by Irina NOVIKOVA, Dr. Sc. (Hist.), Dean of the Department of International Relations, St. Petersburg State University At the end of 2013 the third international conference "The World War I, the Versailles System and Contemporaneity" was held at the Yekaterininsky Palace of the Tsarskoye Selo State Reserve Museum (St. Petersburg) attended by scientists from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Turkey, Austria, Finland, Great Britain and others. This representative forum was sponsored by the RF Ministry of Culture, St. Petersburg State University and the RAS Institute of General History under the auspices of the Russian Military Historical Society and the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation. The World War I of 1914-1918 (or the Great War as it was called at that time) whose centenary is marked in 2014 is among the events which changed radically our planet. It not only surpassed the previous wars in the number of involved conflicting states, the size of combatant armies and means of warfare (flame-throwers, poison gases, etc.) but also caused colossal socioeconomic and political consequences, in particular, the collapse of four empires and "the epidemic of revolutions" in Europe. Despite the fact that the first global military conflict of the 20th century confrontation of the Entente countries (coalition of Great Britain, France, Russia and others) with the Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria)--holds a prominent place in the world history, a lot of its aspects did not find due coverage стр. 86 in national scientific literature. For example, the role of our state in that war, whose troops held the positions in the territory from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea for almost four years thus contributing to successful military operations of the allies. It was not by chance that just this subject was chosen as a priority by the conference sponsors in St. Petersburg. As was noted by the RF Minister of Culture Vl ... Читать далее