Chapter 24: The First World War

With an Allied victory in the major battles of 1916-1917, one Allied veteran stated:

"Neither side had won, nor could win, the War. The War had won, and would go on winning."

The Bolsheviks under Lenin attempted to gain widespread support during the summer of 1917 under the slogan:

"Peace, Land, and Bread, Now!"

The nations of Europe, following the assassination at Sarajevo, embarked on five weeks of what has since been characterized as:

"a tragedy of miscalculation."

In the five months of the First Battle of the Somme, the total casualties totaled approximately:

1,000,000

On June 28, 1914:

Archduke Fanz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo.

Although the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary had many ethnic problems within many of its provinces, the most volatile of all was the province of:

Bosnia.

Bankers and financiers were great supporters of the war as they hoped to profit from wartime production and capture colonial markets.

False

Britain's involvement in the war was a foregone conclusion due to its pacts with France and its support of Belgium's neutrality.

False

Italy sided with Germany and Austria before the war and was held to this alliance despite its sympathies with the French and British cause.

False

The Allied powers' extensive borrowing of funds from the British resulted in the hobbling of France as a financial power and the rise of the United Kingdom as a financial power within Europe after the war.

False

The Bolsheviks avoided open civil war in Russia by granting land to the peasants and compensating the former landowners for their losses. However, the landowners largely inflated the loss of land and made profit on the redistribution of lands.

False

The Russian army was not only the largest in Europe, it was the best supplied due to the innovative reforms of Tsar Nicholas

False

The United States' public support of U.S. entry into the war in Europe was so great that over 10 million volunteers signed up for duty.

False

The term wastage refers to the routine loss of supplies and devastation of land that occurred in trench warfare.

False

Which public figure appeared at the Versailles Conference as an advocate for the rights of colonial peoples?

Ho Chi Minh

Although all countries involved in the war used propaganda to bolster the morale of their civilian population, what was one unintended consequence?

It became more difficult for any country to accept a fair, non-punitive peace settlement.

How did the Balfour Declaration affect the postwar policies of the Middle East?

It gave British approval to a national home for European Jews in Palestine.

Although Germany was subjected to many crippling provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, the most dangerous were the punitive reparations, according to the eminent British economist:

John Maynard Keynes.

One of the changes in British society after the war was the availability of birth control with the first birth-control clinic was opened in London in 1921 by:

Marie Stopes.

With so much of the male population of European countries in uniform during the war, women increasingly filled industrial positions from which they had heretofore been excluded. In Britain, these women were collectively dubbed:

Munitionettes.

One of the long-lasting results of World War I was the increasingly sour and suspicious relationship that developed between:

Russia and western Europe.

What were the mandates of the Treaty of Versailles?

Territories in the Middle East and former German colonies were to be administered by France and Great Britain.

Which Bolshevik leader made the most notable contribution to Lenin's efforts during the fall of 1917?

Trotsky

Although the German naval blockade of Britain destroyed more tonnage, the British blockade against Germany was far more devastating as it put increased demands on the German national economy.

True

In 1914, the military leaders of Europe were confident that the European war, escalated by a scramble for colonies and an arms race between the two systems of alliance, would be quick due to their advanced technologies and large armies.

True

Propaganda campaigns had been used throughout the war and would make it difficult for any country to accept a non-punitive peace settlement, as the injustices, motivations and hatreds and atrocities of the war had been so deeply ingrained in the peoples of Europe.

True

The aims of the Bolsheviks included an end to the war, improvement in working and living conditions for the workers, and a redistribution of aristocratic land to the peasants

True

The initial German offensive was slowed by the inability of its soldiers and supply trains to keep up with the expected speed of the operation and by the resistance of the Belgians and the intervention of Britain.

True

Verdun was of little strategic importance but was a symbol of France's strength and morale.

True

Woodrow Wilson was the first American president to attend European peace talks while in office.

True

The social changes that were forged during the war were recorded in one of the most famous autobiographies of the period, Testament of Youth, by:

Vera Brittain.

The bloodiest battles of World War I occurred during 1916-1917, with the first of these being fought at:

Verdun.

At the Paris Peace Conference beginning in 1919, each of the so-called Big Four was represented by their political leaders, with Italy being represented by:

Vittorio Orlando.

The Bolsheviks were able to ultimately triumph in October 1917 under the leadership of the young, dedicated revolutionary:

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov

Which of the following BEST describes the British action at Gallipoli?

a botched amphibious landing in Turkey that failed to "force" the sea route to Russia.

Russia had been stunned by early setbacks in 1914, due primarily to problems of equipment, supply, and training. By the end of 1916, it had been brought to the verge of total collapse by:

a combination of political ineptitude and military defeat.

Many in Europe recognized that the end of the war had brought about "a new and unfamiliar world," but no one knew the form this new world was going to take. As Tomas Masaryk stated, "Postwar Europe was:

a laboratory atop a graveyard."

The abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in February 1917 was caused by:

a loosely organized march of women demanding food, fuel, and political reform that quickly spiraled into a mass strike which the army joined.

The German "von Schlieffen Plan" envisioned

a sweeping attack through Belgium to defeat the French outside Paris.

The Russian people revolted against their tsar in 1917 because of:

all of these.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand precipitated the "July Crisis" and led to World War I because he was:

heir to the throne of Austro-Hungary.

What or who were the soviets?

local councils of workers and soldiers throughout Russia.

Although every country fighting in World War I suffered food shortages at various times during the war, Great Britain was the last to institute control by rationing bread in 1917 primarily because:

of German submarine success in sinking Allied shipping.

World War I saw the first use of many new weapons. One of these, poison gas, was particularly devastating due to its:

physical and psychological effects.

Which of the following was a consequence of the Hindenburg Plan?

placing individual industrialists in charge of pricing and profits in Germany's war economy, resulting in disastrous conflicts of interest and inflation.

Military planners preparing for war in 1914 believed that the war would be short, limited, and decisive, basing their success on the twin ideas of:

size and speed.

Which weapon was considered the best bet to break the stalemate on the Western Front?

tank.

During August 1918, the war changed momentum on the Western Front due to several factors, the most important of which was:

the Allies' material advantage finally coming to bear on the Germans.

The second Russian revolution in 1917 was led by:

the Bolsheviks.

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated his throne and thus made way for the formation of a transitional government for Russia in what is now known as:

the February Revolution.

The action that brought the German plan of attack in the West to an end in September 1914 was

the First Battle of the Marne.

What was the public motive for Britain's declaration of war in 1914?

the German invasion of neutral belgium.

The German army, in the early days of the war, won a stunning victory over the Russians at the battle of:

the Masurian Lakes.

Opposed to Lenin and his plan for a takeover of the Russian government was another part of the Social Democratic Party:

the Mensheviks.

World War I was finally ended by:

the Treaty of Versailles.

In the years preceding World War I, Europe was divided into two groups of nation-states united by treaty. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were opposed by Russia, France, and Great Britain, who were known collectively as:

the Triple Entente.

What event galvanized the cause of Irish nationalism during World War I?

the execution of the leaders of the Easter Rebellion in 1916.

To what does the term total war refer?

the intense commitment of a nation's whole human and material resources to fighting.

The entry of the United States into World War I on the side of the Allies was due to several factors; among them were the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by the Germans and:

the interception of the "Zimmerman telegram" sent by Germany's foreign minister to Mexico.

What was the single greatest U.S. contribution to the defeat of German forces on the battlefield in 1918?

the sheer number of U. S. conscripts sent into battle alongside the Allies.

Which of the following was NOT a major element in the German collapse of November 1918?

the sudden death of Kaiser Wilhelm's heir.

Great Britain fought against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East where the most crucial advantage in its victory over the Turks was:

the support of various Arab peoples seeking independence from the Turks.

In the 1890s Germany had developed a plan to fight a two-front war called:

the von Schlieffen Plan.

The American journalist John Reed, in covering the Russian Revolution, wrote of the events of October 1917 that they were "ten days that shook the world." Although many attitudes and things were immediately shaken, it did have a more lasting effect because it:

was a political transformation that set the agenda for future revolutions and created the political gestalt for the rest of the century.

Many social changes occurred in Europe as a result of World War I. Among them was the emergence of the "New Woman," an occurrence that was greeted:

with mixed reviews; many celebrated it while many grumbled about the change.