When war came the Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf planned to launch an offensive into Russian Poland with his northern armies (the 1st and 4th).

[6] Conrad knew that his German allies were committed to an offensive in the West to defeat the French in the first ten weeks of the war.

The Russian operation had just begun; the 11th Austrian Corps was stationed on the Zbruch River and one Austrian cavalry division, supported by infantry and artillery, decided to cover the Russians by breaking through the town where there was the 2nd consolidated Cossack division and several companies with machine guns.

Dankl struck and drove back Baron Zaltsa's Russian Fourth Army in what would be known as the Battle of Kraśnik.

The battle took place with the double superiority of the Austrians in manpower and artillery, and ended with a complete victory of the Russians and the latter's transition to a counteroffensive.

[9][10] With the entire 3rd Army and Kovess Group in full retreat, Conrad pulled forces away from the northern front which he believed had been sufficiently defeated.

Ivanov ordered Plehve's Fifth Army to attack and drove the Austrians back as they began to shift forces to the south in an engagement known as the Battle of Rava Ruska.

In early November, the Russians set a goal to reach the approaches of the Carpathian mountains, for this the Częstochowa operation began.

The battle severely damaged the Austro-Hungarian Army, killed a large portion of its trained officers, and crippled Austria-Hungary.