World War I

Garvilo Princip

a Bosnian Serb who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.

Rationing

to restrict the consumption of (a consumer): The civilian population was rationed while the war lasted.

Eastern Front

Eastern Front was longer, with German and Austro-Hungarian forces lined up against Russia and its allies such as Serbia along a front of almost 1,000 miles from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

Mobilization

(Of a country or its government) prepare and organize (troops) for active service

Central Power

(in World War I) Germany and Austria-Hungary, often with their allies Turkey and Bulgaria, as opposed to the Allies.

Allied Powers

(in World War I) the powers of the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France, Russia), with the nations allied with them (Belgium, Serbia, Japan, Italy, etc., not including the United States)

Lusitania

A British passenger ship sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland in 1915. Germany, then at war with Britain but not with the United States (see World War I), had warned Americans against traveling on the ship. More than a hundred Americans died in the sinking.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and Serbia's allies to declare war on each other, starting World War I.

Fourteen Points

In this January 8, 1918, address to Congress, President Woodrow Wilson proposed a 14-point program for world peace. These points were later taken as the basis for peace negotiations at the end of the war.

"Sick man of Europe"

Ottoman Empire in 1914 was commonly known as 'the sick man of Europe', a sign that the once-great power was crumbling.

Triple Entente

The Triple Entente was the military alliance formed between Russia, Great Britain and France before World War I.

Shell-shocked

The World War I name for what is known today as post-traumatic stress, this is a psychological disorder that develops in some individuals who have had major traumatic experiences (and, for example, have been in a serious accident or through a war).

Trench Warfare

a form of land warfare using occupied fighting lines consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are significantly protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. The most prominent case of trench warfare is the Western Front in World War I.

Triple Alliance

a formal agreement between three countries that each will protect each other if attacked by an enemy. Triple Alliance was a military alliance among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, opposing the Triple Entente. It lasted from 20 May 1882 until World War I in 1914.

Alliances

a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations.

League of nations

an international organization to promote world peace and cooperation that was created by the Treaty of Versailles (1919): dissolved April 1946.

Stalemate

any position or situation in which no action can be taken or progress made

Propaganda

government communications to the public that are designed to influence opinion. The information may be true or false, but it is always carefully selected for its political effect.

Zimmerman note

secret telegram sent on Jan. 16, 1917, by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to the United States. In it Zimmermann said that in the event of war with the United States, Mexico should be asked to enter the war as a German ally. In return, Germany promised to restore to Mexico the lost territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. British intelligence intercepted and deciphered the telegram and sent it to President Woodrow Wilson, who released it on Mar. 1, 1917, to the press. The Zimmermann note helped turn U.S. public opinion against Germany during World War I and strengthened the advocates of U.S. entry into the war

No-man's land

term used by soldiers to describe the ground between the two opposing trenches.

Militarism

the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests.

Home Front

the civilian sector of a nation at war when its armed forces are in combat abroad.

Western Front

the name the Germans gave to a series of trenches that ran 700 kilometres from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border.