Chapter 25 history

“the Great War”

Another name for WW1, which lasted from 1914-1918.

Sacred Union ...Union

AKA Union Sacrée. Political truce in WW1 where left-wing leaders agreed not to oppose the government or call a strike during the time that the First World War raged to focus on war efforts.

Schlieffen Plan

Germany would attack France first and then Russia

East Prussia

East Prussia was invaded in 1914.

Verdun

The Battle of Verdun was a deadly battle where the French defended themselves against the German forces.

Big Bertha

A really really big German cannon (howitzer)

Philippe Pétain

French general and national hero who was celebrated for his role in the battle of Verdun. Later became the commander-in-chief of the French army.

British blockade

When the British implemented a naval blockade to restrict supplies to Germany and its allies

Lusitania

British ocean liner sunk by a German U-boat. 128 Americans died, and the US eventually joined WW1.

Easter Rebellion

An armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916.

Total war

Conflict where a nation mobilizes all its resources, including people, industry, and society, to fight a war, with little regard for civilian life

Kriegsrohstoffabteilung (KRA)

(War Raw Materials Department) was an organization set up in Germany to facilitate access to raw materials for the German military.

“Mobilization of enthusiasm”

Deliberate effort by governments and propaganda to generate a sense of patriotism and support for the war effort

Rasputin

• Russian mystic and faith healer.

• Best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, through whom he gained considerable influence in the final years of the Russian Empire.

Petrograd Soviet

City council of Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), the capital of Russia at the time.

Provisional government

A temporary government established in times of crisis, such as after a revolution, civil war, or the collapse of the previous government

Vladimir Lenin

• Founder and leader of the Bolsheviks

• Led the October Revolution, which established the world's first socialist state.

• His government won the Russian Civil War and created a one-party state under the Communist Party.

Treaty of London

Secret treaty between neutral Italy and the Allied forces of France, Britain, and Russia to bring Italy into WW1

Woodrow Wilson's “Fourteen Points”

A statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Peace treaty between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire) and Soviet Russia, effectively ending Russia's participation in WW1.

George Clemenceau

• French Prime Minister during WW1, played a pivotal role in the Allied victory and the subsequent peace process.

• Known for his strong anti-German stance and his insistence on harsh terms for Germany in the Treaty of Versailles. 

Second Battle of the Marne

The last major German offensive of WW1

Spanish flu

A devastating pandemic caused by an H1N1 influenza virus

“Stab in the back” myth

An antisemitic and anti-communist conspiracy theory that was widely believed and promulgated in Germany after 1918.

Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia

Both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia emerged from the Austro-Hungarian Empire as new national states

Béla Kun

Mobilized in the Austro-Hungarian army at the outbreak of WW1, became a prisoner of war in Russia in 1916, and joined the Bolsheviks

Balfour Declaration

A 1917 statement by the British government expressing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine

Palestine

The new "national home for the Jewish people"

Treaty of Versailles

Officially ended World War I between Germany and the Allied Powers. Subjected Germany to strict punitive measures

League of Nations

An intergovernmental organization founded in 1920, following WW1, with the goal of maintaining world peace and cooperation

The mandate system

A post-WWI international system established by the League of Nations to administer territories taken from the Ottoman and German Empires

The Economic Consequences of the War

Germany suffered extreme inflation, poverty and economic collapse. Britain and France got increasing debts.

All Quiet on the Western Front

• Semi-autobiographical novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran.

• The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma during the war, as well as the detachment from civilian life felt by many upon returning home from the war