World War One Flashcards
Causes of WWI
Imperialism, Militarism, Nationalism, and Entangling Alliances
Entangling Alliances
Web of alliances that forced countries to fight for each other if needed
Allies/Triple Entente
Russia, France, Britain
Central Powers/ Triple Alliance
Italy, Austria-Hungary, Germany
Treaty
Countries agree not to fight eachother
Alliance
Countries will help each other; Friends
Aid
Countries sending resources to one another
Imperialism
Taking over less powerful territories/countries
Increased tension for more colonies
Countries want to be more superior than other countries
Militarism
The belief that development and maintenance of the military is the most important goal for society
How did Imperialism encourage militarism?
Imperialism created a need for a massive army that could respond around the world
How did the Industrial Revolution encourage militarism?
The Industrial Revolution provided new resources/products to build these powerful armies
Nationalism
Aggressively pursued throughout Europe by ethnic groups that were being controlled by larger empires
Example of how nationalism contributed to the start of WWI?
In the Austrian-Hungarian empire, many Serbians wanted to break away
What year did the US enter the war?
1917
Why did the US enter the war?
Sank a British ship that had 128 American citizens on it and sank 3 American ships
Unrestricted submarine warfare
Germany declared that they would sink any ship in the water around Britain
The Zimmerman Telegram
A note from Germany that promised to reclaim the land that Mexico had lost from the US if they (Mexico) would join the alliance;Intercepted by the US
Schlieffen Plan
- Russia would be slow to mobilize
- France would be easy to conquer
- Quickly attack France on the West then fight Russia on the East
- Resulted in fighting on the Western Front
Why did the Schlieffen plan fail?
- Russia mobilizes fast than expected
2. France was actually difficult to conquer
