WW1, Russian Revolution And The Rise Of The Nazis Flashcards
When was WW1?
1914-1918
How many total soldier deaths in WW1?
Around 9 million soldiers were killed
What are long term causes?
Causes of a war that go back years or decades
What is Nationalism?
Feeling that your country is better than others.
How did European leaders prove that they were the best?
By having wars with their rivals
What is militarism?
Spending lots of money on your military and it’s size and using it to aggressively defend or promote your country
What is imperialism?
A desire to build big empires. By the start of WW1, lots of European countries wanted big empires and saw each other as threats. They especially wanted to comtrol nations in Africa.
What were the two European alliances?
The triple alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and The triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia.)
Pros and cons of the Alliances
Pros: It would put countries of of starting wars bevause it would mean fighting three countries and not just one.
Cons: It would take very little for all of Europe to get dragged into war
When did WW1 start?
28 June 1914 in Sarajevo when Gavrilo Princip Shot and Killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Why did the Black Hand assasinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand?
Because they wanted Bosnia which had recently been annexed into Austria-Hungary (1908) to join with Serbia.
Who was Archduke Franz Ferdinand?
He was the heir of the Austria-Hungary empire
Where was the actual assasination?
The assasination happened outside Schiller’s cafe where the Archduke’s driver stopped after being informed he had taken a wrong turn. At that point, Gavrilo Princip by pure chance had the perfect opportunity to shoot the Archduke in the Wife and he did. He fired two shots: one which hit the archduke in the throat and one that hit his wife in the stomach. They were both killed.
What happened to Gavrilo Princip?
Gavrilo Primcip received 20 years in prison but died 4 hears later in 1918 from a lung disease called Tuberculosis.
How did WW1 escalate?
28 July- Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assasination and attacked.
29 July - Russia prepares its army to protect Serbia and attack Austria-Hungary
1 August - Germany, which supports Austria-Hungary, hears of Russian preparations and declares war on Russia.
2 August - Britain prepares it’s Warships
3 August - Germany is more worried about the French army than the Russian army and declares War on France to attempt to defeat it quickly
2 August - Germany asks Belgium to march through its land to attack France and does it anyway despite Belgium not giving it permission
4 August - Britain declares War on Germany to protect Belgium and honor an agreement from 1839.
5 August - France declares war on Germany
6 August - Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia
12 August - Britain and France declare war on Austria-Hungary
What did Italy do?
It did not honour it’s agreements from before the murders and joined the Allies in 1915
Why did people rush to join the army?
They thought the war would be ‘over by christmas’ and they didn’t want to miss the show.
Why did Germany rush to defeat France?
They didn’t want to fight a war on two fronts - France and Britain on the western front and Russia on the Eastern front.
What was the Schlieffen plan?
Germany’s plan to defeat France quickly by attacking it through Belgium rather than the well-defended border.
How did the Schlieffen plan go wrong?
Belgium did not let German army through peacefully, Germans could not get through belgium. Russians got ready much quicker than Germany predicted, BEF held Germans at Mons.
When were the trenches built?
By 1914 trenches stretched from the english channel to switzerland.
Problems in the trenches
Trench rats which stole food and were a nuisance, Trench Foot (an infection caused by cold, wet and muddy conditions) could eventually turn gangreous and result in necessary amputation, CONTINUE
Problems in the trenches
Trench rats which stole food and were a nuisance, Trench Foot (an infection caused by cold, wet and muddy conditions) could eventually turn gangreous and result in necessary amputation, Food was scarce and stale and not very good
Causes of WW1
France wanted revenge on Germany, many in Austro-Hungary wanted independence, Russia wanted more control in South Eastern Europe
When did WW1 end?
November 1918
Who were the Big Three at the Paris Peace conference in the palace of Versailles?
Woodrow Wilson, the American President
George Clementeau, Prime Minister Of France
David Lloyd George, The Prime Minister of Britain
What did the big three want to acomplish?
Woodrow Wilson (US President) wanted countries to have self determination - be able to rule themselves. He didn’t care much about punishing Germany as the US had suffered little over WW1
George Clementeau (French PM) wanted revenge on Germany. He wanted to make them pay for all the damage and to weaken Germanies armed forces so they could never attack France again.
David Lloyd George (British PM) wanted to keep Germany weak but without humiliating the Germans. He wanted to reduce Germanies Navy so it couldn’t threaten the British Navy and end it’s threat to the British Empire. However, the British people sent him there to ‘Hang the Kaiser’.
What did the treaty of Brest Litovsk do?
It broight what many Russians considered a ‘shameful peace’ as it forced Russia to give up a huge amount of territory to the axis powers -
34% of it’s population,
- 32% of Russia’s agricultural land
54% of Russia’s factories
- 89% of Russia’s coal-mines
What did the communists do to make Russia a more equal society?
Women were declared equal to men, peasants whohad a surplus of grain were forced to hand it over to the government so people in the cities would have enough bread, Factories wee removed from thei owners and placed under the control of workers’ comityees, all land was taken away from the Tsar and old landlords, A maximum 48-hour work week was declared for factory workers, richpeople had their valuables and moeny taken by the state and they had to share their houseswith poor families
What happened to rich, educated people in post-revolution Russia?
Ordinary Russians were hostile to them, their houses were raided by armed gamgs and they were rounded up and forced to do jobs like clearing rubbish and snow from the streets.
What happened to the Tsar and his family?
They were all placed under house arrest and ion the 16 July 1918, they were all awoken by the secret police and shot in their cellar.
When was the first Russian Revolution?
March 1917.
Why did the first Russian Revolution happen?
Because people were cold and starving and went to protest and demonstrate against the Tsar. However, when the Tsar’ troops would not fire upon the protesters, it became a revolution.
What took the place of the Tsar after the first Russian revolution?
After Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, a new Provisional government took control of Russia
When did Tsar Nicholas II abdicate?
He abdicated on 16 March 1917
When was the second Russian Revolution?
25 October 1917?
What did Lenin and the Bolsheviks want?
They were communists who believed that everyone should have an equal share in Russia’s wealth, peasents should have a share of the land, workers should own a share of the factory where they worked and the war should be ended immediately.
What happened in the second Russian Revolution?
The Bolsheviks seized power from the provisional government in St Petersburg
What went wrong in the second Russian Revolution?
Sailors who were expected to help arrived late, the field guns were too rusty to fire, noone could find the red lantern which was to signal the start of the attack.
Why did the second Russian Revolution succeed?
Because nobody came to the support of the provisional government - even some of the soldiers in the winter palace decided to slip away and eat their evening meals in the resteraunts of St Petersburg rather than fighting.
How did the Bolsheviks take complete control?
By eliminating all opposition parties - bolshevik soldiers smashed up the offices of opposition newspapers and arrested their editors.
What was Lenin’s secret police force called?
The Cheka
How did Lenin turn Russia into a one party state?
When the Bolsheviks did badly in an election for places in the new constituent assembly, Lenin sent his soldiers to the comstituent assembly and closed it down in January 1918
What problems did Jews face in historical Europe? (300ad onwards)
After Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, Judaism became a rival religion and Jews became demonised and scapegoats for peoples problems (e.g. plagues).
The rulers of many countries passed laws that discriminated against Jews, e.g. stopping them from doing certain jobs, living seperately from non-jews in ghettos and forcing them to wear something to show they were jewish
What was the Holocaust?
The mass killing (genocide) of ~6,000,000 Jews across Europe intended to destroy all Jews in Europe. By the time Nazi Germany was defeated and the murders stopped, 2/3 of Europe’s Jewish population was dead.
Who else was persecuted, killed, and put into concentration camps by the Nazis?
Roma and Sinti people (Gypsies), disabled people, Jehovahs Witnesses, political opponents, Polish and Soviet civilians, prisoners of war from the soviet union
What did the Nazis do to Jews in 1933? (1)
March: One day boycott of Jewish shops
April: all Jews and political opponents of the nazis removed from pubic service by law
April: number of Jewish school children reduced and controlled
October: All Jews removed frm the media
What did the Nazis do to the Jews in 1935?
May: All Jews removed from the army
September: Anti-Semetic Nuremberg laws introdued -
- ‘The Reich Citizen Law’: only those of German or related blood eligible to be German citizens
- Law for the protection of German blood and German honour: Forbade marriages and sexual relations between Jews and Germans. Severe punishment for breaing it.
