The Great War Flashcards
What are the MAIN causes of WWI
Militarism, Alliance System, Imperialism, and Nationalism
How does Militarism cause the war?
Countries focus on having giant, powerful militaries, want to be better than other countries, and keep building them up. Want to use the weapons
How do alliances cause the war?
Going to break Europe into two sides, instead of it being a small war alliances will come help and cause it to a domino effect of countries joining.
Who was part of the allies alliance?
France, Great Britain, Italy, United States, Russia
Who was part of the central powers?
Ottoman Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary
How would imperialism cause the war?
Germany wanted to get colonies, and England and France wanted to keep theirs. The winner would get control of all of them
What is nationalism?
Intense pride in your country or ethnic group
How does nationalism cause the war?( 2 ways)
Made countries feel superior and were sure they would win a war
Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in an attempt to free Bosnia from Austria-Hungary
What is the difference between dividing and unifying nationalism?
Unifying- want to bring nations/ethnic groups together
Dividing- want to break away from empire to form own nations of ethnic groups
What was the spark of the war?
The assassination of Archduke Franz Fernandid of Austria-Hungary by the Black Hand
What is the black hand?
Terrorist organization in Serbia that wanted unify all Serbs together
Who was Gavrilo Princip?
Black hand member who killed Franz Fernandid
When did the war officially start?
July 28th, 1914.
Who declared war first? Why.
Austria- Hungary on serbia= Serbia would not help with finding black hand members after the assassination
Who came to help Serbia? Why.
Russia- saw Serbia as their little brother to protect since similar ethnicity
Who came to help Austria-Hungry. Why?
Germany gave them the blank check to fight to war
Wanted more power in the world
Who came to help Russia? Why.
France, did not want Germany to get power and gain more land from France
What were Germany’s military strategies called? What was it supposed to stop Germany from having to do?
Schiefflan plan
Fight a two-front war( split their military in half and fight on both sides of their borders)
How was it supposed to work? ( Schefflan plan)
Germany would attack France first through Beligum since France had defensive up along the German/French border. Then after quickly beating France can turn attention towards Russia
why did Schiefflan plan not work?
Belgium fought back= brought Britain into the war
Russia attacked faster than they had planned with the help of France
Why did Britain get pulled into the war?
Allied with Belgium, who was invaded by Germany.
Who fought on the eastern front?
Russia vs Germany/ Austria-Hungary/ Ottomans
What type of fighting did they use? Why( 2 reasons)
Civil war style fighting
Russia was not industrialized yet
Allies could not get Russia industrialized items to help
What was no man’s land?
Area in between the two sides of trenches that were filled with artillery shells/mud. Barbed wire
Who fought in the western front.
Allies( Britain/ France/ USA) vs Germany
What type of style of fighting did they use? Why!
Trenches/ MACHINE GUNS USED
How did the fighting in WWI differ from previous wars in Europe?
New technologies made the war more defensive and more deadly. More people in the world made a lot more people fight. IMperialism made colonies come which made it a world war.
Why were tanks used? Were they effective?
To transport troops across no man’s land without getting shot
Not / break down/ slow/ no weapons/ no ventilation
How were airplanes used at first? Later? What were the problems?
To gather information about the enemy (reconnaissance)
No protection for pilots
How was barbed wire used?
To funnel soldiers into one area to be shot at with machine guns
What were artillery shells used for?
To destroy the trenches of the enemies to force them out
What caused shell shock? What did it look like?
Artillery shells/ trenches
Lost control of body movements/ mind
Poison gas- how effective was it? What did it do to soldiers?
Not very effective- killed less 1% of the deaths
Left with scars
Why were submarines deadly during the war?
Did not have sonar to detect them
Could not hold hostages - had to shoot to kill
How did people in colonies help with the war?
Colonists were brought in to fight from all colonies
What were the reasons why America joins the war?
Germans changed from targeting supply ships to targeting passenger ships and trying to kill civilians, which turned Americans against them
Zimmerman telegraph
Loaned allies money
Why did Russia drop out of the war?
Russia had not industrialized, and they weren’t able to have the allies ship them goods and weapons. They were doing so bad in the war, their people overthrew their government to get out of the war.
Signed treaty with Germany to end fighting- gave upland
What was the effect of that on the war?
Germany was able to move troops to focus on the western front
What were the effects of the war on Europe?
Death
8.5 million, the Allies, 17 million total
Destruction of Europe ( farmlands, cities, factories)
Wounded soldiers
When does the war officially end?
11/11/11, 1918
What treaty brought the war to a close?
Treaty of Versailles
Who was involved in making the treaty to end the war? What did they want?
France - Totally destroy Germany
Britain - Gain colonies and make Germany weaker
Italy - Gain some land
United States - Be fair to everyone, let people decide for themselves who rules them, and create the League of Nations
Who was NOT involved in making the treaty?
Germany - They lost, so they weren’t able to be in the negotiations
Russia - They quit early and were communist now, so we didn’t trust them
What was the War Guilt Clause?
Germany was forced to admit being solely responsible for WWI
What was the effect of the War Guilt Clause on Germany?
It made Germans resent the allies and were forced to pay $64 billion to the allies to rebuild
Half to France alone
What happened to Germany’s colonies?
They all got taken away from them- given to the winners of the war
What happened to Germany’s military?
German army reduced to 100,000 troops, no Air Force, Navy, or tanks, no draft
Germany was no longer allowed to produce any kind of war material
Had to give navy to Britain
What were the lasting long-term effects of WWI? (4)
Colonial revolts started to spread, marking the beginning of the end of imperialism
The last remaining monarchies in Europe collapsed and were replaced by democracies
The rise of Communism in Russia
The balance of power in the world shifted
Europe neared bankruptcy, the United States became a world power
