World War I Study Guide Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards outlining the causes, key battles, innovations, leadership figures, and domestic impacts of World War I based on the unit study guide.

Militarism

The strengthening and use of a military force by one country to intimidate another, driving an arms race that heightened fear and suspicion across Europe.

Alliances

Agreements formed between nations to support one another for mutual security, which ultimately divided Europe into competing blocs and escalated regional disputes.

Imperialism

The process by which a nation extends its rule through colonies to build an empire, driving intense European rivalry over territory, raw materials, and international influence.

Nationalism

Strong pride in or loyalty to one's nation that fueled competition among great powers and inspired ethnic groups under foreign rule to fight for independence.

Triple Entente

The pre-war diplomatic alliance and wartime Allied coalition initially composed of France, Russia, and Great Britain.

Triple Alliance

The pre-war alliance formed by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, which evolved into the Central Powers (excluding Italy, who switched sides in 1915).

Otto von Bismarck

The Prussian statesman who unified Germany in 1871, creating a powerful European empire that challenged Britain's supremacy and altered the balance of power.

Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871)

Conflict in which unified Germany defeated France and annexed Alsace-Lorraine, fostering lasting French humiliation and a deep desire for revenge.

Alsace-Lorraine

An iron-ore-rich border territory seized from France by Germany in 1871, which fueled German naval expansion and sustained French resentment leading up to World War I.

German Naval Scare (1906)

An international alarm triggered when Germany began utilizing newly acquired iron ore to build a modern fleet of Dreadnought battleships to rival the British Royal Navy.

Dreadnought

The most modern and heavily armed class of battleships developed in the early 20th century, central to the Anglo-German naval arms race.

Dardanelles

A narrow strait connecting the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, targeted by Russia to secure warm-water empire access and imperial modernization.

The Black Hand

A secret Serbian nationalist terrorist group dedicated to breaking free from Austro-Hungarian rule and reclaiming Serbian national independence.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne whose assassination alongside his wife in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, acted as the spark that ignited World War I.

Gavrilo Princip

A Bosnian Serb member of the Black Hand terrorist group who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.

Belgian Neutrality Agreement (1839)

An international treaty in which European powers guaranteed Belgium's neutrality; its violation by Germany in August 1914 compelled Great Britain to enter the war.

Schlieffen Plan

Germany's strategic operational plan designed to defeat France quickly through Belgium with a 7:1 wing ratio before pivoting east to confront Russia, which failed and created a two-front war.

Trench Warfare

A defensive style of static warfare where opposing armies occupied fortified networks of subterranean ditches, separated by no man's land.

No Man's Land

The exposed, hazardous territory separating opposing enemy trench systems, often crisscrossed with barbed wire and swept by artillery and machine-gun fire.

Second Battle of Ypres (April 1915)

Western Front battle in Belgium where Germany first introduced chlorine gas, during which Canadian forces held the defensive line and earned a reputation for resilience.

Battle of the Somme (1916)

A massive Allied offensive along the Somme River led by General Douglas Haig that resulted in catastrophic casualties for minimal territorial gain, illustrating the horrific costs of attrition.

Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 9, 1917)

A major Allied victory in northern France where all four Canadian divisions fought together as a single unit to capture a strategic German stronghold using meticulous planning and the creeping barrage.

Arthur Currie

Canadian commander who emphasized meticulous planning, aerial mapping, and coordinated tactics, later commanding the Canadian Corps through major victories from mid-1917 onward.

Julian Byng

British Lieutenant-General who commanded the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge, overseeing extensive preparations and coordinated strategies that led to victory.

Battle of Passchendaele (1917)

A brutal offensive fought near Ypres amidst destroyed drainage, heavy rain, and deep mud; Canadian troops captured the ridge at the cost of immense casualties, symbolizing the futility of World War I.

Canada's Hundred Days (1918)

A decisive series of successful Allied offensives from August 8 to November 11, 1918, where the Canadian Corps spearheaded major advances that forced Germany to seek an armistice.

Creeping Barrage

A coordinated artillery tactic where a continuous curtain of shellfire advanced in timed stages just ahead of attacking infantry.

Flash Spotting and Sound Ranging

Artillery intelligence techniques that located enemy gun positions by measuring the visible muzzle flashes and auditory signatures of cannon fire.

U-Boat

German submarine armed with torpedoes used to sink merchant and military ships supplying Britain in an effort to enforce a counter-blockade.

Lusitania

A British passenger liner sunk by a German U-boat in May 1915, killing over one thousand passengers including Americans, which contributed to shifting US public opinion toward entering the war.

British Naval Blockade

Royal Navy strategy restricting merchant shipping and imported resources from entering Germany, creating severe domestic food shortages and crippling the German economy.

Battle of Jutland (1916)

The largest surface naval battle between Britain's Grand Fleet and Germany's High Seas Fleet off Denmark, which confirmed British naval supremacy and pushed Germany toward unrestricted submarine warfare.

Convoys

Defensive naval groupings in which commercial merchant vessels traveled together under the armed escort of naval warships to deter U-boat ambushes.

Q-Ships

Heavily armed naval gunboats disguised as vulnerable merchant vessels to lure German U-boats to the surface for surprise counterattacks.

Depth Charges

Explosive canisters dropped or rolled from ships designed to detonate underwater at preset depths to destroy submerged submarines.

Zeppelin

A large, rigid German airship used for long-distance reconnaissance, flash spotting, and bombing raids against civilian urban targets.

Total War

A state of conflict in which an entire nation's civilian society, industrial economy, and workforce are fully mobilized to sustain the war effort.

War Measures Act (1914)

Canadian legislation giving the federal cabinet emergency powers to censor media, arrest and imprison individuals without trial, and bypass Parliament during wartime.

Enemy Aliens

Immigrants living in Canada originating from enemy nations who were subjected to mandatory registration, travel restrictions, discrimination, and internment camps.

Robert Borden

The Prime Minister of Canada throughout World War I who expanded Canada's international military role, enacted the War Measures Act, and introduced conscription.

Wilfrid Laurier

Leader of the Canadian Liberal opposition who opposed Robert Borden's compulsory military conscription policy, representing the anti-conscription stance popular in Quebec.

Sam Hughes

Canada's Minister of Militia and Defence who organized early recruitment and training but faced widespread condemnation for procurement scandals, poor equipment, and patronage.

Military Service Act (1917)

Canadian legislation introducing mandatory military conscription for eligible men, igniting the Conscription Crisis and widening divisions between English and French Canadians.

Wartime Elections Act (1917)

Canadian law granting federal voting privileges to female relatives of serving soldiers while stripping voting rights from certain naturalized immigrants from enemy nations.

Halifax Explosion (December 6, 1917)

A massive disaster caused by the collision of the French munitions vessel SS Mont-Blanc and the SS Imo in Halifax Harbour, killing approximately 2,000 people and leveling neighbourhoods.

Treaty of Versailles (June 28, 1919)

The formal peace treaty concluding World War I that imposed severe financial reparations, military limits, and territorial penalties upon Germany.