WWI

Question 1

The 2 Great Power Alliances in WWI

Answer 1

The Central Powers and the Triple Entente

Central Powers: GR, Austro-Hungary, Italy
Triple Entente: FR, UK, RF

Question 2

The Central Powers

Answer 2

(WWI) Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy

Italy was eventally neutral. They each had seperate unilateral treats.

seperate unilateral treaties led Wilson to make open diplomacy a point in his 14 points. Ottoman empire was a late joiner

Question 3

Triple Entente

Answer 3

(WWI) France, UK, Russia

started with a frano-russian alliance

Japan and USA joined Entente late

Question 4

WWI and Nationalism

Answer 4

WWI is the triumph of nationalism

the sucessful countries were 1 ethnciity and 1 language countries

multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman emps fialed

Question 5

Russia WWI

Answer 5

huge army but mostly illiterate and poorly equipped

to fight a modern industrialized war you need a literate army

army was mostly peasants (peasants are 20% literate)
b4 the war russia was a steamroller
you need a well fed & equipped army with an educated officer core
had weak ass railroads
Black and Baltic seas closed by Turk-GR blockafe stopping allies from supplying Russia

Question 6

Why did WWI start?

Answer 6

Europe was ready for a war

assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Charles Darwin’s mistranslated idea of the survival of the fittest got europe ready for a war to determine the survival of the strongest

Question 7

Schlieffen Plan of 1905

Answer 7

Germany’s plan to invade France

GR thought they could get do it in 5 weeks but failed (Battle of Marne)

FR won bc of railroads: the deeper GR got into FR the the dist. btw railroads got so France was able to get troops to Paris and in the trenches so efficiently outnumbering GR easily. Battle of Marne 6-9 1914

Question 8

Yonkers

Answer 8

Imperial German elite in eastern Prussia/Germany

demanded GR troops back to the east to defend lands from Russia

Would GR have won in FR if they had not lost these troops

Question 9

Britian WWI

Answer 9

Joined the western front

Last European super power to build a conscript army.

first fought to save FR and then went to the other fronts
unprepared for a large-scale continental war

Question 10

Ottoman Empire WWI

Answer 10

declared neutrality at the beginning but were blackmailed by GR to join

did not survive the war

Question 11

War Losses

Answer 11

Extremely costly war, like never seen before in Europe

allowed US economy to prosper while everyone else was in debt

Serbia and the Ottomans lost the largest % of pop (Genocide in Armenia)
GR and Austria-Hungary also had huge debt

Question 12

Germany WWI

Answer 12

The main agressor

predicted that this war would be quick WRONG lacked resources to cont.

shortage of iron ore and everything that modern industry was heavily dependent on (despite their great scientific base)
lacked access to the Atlantic
the war seemed worht it if it was going to be short

Question 13

Treaty of Brest-Litosvk (March 1918)

Answer 13

Peace negotiated by Lenin btw Russia and Germany

‘18 btw central powers & Russia - most important strategic success of GR

west not involved
gave up much territory to Turkey, Austrians, and Germans
Ukraine was a huge source of material resources (iron, coal, the bread basket) which was big in the starving central Europe whose male pop was taken away from agri to firght the war (but too little too late)

Question 14

Naval dimension WWI

Answer 14

Royal Naval dominace

mines introduced - 1 mine could destroy a whole ship which is $ (GR, RF)

Franco-British naval expeditions tried to get to the Ottomans thru the Turkish Straits to the Black sea (never succeded)
Mines in the Baltic sea laid by GR. Also by Russia protecting the Russian coast.

Question 15

The Fall of Empires

Answer 15

The Ottoman, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian Empires all existed before WWI and fell during or after it

Russian empire experienced regime change in 1917

5 year brutal civil war in Russia which led to mass loss of life -> USSR 1922

Question 16

The Fronts of WWI

Answer 16

Western and Eastern (but also in the Balkans)

Western front was most important

trench war + war of attrition
fully industrialized powers clashed and could not decide a victor by military means for 4 years

Question 17

Why did WWI end?

Answer 17

Germany was never militarily defeated, from a GR POV the war ended bc of the possibility of political negotiations

GR won on the eastern front 1918, but was already retreating in the west

Nov 11 1918 GR asked for a ceasfire, they were still in Belgium at the time and the west was not in GR

Question 18

Effects of WWI on Central Europe

Answer 18

Power Vaccum

for the 1st time there was no central European ruling power

Austro-Hungarian Empire had played a huge stabilizing role
FR was happy that CZ and Poland were replacing Russia as thier allies on the other side of GR
MacKinder exaoanded the pivot area to include central Europe adn renamed this the heartland

Question 19

Wooddrow Wilson’s 14 points

Answer 19

US’s 1st declaration of international intentions

led to the creation of the League of Nations - US = most powerful econ

1. Open diplomacy
2. Freedom of the seas
3. Removal of economic barriers (open to US and non monarchies - now the monarchies are dead)
4. Reduction of armaments
5. Adjustment of colonial claim
6. Creation of the League of Nations (1920)