World War 1

what did European countries turn to as a form of escape?

leaving the land

Triple Alliance

The Triple Alliance was a military alliance among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, opposing the Triple Entente between Britain, France, and Russia. It lasted from 20 May 1882 until World War I in 1914.

Triple Entente

The Triple Entente was created in reaction to the forming of the Triple Alliance, and included Britain, France and Russia. An alliance was formed between Russia and France in 1894.

us enters war

1917

reason why us enters war

- Zimmerman telegram: The message came as a coded telegram dispatched by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, on January 16, 1917. The message was sent to the German ambassador of Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt. - Lusitania: was sunk by a German u boat. Left the Americans in an outrage. - German U boats: Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role (commerce raiding), enforcing a naval blockade against enemy shipping. The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from Canada, the British Empire, and the United States to the islands of the United Kingdom and (during the Second World War) to the Soviet Union and the Allied territories in the Mediterranean. Austro-Hungarian submarines of the First World War (and before it) were also known as U-boats.

Central Powers

Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, and their territories.

western front vs. eastern front

The Western front was best characterized by trench warfare. The armies dug into the ground, both sides constructing elaborate trench networks. This caused them to reach a stalemate for most of the duration of the war. The Western front was later reinforced by the arrival of the Americans. The fighting was bloody and millions of people died. The Eastern front was much larger and thus did not result in the trench warfare seen in the West. Instead, the fighting was much more traditional and deadly due to advances in technology. It is estimated that over three million people lost their lives and over nine million were wounded. The toll of the war was so catostrophic that Russia, which beared the brunt of the eastern front's fighting was forced to pull out of the war due to domestic unrest (and the revoltion that followed shortly afterward).

britian introduces tank

The development of tanks in World War I was a response to the stalemate that trench warfare had created on the Western Front. Although vehicles that incorporated the basic principles of the tank (armour, firepower, and all-terrain mobility) had been projected in the decade or so before the War, it was the heavy casualties sustained in the first few months of hostilities that stimulated development. Research took place in both Great Britain and France, with Germany only belatedly following the Allies' lead. The French fielded their first tanks in April, 1917 and went on to produce more tanks than all the other combatants combined.

Allied Powers

The members of the Triple Entente were the French Republic, the British Empire and the Russian Empire; Italy ended its alliance with the Central Powers and entered the war on the side of the Entente in 1915. Japan was another important member. Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, and Romania[1] were secondary members of the Entente.[2]

battle of somme

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 River Somme in France. The battle was one of the largest of World War I, in which more than 1,000,000 men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. A Franco-British commitment to an offensive on the Somme had been made during Allied discussions at Chantilly, Oise, in December 1915. The Allies agreed upon a strategy of combined offensives against the Central Powers in 1916, by the French, Russian, British, and Italian armies, with the Somme offensive as the Franco-British contribution. The main part of the offensive was to be made by the French Army, supported on the northern flank by the Fourth Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

battle of verdun

fought from 21 February - 18 December 1916 during the First World War on the Western Front between the German and French armies, on hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France. The German Fifth Army attacked the defences of the Région Fortifiée de Verdun (RFV) and those of the Second Army garrisons on the right bank of the Meuse, intending to rapidly capture the Côtes de Meuse (Meuse Heights), from which Verdun could be overlooked and bombarded with observed artillery-fire. The German strategy intended to provoke the French into counter-attacks and counter-offensives, to drive the Germans off the heights. French attacks would be relatively easy to repel with massed artillery-fire, from the large number of medium, heavy and super-heavy guns, brought into the area and supplied with large amounts of ammunition on excellent pre-war railways, which were within 24 kilometres (15 mi) of the front line.

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.

sinking of lusitania

1915

schleiffin plan

Germany had been preparing for war long before 1914. In fact, Germany had started drawing up a plan for war - the Schlieffen Plan - in 1897. It took nine years to finalise, but it was based on the theory that Germany would be at war with France and Russia at the same time.

black hand

It was formed with the aim of uniting all of the territories with majority South Slavic population not ruled by the Kingdom of Serbia or Kingdom of Montenegro in the manner of earlier national unification processes, primarily Italian in 1870 and German in 1871.[4][5] Through its connections to the June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, which was committed by the members of youth movement Young Bosnia, the Black Hand is often viewed as having contributed to the start of World War I by precipitating the July Crisis of 1914, which eventually led to Austria-Hungary's invasion of the Kingdom of Serbia.[6]

big four

The Big Four refers to the top Allied leaders who met at the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919 following the end of World War I (1914-18). The Big Four are also known as the Council of Four. It was composed of Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of Britain, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy, and Georges Clemenceau of France.[1]

Underlying/Immediate causes of WW1

The direct cause of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. However historians feel that a number of factors contributed to the rivalry between the Great powers that allowed war on such a wide-scale to break out.

New weapons of war

airplanes tanks barbed wire poison

armistice

an agreement made by opposing sides in a war to stop fighting for a certain time; a truce.

trench warfare

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. It has become a byword for stalemate, attrition and futility in conflict.[1]

author of 14 points

president woodrow wilson