiliated and so embarrassed by that defeat.
So the war did not begin well for the Russians.
But by the end of 1914, they were
able to get back into gear.
And they stayed on the offensive.
And they did have some victories up here
in Galicia which, at the time, was
part of northeastern Hungary.
And so they were actually able to capture
a good bit of territory right over here.
Now, as we enter into 1915, and we've already
covered this on the videos on the Western Front.
We know that the Western Front was entering into a stalemate.
The Schlieffen Plan did not happen as quickly as possible.
But the defenders had a huge advantage.
So that gave the Germans an opportunity
to bring some troops back to the Eastern Front,
to bring troops back to the Eastern Front.
They also got better at coordinating
with the Austro-Hungarians.
And so you have 1915, you have the Central Powers
go back on the offensive.
And they're essentially able to drive
the Russians out of Russian Poland
roughly to this border that I have drawn right over here,
roughly to this border, give or take, right over here.
When we talk about Russian Poland, the modern state
of Poland, I'm making this video now in 2013.
The modern state of Poland was essentially
split between what you see on this map
between the Russian Empire and the German Empire.
The modern state of Poland is roughly this region right
over here.
And so you see, it's almost completely
split, almost like a yin and yang symbol between these two
empires.
But by, but through 1915, the Russians
were pushed out of Russian Poland roughly to this border.
And essentially, to a large degree, it was because Russia,
even though they had this huge army, this huge manpower,
they had bad communication lines.
And actually had bad technical supplies.
Russian industry wasn't able to keep up
with the demand of the war and wasn't
able to supply the munitions in proper quantities
and the arms in proper quantities to their troops.
As you enter into 1916, the Russians, once again,
were able to get their footing back.
As you can see, it's starting to become a little bit of a back
and forth.
So Russian industry, I guess you could say,
picks back up in 1916.
And it essentially puts the Russians more on the offensive.
They were driven out of Russian Poland.
But now by 1916, they're able to keep the Central Powers
a little bit more on the defensive.
But the boundaries of the front roughly
stay in line with this line right over here.
And by the end of 1916, you actually
have the Romanians joining on the side of the Triple Entente,
on the sides of the Russians, in order
to fight the Central Powers as well.
Now, this might look like it's starting
to look better for the Russians.
The Russians, their industry is finally picking up.
They're starting to put the Central Powers a little bit
more on the defensive.
But the entire time that we're talking
about this battle, the economic situation in the Russian Empire
is deteriorating dramatically.
By the time you get into 1917, the Russian economy
is really falling apart.
You have food shortages.
You have riots.
Food shortages.
You have riots.
And in February of 1917, you have the February Revolution.
You essentially, the overthrow of the Romanov Dynasty.
It's been in power for 300 years.
But you have Tsar Nicholas II.
So this is in February.
And then in early March, you have Tsar Nicholas II
abdicates the throne.
And this is the gentleman right here.
And we'll do more detailed videos
about the entire Russian Revolution
and what happens to his family and all of the rest.
And you have an interim government that takes place.
And this is actually a little, this
is an interesting fact of history.
This interim government all of a sudden becomes a democracy.
This is February 1917.
Remember, the United States has not
entered the war at this point.
But you might also remember that in April, the United States
uses the idea of fighting on the side of democracy
as a justification for entering the war.
Which is very nice, because by April,
all of the major powers on the side of the,
I guess you would say, the Triple Entente,
they were all democracies.
You're talking about, now, the interim government
for the Russians.
You have the French.
And you have the British Empire.
Obviously, it's a democracy only for those who are voting.
And actually the United States was the first country
to recognize the interim government
after the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II.
But we're not just done with 1917.
1917 is one of those huge years in the history of the world
and especially in the history of Russia.
The situation continues to deteriorate.
And it starts to deteriorate, as well, for the army.
The morale and the troops breakdown.
You start having, the Bolsheviks start to create unrest.
By the end of 1917, now we're talking about September 1917.
So that's maybe right around here.
You have the Central Powers.
Germany's able to capture Riga, which is a major city
right over here on the Baltic.
Which brings the Central Powers very, very
close to the Russian capital.
It contributes to the ongoing unrest that's going on.
And so in November 7, you have coup d'etat
of that ostensibly democratic interim government,
provisional government.
And you have the communists take power.
You have the Bolsheviks take power
under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin right over here.
So November 7, 1917, very famous date in history.
You have the Bolsheviks.
So this is Lenin leading the Bolsheviks into power.
Now, they were in no interest to continue
fighting this battle with Germany.
They had their own civil war to worry about.
They were trying to consolidate power in Russia.
So in December, they essentially get into,
start to negotiate an armistice with the Central Powers.
And they did not have a lot of leverage in this negotiation
because they weren't, they really
did not want to be in this war.
And so by March of 1918, you have
the treaty-- this between Russia and the Central Powers--
the Treaty of Brest-- and I'm sure I'm
mispronouncing everything-- Brest-Litovsk.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, in which the Russians,
because they were so desperate, the Bolsheviks
were so desperate in order to get,
to focus on the internal civil war that
had emerged in Russia, in order to consolidate power,
they gave over a huge amount of territory
to the Central Powers.
And essentially a large part of European Russia
that is not predominantly-- of Russian ethnicity
went over to the Central Powers.
Now this treaty is important because it essentially
was the end of World War I for the Russians.
It essentially was the end of the Eastern Front.
And it allowed the Germans to then refocus
on the Western Front, which allowed the Germans to start
bringing troops back over to the Western Front.
And they were actually able to do quite an aggressive Spring
Offensive on the Western Front.
And if it wasn't for the US at the time,
now being able to reinforce the Western Front-- remember,
they declared war in mid-1917-- it's not clear
that the German offensive might not have been successful
in the spring of 1918.
So the importance of Brest-Litovsk
is it was the end of the Eastern Front.
It allowed the Germans to do an offensive on the Western Front.
And it was a very strong offensive.
But with the help of the Americans,
it was not a successful one.
But the actual territorial gains for the Central Power
of Brest-Litovsk-- I'm sure I'm mispronouncing it--
were not that significant.
Because in November 1918-- and here
I'm probably falling off my timeline a little bit.
But right over here in November 1918,
this is maybe 19-- this is 1919 right over here.
You have the Central Powers essentially saying,
oh my God, we're not going to be able to win this war.
And you have the, essentially, what
was for a long time known as Armistice Day.
The 11th the day of the 11th month--
or the 11th hour of the 11th month--
or the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,
you have an armistice.
And you have the end of World War I with the Allies winning.
And so the Allies got to say what
happened to this territory right over here.