World War I Flashcards
MAIN (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism)
These are the indirect causes of WWI:
Militarism: the belief or desire that a country should maintain a strong military and be prepared to use to defend or promote national interests
Alliances: relationships among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose
Imperialism: a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force
Nationalism: a feeling that people have of being loyal to and proud of their country often with the belief that it is better and more important than other countries
Triple Alliance
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
Triple Entente
France, Great Britain, and Russia
Central Powers
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire
Allies
France, Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Italy, and Canada
Schlieffen Plan
Germany’s military plan to rapidly defeat France and then move east to defeat Russia. Many thought that this plan would succeed because Russia would lag in mobilizing for the war due to the fact that they weren’t industrialized.
Trench Warfare
Opposing armies fight each other from trenches dug in the battlefield.
Eastern Front
Region along the German-Russian border where Russians and Serbs battled Germans, Austrians, and Turks.
Western Front
Also known as the “terrain of death”.
The region of northern France where the forces of the Allies and the Central Powers battled each other.
Germany suffered defeat at the Battle of the Marne, and war in the west settles into a stalemate characterized by war in the trenches.
Balkans
The region of southern Europe now occupied by Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, the European part of Turkey, and the former republics of Yugoslavia.
Franz Ferdinand
The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. He was murdered while visiting the capital of Bosnia. His assassination by Gavrilo Princip is what launched WWI.
Stalemate
Deadlock
“No Man’s Land”
Land between the front lines or trenches of opposing sides during battle.
War of Attrition
Military strategy in which one tries to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in soldiers and resources.
Casualties
Anyone killed, injured, captured, or considered missing in action.
Alsace-Lorraine
Land that France lost to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War (1870).
Mobilization
The act of assembling and making both troops and supplies ready for war.
Serbia
Gavrilo Princip was Serbian, which is why Austria-Hungary used his act of murder on Ferdinand as reason for demands. The Serbians didn’t want to agree to all the demands which was when Austria-Hungary declared war on them. Russia, allied with Serbia, decided to help Serbians by mobilizing troops. It was then that countries chose sides in the First World War.
Modern Weapons
Poison Gas: wind carried it for miles, caused thousands of casualties instantly / easier way to kill
Machine Guns: team of 3 or more soldiers could mow down scores of advancing infantry with ease / killed faster allowing for more death
Planes: used for recon, bombing, and artillery spotting / over time the machinery improved
Tanks: swept through barbed wire and trenches / over time the machinery improved
Submarines: led to unrestricted attacks on civilian ships /
*VERY UNSPECIFIC, PLEASE ADD INFORMATION IF POSSIBLE
