Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916.... Mandates of the Middle East
Agreement between the governments of England and France defining their spheres of influence in Western Asia. It was a trade agreement with land set aside for indirect control through an Arab state or a confederation of Arab states.
German Unconditional support for Austria-Hungary
There were Germanic peoples there and they wanted to unite. Austria didn't prove to be enemies
Armenian Genocide
the Turkish government organized the department of the armenians in the Ottoman Empire and over a million were murdered or starved - one of the first genocides of the 20th centuries
Balfour Declaration
British formally support the Zionist movement, leading to the establishment of Israel later on
Alexander Kerensky
An agrarian socialist who became prime minister of Russia. He refused to confiscate land holdings to give them to peasants and felt that continuation of the war was most important.
Crisis of Returning soldiers at the end of the war.
They didn't have enough space or money to take care of them
Effect of Tsar Nicholas II's decision to take control of the Russian armies
His wife Alexandra and her partner, Rasputin, took over in Russia and caused more problems. There was an increase in food shortages and morale declined. On top of that, the Russian army continued to lose, and Nicholas II was blamed for it
Allied support of the White Army during the Russian Civil War
Allies supported the Mensheviks, which failed because the Communists hated allies
War guilt clause" of the Treaty of Versailles
An article in the Treaty of Versailles that declared that Germany (with Austria) was solely responsible for the war and had to pay reparations equal to all civilian damages caused by the fighting
German acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles
They did not accept it well at all! Blamed for the war.
Lenin's response to the peasant's seizure of land
He gave them what they wanted. Since summer, a peasant revolution had swept across Russia, as impoverished peasants seized the estates of landlords and the church for themselves. When Lenin mandated reform, he merely approved what the peasants were alread
Georges Clemenceau
In France, he established a virtual dictatorship, pouncing on strikers and jailing without trial journalists and politicians who dared to suggest a compromise peace with Germany
Difference between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks
Bolsheviks tended to be more communist, and the Mensheviks were more moderate and disagreed with Lenin. Civil War between the two.
Most common result of offensive assaults along the Western Front
They ended up fighting with trench warfare. There were many casualties when people tried to move forward toward the enemy from their trench in an area known as "No man's land
Colonial Support of Britain and France
African colonial subjects of Britain and France generally supported the Allied powers and helped local British and French commanders take over German colonies. More than a million Africans, as well as Asians, served in the various armies of the warring po
Reasons why Austria-Hungary chose to go to war in June of 1914.
The Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, was killed by a Serbian. They wanted revenge for that and Serbia didn't agree to their terms of punishment so they declared war.
February Revolution of 1917
Unplanned uprisings accompanied by violent street demonstrations begun in March 1917 (old calendar february) in Petrograd, Russia, that led to the abdication of the tsar and the establishment of a provisional government
Henri-Philippe P�tain
French military leader and would later become a political leader
Official Stance of Italian Government in 1914 and 1915
They switched from the Central Powers to the Allies
Germany's Auxiliary Service Law
a German law requiring all males between the ages of seventeen and sixty to work only at jobs considered critical to the war effort
Bismarck's purpose for trying to politically isolate France in the decades leading to WWI.
He saw France as the greatest threat to peace. He believed that France still wanted revenge for its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. He isolated France by forming the Dual Alliance.
Purpose of unrestricted submarine warfare
Germany did this because they wanted to destroy any ship they believed would be harmful to their war effort
Differences between Eastern and Western Front
East: the region along the German-Russian border where Russians and Serbs battled Germans, Austrians, and Turks. More mobility
West: deadlocked region in northern France, stalemate and immobility, more deaths
Possible two-front wars that European's had planned for
Germany had made the Schlieffen Plan because they believed on the Western Front they would fight France, and on the Eastern Front they would fight Russia
Walter Rathenau
talented Jewish industrialist in charge of Germany's largest electric company, convinced the government to set up the War Raw Materials Board to ration and distribute raw materials. Modern Socialist Party led until the Nazis
Powder keg of Europe
The Balkans were called this because they had a long history of nationalist uprisings and ethnic clashes.
Schlieffen Plan
Failed German plan calling for a lightning attack through neutral Belgium and a quick defeat of France before turning on Russia
Other major allies of the original Central Powers
Austria, Germany, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy
Anglo-German Arms Race
Militarism was increasing, military and navy were built up between Germany and Great Britain, greatly opposed by liberal and socialist political fractions.
Immediate cause for Britain's declaration of war
Belgium's ports were close to the British coast and German control of Belgium would have been seen as a serious threat to Britain. In the end, Britain refused to ignore the events of the Germans, and when Germany attacked France through Belgium. Within ho
Importance of the First Battle of the Marne
saved France in 1914. French counterattacked Germans and the Germans retreated. British forced them to retreat further. Ended the Schlieffen Plan and the offensive war imagined by the Germans.
Russian-German Reinsurance Treaty of 1887
This was created to restore German relations with Russia. It was created because Russia refused to renew its membership in the alliance of the three emperors. Bismarck negotiated it and both powers promised to remain neutral if either was attacked. It was
Triple Alliance
The alliance is Austria, Germany, and Italy. Italy left the alliance when war broke out in 1914 on the grounds that Austria had launched a war of aggression. The Ottomans later replaced Italy
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Peace treaty signed in March 1918 between Germany and Russia that ceded Russian territories containing a third of the Russian empire's population to the Central Powers
Trench warfare
A type of fighting used in World War I behind rows of trenches, mines, and barbed wire; the cost in lives was staggering and the gains in territory minimal
Wilson's Fourteen Points
Wilson's 1918 peace proposal calling for open diplomacy, a reduction in armaments, freedom of commerce and trade, the establishment of the League of Nations, and national self-determination
Total War
when the entire resources and population are mobilized towards the war effort, which takes priority over everything else. Further, Total War also involves prosecuting the war against the entire population of the enemy, not just against its military.
Petrograd Soviet
A huge, fluctuating mass meeting of two to three thousand workers, soldiers, and socialist intellectuals modeled on the revolutionary soviets of 1905
Bolsheviks
Lenin's radical, revolutionary arm of the Russian party of Marxian socialism, which successfully installed a dictatorial socialist regime in Russia. "Majority group" later would be called Communists
League of Nations
A permanent organization established during the 1919 Paris peace conference, designed to protect member states from aggression and avert furture wars
War Communism
the application of centralized state control during the Russian civil war, in which the Bolsheviks seized gain from peasants, introduced rationing, nationalized all banks and industry, and required everyone to work
Treaty of Versailles
(1919) Created by the leaders of the victorious Allies Nations: France, Britain, US, and signed by Germany to help stop WWI. The treaty 1)stripped Germany of all Army, Navy, Air Force. 2) Germany had to repair war damages(33 billion) 3) Germany had to ack
national self-determination
The notion that people should be able to live free from outside interference in nations with cleary defined borders, and should be able to choose their own national governments through democratic majority-rule elections
Triple Entente
The alliance of Great Britain, France, and Russia in the First World War