world war 1 packet 16

Gavrilo Princep

A Serbian nationalist and member of the Black Hand who assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir, sparking WWI.

Archduke Francis Ferdinand

The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne whose 1914 assassination in Sarajevo served as the immediate trigger for the war.

Triple Entente

The pre-war alliance consisting of Britain, France, and Russia.

Triple Alliance

The pre-war alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

Allies

The wartime coalition primarily led by Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and later the United States.

Central Powers

The wartime coalition led by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

Pan-Arabism

A nationalist movement seeking to unify the Arab people of Southwest Asia and North Africa into a single political entity.

Pan-Slavism

A movement to unify Slavic peoples, often supported by Russia to increase influence in the Balkans.

Serbs

A South Slavic ethnic group whose desire for a "Greater Serbia" and independence from Austro-Hungarian influence fueled Balkan tensions.

July Ultimatum

A series of harsh demands issued by Austria-Hungary to Serbia following the assassination, which led to the declaration of war.

Zionism

The movement for the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, gaining momentum after the Balfour Declaration.

The Great War (World War I)

A global conflict from 1914–1918 characterized by industrialized warfare, total war, and the collapse of four major empires.

Nationalism

Intense loyalty to one's nation or ethnic group, which acted as both a unifying force and a cause of conflict in multi-ethnic empires.

Militarism

The policy of glorifying military power and keeping a standing army always prepared for war.

Imperialism

The competition between European powers for colonies and resources in Africa and Asia, which heightened pre-war tensions.

Diplomacy

The conduct by government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations.

Self-determination

The principle that ethnic groups should have the right to form their own independent nations and choose their own government.

Stalemate

A situation in which neither side in a conflict is able to make significant progress, typifying the Western Front.

Lusitania

A British passenger liner sunk by a German U-boat in 1915, killing American civilians and shifting U.S. public opinion against Germany.

Zimmerman Telegram

A secret German message to Mexico proposing an alliance against the U.S., serving as a primary cause for U.S. entry into the war.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

The 1918 peace treaty between the new Bolshevik government of Russia and the Central Powers, exiting Russia from the war.

All Quiet on the Western Front

A famous novel by Erich Maria Remarque illustrating the physical and psychological horrors of trench warfare.

16th Amendment

A U.S. constitutional change allowing for federal income tax, used significantly to fund the American war effort.

Total War

A conflict in which nations mobilize all available resources, including civilians and industry, to support the war effort.

Poison gas (Mustard Gas)

A chemical weapon introduced in WWI that caused blindness, blisters, and death, leading to post-war bans.

Machine Guns

Rapid-fire weapons that revolutionized defense, making traditional infantry charges across open ground deadly.

Tanks

Armored vehicles introduced by the British to cross trenches and break the stalemate of the Western Front.

Airplanes

Initially used for reconnaissance, these were eventually armed for "dogfights" and limited bombing missions.

U-Boats

German submarines used to disrupt Allied shipping through unrestricted submarine warfare.

Trench warfare

A form of combat where soldiers dug deep systems of defensive ditches, leading to high casualties and little territorial gain.

No-Man's-Land

The dangerous, shell-blasted territory between opposing trench lines.

Western Front

The zone of fighting in France and Belgium where the war devolved into a brutal stalemate.

Eastern Front

The theater of war along the border of Russia and Germany/Austria-Hungary, characterized by more fluid movement than the West.

ANZAC

The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, known for their significant role and heavy losses in the Gallipoli campaign.

Battle of Gallipoli

An unsuccessful Allied attempt to seize the Dardanelles and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war.

Woodrow Wilson

The U.S. President during WWI who proposed the Fourteen Points and the League of Nations.

David Lloyd George

The British Prime Minister at the Paris Peace Conference who sought to punish Germany while maintaining British naval supremacy.

Georges Clemenceau

The French Premier who pushed for harsh reparations and security guarantees against Germany at the Paris Peace Conference.

Vittorio Orlando

The Italian Prime Minister who left the Paris Peace Conference frustrated over not receiving promised territorial gains.

Paris Peace Conference

The 1919 meeting of the "Big Four" to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers.

Fourteen Points

Woodrow Wilson’s plan for a lasting peace, emphasizing self-determination, free trade, and a League of Nations.

Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 peace settlement that ended the war with Germany, imposing heavy territorial losses and financial penalties.

Reparations

Large sums of money Germany was forced to pay the Allies to cover the costs and damages of the war.

War Guilt Clause

Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, which forced Germany to accept sole responsibility for starting the war.

Mandate System

A League of Nations mechanism that gave Allied powers control over former Ottoman and German colonies, essentially continuing imperialism.

Hague Conventions

International treaties from 1899 and 1907 that attempted to establish laws of war and war crimes.

League of Nations

An international organization established after WWI to promote cooperation and prevent future global conflicts.

Weimar Governments

The democratic but unstable government of Germany established after the fall of the Kaiser in 1918.

Balfour Declaration

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

Armenian Genocide

The systematic mass killing and deportation of Armenians by the Ottoman government during the war.

Influenza Pandemic

The 1918 global outbreak (Spanish Flu) that killed more people worldwide than the war itself.

Lost Generation

A term for the group of writers and intellectuals disillusioned by the senseless slaughter and trauma of World War I.