VIII. The Origins of the First World War Flashcards
Princip
Gavrilo, a nineteen-year-old South Slav and member of the terrorist group the Black Hand, who wanted to destroy Austrian-Hungarian rule in the Balkans by assassinating a Balkan. This he achieved when he murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on June 28, 1914, thereby giving Austria-Hungary the excuse for opening hostilities against Serbia and precipitating WWI.
Francis Ferdinand
Austrian archduke whose assassination in June 1914 was the immediate cause of the First World War
Libyan War
Italo-Turkish War, (1911–12), war undertaken by Italy to gain colonies in North Africa by conquering the Turkish provinces of Tripolitana and Cyrenaica (modern Libya). The conflict upset the precarious international balance of power just prior to World War I by revealing the weakness of Turkey and, within Italy, unleashed the nationalist-expansionist sentiment that guided government policy in the following decades.
Balkan Wars
1912 - Balkan League (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Romania) defeated Ottoman Empire. 1913 - fight over the spils. Serbia, Greece, Romania against Bulgaria over the division of Macedonia.
Greatly heightened tensions in the Balkans. Bulgaria turned to Austria-Hungary for support. Serbia turned against Austria-Hungary after they forced them to give up their Albanian conquests.
Dreadnought
an all-big-gun ship built in 1906 that made all preceding battleships obsolete. It secured British naval supremacy and became a crucial symbol of national power, spurring the naval arms race between Great Britain and Germany.
Schlieffen Plan
A German military plan that aimed to enable Germany to wage a successful two-front war. It involved a quick victorious war against France facilitated by an invasion of Belgium, before redirecting energies towards the eastern front. It was heavily modified by von Schlieffen’s successor Moltke, including a reduction in manpower, which many blamed for its ultimate failure. It was later used as the basis for Germany’s war guilt (belligerence against small neutral countries) and thus reparations.
Hindenberg
Field Marshall during First World War, later President of Weimar Germany who appointed Hitler Chancellor in 1933.
Tannenberg
August 1914 battle which saw a decisive victory of Germany over Russia. It was led by Hindenburg and Ludendorff and was a crushing defeat for Russia, who lost almost an entire army.
Petain
French general who oversaw the victory at Verdun in 1916, later chief of state of Vichy France.
Asquith
British Prime Minister 1908-1916
Convinced a Germany victory over France would be disastrous to Britain, but held back from European affairs and delayed entry into World War One until public opinion had been aroused by the invasion of Belgium.
Jaurès
Jean Jaurès - French socialist leader who achieved the unification of factions into a single socialist party. He preached reconciliation with the state. He was a supporter of Dreyfus and a champion of Franco-German rapproachement, suspicious of the Triple Entente. He was assassinated during the war fever of July 1914 by a fanatic who believed his pacifism was playing into the hands of imperialist Germany.
Bosnian annexation crisis
1908 - Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia. Strong popular opposition in Russia, outcry in Serbia. Russia couldn’t afford war and couldn’t secure support from France as strongly as Germany had supported Austria-Hungary. Russia was resentful of her humiliation and Serbia was embittered, both contributing factors to the outbreak of the First World War.
Gallipoli
1915 disastrous campaign intended to capture the Dardanelles and occupy Constantinople, thereby relieving pressure on Russian forces in the Caucasus. It incurred huge Commonwealth losses but was one of the greatest Ottoman victories of the war, with the Turkish forces led by Mustafa Kemal - latter Atatuerk. The experiences of the ANZAC troops in the battle also led to the birth of national consciousness in Australia and New Zealand.
Verdun
A 1916 battle in France in which the French repulsed a major German offensive, while incurring heavy casualties on both sides. The battle lasted 303 days and remains one of the longest and most costly battles in history
Somme
1916 hugely costly and unsuccessful offensive on the Western Front. British troops were mown down by the impregnable German positions. The British incurred 60,000 casualties on the first day alone. It became a metaphor for futile and indiscriminate slaughter.
