WWI

Sherif Hussein bin Ali

(1854-1931) Powerful Arab leader of the Arab Revolt of 1916-18; his children went on to be kings of Jordan, Iraq, and (briefly) Syria and Hijaz.

Prime Minister David Lloyd George

(Full name: David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor. The family name is Lloyd George, not George. Lloyd George's peerage title was hyphenated even though his family name was not) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the First World War and immediately after. He led the Wartime Coalition Government between 1916 and 1922. He made a greater impact on British public life than arguably any other 20th-century leader, thanks to his leadership in winning the war, his postwar role in reshaping Europe and giving independence to Ireland, and his prewar introduction of Britain's social welfare system.

Ludendorff Offensive

(Usually called Spring Offensive, sometimes called Heilger Michael or Kaiserschlacht [Kaiser's Battle]) Final German push in March 1918. Germans secretly amassed tired troops from the eastern front pulled back after the Russian withdrawal, and hoped to surprise the allies which would allow them to break through a weak sector in the west.

Czechoslovak Legions

(a.k.a. Czech Legions) They were volunteer armed forces composed predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting together with the Entente powers during World War I. Their goal was to win the Allies' support for the independence of Bohemia and Moravia from the Austrian Empire and of Slovak territories of the Kingdom of Hungary, which were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were also heavily involved in the Russian Civil War fighting Bolsheviks, at times controlling most of the Trans-Siberian railway and several major cities in Siberia.

(First) Battle of the Marne

(also known as the Miracle of the Marne) was a First World War battle fought between the 5th and the 12th of September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke. The battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had reached the outskirts of Paris. The counterattack of six French field armies and one British army along the Marne River forced the German Imperial Army to abandon its push on Paris and retreat northeast, setting the stage for four years of trench warfare on the Western Front. The battle of the Marne was an immense strategic victory for the Allies, wrecking Germany's bid for a swift victory over France and forcing it into a protracted two-front war.

Salonika Offensive

(sometimes called the Macedonian Front) This front was formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. The expedition came too late and in insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia, and was complicated by internal political crisis in Greece. Eventually, a stable front was established, running from the Albanian Adriatic coast to the Struma River, pitting a multinational Allied force against the Bulgarian Army, which was at various times bolstered with smaller units from the remaining Central Powers. The Front remained quite stable, despite local actions, and was so inactive for nearly two years it was often referred to as the Allies' largest POW camp by soldiers there. The Allied offensive in September 1918 resulted in the capitulation of Bulgaria and the liberation of Serbia.

First Battle of Ypres

1914 German forces try to outflank Allies through the Belgian Flanders. British troops are outnumbered, but they hold at the town of Ypres. Hundreds of thousands of troops die on all fronts, and armies need to call up more soldiers.

Zimmermann Telegram

1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire for Mexico to join the Central Powers, in the event of the United States entering World War I on the side of the Entente Powers. The proposal was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence. Revelation of the contents outraged American public opinion and helped generate support for the United States declaration of war on Germany in April of that year. Mexico was promised territories in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona that had been lost to the United States in exchange for invading the US. Mexico, unable to match the U.S. military, ignored the proposal and after the U.S. entered the war, officially rejected it.

T.E. Lawrence

A British Colonel—later known as Lawrence of Arabia—was sent by the British to support the Arab revolt. Lawrence led guerrilla raids against the Turks, dynamiting bridges and supply trains. Eventually, the Ottoman empire lost a great deal of territory to the Arabs, including the cities of Baghdad and Damascus.

Grigori Rasputin

A Russian peasant and self-proclaimed mystic who gained significant influence over Tsar Nicholas II's wife, Alexandra, prior to the revolutions of 1917. Rasputin's behavior caused scandals, and the Russian people began to believe that the tsar himself was under Rasputin's influence. A groupf the Tsar's relatives had Rasputin killed in late 1916.

The Black Hand

A Serbian nationalist organization dedicated to the creation of a pan-Slavic kingdom. They are most famous for the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand.

Battle of Mons

A battle on August 23, 1914, that was one of the earliest battles on the western front. The German advance in Belgium overwhelmed British and French forces, who began a fourteen-day retreat to the outskirts of Paris.

General John J. Pershing

A general officer in the United States Army, he led the American Expeditionary Forces into battle during WWI. He was the first person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank that can be held in the United States Military, the General of the Armies.

Fourteen Points

A peace program presented to the U.S. Congress by President Woodrow Wilson in January 1918. It called for the evacuation of German-occupied lands, the drawing of borders and the settling of territorial disputes by the self-determination of the affected populations, and the founding of an association of nations to preserve the peace and guarantee their territorial integrity. It was rejected by Germany, but it made Wilson the moral leader of the Allies in the last year of World War I.

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare

A policy that the Germans announced on January 1917 which stated that their submarines would sink any ship in British waters

Gallipoli campaign

A poorly planned and badly executed Allied campaign to capture the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli during 1915 in World War I. Intended to open up a sea lane to the Russians through the Black Sea, the attempt failed with more than 50 percent casualties on both sides.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

A signed agreement between Russia and the Central Powers when Russia withdrew from the War. As part of the treaty Russia ceded the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) to Germany and its province of Kars Oblast in the south Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire, and was also forced to recognized the independence of Ukraine and pay six billion German gold mark in reparations. The treaty was practically obsolete in November 1918, when Germany in effect surrendered to the Allies. However it did provide some relief to the Bolsheviks, already fighting the Russian Civil War, by renouncing Russia's claims on Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania.

League of Nations

A world organization established in 1920 to promote international cooperation and peace. It was first proposed in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson, although the United States never joined the League. Essentially powerless, it was officially dissolved in 1946.

American Expeditionary Forces

About 2 million Americans went to France as members of this group under General John J. Pershing. Included the regular army, the National Guard, and the new larger force of volunteers and draftees and they served as individuals.

The armistice between the Allies and Germany

Also known as the Armistice of Compiègne after the location it was signed - was the agreement that ended the fighting in western Europe that comprised the First World War. It went into effect at 11 am on 11 November 1918, and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender.

Second Battle of the Marne

Also known as the Battle of Reims (15 July - 6 August 1918) was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by French forces and 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 about 100 days later. Thus the Second Battle of the Marne can be considered as the beginning of the end of the Great War.

Brusilov Offensive

Also known as the June Advance, this was the Russian Empire's greatest feat of arms during World War I, and among the most lethal battles in world history. It was a major offensive against the armies of the Central Powers on the Eastern Front, launched on June 4, 1916, and lasting until late September. It took place in what today is Ukraine, in the general vicinity of the towns of Lviv, Kovel and Lutsk. The offensive was named after the Russian commander in charge of the Southwestern Front, Gen. Aleksei Brusilov.

Battle of Passchendaele

Also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, this battle was one of the worst slaughters of World War I. During the summer and fall of 1917, Allied troops fought through endless rains across fields of deep mud, to capture the small town of Passchendaele in Belgium. The number of deaths is disputed, but it is agreed that each side lost 200,000 to 450,000 soldiers.

Paul von Hindenburg

Although he initially retired in 1911, he was recalled at the outbreak of World War I, and first came to national attention, at the age of 66, as the victor at Tannenberg in 1914. As Germany's Chief of the General Staff from 1916, he and his deputy, Erich Ludendorff, rose in the German public's esteem until Hindenburg gradually gained more influence in Germany than the Kaiser himself. Hindenburg retired again in 1919, but returned to public life in 1925 to be elected as the second President of Germany. The deteriorating political stability of the Weimar Republic let him play an important role in the Nazi Party's rise to power. He dissolved the parliament twice in 1932 and finally appointed Hitler Chancellor in January 1933. In February, he issued the Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended various civil liberties, and in March he signed the Enabling Act, which gave Hitler's administration legislative powers. Hindenburg died the following year, after which Hitler declared the office of President vacant and, as "Führer und Reichskanzler", made himself head of state.

Battle of Tannenberg

Battle between Russia and Germany, one of the first battles of WWI, August 23 - September 2, 1914; Russia loses 225,000 men.

Second Battle of Ypres

Battle of the First World War fought from 21 April - 25 May 1915 for control of the strategic Flemish town in western Belgium. It marked the first mass use by Germany of poison gas on the Western Front.

Second Battle of the Aisne

Began as a French attempt to inflict a decisive defeat on the German armies in France by an offensive of several French army groups. The attacks became known as the Nivelle Offensive and began on 9 April with a British attack at Arras. The French attacks began on 16 April 1917 against the German occupied Chemin des Dames ridge.

Alexandra Feodorovna

Born Alix of Hesse in Germany. She was the wife of Tsar Nicholas II and was the last Tsaritsa of Russia. She had control over Russia for a time during WWI.

British Expeditionary Force

British ground forces that fought in WWI.The term is often used to refer only to the forces present in France prior to the end of the First Battle of Ypres on 22 November 1914. By the end of 1914—after the battles of Mons, the Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres—the old regular British army had been wiped out, although it managed to help stop the German advance. An alternative endpoint of the BEF was 26 December 1914, when it was divided into the First and Second Armies (a third, fourth and fifth being created later in the war). B.E.F. remained the official name of the British Army in France and Flanders throughout the First World War.

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg

Chancellor of Germany at start of war. He gave Austria a blank check as his 'unconditional' support.

Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau

Clemenceau served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. He was one of the principal architects of the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

Hutier Tactics

Developed by a German officer in 1917. Characterized by a short, sharp concentration of artillery fire on a limited area, which is followed immediately by infantry assaults undertaken by specially trained, heavily armed, and lightly equipped Storm Troopers. Soldiers using these tactics are trained to bypass enemy strong points and to penetrate quickly and deeply into the enemy rear thus interfering with command, control, and communication, and causing mass panic, disorganization, confusion in the process. Later adapted to mechanized warfare.

Winston Churchill

During the war, he was the First Lord of the Admiralty (in charge of the Royal Navy) until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He is most famous for being Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during WWII.

Franz Joseph I

Emperor of Austria-Hungary from 1848 to 1916; during his long reign he took small steps to address the democratic and nationalist aspirations of his people

Trench warfare

Fighting with trenches, mines, and barbed wire. Horrible living conditions, great slaughter, and little territorial gains in the western front.

General Joseph Joffre

French general led the French at the Battle of the Marne.

Marshal Philippe Pétain

French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France. Because of his outstanding military leadership in World War I, particularly during the Battle of Verdun, he was viewed as a national hero in France. During WWII, he was chosen by Germany to act as Chief of State of Vichy France from 1940 to 1944.

Helmuth von Moltke

German Chief of Staff after the retirement of Schlieffen; revised the Schlieffen Plan and put it into action; he is blamed for being indecisive and giving bad orders in the face of war with France, specifically at the Battle of Marne.

Erich von Falkenhayn

German Chief of Staff, wanted peace with Russia to knock out France. Launched Verdun Offensive.

Schlieffen Plan

German General Staff's strategic plan for victory in a possible future war in which the German Empire might find itself fighting on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east. The plan took advantage of Russia's slowness and expected differences in the three countries' speed in preparing for war. In short, it was the German plan to avoid a two-front war by concentrating troops in the West and quickly defeating the French and then, if necessary, rushing those troops by rail to the East to face the Russians before they had time to mobilize fully.

Weimar Republic

German republic founded after the WWI and the downfall of the German Empire's monarchy. Lasted from 1919 to 1933.

Sinking of the Lusitania

Germans declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. A Cunard liner, the Lusitania from New York to England was torpedoed by a U-Boat off coast of Ireland in May of 1915. 1,200 drowned including 118 Americans. The liner was carrying munitions and there had been a warning issued to passengers in New York. Germany toned down their U-Boat campaign. Despite widespread outrage over the event, the U.S. did not join the war. It was not until Germans began using unrestricted submarine warfare again in 1917 did the U.S. get involved.

Field Marshal Douglas Haig

He commanded the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from 1915 to the end of the war. He was commander during the Battle of the Somme, the battle with one of the highest casualties in British military history, the Third Battle of Ypres, and the Hundred Days Offensive, which led to the armistice in 1918.

Erich Ludendorff

He was a German general, victor of Liège and of the Battle of Tannenberg. From August 1916 his appointment as Quartermaster general made him joint head (with Paul von Hindenburg), and chief engineer behind the management of Germany's effort in World War I until his resignation in October 1918.

Leon Trotsky

He was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army. He joined the Bolsheviks immediately prior to the 1917 October Revolution, and eventually became a leader within the Party. He was a major figure in the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War (1918-23). He was also among the first members of the Politburo.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was assassinated along with his wife in Sarajevo in 1914 by a Serbian nationalist group. His assassination was used as a pretext for Austria-Hungary to invade independent Serbia.

Operation Blücher

In 1918, Operation Blücher was an alternate plan to Heilger Michael. It called for an attack on Allied forces near the Aisne River, scheduled for spring 1918. It was never executed.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Kaiser of Germany at the time of the First World War reigning from 1888-1918. He pushed for a more aggressive foreign policy by means of colonies and a strong navy to compete with Britain. His actions added to the growing tensions in pre-1914 Europe.

George V

King of the United Kingdom and emperor of India from 1910 to 1936.

Tsar Nicholas II

Last Tsar of Russia. He was executed along with the rest of his family under the order of Vladimir Lenin. In WWI ordered a partial mobilization against Austria-Hungary, forcing a chain reaction of mobilization.

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolshevik (later Communist) Party. He lived in exile in Switzerland until 1917, then returned to Russia with the aid of Germany to lead the Bolsheviks to victory during the Russian Revolution and the civil war that followed.

McMahon-Hussein Correspondance

Letters between British Commissioner in Egypt and Husayn bin Ali, the head of the Hashemite line of rulers of the Hijaz. Encouraged revolt against the Ottomans, in exchange for support, rule of the area.

Battle of Verdun

Longest battle of the war and one of the longest in human history. Approximately 377,231 French and 337,000 German soldiers were killed. With an average of 70,000 casualties for each month of the battle, it was one of the most costly battles in human history; other recent estimates increase the total number of casualties to 976,000.

Shell shock

Medical condition caused by prolonged exposure to the distressing experiences of trench warfare.

Marshal Ferdinand Foch

Recalled as Chief of the General Staff in 1917, Foch was ultimately appointed "Commander-in-Chief (Generalissimo) of the Allied Armies" in the spring of 1918. He played a decisive role in halting a renewed German advance on Paris in the Second Battle of the Marne, after which he was promoted to Marshal of France.

First Battle of the Aisne

The Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army and the Second Army as they retreated after the First Battle of the Marne earlier in September 1914. The offensive began on the evening of 13 September, after a hasty pursuit of the Germans.

Battle of Le Cateau

The Battle of Le Cateau was fought on 26 August 1914, after the British and French retreated from the Battle of Mons and had set up defensive positions in a fighting withdrawal against the German advance at Le Cateau-Cambrésis.

October Revolution

The Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky claimed power in name of the Soviets and proclaimed a full-scale revolution with support of workers and troops in 1917. (date in October by the Julian or Old Style calendar. This corresponds to 7 November 1917 in the Gregorian or New Style calendar, which has led it to occasionally be referred to as the November Revolution).

Paris Peace Conference

The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors, following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris during 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities. The "Big Four" were the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson; British Prime Minister David Lloyd George; French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau; and the Prime Minister of Italy, Vittorio Orlando. They met together informally 145 times and made all the major decisions, which in turn were ratified by the others.

Gavrilo Princip

The assassin of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria, a member of the Black Hand

Execution of the Romanov family

The entire Russian Imperial Romanov family and all those who chose to accompany them into exile were shot in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918. The murder of the Tsar was carried out by the Ural Soviet which was led by Yakov Yurovsky. According to some historians, the murder had been ordered in Moscow by Vladimir Lenin and Yakov Sverdlov to prevent the rescue of the Imperial Family by approaching White forces during the ongoing Russian Civil War

Stab-in-the-back legend

The notion, widely believed in right-wing circles in Germany after 1918, that the German Army did not lose World War I but was instead betrayed by the civilians on the home front, especially the republicans who overthrew the monarchy. Advocates denounced the German government leaders who signed the Armistice.

Arab Revolt

The revolt was initiated by the Sherif Hussein bin Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.

February Revolution

The revolution against the Tsarist government which led to the abdication of Nicholas II and the creation of a provisional government in March 1917.

The Bolsheviks

They were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. They ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Battle of the Somme

This 1916 battle between German and British and French forces was one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Ending in a stalemate, the bitter three-month battle is notable for having 1.25 million casualties. This battle also had the first use of tanks in warfare.

Battle of Aqaba

This battle was fought for the strategic Jordanian port. The attacking forces of the Arab Revolt, led by Auda ibu Tayi and advised by T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), were victorious over the Turkish defenders.

French Army Mutinies

This event took place among the French troops on the Western Front in Northern France in 1917. They started just after the conclusion of the disastrous Second Battle of the Aisne, the main action in the Nivelle Offensive, and involved, to various degrees, nearly half of the French infantry divisions stationed on the western front. The mutinies were kept secret at the time, and their full extent and intensity were not revealed until the last third of the twentieth century.

Aleksandr Kerensky

This man was head of the provisional government of Russia after the abdication of the Tsar. He decided to carry on the war to preserve Russia's honor. He was in power until the October Revolution, later in 1917.

Nivelle Offensive

This offensive, staged in April and May of 1917, was designed by the general for which it is named to break through the German lines and end the war within 48 hours. It was a monumental failure and caused widespread discontent within the French Army that half of them mutinied. General Petain would replaced the man for which this offensive is named.

Treaty of Versailles

This peace treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required "Germany [to] accept the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage" during the war. This article later became known as the War Guilt clause. The treaty forced Germany to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions, and pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. In 1921 the total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion Marks (roughly equivalent to US $442 billion in 2014).

London Treaty of 1839

Treaty in which European powers recognized and guaranteed the independence and neutrality of Belgium and confirmed the independence of the German speaking part of Luxembourg. Its main historical significance was Article VII, which required Belgium to remain perpetually neutral, and by implication committed the signatory powers to guard that neutrality in the event of invasion. Significant to WWI, because Germany violated Belgian neutrality in the Schlieffen Plan to invade plan. The violation of the treaty was used by the United Kingdom to justify its declaration of war.

President Woodrow Wilson

Wilson was president of the United States during the country's entry into WWI. In the late stages of the war, Wilson took personal control of negotiations with Germany, including the armistice. In 1918, he issued his Fourteen Points, his view of a post-war world that could avoid another terrible conflict. In 1919, he went to Paris to add the formation of a League of Nations to the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires.

Battle of Riga

World War I naval operation of the German High Seas Fleet against the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea in August 1915. The operation's objective was to destroy the Russian naval forces in the Gulf and facilitate the fall of Riga to the German army in the later stages of the Central Powers' offensive on the Eastern Front in 1915. The German fleet, however, failed to achieve its objective and was forced to return to its bases; Riga remained in Russian hands until eventually falling to the Germans on 1 September 1917.

Trench foot

a painful foot disorder resembling frostbite and resulting from exposure to cold, wet, and unsanitary conditions, which can eventually result in tissue sloughing or gangrene; also called immersion

"Big Bertha" artillery

giant German gun. Could lob shells each weighting up to a ton. Went 24 miles into the air and then impacted deadly.