SS Glossery Flashcards
ANZAC
Acronym for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
Defien Alsace and Lorraine?
Two French provinces with mixed German and French populations that were taken by Germany after the end of the Franco-Prussian war
Armistice
An end to the hostilities in which both parties agree to stop fighting
Define the Battle of the Frontiers?
A series of battles lasting from August 14 to September 6, 1914 which pitted the Belgians and French against the Germans with a total of 2 million men
Battle of Gumbinnen?
A Russian 1st army victory over the attacking 8th army which suffered 8,000 casualties
Battle of Jutland
The largest clash of surface vessels in history, 250 warships during a 72 hour battle
Battle of Tannenberg
Ludendorff and Hindenburg in command of the 8th army attacked Samsanov’s 2nd army killing 50,000 and taking 100,000 prisoner
Battle of Verdun
Major battleground when the German commander tried to bombard the exposed salient and capture the city. Joffre wanted to loose the city but Briand forced him to keep the city
B.E.F.
British Expeditionary Force in France
Brusilov Offensive
Russian offensive lead by Aleksxei Brusilov on June 4, 1916 inflicting such casualties that the Austrians were forced to stop their Italian offensive and forced Germany to transfer more divisions to the Eastern Front
Casualties
Combined total of soldiers taken out of action in one of four ways; killed, wounded, taken prisoner, or missing in action
Caucasian Front
The Turkish Russian front from the Black Sea to the Caspian
Central Powers
Triple Alliance before 1914 and Quadruple Alliance after October 1915
Conscription
The mandatory calling up of young men for military service
Decrees on Land and Peace
Two decrees issued by Russia on November 8, 1917 ensuring that they would be unable to fight the Germans by giving all the land to the peasants and the intentions of the Bolsheviks to seek an armistice
Defense in Depth
Defensive tactic used by the Germans in which successive lines of trenches slowed down and contained attackers
Dominian
The term for autonomous polity within the British empire in which the country deffered to London on matters of foreign policy
Easter 1916 Uprising
An Irish Republican to end British war in Ireland
Entente
Triple Alliance before the war but grew to a large alliance
Flanking Manuever
When an army attacked from the side avoiding heavy frontal trench defenses
Gorlice Tarnow Offensive
A German and Austrian Offensive agaisnt Russia on May 2, 1915 starting the Russian Great Retreat
Great Retreat
A series of large scale retreats by the Russian army during which they conducted scorched earth policies and attacked Jewish personages
Italian Front
A front along the Austrian-Italian border in the Alps which made offensives difficult and largely inconclusive
Hindenburg Line
A formidable defensive network of trenches utilized by the Germans after a surprise tactical withdrawal in February 1917
Paul von Hindenburg
German general and hero of Tannenberg and savior of Germany, commander German forces in the east 1914 to 1916 and Chief of Staff August 1916 to October 1918
David Lloyd, George
The British Prime Minister from 1916 and 1922, one of the Big Four and supported the League of Nation’s idea of Wilson
Erich Ludendorff
German general, Chief of Staff of the 8th army from 1914 to 191. First Quartermaster-General August 1916 to 1918
Macedonian Front
AKA Salonika Front active from January 1916 to October 1918 which pitted Bulgarians, Austrians and Germans against Serbian, French, British, Russian and Greek troops
Mobilization
The act of assembling troops and supplies and readying them for wa. Because it took time the mobilization of an opposing troop force the mobilization was seen as tantamount to an act of war
Mutiny
When a group of soldiers decide to disobey a soldier they don’t agree with
Nicholas II
The Czar of Russia from 1894 to 1917, formed the Duma in 1905. Took direct command of the army in 1915, was killed while under house arrest in July 1918
Paris Peace Conference
Peace conference at the end of the First World Wa. In session until mid 1920, most important decisions were made from January to July 1919
Plan 17
The French war plan developed by General Joffre in 1911. Called for a series of offensives towards Alsace and Lorraine. Joffre launched five offensives in August 1914 costing 200,000 casualties
Pogrom
An organized and often officially encouraged attack on a minority group especially against Jews in the Russian Empire and other countries
Race to the Sea
The strategy by German Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn in which the Germans tried to outflank the allies along the English Channel
Realpolitik
Politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives
Reserves
Soldiers who served for a number of years in the military but could be called upon at any time to serve in the army in case of war. Second, forces behind the regular units ready to be deployed to important sectors of the front
Sapper Trenches
Trenches angled in a zig zag pattern dug under the cover of darkness close to the enemy’s lines and used for massing troops in an attack
Schlieffen Plan
The plan developed by General Alfred von Schlieffen and used by Moltke against France. Massive offensive against France designed to defeat France by the 42 day
Stalemate
The situation in which neither side can make progress due to the barbed wire, machine guns, trenches and defensive technologies
Total War
When a country’s entire economy and society becomes completely focused on producing for the war
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
The naval policy by which German submarines torpedoed all shisp carrying supplies to Britian
War of Attrition
The strategy of reducing the enemy’s ability to fight by forcing him to expend ammunition, resources and taking of heavy casualties
Western Front
The main front of the war focused on a narrow stretch of land between Flanders and northeastern France
Zimmerman Telegram
Diplomatic dispatch from German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Arthur Zimmerman to the Mexican Government in January 1917 asking for Mexican aid in an alliance with Germany
