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1914 Assassination of Archduke
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, visited the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. As the royal entourage drove through the city, Serbian nation- alist Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot the Archduke and his wife Sophie. Princip was a member of the Black Hand, an organization promoting Serbian national- ism. The assassinations touched off a diplomatic crisis. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared what was expected to be a short war against Serbia. -
Central Powers
Germany and Austria-Hungary, together with the Ottoman Empire—an empire of mostly Middle Eastern lands controlled by the Turks. Alliances provided a measure of international security because nations were reluctant to disturb the balance of power. As it turned out, a spark set off a major conflict -
Allies
By 1907 - two major defense alliances in Europe. The Triple Entente, later known as the Allies, consisted of France, Britain, and Russia. The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. -
Schlieffen Plan
Germany invaded Belgium, following a strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called for a holding action against Russia, combined with a quick drive through Belgium to Paris; after France had fallen, the two German armies would defeat Russia. As German troops swept across Belgium, thousands of civilians fled in terror. In Brussels, the Belgian capital, an American war correspondent described the first major refugee crisis of the 20th century. -
Sinking of British Linear Arabic
U-boat sank another British liner, the Arabic, drowning two Americans. -
Sinking of British Linear Lusitania
U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland. Of the 1,198 persons lost, 128 were Americans. The Germans defended their action on the grounds that the liner carried ammunition. Despite Germany’s explanation, Americans became outraged with Germany because of the loss of life. American public opinion turned against Germany and the Central Powers. -
Germany Blockades the North Sea
Germany responded to British blockade with a counterblockade by U-boats. Any British or Allied ship found in waters around Britain would be sunk. U-boat sank British liner Lusitania off southern coast of Ireland. 128 of 1,198 lost were Americans. The Germans defended their action on the grounds that the liner carried ammunition. Despite Germany’s explanation, Americans became outraged with Germany because of the loss of life. American public opinion turned against Germany and the Central Powers -
Trench Warfare
Type of land warfare using occupied fighting lines consisting largely of military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. -
Sinking of French Passenger Linear Sussex
United States protested, and this time Germany agreed not to sink any more passenger ships. But Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed French passenger steamer, the Sussex. The Sussex sank, and about 80 passengers, including Americans, were killed or injured. -
Battle of the Somme
Also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the River Somme in France. -
Committee on Public Information and the "Four Minute Men"
To popularize the war, the government set up the nation’s first propaganda agency. Head of the CPI was a former muck raking journalist, George Creel. He persuaded the nation’s artists and advertising agencies to create thousands of paintings, posters, cartoons, sculptures promoting the war. He recruited 75,000 men to serve as “Four-Minute Men,” who spoke about everything war related: the draft, rationing, bond drives, victory gardens, topics like “Why We Are Fighting”/“The Meaning of America" -
Wilson's Peace Without Victory Speech
In a speech before the Senate, the president called for “a peace without victory a peace between equals,” in which neither side would impose harsh terms on the other. Wilson hoped that all nations would join in a “league for peace” that would work to extend democracy, maintain freedom of the seas, and reduce armaments. -
Bolshevik Revolution
Revolution in Russia. October Revolution in which Lenin and his Bolshevik Part followers overthrew the weak Provisional Government and imposed a Marxist government in Russia. The October Revolution is called the Bolshevik Revolution because that is when the Bolsheviks, later to be known as the Communist Party, took control of the country. -
Selective Service Act of 1917
The act required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service. -
Convoy System
A heavy guard of destroyers escorted merchant ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups. By fall of 1917, shipping losses had been cut in half -
American Expeditionary Force and General John J. Pershing
Led by General John J. Pershing, included men from widely separated parts of the country. American infantrymen were nicknamed doughboys, possibly bc of the white belts they wore, which they cleaned with pipe clay, or “dough.” Most doughboys had never ventured far from the farms or small towns where they lived, and the sophisticated sights and sounds of Paris made a vivid impression. -
Shell Shock, trench foot, trench mouth
Constant bombardments and other experiences often led to battle fatigue and “shell shock,” term coined during World War I to describe a complete emotional collapse from which many never recovered. Trench foot - caused by standing in cold wet trenches for long periods of time w/out changing into dry socks/boots. Toes would turn red or blue, then numb, and finally rot. Only solution was to amputate toes, and in some cases the entire foot. A painful infection of the gums and throat - trench mouth -
Second Battle of Marne
Last major German offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The attack failed when an Allied counterattack by French and American forces, including several hundred tanks, overwhelmed the Germans on their right flank, inflicting severe casualties. The German defeat marked the start of the relentless Allied advance which culminated in the Armistice with Germany about 100 days later. -
Conscientious Objector
One who opposes warfare on moral grounds, pointing out that the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” -
Anti German Sentiment in America
opposition to or fear of Germany, its inhabitants, its culture and the German language. Its opposite is Germanophilia. Many Americans with German names lost their jobs. Orchestras refused to play the music of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Some towns with German names changed them. Schools stopped teaching the German language, and librarians removed books by German authors from the shelves. People even resorted to violence against German Americans. -
Zimmerman Note
Telegram from the German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico that was intercepted by British agents. The telegram proposed an alliance between Mexico and Germany and promised that if war with the United States broke out, Germany would support Mexico in recovering “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.” -
War Industries Board
United States government agency established during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies between the War Department and the Navy Department -
369th Infantry Regiment
Formerly known as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment, was an infantry regiment of the New York Army National Guard during World War I and World War II. The Regiment consisted mainly of African Americans. -
National War Labor Board
Composition of representatives from business and labor designed to arbitrate disputes between workers and employers. It settled any possible labor difficulties that might hamper the war efforts. -
Food Administration
To
help produce and conserve food,
Wilson set up the Food Administration under Herbert Hoover. Instead of rationing food, he
called on people to follow the “gospel of the clean plate.” He
declared one day a week “meat- of the United States less,” another “sweetless,” two days “wheatless,” and two other days “porkless.” Restaurants removed sugar bowls from the table and served bread only after the first course. -
Raising Money for the War
The government raised about one-third of this amount through taxes, including a progressive income tax, a war-profits tax, and higher excise taxes on tobacco, liquor, and luxury goods. It raised the rest through public borrowing by selling “Liberty Loan” and “Victory Loan” bonds. Movie stars spoke at rallies in factories, in schools, and on street corners. As Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo put it, only “a friend of Germany” would refuse to buy war bonds -
Espionage and Sedition Acts
In June 1917 Congress passed the Espionage Act, and in May 1918 it passed the Sedition Act. this act, a person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the government or the war effort. -
Eugene V. Debs arrest
Handed a ten-year prison sentence for speaking out against the war and the draft. -
Emma Goldman
The anarchist Emma Goldman received a two-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine for organizing the No Conscription League. When she left jail, the authorities deported her to Russia. -
Big Bill Haywood and the IWW
“Big Bill” Haywood and other leaders of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were accused of sabotaging the war effort because they urged workers to strike for better conditions and higher pay. Haywood was sentenced to a long prison term. (He later skipped bail and fled to Russia.) Under such federal pressure, the IWW faded away -
Victor Burger
The House of Representatives refused to seat Victor Berger, a socialist congressman from Wisconsin, because of his antiwar views. -
Wilson's 14 Points
- no secret treaties
- free navigation of all seas
- no economic barriers
- reduction in weapons and armies
- colonial policies should consider interests of colonial peoples as and interests of imperialist powers other 8 dealt with boundary changes. Wilson based these on the principle of self determination mination “along historically established lines of nationality.” Groups that claimed distinct ethnic identities were to form their own nation states/decide for themselves to what nations belong
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Austria Hungary surrenders to the Allies
On November 3, 1918, AustriaHungary
surrendered to the Allies. That same day, German sailors
mutinied against government authority. -
Establishment of German Republic
Socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne. -
Cease Fire and Armistice
Although there were no Allied soldiers on German territory and no truly decisive battle had been fought, the Germans were too exhausted to continue fighting. So at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month of 1918, Germany agreed to a cease-fire and signed the armistice, or truce, that ended the war -
agreements made in treaty of versailles
established nine new nations including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia&shifted boundaries of other nations. It carved five areas out of the Ottoman Empire and gave them to France & Great Britain as mandates, or temporary colonies. they were to administer their respective mandates until the areas were ready for independence.
The treaty barred Germany from maintaining an army&required Germany to return the region of Alsace-Lorraine to France and pay reparations-$33 billion to the Allies. -
Reparations and the War Guild Clause
It contained a war-guilt clause forcing Germany to admit sole responsibility for starting World War I. Although German militarism had played a major role in igniting the war, other European nations had been guilty of provoking diplomatic crises before the war. Furthermore, there was no way Germany could pay the huge financial reparations. Germany was stripped of its colonial possessions in the Pacific, which might have helped it pay its reparations bill of 33 billion dollars
