world war 1 Flashcards
The great war
Nationalism
A feeling of intense loyalty to a country or group
Militarism
Celebration of military ideals, and a rapid buildup of military power
Alliance system
A system in which countries agreed to defend each other
Balance of Power
Inequality of power among different countries that discourages any group from acting aggressively
Triple alliance countries (the main ones)
The triple alliance countries were Germany, Austria- Hungary, and Italy
Triple Entente Countries (the main ones)
Great Britain, France, and Russia
Stalemate
A situation in a conflict in which neither side can make progress against the other.
U-boats
A German submarine
Neutrality
President Wilson Wilson had long said that the United States should be neutral in the war in Europe. Most American supported this view. They did not think that the war concerned them. This view expressed in an editorial in a New York newspaper, spoke for many: “There’s nothing reasonable in such a war… And it would be foolish for this country to sacrifice itself, to….A clash of ancient hatred, which is urging the old world to deconstruction.
Propaganda
Information used to influence opinion
Sinking of the Lusitania
To stop American aid to Britain, Germany said in February 1915, that it would sink any vessels that entered or left British ports. President Wilson warned that the United States would hold Germany responsible for any American lives, lost and submarine attacks. The Germans ignored Wilson’s threat. On May 7, 1915 a German U-boat torpedo the British passenger liner called the Lusitania near the coast of Ireland. More than 1000 people died when the Lusitania sank among the dead were 128 Americans.
Freedom of the seas
The sussex Pledge
Zimmerman Telegram
In 1917, British agents intercepted a secret telegram sent by German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann. The telegram was bound for Mexico. It offered a German alliance with Mexico against the United States. In the event the Americans entered the war. The Zimmermann note, anger, Americans, and set off a new wave of anti-German feeling in the United States .