Russian Revolution and World War I

Russian Revolution of 1905

Russian citizens were angry with the overly autocratic tsar Nicholas II and loss of Korea in the Russo-Japanese War (1904), state bankruptcy; revolution created Duma (parliament) and constitutional monarchy, but reforms soon reversed and autocracy continu

Duma

Russian parliament created as a result of the Revolution of 1905; later dissolved in the years preceding the Revolution of 1917

Nicholas II

Tsar at the time of the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917; autocratic role despite the creation of Duma in 1905; attempted to personally lead the Russian army during WWI, and during his absence, wife Alexandra and Rasputin had increasing control of pol

Dual Alliance

1879 treaty created by Otto von Bismarck which militarily linked Germany and Austria-Hungary

Reinsurance Treaty

1887 military agreement between Germany and Russia; Wilhelm II did not renew the treaty after dismissing Bismarck in 1890

Triple Entente/Entente Cordiale

Military alliance of France, Russia, and Great Britain during WWI

Three Emperors League

Weak military alliance between Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Bismarckian Germany; officially fell apart when Wilhelm II violated Reinsurance Treaty by aiding Austria in the Balkan Crisis

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne who was assassinated by a Bosnian nationalist in June 1914; assassination led Austria to declare war on Serbia and essentially led to the outbreak of WWI

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Territories in the Ottoman Empire annexed by the Austrians in 1908; done so that territories would not be taken by the Serbian state; contained ethnic Serbs

Black Hand

Serbian nationalist group responsible for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand; heavily tied to government and assassination may have been backed by government officials

Blank Check

Wilhelm II and Germany's promise to support Austria-Hungary in the conflict in the Balkans

Jean Jaures

Leader of the French Socialist Party who was one of the only socialist leaders who spoke out against the onset of WWI; assassinated because of his beliefs; most socialists initially supported the war effort, despite their claims that they would never supp

Schlieffen Plan

Germany military plan at the beginning of WWI; involved quick advance through northern France in belief that France would be easily defeated, then movement east to defeat the Russians; also required movement through Belgium (created in 1830 and guaranteed

First Battle of the Marne

Battle between the Germans and French at the Marne river in France which began struggle of trench warfare and stalemate

Trench Warfare

Term used to describe the stalemate during early WWI in which troops remained in underground ditches and did not move; many soldiers died unneccessarily trying to break through the other side's line of defenses; more common in the west than the east

Poison Gas

Created during the Second Industrial Revolution and first introduced in warfare in 1915; allowed for further and more widespread destruction that previous methods of warfare

Central Powers

Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire against the Entente/Allied Powers

Winston Churchill

First Lord of the Admiralty in Great Britain during WWI; organized plan to attack Turkey which was a huge disaster and almost ended Churchill's political career

Gallipoli

Turkish beach attacked by Great Britain in April 1915 (Turks had entered the war on the side of the Central Powers); attack failed miserably and British suffered severe losses before withdrawal

Verdun

French fortress attacked by the Germans in 1916 that was crucial to maintaining French public support; survived thanks to incredible effort under French General Philippe Petain; attacks very costly for both sides

Battle of the Somme

French and British attack on the Germans along the Somme River in France in July 1916; long and costly battle for both parties that resulted in stalemate

Battle of Passchendaele

Costly battle in which France and Britain tried to break through German enemy lines, but once again failed; battle resulted in a costly stalemate

Zimmermann Telegram

Telegram from Germany to Mexico in 1917 encouraging Mexico to fight the United States; Mexico declined the offer due to internal rebellions, but telegram infuriated the US and encouraged them to enter the war against the Germans

US Entry to the War

1917
reasons: unrestricted submarine warfare (Germans took down US passenger cruise ship)
Zimmermann Telegram
Large and well-equipped military - decisive factor in Allied Victory

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

Germany's policy (adapted in 1915) of sinking any ship whether British or neutral that tried to enter British ports; angered US and Britain especially after sinking of Lusitania (passenger ship); at time, British also blockaded German ports but did not ne

Lusitania

British passenger ship sunk by a German U-Boat in May 1915; angered the US (120 US passengers on ship) and encouraged them to enter the war; caused Germans to temporarily cease unrestricted submarine warfare

Prince Max von Baden

Leader of new German government towards the end of WWI who sued for peace in 1917; politically moderate; forced to abdicate in 1918 as soviets and workers councils formed in Germany and feared a revolution similar to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia

Woodrow Wilson

American president during WWI; at Paris Peace Conference, encouraged settlement based on the Fourteen Points and self-determination

Fourteen Points

Idealistic document by President Woodrow Wilson that tried to establish peace based on national self-determination, free trade, and end to secret alliances/negotiations

Increasing Role of Government

Economic Planning (price controls, ban of strikes, rations, planned use of national resources i.e. coal)
Regulations on pub hours (Britain)
Censorship (letters, media)
Propaganda (especially in Germany - had the people convinced that everything was going

Women in/after the War

Women often worked because men off at war - included dangerous and untraditional jobs such as heavy industry and munitions factories (most women removed from jobs quickly after the war)
Most states granted right to vote around 1918 (including Britain and

Influenza

Serious flu; outbreak occurred shortly after the end of WWI and claimed 30 million lives worldwide

Treaty of Versailles

Signed June 28th, 1919 during Paris Peace Conference (one of 5 separate treaties); Article 231 blamed Germany for causing the war and forced them to pay huge reparations, return Alsace-Lorraine to France, accept French occupation and German demilitarizati

League of Nations

Woodrow Wilson's dream for an alliance of the major powers which would work together to settle disputes between nations; established at peace conference but had little actual power, partially because the US and Britain did not join (US did not want to get

Georges Clemenceau

French Premier during Paris Peace Conference; felt that France had suffered the most from the war and it was all Germany's fault; wanted to permanently weaken Germany and ensure that they would never again be a threat to French security

David Lloyd George

British Prime Minister at time of Paris Peace Conference; most interested in maintaining naval and colonial superiority (i.e. disamarment of Germany); not as extreme as Clemenceau but still wanted to see Germany punished for causing the war

New States Created at Paris Peace Conference

Czechoslavakia (Czechs, Slovaks, and ethnic Germans combined)
Breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Ottoman Empire
Independent Hungary reduced in size
Independent Romania from former Austro-Hungarian lands
Serbia became new and enlarged Yugoslavia (r

Alexandra

Spoiled German wife of Nicholas II who was left in church of the state while nicholas was fighting in the war; knew nothing about government and heavily influenced by monk Rasputin; subject to rumors that she was trying to sabotage Russia in the war with

Gregory Rasputin

Russian monk and close friend of Alexandra - believed to be the only one who could heal her hemophiliac son; heavy political influence during Nicholas's absence and encouraged empress to appoint his friends to office; assassinated in 1916 by arch-monarchi

Soviets

Marxist and Socialist communes which formed and gained power around the time of the Russian Revolutino in 1917

Provisional Government

Consisted of members of the Duma; appointed in order to create a committee for a new Russian constitution after Nicholas II's abdication

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolshevik party; preached that small group of professional assassins could seize power for the working class, rather than a full-blown revolution as Marxists had predicted

Bolsheviks

Followers of V.I. Lenin; unlike traditional Marxists, believed in small revolution of professional and trained assassins rather than revolution of the proletariat and historical purpose of class struggles; did nto believe in a need of a bourgeois revoluti

Mensheviks

Clung to traditional Marxist ideology in believing that a revolution of the bourgeois was neccessary before a revolution of the working classes; majority in Russia; supported the Provisional Government

Leon Trotsky

Powerful military leader who helped the Bolsheviks seize power over the provisional government

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Treaty between Germany and Russia withdrawing Russia from the war; Russians agreed to the treaty because in their minds, a series of world Communist revolutions would ensue and land boundaries would no longer matter; treaty had Germans confiscating masses