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Allies
The Triple Entente, later known as ALLIES, consisted of France, Britain, and Russia. The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. -
Central Powers
Germany and Austria-Hungary, together with the Ottoman Empire-an empire of mostly Middle Eastern lands controlled by Turks. -
1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
heir to the Austrian throne, As the royal entourage drove through the city, Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot Archduke and his wife. Princip was a member of the Black Hand(promoting serbian nationalist) -
Schlieffen Plan
Germany invaded Belgium, this plan called for a holding action against Russia ,combined with a quick drive through Belgium to Paris. -
Sinking of the British liner Arabic
Three months later, a U-boat sank another British liner, drowning two Americans. Again the U.S. protested and this time Germany agreed not to sink any more passenger ships. -
Sinking the British liner Lusitania
Of the 1,198 persons lost, 128 were Americans. The Germans defended their action on the grounds that linear carried ammunition. American became outraged with Germany because of the loss of life. -
Sinking of the French passenger liner Sussex
In March 1916, Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed French passenger steamer. About 80 passengers including Americans, were killed or injured. -
Trench Warfare
Armies fought for mere yards of ground, continued for over three years -
Battle of the Somme
lasted until November - the British suffered 60,000 casualties the first day alone, final casualties totaled about 1.2 million -
Germany blockades the North Sea
-American ships carrying goods for Germany refused to challenge the blockade and seldom reached their destination.
-Germany found it increasingly difficult to import foodstuffs and fertilizers for crops.
-Americans had been angry at British's blockade, it threatened freedom of the seas and prevented American goods from reaching German ports.
-Germany's response to the blockade soon outraged American public opinion. -
Wilson's "Peace without victory speech"
In November 1916 came the U.S. presidential election and later on Wilson tried to mediate between the warning alliance and failed. "peace without victory.... a peace between equals," in which neither sides would impose harsh terms on the other -
Zimmerman note
a 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.” Next came the sinking of four unarmed American merchant ships, with a loss of 36 lives. -
Bolshevik Revolution
Finally, events in Russia removed the last significant obstacle to direct U.S. involvement in the war. In March, the oppressive Russian monarchy was replaced with a representative government. Now supporters of American entry into the war could claim that this was a war of democracies against brutal monarchies. -
Selective Service Act of 1917
The act required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service. By the end of 1918, 24 million men had registered under the act. Of this number, almost 3 million were called up. About 2 million troops reached Europe before the truce was signed, and three-fourths of them saw actual combat. Most of the inductees had not attended high school, and about one in five was foreign-born. -
Convoy System
German U-boat attacks on merchant ships in the Atlantic were a serious threat to the Allied war effort. American Vice Admiral William S. Sims convinced the British to try the convoy system, in which 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. -
369th Infantry Regiment
The all-black 369th Infantry Regiment saw more continuous duty on the front lines than any other American regiment. Two soldiers of the 369th, Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, were the first Americans to receive France’s highest military honor, the Croix de Guerre—the “cross of war. -
Shell shock, trench foot, and trench mouth
Constant bombardments and other experiences often led to battle fatigue and “shell shock,”to describe a complete emotional collapse from which many never recovered.Physical problems included a disease called trench foot, caused by standing in cold wet trenches for long periods of time without changing into dry socks or boots.Toes would turn red or blue become numb,finally they would start to rot.The only solution was to amputate the toes,and in some cases the entire foot. -
American Expeditionary Force and General John J. Pershing
American infantrymen were nicknamed doughboys, possibly because 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. However, doughboys were also shocked by the unexpected horrors of the battlefield and astonished by the new weapons and tactics of modern warfare. -
Second Battle of the Marne
The turning point of the war. Allies advance steadily after defeating
the Germans. -
Conscientious objector
A redheaded mountaineer and blacksmith from Tennessee, York sought exemption as a conscientious objector, a person who opposes warfare on moral grounds, pointing out that the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” -
Cease-fire and armistice
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. -
War Industries Board
It was established in 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch,business man and board encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to
increase efficiency. It also urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products—for instance, by making only 5 colors of typewriter ribbons instead of 150.The WIB set production quotas and allocated raw material -
National War Labor Board
Workers who refused to obey board decisions could lose their draft exemptions. “Work or fight,” the board told them. However, the board also worked to improve factory conditions. It pushed for an eight-hour workday, promoted safety inspections, and enforced the child labor ban. -
Food Administration
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 “meatless,” 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 (which taxed high incomes at a higher rate than low incomes), 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. -
Committee on Publis Information
Set up the nation’s first propaganda agency, the Committee on Public Information (CPI). Propaganda is a kind of biased communication designed to influence people’s thoughts and actions. The head of the CPI was a former muckraking journalist named George Creel. -
Anti- German semtiment in America
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, flogging them or smearing them with tar and feathers -
Espionage and Sedition Act
In June 1917 Congress passed the Espionage Act, and in May 1918 it passed the Sedition Act. Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts 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 -
Euqgene V. Debs arrest
Eugene V. Debs was 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. -
Wilson's Fourteen Points
There should be no secret treaties among nations.Freedom of the seas should be maintained for all.Tariffs and other economic barriers among nations should be lowered or abolished in order to foster free trade.Arms should be reduced “to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety, thus lessening the possibility of military responses” during diplomatic crises.Colonial policies should consider the interests of the colonial peoples as well as the interests of the imperialist powers. -
Austria-Hungary surrenders to the Allies
AustriaHungary surrendered to the Allies. That same day, German sailors mutinied against government authority. The mutiny spread quickly. Everywhere in Germany, groups of soldiers and workers organized revolutionary councils. On November 9, socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne. -
Establishment of the German Republic
Socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne. -
Reparations and teh War Guild 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 -
Agreement's madein the Treaty of Versailies
) established nine new nations—including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia—and shifted the boundaries of other nations. It carved five areas out of the Ottoman Empire and gave them to France and Great Britain as mandates, or temporary colonies. Those two Allies were to administer their respective mandates until the areas were ready for self-rule and then independence.