chapter 33 Flashcards
the great war: the world in upheaval
What ancient city was the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, twin provinces that had been under Ottoman rule since the 15th century?
Sarajevo
Who annexed the twin provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908?
Austria-Hungary
Who assassinated archduke Francis Ferdinand on June 28, 1914?
Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip
- lunged at the archduke’s car and fired a revolver that left a gaping hole in the archduke’s neck, and also shot his wife in the stomach
What is pan-Serbism?
pertains to the unity of Serbs across the Balkan peninsula
What did Serbian nationalists despise archduke Francis Ferdinand, and his being the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary?
Ferdinand was on record for favoring greater autonomy for the provinces, but Serbian nationalists hated the dynasty and the empire he represented
The conflict between what two powers following the assassination of archduke Francis Ferdinand, grew into a general European war, and ultimately into a global struggle involving 32 nations?
tensions between the Austro-Hungarian empire and the neighboring kingdom of Serbia
Out of the 32 nations involved in the Great War, 28 nations were collectively known as what?
the Allies and the Associated Powers
What was the name of the coalition that fought the Allies and the Associated Powers in the Great War? What countries did this coalition consist of?
The Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman empire, and Bulgaria
From what year to what year did the Great War span?
August 1914 to November 1918
In terms of industrialization, why was the Great War particularly deadly?
total war depended on Industrial nations’ capacity to fight with virtually unlimited means and to conduct combat on a vast scale
- industrial nature of the conflict meant that it took the bloodiest in the history of organized violence–military casualties surpassed a threshold beyond previous experience
The Great war led to the redrawing of ___________ boundaries and caused the demise of what four dynasties and their empires?
- Ottoman empire
- Russian empire
- Austrian-Hungarian empire
- German empire
The Great War gave birth to what nine new nations?
- Yugoslavia
- Austria
- Hungary
- Czechoslovakia
- Poland
- Lithuania
- Latvia
- Estonia
- Finland
Between what two great powers was the Great War responsible for the international realignment of power (shifted global dominance of the world to what nation)?
Europe and the United States
- undermined the preeminence and prestige of European society, signaling end to Europe’s global primacy
- United States lomed as an economic world power that played a key role in global affairs in the coming decades
Nationalism was one of the underlying causes of the Great War besides archduke Francis Ferdinand’s assassination being the catalyst for the war. How did European nationalism start and spread? What were its effects in general?
- French revolution and Napoleonic conquests spread nationalism throughout most of Europe, promoted self-determination
- Self-determination vs dynastic and reactionary powers that dominated European affairs = powerful nationalistic movements and revolutions that unified nations, but also threatened to tear apart other nations
What is the concept of self-determination?
Belief popular in World War I and after that every people should have the right to determine their own political destiny; the belief was often cited but ignored by the Great Powers.
Powerful nationalistic movements and revolutions allowed what three main powers to gain independence and/or unify their nation?
- Belgians gained independence from Netherlands in 1830
- promoted unification of Italy in 1861
- secured the unification of Germany in 1871
Powerful nationalistic movements and revolutions in Europe threatened to tear apart what three main multinational empires?
- Ottoman
- Habsburg
- Russian dynasties
- also with these dynasties, the balance of power
- opposition to foreign rule played a large role in the construction of national identities and demands for self-determination
What territory of the Ottoman empire was the first to gain independence in 1830?
Greece
- Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria followed
Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes are referred to as _________ peoples.
Slavic
What was the Pan-Slavism movement and what did it seek to do?
19th century movement that stressed the ethnic and cultural kinship of the various Slav peoples of eastern and east central Europe
- sought to unite those peoples politically
- supported Slav nationalism in lands occupied by Austria-Hungary
How and why did Russia support Serbia, and their pressing for the unification with the independent kingdom of Serbia?
promoted Pan-Slavism!!
- to promote secession by Slav areas, thereby weakening Austrian rule and perhaps preparing territories for future Russian annexation
What European power backed Austria-Hungary in their confrontation with nationalist aspirations of Slavic peoples?
Germany
In 1870, Britain produced what percent of the world’s total industrial output compared with Germany?
Britain: 32%
Germany: 13%
- by 1914, Britain had dropped to 14%, rough equivalence of industrial output strained relations between two economic powers
What were dreadnoughts, and which European power decided to construct these in response to a threat by Germany’s increasingly large naval fleet of battleships?
BRITAIN: A class of British battleships whose heavy armaments made all other battleships obsolete overnight.
What were dreadnought warships characterized by?
high speed supplied by steam turbines
What two colonial powers faced off in Persia and Afghanistan?
Britian and Russia
What two colonial powers clashed in Siam (modern-day Thailand) and the Nile valley?
Britain and France
What two European colonial powers clashed in east and southwest Africa?
Britain and Germany
Germany and France disputed over colonies in what two regions (in Africa)?
Morocco and west Africa
What two European powers fought over Morocco in 1905 and threatened to start a war, had it not been for an international conference in Algeciras, Spain in the following year?
France and Germany
- trying to isolate the French diplomatically, the German government announced its support of Moroccan independence, which French encroachment endangered
- French responded to German intervention by threatening war
Germany probably acted this way because many of its imperial efforts were frustrated by the fact that British and French imperialists had already carved up most of the world
What were the five states of the Balkan peninsula that fought two consecutive wars for possession of European territories held by the Ottoman empire?
Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania
When did the two Balkan wars take place? What was the impact of these wars?
Between 1912 and 1913
- Balkan wars strained European diplomatic relations and helped shape the tense circumstances that led to the outbreak of the Great War
Compelled to achieve headline-grabbing foreign policy successes, policymakers and diplomats ran the risk of paying for ____________ triumphs with ______________ hostility from other countries.
short-lived; long-lasting
Mass production of newspapers, pamphlets, and books that fueled feelings of national arrogance and aggressive patriotism represented innovations in what that contributed to stronger pressure towards national greatness?
new means of COMMUNICATION nourished the public’s desire to see their country “come in first” (winning races and conflicts of the world beyond their home country)
Intended to preserve peace, rival alliance systems created a framework whereby even a ________ ____________ crisis could set off a chain reaction leading to _________ war.
small; international; global
What was the common characteristic underlying all alliances made amidst escalating national rivalries and nationalist aspirations of subject minorities?
they outlined the circumstances under which countries would go to war to support one another
What major alliance grew out of a close relationship that developed between Germany and Austria-Hungary during the last 3 decades of the 19th century?
The Triple Alliance, also known as the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman empire)
In 1879, the governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary formed what alliance as a defensive pact that ensured protection from a Russian attack and neutrality in case of an attack from any other power?
the Dual Alliance
What was the main reason that Germans entered into the Dual Alliance pact?
fear of a hostile France
What was the main reason that Austro-Hungarians entered the Dual Alliance pact?
viewed it as giving them a free hand in pursuing their Balkan politics without fear of Russian intervention
What European power joined the Dual Alliance in 1882, and transformed it into the Triple Alliance?
Italy, fearful of France
What were the four threats that Italy posed in the Triple Alliance that threatened to wreck the alliance for other powers?
- Italian policy of expansion at the expense of the Ottoman empire
- Italy’s rivalry with Austria-Hungary
- Italian declaration of war on the Ottoman empire in 1911
- drive to annex the Tripoli region of northern Africa
How did the European powers of Russia, Britain, and France react to the Triple Alliance/which power did they feel threatened by?
France: determined to curb the growing might of Germany, especially after their humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
Russia: disturbed especially by Germany’s support of Austria
Britain: suspicious of any nation that seemed to threaten the balance of power on the Continent
The nations of France, Russia, and Britain formed what alliance that was more commonly referred to as the Allies?
Triple Entente
- organized series of agreements between Britain and France (1904) and Britain and Russia (1907) that aimed to resolve colonial disputes
The preservation of peace amidst the formation of military alliances was party difficult because the military staffs of each nation had devised _________ military plans and timetables to be carried out in the event of war.
inflexible
What did French military strategy revolve around? What did the plan amount to/what did it ultimately command?
Plan XVII = veritable celebration of offensive maneuvers = ATTACK
- enemy’s intentions are inconsequential, and huge number of casualties weren’t considered
German war plans, devised out of fear of encirclement (isolating some area of importance of the enemy), were based on a strategy developed by who in 1905?
General Count Alfred von Schlieffen (1833-1913)
What did Germany’s Schlieffen plan (developed by General Count Alfred von Schlieffen) call for?
swift knockout of France, followed by defensive action against Russia
- predicted strategy on knowledge that Russians couldn’t mobilize army as quickly as the French, allotting them time to concentrate full power on France
What were the two main downsides to Germany’s Schlieffen war plan?
- serious logistical problems with moving 180,000 soldiers and their supplies into France and Belgium on 500 trains, with 50 wagons each
- serious obstacle to those seeking to preserve the peace
- in event of Russian mobilization, Germany’s leaders would stick to plan and set in motion military conflict of major proportions
By July of 1914, Austrian investigators had linked the assassins of archduke Francis Ferdinand to what terrorist group?
the Black Hand
- centered in Serbia
What was the Black Hand terrorist group dedicated to/what was their ultimate goal?
dedicated to the unification of all south Slavs (Yugoslavs) to form a greater Serbia
As far as Serbian nationalists were concerned, the principal obstacle to Slavic unity was the _________________ empire, which explains why the heir to the Habsburg throne was a symbolic victim.
Austro-Hungarian
Determined to teach the Serbs a lesson, the Austrians issued a nearly unacceptable ultimatum to the government of Serbia to which the Serbian government accepted all terms except for what term?
- ultimatum demanded that Austrian officials take part in any Serbian investigation of persons found on Serbian territory connected to the assassination of Francis Ferdinand
What did Austria-Hungary do after determining Serbia’s reply to their ultimatum to be unsatisfactory?
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and the Great War had begun
What two main factors largely determined how the beginning of the Great War between Austria-Hungary and Serbia would play out?
- complex mobilization plans
- mobilization orders and adherence to precise timetables = crucial to successful conduct of war
- had to redirect all economic and social activities to support military efforts - grinding logic of the alliance system
Which Russian tsar took the decisive step in ordering mobilization against Germany?
Nicholas II
After Nicholas II ordered mobilization against Germany, how did Germany react/what did they do to Russia?
precipitated a German ultimatum to Russia on July 31, demanding that the Russian army cease its mobilization immediately
- Russia replied with blunt “impossible”
- Germany also issued ultimatum to France demanding to know what their intentions were in case Germany and Russia went to war
After the Russians replied to the German’s ultimatum with a blunt “impossible”, and the French never answered, what did the German government do on August 1?
declared war on Russia, and France started to mobilize
- waited two more days and Germans declared war on France on August 3
Why did German troops invade Belgium in accordance with the Schlieffen plan/why was it key to the plan?
wanted to attack weaker part of French army by a massive German force through Belgium
Over what conflict with Germany did Britain enter the war?
Germany was trying to invade Belgium to attack at the French army, but Belgian government refused to permit passage and called on signatories of treaty of 1839, which guaranteed Belgium’s neutrality
- Britain = one of the treaty’s signatories, and when German wartime leaders refused to respect British ultimatum demanding Belgian neutrality be respected, Britain declared war
What treaty, guaranteeing Belgian neutrality, did the Belgian government call on when refusing to permit the passage of German troops through Belgium?
treaty of 1839
In the spirit of glory and honor, and believing that God was on their side, what was the inscription on the belt buckle of German recruits?
Gott mit uns (“God is with us”)
What did British soldiers call for going into battle?
“For God, King, and Country”
In 1915, what happened to Italy regarding its place in the Triple Alliance?
Italy left the Triple Alliance in favor of neutrality, but entered the war on the side of the Allies in 1915
What did the Allies’ Treaty of London promise?
once victory was secured, they would surrender Austro-Hungarian-controlled territories to Italy
- specifically south Tyrol and most of the Dalmatian coast
- hoped that the Italians would pierce Austrian defenses
Trenches on the __________ front ran from the English Channel to Switzerland.
western
What was no-man’s-land? How was barbed wire effective in these areas?
the deadly territory between opposing trenches
- barbed wire proved highly effective in frustrating the advance of soldiers across no-man’s land
Who developed the machine gun?
by Confederate troops during the US Civil War
- one of the most important advances in military technology and compelled military leaders on all sides to rethink their battlefield tactics
What was the most unconventional weapon developed by industrial societies?
poisonous gas
- first used by German troops in January 1915
What was a especially hated and much feared weapon by troops in trenches that when exposed to air, turned into a noxious yellow gas and rotted the body from within and without?
mustard gas
Who first introduced tanks in September 1916, which the Allies deployed them to break down defensive trenches and to restore fighting?
the British
The plane and the tank figured more prominently as important strategic weapons during what war?
Second World War
Because airplanes could not carry enough weapons to do serious damage to troops or installations on the ground, their real asset during the Great War was _________ __________________.
aerial reconnaissance
How did the submarine begin to play a significant role in the Great War? Who used it effectively for their navy?
German navy deployed their diesel-powered submarine fleet against Allied commercial shipping
In 1916, what did the Germans try to do that lead to devastating casualties and none of the participants gained any strategic advantage?
tried to break the stalemate with a huge assault on the fortress of Verdun
- French did not let the Germans pass, but at a tremendous cost:
French= 315,000 dead
Germans= 280,000 dead
Because they were crucial to the war effort, millions of people out of uniform became _________ of _________ military operations.
targets; enemy
What was a German zepellin?
a hydrogen-filled dirigible (one of those poofy hot-air balloon things that usually say “Good Year” on it) whose underbelly rained bombs
- heralded a new kind of warfare, air war against civilians