Chapter 25 Vocabulary: The Beginning of the Twentieth-Century Crisis

A comprehensive vocabulary review set covering essential terms, military plans, political figures, and treaties detailed in Chapter 25.

Black Hand

A Serbian terrorist organization dedicated to the creation of a pan-Slavic kingdom, responsible for the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand.

The "Blank Check"

Germany's assurance extended to Austria-Hungary on July 5, 1914, offering full support even if conflict extended to a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia.

Schlieffen Plan

A German military strategy devised by General Alfred von Schlieffen assuming a two-front war against France and Russia, calling for a rapid invasion of northern France through neutral Belgium.

First Battle of the Marne

A major engagement east of Paris from September 6 to 10, 1914, in which British and French forces stopped the German advance, causing the Western Front to collapse into trench warfare.

Trench Warfare

A style of static warfare predominant on the Western Front in which opposing armies occupied networks of fortified trenches protected by barbed wire and separated by No-Man's Land.

Battle of Jutland

The naval battle fought on May 31, 1916, between German and British fleets, resulting in an inconclusive victory for the Germans.

Lusitania

A British passenger liner sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915, causing the death of over one hundred Americans and prompting strong diplomatic protests from the United States.

Ministry of Munitions

A British ministry created in July 1915 under David Lloyd George to organize private industry, limit profits, and oversee armaments production during World War I.

Defence of the Realm Act

Legislation passed by the British Parliament at the start of World War I authorizing public authorities to arrest dissenters as traitors and censor or suspend news publications.

March Revolution

The March 1917 uprising in Petrograd triggered by working-class women protesting bread shortages, which led to a general strike and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II.

Soviets

Councils of workers' and soldiers' deputies formed spontaneously across army units and towns in Russia during 1917, representing radical socialist interests.

Bolsheviks

A radical faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party led by V. I. Lenin that advocated for a disciplined vanguard to launch a violent revolution and dismantle capitalism.

April Theses

A blueprint for revolutionary action issued by V. I. Lenin on April 20, 1917, asserting that Russia could move directly into socialism by utilizing the soviets.

Army Order No. 1

An order issued in March 1917 by the Petrograd soviet encouraging military forces to remove their officers and replace them with elected committees of lower-ranked personnel.

Zhenotdel

A women's bureau established within the Russian Communist Party led by Alexandra Kollontai to inform citizens about the new social order and assist with women's rights and divorce.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

The peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, between the Bolshevik government and Germany, removing Russia from World War I in exchange for vast territorial cessions.

War Communism

The Bolshevik economic policy during the Russian Civil War that nationalized banks and industries, central administration, and forcibly requisitioned grain from peasants.

Cheka

The Red secret police created by the Bolsheviks to conduct the Red Terror, aimed at liquidating all opponents of the Communist regime.

Fourteen Points

President Woodrow Wilson's outline presented on January 8, 1918, advocating open diplomacy, national self-determination, armaments reduction, and a League of Nations.

War Guilt Clause

Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, which assigned sole responsibility for starting World War I to Germany and Austria and obligated Germany to pay reparations.

Mandates

A post-World War I arrangement where Allied powers officially administered former territories of defeated empires under the supervision of the League of Nations.