World War I: Civilians and Soldiers in Total War (1914-1918)

A comprehensive vocabulary flashcard set covering World War I, trench warfare, total war economy, the Armenian Genocide, and the Russian Revolutions based on the provided history lecture notes.

Triple Entente and Triple Alliance

The two opposing European alliance systems between which major rivalries persisted in $1914$, despite Europe's global dominance.

Sarajevo Assassination

The assassination of the heir to the Emperor of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo, which served as the triggering element of World War I in $1914$.

Trench Warfare

The defining form of combat in World War I where protected soldiers in trenches faced unprecedented mass violence from deadly weapons such as machine guns, poison gas, artillery shells, and flamethrowers.

Les Gueules Cassées

The nickname ('broken faces') given to soldiers who were disfigured or severely wounded by highly lethal weaponry during World War I.

No Man's Land

The hazardous open space between opposing trench lines that soldiers had to cross during assaults, making them easy targets for enemy fire.

Poilus

The term for French trench soldiers whose daily life was extremely difficult due to lack of hygiene (rats, lice, fleas, mud), constant exposure to death, and severe psychological trauma.

Battle of Verdun

A major $1916$ battle opposing French and German forces that symbolized the horror of trench warfare; it lasted $300$ days and resulted in $300,000$ deaths.

Armenian Genocide

The first genocide of the $20\text{th}$ century ($1915$), ordered by the Young Turks government, resulting in the murder or deportation to the Mesopotamian desert of $1.2\text{ million}$ Christian Armenians out of a population of $1.6\text{ million}$ (or $\frac{3}{4}$ of their population).

Young Turks

The government of the Muslim Ottoman Empire which entered the war against Russia, blamed the minority Christian Armenians for military defeats, and ordered their systematic extermination in $1915$.

Total War

A conflict in which state governments control the entire economy to produce war materials (shells, tanks, airplanes), borrow money from civilians, and fully mobilize home front workforce resources.

The Home Front (L'arrière)

The civilian sector during World War I where women replaced men in factories and fields, and colonial populations (such as Senegalese workers in France) were recruited for factory labor and military service.

Russian Revolution of February 1917

A popular and military uprising in Russia that overthrew Tsar Nicholas II due to ongoing military defeats and severe hardships in daily life, such as famine.

Russian Revolution of October 1917

A second Russian revolution led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who carried out a coup d'état, seized power, and withdrew Russia from World War I.

Bolsheviks

The political party led by Lenin that came to power in October $1917$, triggering a wave of revolutions and spreading communist ideology across Europe.

Armistice of November 11, 1918

The peace agreement signed between Germany and the victorious Allies (France, the United Kingdom, and the United States) that ended World War I in a devastated Europe.