exam 1 Flashcards
The Hague Conventions
In 30 years before WWI, European states became more militarily and politically entangled through the alliance system. The major global powers gathered twice in the decades before 1914 to negotiate restrictions on warfare. two sets of agreements were reached. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. They discussed the humane treatment of prisoners of war. The 1907 one agreed that no aerial attacks were allowed.
Rupert Brooke
British writer who died of blood poisoning in on route to Gallipoli 1915 and wrote the sonnet “Peace”. This was about war experience to all people. This poem showed great “war enthusiasm”.
H.G Wells
British author who depicted that an aerial war might cause. It turned out that the ariels attacks turned out to be less than he feared. Aerial warfare led to social disorganization . The first time this happened was when Germany did this to New York. This led to a lot of civil conflict.
Julian Grenfell
Communication between soldiers and their families was carefully managed. They watched what information they provided to the civilians. Julian Grenfell wrote a letter describing trench warfare to his parents about how horrible it was. Six months after writing this he died of wounds in France.
Henri Barbusse
barbs wrote a novel while recovering from wounds that would cause him to get taken off the army in 1917. His war experience led him to pacifism, socialism, and communism. This piece he wrote showed an accurate picture of wartime conditions
the demographic transition
Death rates fell first due to improvements in medical care and nutrition (less dependence on cheap carbs; more dairy and meat)
This meant that more children survived their first five years. At that point they were far more likely to survive to adulthood.
This falling death rate went hand-in-hand with rising standards of living. Preserving a higher standard of living for fewer children (who survived!) began to make increasing sense for the middle and working classes
-Europe was the first area o go through this.
humanitarianism
Humanitarianism is a moral of kindness extended to all human beings. The 19th century was the “age of humanitarianism”. The results of this was
- Medicine, the triumph of germ theory made hospitals into places to recover in, not places to die in.
- Illiteracy had been wiped out in all of the most advanced countries.
- Some women had won basic rights (to own property, get an education).
Triple Entente
In 1904 British established the Anglo-French Entente. Britain and France were bound to assist each other in resist of Germany. Strong Indus power- France
Loose Cannon:Russia
Uncertain Partner: Great Britain
this resulted in Europe being divided into two rival camps.
Triple Alliance
Bismarck took the steps of alliances due to their gain of Alsace -lorraine.
started as dual alliance. then Italy joined.
(1882): Fearful of France, Italy joined the Austro-German alliance.
Strong industrial power: Germany
Loose Cannon: Aus-Hungary
Uncertain partner- Italy
Little Slavic Brothers
A nationalist movement in Serbia and Russia’s willingness to support its “Little Slavic Brothers” (Serbs) posed a threat to Aus-Hungry not to mess with serbs cuz they are our “little Slavic Brothers” even know Russia doesn’t have a formal alliance with Serbia.
Russia wants a foothold in that part of Europe because they are in aus hung back yard
Greater Serbia
Serbian agitates for “Greater Serbia”: let’s incorporate those Serbs and their territory that are currently part of Austria-Hungary and have their own Serbian state all together
The balkan wars happen after this.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke of Austro-Hungarian who was a man of peace, was going be the empire to Austria, then negotiated a 3 way empire.
he got assassinated by a Serbian Nationalist group called the backhand. this occurred in a car with his wife.
weapons of mass destruction (by early 20th century)
Poison gas
Chlorine gas developed by a team led by Fritz Haber
Phosgene was stronger than chlorine- caused drowning
Mustard Gas was also used. mustard gas would hit you later and gas masks couldn’t help because it would break your skin
Soldiers’ attitudes toward gas was that it was “dishonorable warfare”
Gas will hardly be used against soldiers in World War Two.
imperialism
This is a policy extending a country’s power. Industrial powers sought places to invest in, markets, and “primary reserves” for raw materials.
Industrial countries created many new colonies around the world. Europe focused primarily on Africa, and secondarily on East Asia. They took things such as diamonds and minerals.
To Africans this meant they became more poor while Europeans became more rich.
the ‘‘blank check”
Wilhem II offers his Blank Check to support aus-Hun because he was nervous about alliances
He and the chancellor were playing with fire.
this happened because he recognized necessity of preserving the alliance.
An action against Serbia could lead to a world war.
the Wiesner investigation
Wiesner investigation in Sarajevo could offer no solid evidence that the Serbian government helped prepare or even knew about the assassination plot
Willy-Nicky correspondance
Austria declared war so First cousins Nicholas II and Wilhelm II tried to save the situation at the last minute.
Nicholas II declared mobilization, then canceled the order. He then communicated with Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany.
There was a lot of tension in these letters.
later on, Germany declared war
Serbian ultimatum
Austrian government determined to act against this perceived threat to the monarchy – and show the world that it still carried some weight.
The strategy: send Serbia an ultimatum containing unacceptable demands. Serbia was given 48 hours in which to reply. The Serbian government accepted all but one demand – for the Austrians to investigate the assassination on Serbian soil.
Schlieffen Plan
German plan to attack France before Russia in the event of war with Russia.
Plan to invade through Luxembourg and south of Belgium.
they were going to surround Paris from behind and surprise them.
This plan was proved impossible due to geographical reasons, not everyone could travel through fast enough. If they were even one day behind, Russia had a chance of beating them.
plan made by Alfred von Schlieffen
Trench System
his was created after the “race to sea” in Belgium
troops were ordered to dig in underground
The result: the creation of the “Western Front” and the trench system.
The “line” from the North Sea to Switzerland was about 475 miles long…. But there were around 25,000 miles of trench because there were trenches on two sides
they were the front line.
Trenches contained:
Many perpendicular communication trenches
Saps
Dugouts
Italian intervention
It wanted protection from attacks from France so the joined the original dual alliance later on but was considered
the triple alliance’s uncertain partner
-The Italian military was relatively weak.
-These alliances led to an arms race
Gallipoli
(April-August 1915)
Main idea: open up a new front, thereby taking pressure off of the Western and Eastern fronts.
The Gallipoli peninsula: the gateway to Istanbul.
Landings on various parts of the peninsula; attacks badly coordinated, often badly led.
Only success of the Allied Powers: the evacuation, carried out in secrecy.
LESSONS from this battle: 1) superiority of defense; 2) the war will be won only on the Western Front.
German atrocities
Some examples of German Atrocities are the releasing of poison gas which was a violation of the hague convention of 1899.
another atrocity was when they invaded Belgium without warning as part of the Schlieffen Plan
spread by newspaper stories, or reports by commission of inquires.
meaning given to the war: a key to unlocking the mystery of the “second acceptance” of the war. A war for civilization against barbarism.
