ap world ww1 and ww2

Francis Ferdinand

• heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian empire

• assassinated by Serbian Nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Saravejo

• catalyst of The Great War

self-determination

the idea that ppl with the same ethnic origins, language, and political ideals had the right to form a sovereign state.

pan-slavism

a 19th cent movement that stressed the ethnic and cultural kinship of the various Slav ppl of eastern and east central europe that sought to unite these ppl politically.

• supported Slav nationalism in Austria-Hungary

• purpose of policy to weaken Austrian rule by promoting secession by Slav areas, making future Russian annexation easier

dreadnoughts

• british gov moved to meet german threat through the construction of these super battleships

• were convinced naval power was imperative to secure trade routes and secure merchant shipping

• also that they determined outcome of any war

• represented new era of warships

French-German Moroccan Conflict (1905)

• first of a series of international conflicts

• germans tried to diplomatically isolate french-anounced support of moroccan independence

• french responded by threatening war

• contributed to starting WW1

Balkan Wars (1912-1913)

• 2 wars fought by Balkan peninsula states (Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania)

• wanted possession of European territories under Ottoman Empire

• contributed to starting WW1

Central Powers (Triple Alliance)

• grew out of close relations between germany and austria-hungary; formed Dual Alliance (1879)

• ensured reciprocal protection from russian attack and neutrality if any other power attacked

• Germans - entered bc fear of hostile france

• Austrians - allowed them to pursue Balkan politics w/o fear of Russian intervention

• Italy joined in 1882, but it’s declaration of war on Ottoman empire(1911) and drive to annex Tripoli region strained alliance

The Allies (triple entente)

• after defeat in Franco-prussian war, France determined to curb growing might of Germany

• Russia disturbed by new alignment of powers, esp Germany’s support for Austria

• British were suspicious of anything that threatened balance of power in continent

• originated in a series of agreements between Britian and France (1904) and Britain and Russia (1907) that sought to resolve colonial

• signed military pact in summer of 1914, reciprocal treaty obligations made it difficult for diplomats to control crises.

Plan XVII

French military strategy

• could be summed up in word “attack“

Schlieffen plan

• developed in 1905 by General Count Alfred von Schlieffen

• called for a strict knockout of France, followed by defensive action against Russia

• serious logistical problems (180,000 soldiers, only 500 trains)

• serious obstacle to those seeking to preserve peace

Gavrilo Princip

19-year-old Bosnian Serb revolutionary whose assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, triggered the start of World War I

Black Hand

terrorist group linked to assassination of Francis Ferdinand by Austrian investigators

• centered in Serbia

• dedicated to the unification of Yugoslavs to form a greater Serbia

Declarations of the Great War

• July 23 1914: Austria-hungary issued ultimatum to Serbia, interevened with its sovereignty so Serbians declined, caused Austrians to declare war on Serbia (July 28)

• July 29: Russia mobilized to defend Serbia and itself, and against Germany.

• Germany issued ultimatums to Russia (said “impossible“) and France (didn’t respond), declared war on Russia August 1 and France started to mobilize

• Germany declared war on France August 3, invaded Belgium (Schlieffen plan)

• August 4, Britain saint ultimatum to respect belgium’s neutrality, declared war after Germany refused

western front

the main, bloody theater of World War I in Western Europe, a 400-mile trench line from Belgium to Switzerland where German forces fought the Allies (French, British, later Americans) from 1914-1918, defined by horrific trench warfare, massive casualties from artillery, new technologies like machine guns and gas, and immense stalemate that eventually broke with Allied offensives leading to the war's end

no man’s land

barbed-wire filled territory between opposing trenches.

mustard gas

a liquid agent that turned into a noxious yellow gas when exposed to air; effective weapon used in Great War (1.2 million casualties), first introduced by Germans

weapons used in Great War (1914-1918)

• machine guns

• tanks

• air planes

• mustard gas

• submarines

eastern front

• more fluid

• combination of Austrian and German forces overran Serbia, Albania, and Romania

• Russia invaded Prussia in 1914; Central Powers recovered quick and drove russia out of East Prussia and Poland by summer of 1915

• they then established defensive line extending from the Baltic to Ukraine

• Russian defeats undermined popularity of tsar and government and played a significant role in fostering revolutionary ferment within Russian society.

Verdun

• 1916- Germans tried to break deadlock with huge assault on Verdun fortress

• French cry-”They shall not pass”

• French victory, but 315,000 French dead

• 280,000 Germans dead

• less than 160,000 identifiable bodies

• British counterattack on Somme to relieve pressure

• by November-gained only few 1000 yards, 420,000 casualties

Helmuth Karl von Moltke

former chief of Prussian General Staff

• predicted future wars would not end with one battle, (not until whole strength of its people was broken)

home front

expressed that the outcome of the war hinged on how effectively each nation mobilized its economy and activated its noncombatant citizens to support the war effort

Joseph Caillaux

French prime minister, viewed as traitor bc said the best interest for france would to reach peace agreement with Germany.

Japan’s entry to Great War

• sent ultimatum to Germany (August 15 1914) demanding germany handover german-leased territory of Jiaozhou and to withdraw warships from Japanese and Chinese waters

• “secure firm and enduring peace in east asia“

• 23 august 1914 entered war on side of Allies bc germans refused

twenty-one demands

Japan (1915) forced China to grant territorial, economic, and political concessions, undermining Chinese sovereignty

• reflected Japan’s determination to dominate east asia and served as basis for future japanese pressure on china

Winston Churchill

• first lord of british navy

• suggested Allied strike against Ottoman Empire would hurt germans

Gallipoli

• Allied forces, including ANZAC (Australian & New Zealand Army Corps) troops, tried to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey to control the Dardanelles Strait

• faced fierce Ottoman resistance, harsh conditions, poor leadership, and ultimately suffered heavy casualties (250,000 on each side)

• forged national identities for Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey

Armenian Genocide

the systematic extermination and deportation of Armenian civilians by the government of the Ottoman Empire during and after World War I

• close to 1 million Armenians perished

• turkish government rejects label of geonocide

Sykes-Picot Treaty of 1916

• secret agreement forged by British and French with assent of Russia

• defined their future spheres of influence and control in Southwest Asia in the aftermath of their victory in the war

• divided arab provinces into areas of British and French Control

Balfour Declaration (1917)

British gov publicly declared support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish ppl“

Romanov dynasty

ruled Russia for over 300 years (1613–1917), beginning with Michael Romanov and ending with the execution of Nicholas II and his family during the Russian Revolution

February revolution

• the first phase of the Russian Revolution, a spontaneous uprising in Petrograd (St. Petersburg)

• sparked by severe food shortages, war fatigue from WWI, and general discontent with Tsar Nicholas II's autocratic rule

• lead to mass strikes, military mutinies, and the Tsar's abdication

• ended centuries of Romanov rule and established a temporary Provisional Government.

october revolution

• the Bolshevik-led seizure of power in Russia (lead by Vladimir Lenin)

• overthrew the weak Provisional Government and established the world's first communist state

• promising "Peace, Land, and Bread" to end WWI, redistribute land, and give power to workers/soldiers

• lead to the Soviet Union and inspired global communist movements but also sparking the Russian Civil War

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

• revolutionary marxist who had been living in exile in switzerland

• different from Marx, viewed industrial working class as incapable of developing proper revolutionary conscious that would lead to effective political action

• believed the required leadership of a workers’ vanguard

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• signed by Bolshevik rulers with germany on 3 March 1918 to end Russia’s involvement in great war

• gave germans control/possession of much of russia’s territory and ¼ of its pop

• terms harsh and humiliating, but gave new gov of russia chance to deal with internal issues

unrestricted submarine warfare

Germany's tactic of using U-boats to sink all ships, military or civilian, without warning in war zones to starve Britain, which was violated international law and led to the United States entering the war in 1917 (sinking of Lusitania) ultimately failing to knock Britain out but contributing to Germany's defeat. 

Zimmermann telegram

a diplomatic proposal for Mexico to join the central powers is US entered war on side of the Allies

• promised mexico territories in Texas, New Mex, Arizona

• Mexican gov ignored it

influenza pandemic (1918-1919)

• left more than 20 million dead

• killed more ppl than the Great War

• wartime traffic contributed to spread

• deaths in India alone 7 million

• pacific island suffered the worst- wiped out 25% of pop

woodrow wilson

1856–1924. President of the United States during World War I and author of the “Fourteen Points,” one of which envisioned the establishment of the League of Nations

Georges Clemenceau

representative leader of France at conference in Paris

Lloyd George

representative leader of Great Britain at conference in Paris

Paris Settlement

major peace agreements after wars, most notably the Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920) after WWI (resulting in the Treaty of Versailles) that redrew maps and created the League of Nations, and the Paris Peace Treaties (1947) after WWII

Paris Peace Conference

a pivotal meeting of Allied powers after World War I, dominated by the "Big Four" (US, Britain, France, Italy), to negotiate peace treaties, most notably the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, aiming to establish new borders, reparations, and the League of Nations, but its harsh terms on Germany fostered resentment, setting the stage for future conflicts. 

Fourteen Points

a peace proposal presented in January 1918 to end World War I by Woodrow Wilson, outlining principles for a just and lasting peace, emphasizing open diplomacy, free trade, disarmament, self-determination for nations, and creating a League of Nations to ensure global security, though many points were watered down in the final Treaty of Versailles. 

Treaty of Versailles (1919)

• denied germans a navy and air force

• limited size of german army to 100,000 troops

• prohibited germany and austria from entering any union

• forced germany to accept blame for the war

Treaty of Neuilly (1919)

• accepted by Bulgaria, ceded small portions of territory

Treaty of St. Germain (1919)

• treaty between allies and republic of austria

Treaty of Trianon (1920)

Treaty between allies and kingdom of hungary

Treaty of Sevres (1920)

• dissolved ottoman empire

• acceptable to gov of sultan Mohammad VI, not to Turkish nationalists who rallied around Mustafa kemal

Treaty of Lausanne

• Mustafa kemel, turkish nationalist, drove out Greek, British, French, and italian occupation forces

• abolished sultanate, replaced with Republic of Turkey (Ankara capital)

• Allied powers officially recognized it under this treaty

Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal)

• “Father of the Turks”

• instituted program of modernization that emphasized economic development and secularism

• ruled Turkey as a virtual dictator

League of Nations

• created by diplomats in Paris in an effort to avoid future destructive conflicts

• 1st permanent international security organizations who’s principal mission was to maintain peace.

• 26/42 non european countries

• urged by woodrow wilson

• it had no power to enforce its decisions

• relied on collective security to maintain world peace

• us never joined

• germany and japan left in 1933

• italy withdrew 1937

• soviet union joined 1934, expelled in 1940

self-determination

• promoted most intensely by woodrow wilson

• the process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and government.

the mandate system

• a post-World War I framework by the League of Nations,

• assigned former German and Ottoman territories to Allied powers (like Britain and France) to govern as "sacred trusts," preparing them for eventual self-rule, though it often became a guise for colonialism

• created borders and tensions, especially in the Middle East

• Territories were classified (A, B, C) based on readiness for independence

Axis Powers

• Japan, Germany, Italy, along with their conquered territories

• squared off in ww2 against the Allied powers

The Allied Powers

• France + empire

• Great Britain + empire

• Commonwealth allies (Canada, New Zealand, Australia)

• soviet union

• china

• us + latin american allies

revisionist powers

refers to the Axis nations (Germany, Italy, Japan) who sought to overturn the post-World War I international order, especially the Treaty of Versailles, by expanding their territories and challenging existing global power structures through aggression and conquest

conquest of Manchuria

primarily refers to Japan's 1931 invasion, triggered by the Mukden Incident (a staged railway bombing), leading to the creation of the puppet state Manchukuo under Emperor Puyi, establishing Japanese dominance for resources and strategy, and fueling militarism and future conflicts like World War II in Asia

The Rape of Nanjing

a six-week period of mass murder, mass rape, and widespread looting and arson committed by the Imperial Japanese Army against the residents of Nanjing, then the capital of the Republic of China, starting on December 13, 1937

Tripartite Pact

• a ten year military and economic pact between Japan, Germany, Italy

• signed by Japan in september 1940

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)

• promised to bring glory to italy through the acquisition of territories that had previously been denied after the Great War

• conquested Ethiopia (1935 & 1936)

• previously annexed Libya

• intervened in the Spanish Civil War on the side of General Francisco Franco

• annexed Albania, 1939

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

brutal conflict between the left-leaning Republican government and right-wing Nationalist rebels, led by General Francisco Franco

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

• came to power in 1933, took advantage of Germany’s postwar discontent and suffering caused by Great Depression, similar to Mussolini

• referred to the armistice of 1918 as “November crime“, blamed it on Jews, communists, and liberals

• scheme included remilitarization (went against treaty)

• aggressive foreign policy

• withdrew Germany from League of Nations in 1933

• reinstated universal military service 1935, invaded Rhineland

• joined with Italy in Spanish Civil War

The Armistice of 1918

the agreement signed on November 11, 1918, between the Allies and Germany, effectively stopping the fighting on the Western Front of World War I at the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, leading to widespread celebrations and marking the end of the Great War, though the formal peace came with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919

Anschluss

"union" in German, referring specifically to Austria's annexation into Nazi Germany on March 12, 1938.

• hitler wanted to create “Greater Germany”(Heim ins Reich) by incorporating all ethnic germans outside of germany

Sudetenland

• western portion of Czechoslovakia which Nazis attempted to gain control over

• hitler demanded its immediate secession in September 1948 for the German Reich

• leaders of France and Britain accommodated Hitler and allowed him to annex Sudetenland

Munich Conference (September 1938)

• european politicians consolidated the policy of appeasement

• a pivotal meeting where Britain, France, Germany, and Italy agreed to Germany's annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, a region with many ethnic Germans, in a failed attempt to prevent World War II through appeasement

• Neville Chamberlain (british prime minister) announced the meeting had achieved “peace for our time“

appeasement

a diplomatic policy, primarily by Britain and France, to avoid another devastating war by making concessions to Adolf Hitler's aggressive demands, most famously at the 1938 Munich Agreement where they allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland.

• Hitler didn’t listen - threatened Poland, caused France and Britain to abandon it

Joseph Stalin

a Soviet dictator and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953.

• convinced british and french wanted to deflect german aggression towards the Soviet Union

• sought an accomodation with the Nazi regime-signed German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

• a 1939 agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union to not attack each other

• secretly dividing Eastern Europe (Poland, Baltic states, etc.) into spheres of influence

• enabled Germany to invade Poland, starting WWII

• gave the Soviets time to build up forces before Germany invaded them in 1941

Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945)

• explained nature of ww2 as “a new kind of war“

Blitzkrieg

“lightning war”, famously used by Germany in Poland

emphasizing fast, overwhelming combined-arms attacks, using tanks, motorized infantry, and air support for rapid breakthroughs into enemy lines

Unterseeboot

German U-boats or submarines, used in ww2

The Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1945)

WWII's longest naval campaign, a crucial struggle for control of sea lanes, primarily between German U-boats and Allied (UK, Canada, US) naval/merchant ships, aiming to starve Britain by sinking supply convoys

Battle of Britain

Nazi Germany's attempt to gain air superiority over the UK in 1940 to prepare for a sea invasion by destroying the Royal Air Force (RAF), but the RAF successfully defended Britain, forcing Hitler to postpone the invasion and marking a major turning point in World War II by proving Germany could be defeated.

• “The Blitz“ as referred to by British

Luftwaffe

Nazi Germany's air force from 1935-1945

Lebensraum

German for "living space”

• was a core Nazi ideology driving their expansionist policies, claiming the "Aryan race" needed vast territories, especially in Eastern Europe, for settlement and resources

Operation Barbarossa

Code name for June Invasion of the Soviet Union

Stalingrad

a brutal, pivotal WWII conflict where Soviet forces defended the city (now Volgograd) against Nazi Germany, becoming the bloodiest battle in history, a major turning point that halted the German advance, and a symbol of Soviet tenacity, ending in a devastating German defeat and encirclement

Pearl Harbor

the site of a surprise Japanese naval air attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, a devastating event that killed over 2,400 Americans, crippled U.S. naval power, and led directly to the United States entering World War II the next day

• intention was to to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet, preventing American interference as Japan expanded into resource-rich Southeast Asia (like oil-producing areas) and the Philippines

A Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Japan's WWII-era concept for a self-sufficient Asian bloc, promoting "Asia for Asians" to push out Western powers and create a Japanese-led economic and political union

D-Day

the massive Allied invasion of Normandy, France

• the largest seaborne invasion in history, marking a crucial turning point in World War II to liberate Western Europe from Nazi control by establishing a foothold on the continent

• involving U.S., British, and Canadian forces landing on five beaches

• ultimately leading to the liberation of France and the end of the war in Europe

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

two of World War II's most brutal battles in early 1945, serving as stepping stones for the U.S. invasion of Japan, showcasing fanatical Japanese resistance in fortified volcanic terrain, and resulting in horrific casualties

kamikaze

Japanese suicide pilots and their aircraft who deliberately crashed into Allied ships during the final stages of World War II

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) by the United States were the first and only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, killing hundreds of thousands instantly and later from radiation, forcing Japan's surrender in World War II

Vichy

the authoritarian, collaborationist government in southern France during WWII, led by Marshal Philippe Pétain, after Germany's defeat of France, governing the "free zone" while the north was occupied