A new fundamental study by the famous Russian historian Oleg Rudolfovich Airapetov on the history of the participation of the Russian Empire in the First World War is an attempt to combine an analysis of the foreign, domestic, military and economic policies of the Russian Empire in 1914–1917. (before the February Revolution of 1917), taking into account the pre-war period, the features of which predetermined the development and forms of foreign and internal political conflicts in the country that died in 1917. The first book is devoted to the background of the conflict and the events of the first year of the war.