53 - The Great War, 1914-1915 (abridged)

Pan-Slavism

nationalist movement to liberate Slavic people (including Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Serbs, and others) from the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires; looked to Russia, the most powerful Slavic state, for support

Pan-Germanism

influential 19th century nationalist movement to unite all Germans into a single nation-state; considered Germanic peoples (Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Dutch, and English) a superior race; climaxed in Nazi ideology during the 1930s-1940s

Alsace-Lorraine

two French provinces annexed by Germany in 1871; soured Franco-German relations and was a major cause of the First World War

Wilhelm II

Kaiser of Germany (r. 1888-1918); unstable and tactless emperor who sought to make Germany a respected world power; his aggressive policies alienated foreign states and contributed mightily to the First World War in 1914

militarism

national glorification of military traditions and maintenance of strong standing armies and navies to aggressively promote or defend the interests of nation-states

Triple Alliance

alliance between the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy prior to World War I; formed in 1882 out of hostility towards France

Triple Entente

alliance between the Third French Republic, Russian Empire, and British Empire prior to World War I; formed in 1907 in response to the rising threat of German militarism

Balkan Crises

1912-1913 destabilizing regional conflicts between Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania, and the Ottoman Empire; the Ottomans lost most European territory and Austria-Hungary became threatened by a much strengthened Serbia

Franz Ferdinand

heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne whose assassination in June 1914 by the Black Hand in Sarajevo, Bosnia set in motion the events that led to the outbreak of World War I

mobilization

process of readying troops and supplies to fight; considered an act of war; Russia's preparations to defend Serbia led to Germany's declaration of war against Russia and France

Schlieffen Plan

German offensive plan to avoid splitting their forces in a two-front war; called for rapidly defeating France in the west via an invasion through neutral Belgium before turning east to face Russia

Rape of Belgium

German mass murder and harsh mistreatment of civilians during the invasion and subsequent occupation of neutral Belgium; used in Allied propaganda to create popular support for the war effort against Germany

First Battle of the Marne

September 1914 major Allied victory; halted the German advance at the eastern outskirts of Paris; left Germany with no hope of a quick victory and facing a long war on two fronts; led to four years of trench warfare stalemate on the Western Front

trench warfare

form of combat in which offensive forces charge against strongly held defensive lines protected by barbed wire and machine guns; often had extremely high casualties for the attackers and little to no territorial gains; led to stalemate in World War I

No Man's Land

disputed ground between the front lines or trenches of two opposing armies; often muddy and littered with corpses, barbed wire, and craters caused by artillery barrages

Central Powers

military alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire during World War I

Allied (Entente) Powers

military alliance of the French, British, Russian, Japanese, Italian, and American empires; also included Serbia, Belgium, Greece, Romania, Brazil, and others

Western Front

trenches and fortifications that stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea; scene of major fighting of France, Britain, Belgium, and the United States against Germany in World War I

Eastern Front

region along the German and Austro-Hungarian borders with Russia where Russians, Serbs, and Romanians battled Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Bulgarians, and Turks; more fluid battle lines than Western front; led to Russian defeat

machine guns

weapons capable of firing 400-600 rounds per minute that inflicted heavy casualties on World War I battlefields; each estimated to project firepower equivalent to 60-100 riflemen

chemical weapons

use of phosgene, chlorine, and mustard gas to demoralize, injure, and kill entrenched defenders; inflicted 1.3 million casualties; widespread horror and public revulsion reduced usage in later wars

unrestricted submarine warfare

German policy of sinking without warning any ship found in an enemy's waters, including ships from neutral nations and unarmed passenger liners, in violation of internationally recognized laws of naval warfare

Lusitania

British passenger ship that was sunk by a German U-Boat in 1915 killing 1,198 passengers and crew including 128 Americans; turned U.S. opinion against Germany

Treaty of London

1915 Italian rejection of the Triple Alliance and entry of Italy on the Allied side in exchange for a British promise of Austro-Hungarian territory

Italian Front

fighting at the mountainous border between Austria-Hungary and Italy; bogged down into trench warfare at high altitudes and with very cold winters; led to the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918

Gallipoli Campaign

failed Allied offensive near Istanbul planned by Winston Churchill to open a supply line to Russia via the Black Sea; major Turkish victory with heavy casualties for Australian and New Zealand forces

total war

a conflict requiring the complete economic mobilization of a nation's economic resources and people affecting the lives of all citizens

war socialism

state control of economic institutions to command industrial and agricultural production and distribution in order to wage a total war

Three Pashas

Mehmed Talaat, Ismail Enver, and Ahmed Djemal; triumvirate of de facto rulers of the Ottoman Empire from 1913 until its collapse; led Ottoman entry into World War I and ordered the Armenian Genocide

Armenian genocide

organized massacre against the Christian Armenian population in Anatolia carried out by Ottoman military forces in 1915; over a million Armenians died