WWI

Question 1

Erich Maria Remarque wrote this classic novel of life on the Western Front during World War I, _____ ____ ____ ____ _____ ____.

Answer 1

All Quiet on the Western Front

Although Remarque’s novel depicted the life of German soldiers amidst the horrors of the trenches, the life he described spoke of the experience of millions of men on both sides of the war.

Question 2

Why did Woodrow Wilson request Congress to declare war on the Central Powers in 1917?

Answer 2

In an attempt to starve the island nation into submission, Germany had announced she would attempt to sink by submarine any ship approaching Great Britain.

Wilson requested Congress to declare war on the Central Powers because of this policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. In addition, the Lusitania (a British civilian ship with 200 Americans on board) was sunk by a German submarine.

On the other hand, Wilson didn’t protest Britain’s blockade of German ports, which prevented much-needed food from reaching German citizens.

Question 3

Explain how antibiotics work and why they were such a significant discovery.

Answer 3

Antibiotics were discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming. Fleming learned that a special type of mold called Penicillium actually killed germs.

Although not widely used for another 10 years, antibiotics would improve the quality of life for millions as a means to attack or weakened bacteria that caused disease.

Question 4

Define

Armistice

Answer 4

A formal agreement to end fighting between two countries.

Question 5

Germany worsened European relations in the early 20th century by commencing an expansion in what branch of their armed services?

Answer 5

While Germany possessed Europe’s most powerful army, prior to the early 20th century her naval presence was negligible. Kaiser Wilhelm II announced a massive naval program building battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines.

If Germany built a large navy in addition to her army, it raised the potential of one power dominating Europe and upsetting the balance of power.

Further, the new German navy was a threat to Great Britain, which had the world’s largest navy. Britain announced that for every battleship the Germans built Britain would build two, setting in motion an arms race. This build-up of military units is referred to as militarism and was one cause of WWI.

Question 6

What event set off World War I?

Answer 6

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Slav nationalist with ties to the Serbian secret service and a radical group known as the Black Hand, assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie. The assassination took place in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Question 7

How did Austria-Hungary diplomatically respond to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand?

Answer 7

Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia, and after making sure that Germany would support Austro-Hungarian actions, sent an ultimatum to Serbia demanding retribution. Serbia refused and Austria declared war.

Serbia’s ally Russia began to mobilize her troops, and Germany and Austria declared war on Russia, which was followed by a German declaration of war on Russia’s ally, France.

Question 8

What was the fate of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the First World War?

Answer 8

At the War’s end, pursuant to the ideas embodied in the Fourteen Points, many of the various nationalities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were established as their own countries, such as Hungary.

Other countries were conglomerated into nations, such as Czechoslovakia, which combined the Czechs and Slovaks. These ethnically mixed states were weak and looked to France for protection against aggression. Austria itself, without its monarchy, became a republic.

Question 9

Describe the political state in the Balkan Peninsula prior to WWI.

Answer 9

As the Ottoman Empire weakened, newly emerging nations like Serbia competed with other nations to acquire territory from the Ottomans. The entire region was highly unstable and considered the “Powder Keg of Europe,” in that one small spark could set off a huge conflict.

Question 10

What prompted Britain to declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1914?

Answer 10

As part of the Schlieffen Plan, Germany invaded France through Belgium, a neutral country.

Great Britain declared war in response to the German invasion. Recent historical research into pre-war British plans has revealed that had Germany not invaded Belgium, the British would have done so.

Question 11

Identify the acronym used to remember the causes of WWI.

Answer 11

MANIAC

Militarism

Alliances

Nationalism

Imperialism

Assassination (Archduke Francis Ferdinand)

Chaos

Question 12

Identify

Central Powers during WWI

Answer 12

Austria-Hungary, Germany, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria

Question 13

What was the Easter Rebellion?

Answer 13

In 1916, Irish Home Rule advocates rebelled against the British government during Easter, hoping to take advantage of the fact that Britain was distracted by World War I. The revolution was a failure, and several leaders of the Easter Rebellion were executed.

Question 14

The “Eastern Question” dominated European diplomatic relations from at least the 1770s, becoming intense in the last half of the 19th century.

What was the Eastern Question?

Answer 14

The Eastern Question arose as the Ottoman Empire declined in power. Both Austria and Russia sought to take advantage of the power vacuum, while Britain sought to shore up the Ottoman Empire to protect their interests in the region.

Meanwhile, France saw the Eastern Question as a means to disrupt the Concert of Europe and assert her independence of action in European affairs.

Question 15

What were Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points?

Answer 15

The Fourteen Points were Wilson’s attempt to make clear that American entry into the First World War was for a moral cause and to ensure a just postwar peace. The Fourteen Points included freedom of the seas, ethnic self-determination, and free trade.

The Fourteen Points encouraged the Germans to believe that the Allies would provide a just settlement of the war. In surrendering, Germany specifically accepted the terms as the basis of a postwar settlement, only to see the points mostly ignored in the Treaty of Versailles.

Question 16

What limits did the Treaty of Versailles place on the German armed forces?

Answer 16

Under the Treaty of Versailles, the German armed forces were severely limited. Germany was banned from having submarines, airplanes, blimps, and tanks. Her army was limited to 100,000 men and only a small navy was allowed. This was in response to aggressive German action during WWI.

For a nation that had prided itself on having a large and efficient armed service, the limitations were humiliating.

Question 17

By the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, what happened to the German colonies in Africa and the Pacific?

Answer 17

Germany’s African colonies were divided between France and Britain, while Japan took over many of Germany’s small colonies in the Pacific Ocean, such as Samoa and Tsingtao.

The Fourteen Points’ terms had specifically suggested that overseas colonies would be adjusted with fairness to both sides, a suggestion that was ignored at Versailles.

Question 18

Germany’s Industrial Revolution began later than Britain’s but made rapid strides in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

What industrial areas proved particularly fruitful for the Germans?

Answer 18

Since Germany’s Industrial Revolution began later, German factories were outfitted with the latest technology, and German firms rapidly began to dominate fields such as steel-making and chemical production.

Germans such as Rudolf Diesel also developed industrial technology. Diesel’s internal combustion engine would power German submarines and lead to the development of the automobile.

Question 19

What strategic concern faced the Germans before World War I?

Answer 19

On one border, Germany was faced with the hostile Russian Empire, and on the other, the French Republic bent on revenge for the Franco-Prussian War.

To the south, her only ally, Austria-Hungary, had a weak army and was impacted by internal divisions. Were France and Russia to declare war on Germany and attack her from both sides, Germany would be severely outnumbered.

Question 20

Explain the end of WWI set the stage for WWII.

Answer 20

The Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany for the conflict and charged them severe war reparations, ignoring the advice of Wilson’s 14 Points. Germany lost colonies, land, their military and was forced into severe debt.

The Treaty of Versailles creates League of Nations, but the U.S. doesn’t join in fear of becoming entangled in future conflicts. The economic misfortune of Germany allowed for the rise of fascism and the events the aggression that led to the start of WWII.

Question 21

What international organization did Woodrow Wilson propose to resolve disputes between nations?

Answer 21

As part of his Fourteen Points, Wilson proposed the League of Nations.

Due to Congressional resistance, the United States never joined the League. For all the hopes its supporters had regarding the League, it later proved ineffective in preventing the rise of militarism of the 1930s in fascist Italy and Germany.

Question 22

What role did Louis Pasteur play to advance medicine in the 1870s?

Answer 22

A French scientist who discovered the link between germs and disease. Pasteur proved that combating germs and help to prevent disease during a time when doctors inaccurately thought disease spontaneously occurred in victims without scientific explanation.

Once people believed that disease was caused by microorganisms, they made lifestyle changes to improve their quality of life, such as increased frequency of hand washing.

Question 23

Overwhelming naval superiority enabled the British navy to conduct what form of naval warfare?

Answer 23

Britain’s naval supremacy enabled the country to blockade Germany, cutting Germany off from shipments of food and medical supplies from neutral countries, such as the United States.

Britain kept up the blockade even after the Germans surrendered, only lifting it after the Treaty of Versailles was signed.

Question 24

Define

Neutral

Answer 24

A country that does not support either side of the war is referred to as neutral. The United States was neutral prior to their forced entry into the conflict as a result of the sinking of the Lusitania.

Question 25

In the wake of World War I, the Ottoman Empire fell.

What was the fate of the lands once under its control?

Answer 25

Some lands in the Middle East were governed by the Great Powers under a mandate from the League of Nations. For instance, Syria was a mandate governed by France, and Palestine was a mandate held by Great Britain.

Other former Ottoman territories came together to form into independent nations, such as Saudi Arabia.

Question 26

As the First World War progressed, which two nations joined the Central Powers?

Answer 26

In late 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Central Powers. In 1915, Bulgaria followed suit.

Although nominally an ally of Austria-Hungary and Germany, Italy originally declared neutrality in the conflict, then joined the Allies after Britain and France bribed her with the promises of Austro-Hungarian territory.

Question 27

How much input was Germany given into the final terms of the Treaty of Versailles?

Answer 27

Germany was given no input into the Treaty of Versailles, much of which violated the spirit of Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Especially troublesome was the “war guilt” clause, which stated that the Germans accepted full and complete blame for starting the War; the Germans felt that there was more than enough blame to go around.

Germany initially refused to sign the treaty but reluctantly accepted in the face of Allied threats of renewed conflict.

Question 28

As a result of the Treaty of Versailles, which Eastern European nation gained independence for the first time since the 1700s?

Answer 28

As part of the Treaty of Versailles, Poland gained independence.

To provide Poland with an outlet to the sea, the city of Danzig was ceded to Poland. Danzig separated Eastern Prussia from the rest of Germany, providing an irritant to German national opinion that was to continue until World War II.

Question 29

Define

Propaganda

Answer 29

Biased or misleading information used to promote or publicize a specific political cause or point of view.

Question 30

Identify the major reason why the League of Nations Fails.

Answer 30

The League did not have a military to enforce rules. It would try to encourage diplomacy in order to resolve international conflict, but had no real way of enforcing legislation. In addition, the United States not joining the League weakened its power.

Question 31

Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to pay _____, which in 1921 were calculated to be $31.4 billion.

Answer 31

Reparations

By assigning the totality of the blame for the War on Germany, the Allies were able to extract German promises to repay the War’s cost. In the years following the War, German reparations would become a sizable portion of French budgetary calculations.

Question 32

In 1915, a German submarine sank the British passenger liner _____, as part of a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

Answer 32

Lusitania

The sinking of the Lusitania led to the loss of 718 lives, including more than 100 Americans. Despite warnings in New York newspapers that the ship would be sunk, American popular opinion was outraged. By 1917, unrestricted submarine warfare would lead the United States to enter the war on the side of the Triple Entente.

Naval archeologists would later discover that the Lusitania was carrying American manufactured munitions for the British army, a clear violation of neutrality.

Question 33

Define:

Total war

Answer 33

Total war refers to devoting the entirety of a nation’s economic resources to war. During both the First and Second World Wars, both sides converted factories that made civilian products to military production facilities and used the full measure of their industrial capacity for war purposes. All citizens contributed to the manufacturing of military goods

Question 34

What system of defense characterized warfare on the Western Front?

Answer 34

By late 1914, trench warfare prevailed on the Western Front, and trenches stretched from the Swiss border to the English Channel. Attempts to break the stalemate typically led to slaughter. In the Battle of the Somme, nearly 60,000 Britons died.

The Germans were much better at preserving the lives of their men, and their casualties were one-third of those experienced by the British and French.

Question 35

What three powers made up the Triple Entente at the outset of World War I?

Answer 35

Britain, France, and Russia comprised the Triple Entente.

Russia and France had a treaty dating to the late 19th century. Britain never formally pledged her cooperation in a European war, but mounting German militarism led to closer ties with France and Russia and an end to the British policy of “Splendid Isolation” from the affairs on the Continent.

Question 36

Identify and explain two major turning points of WWI.

Answer 36

The entry of the United States into the war after the sinking of the Lusitania is considered to be one of the major turning points of the war. The second is the Russian Revolution. Desperate to resolve conflict at home, the Russians left WWI in 1917 to deal with the domestic communist revolution.

Question 37

How did suffragette Emily Pankhurst request that British women respond to the outbreak of World War I?

Answer 37

Pankhurst encouraged the suffragettes to pause the campaign for female votes for the war’s duration. Near the end of the war, the British government extended the franchise to include women, in part because of the contribution of women to Britain’s war effort.

Thousands of British women worked in factories throughout the War, freeing men for front-line duty.

Question 38

Identify some of the new technology that was used during WWI.

Answer 38

Weapons such as machine guns, gas warfare, planes, tanks, and submarines were one of the reasons why casualties were so high during WWI. Gas warfare would be outlawed after this conflict and considered inhuman, although only responsible for a small portion of the casualties.

Question 39

What was the Zimmermann Telegram?

Answer 39

In 1917, the German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sent a telegram to Mexico seeking to convince Mexico to declare war against the United States.

Although the telegram was similar to diplomatic initiatives that the Triple Entente had directed to Romania and Italy, the United States took intense offense to Germany’s diplomatic measures, and the Zimmermann Telegram was one of the primary American justifications for war.