Unit 3 WW1 test USH

Wilson's Fourteen Points

Woodrow Wilson's peace proposal outlining principles for post-war global stability, including open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, and self-determination.

Technological advances of WWI

Industrialized weaponry such as machine guns, poison gas, tanks, and advanced artillery that drastically increased casualties and defensive capability.

Trench warfare

A defensive military strategy where opposing forces dig protective ditch networks, often resulting in prolonged stalemates with minimal territory gained.

No Man's Land

The dangerous, barren area of contested ground situated between opposing front-line trenches, covered in barbed wire and exposed to gunfire.

M.A.I.N. causes of WWI

The four long-term catalysts of the war: Militarism (arms buildup), Alliances (mutual defense treaties), Imperialism (global competition), and Nationalism (intense ethnic pride).

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The immediate spark of World War I, carried out by a Serbian nationalist, leading Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia.

U.S. homefront mobilization in WWI

Federal coordination of the civilian economy through war bonds, military conscription, rationing of vital resources, and pro-war propaganda campaigns.

Selective Service Act of 1917

U.S. legislation authorizing a federal draft requiring eligible men to register for compulsory military service.

Espionage and Sedition Acts

Federal wartime laws that criminalized interference with military recruitment and penalized disloyal or critical speech regarding the U.S. government.

Triple Entente

The military coalition formed by Great Britain, France, and Russia at the onset of World War I.

Central Powers

The wartime alliance primarily consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.

Post-war objectives of the Allies

France and Britain focused on territorial security and extracting heavy financial reparations from Germany, whereas the U.S. prioritized lasting peace and the League of Nations.

League of Nations

An international diplomatic organization proposed by Woodrow Wilson aimed at resolving international disputes and preventing future wars through collective security.

U.S. Senate opposition to the League of Nations

Senators rejected membership out of concern that collective security commitments would surrender American sovereignty and pull the country into foreign conflicts.

Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 peace treaty that formally ended WWI with Germany, imposing a war guilt clause, vast reparations, military reductions, and territorial concessions.

Sinking of the Lusitania

The 1915 torpedoing of a British passenger ship by a German U-boat that killed over 100 Americans and turned U.S. public opinion against Germany.

Zimmerman Telegram

A secret German diplomatic communication urging Mexico to declare war on the United States in exchange for regaining lost southwestern territories.

Unrestricted submarine warfare

Germany's naval policy of sinking any approaching merchant or passenger vessels without warning in defined war zones.

Economic motives for imperialism

The drive of industrialized nations to secure new foreign markets, raw material supplies, and profitable avenues for trade and investment.

Territories ceded in the Treaty of Paris (1898)

Overseas lands acquired by the United States following the Spanish-American War, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

Panama Canal

An artificial waterway constructed by the U.S. through Central America to drastically shorten naval and commercial transit between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Big Stick Diplomacy

Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy emphasizing peaceful negotiation backed by the conspicuous threat of powerful military intervention.

Open Door Policy

A diplomatic initiative promoted by the United States to guarantee equal trading rights and commercial access for all nations in China.

Yellow journalism

A style of sensationalized, exaggerated newspaper reporting that inflamed public outrage against Spain and helped precipitate the Spanish-American War.

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Naval officer and strategist whose writings argued that control of the seas and overseas coaling stations were vital to national power.

Henry Cabot Lodge

Influential U.S. senator who championed imperialist expansion and a strong navy while successfully leading resistance against the League of Nations.

Emilio Aguinaldo

Filipino revolutionary leader who fought against Spanish rule and later directed armed resistance against American annexation during the Philippine-American War.

Queen Liliuokalani

The final reigning monarch of Hawaii who attempted to restore political authority to native islanders before being ousted in an American planter-led coup.

Sanford B. Dole

Hawaiian plantation owner who served as president of the provisional Republic of Hawaii and later became its first territorial governor.

John J. Pershing

Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe who insisted U.S. troops fight as a distinct, unified command rather than scattered replacements.

Alvin York

Decorated American soldier and former conscientious objector who captured over one hundred German soldiers during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.