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Allies
The group of nations- originally consisting of Great Britain, France, and Russia, and later joined by the United States, Italy, and others- that opposed the Central America. -
Central Powers
The group of nations- led by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire- that opposed the Allies in World War I. -
1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot the Archduke and his wife Sophie. The assassination touched off a diplomatic crisis. -
Schlieffen Plan
Called for holding action against Russia, combined with a quick drive through Belgium to Paris; after France had fallen, the two German armies would defeat Russia. -
Germany blockades the North Sea
Americans had been angry at Britain's blockade, which threatened freedom of the seas and prevented American goods from reaching German ports. Germany responded to the British blockade with a counterblockade by U-boats. -
Sinking of British liner 'Lusitania'
British passenger ship that was sunk by a German U-Boat off the southern coast of Ireland. Of the 1,198 persons lost, 128 were Americans. The Germans defended their action on the grounds that the liner carried ammunition. -
Sinking of British liner 'Arabic'
U-Boat sank another British liner, the 'Arabic' in August 1915, drowning two Americans. Again the United States protested, and this time Germany agreed not to sink any more passenger ships. -
Battle of the Somme
Battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. -
Trench warfare
Military operations in which the opposing forces attack and counterattack from systems of fortified ditches rather than on an open battlefield. -
Sinking of French passenger liner 'Sussex'
Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed French passenger steamer, the Sussex. The Sussex sank, and about 80 passengers, including Americans, were killed or injured. -
Wilson's "Peace without Victory" speech
In a speech before the Senate in January 1917, the president called for "a peace without victory... a peace between equals," in which neither side would impose harsh terms on the other. Wilson hoped that all nations would join a "league for peace" that would work to extend democracy, maintain freedom of the seas, and reduce armaments. -
Zimmermann note
A message sent by the German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance and promising to help Mexico regain Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona if the United States entered World War I. -
Bolshevik Revolution
Revolutionaries ousted the czar in March 1917 and established a provisional government. In November, the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, overthrew the provisional government. They set up a Communist state and sought peace with the Central Powers. -
Selective Service Act of 1917
A law that required men to register for military service. -
Convoy System
The protection of merchant ships from U-boat- German submarine- attacks by having the ships travel in large groups escorted by warships. -
American Expeditionary Force and General John J. Pershing
Fighting men of the United States Army during World War I. It was established in July 5, 1917 in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. -
War Industries Abroad
An agency to increase efficiency and discourage waste in war-related industries that was established in 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch. -
Committee on Public Information and the "four minute men"
To popularize the war, the government set up the nation's first propaganda agency, the CPI. The head of the CPI was a former muck-raking journalist named George Creel. He recruited some 75,000 men to serve as "Four Minute Men", who spoke about everything relating to the war: the draft, rationing, bond drives, victory gardens, and other topics. -
Anti-German sentiment in America
Anti-immigrant hysteria- main targets of these attacks were Americans who had emigrated from other nations, especially those from Germany and Austria-Hungary. The most bitter attacks were directed against the nearly 2 million Americans who had been born in Germany, but other foreign-born persons and Americans of German descent suffered as well. -
Espionage and Sedition Acts
Two laws, enacted in 1917 and 1918, that imposed harsh penalties on anyone interfering with or speaking against U.S. participation in World War I. -
Emma Goldman
Anarchist Emma Golden received a two-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine for organizing the No Conscription League. When she left jail, authorities deported her to Russia. -
Big Bill Haywood and 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. -
Food Administration
To help produce and conserve food, Wilson set up the Food Administration under Herbert Hoover. -
369th Infantry Regiment
The all-black 369th Regiment saw more continuous duty on the front lines than any other American regiment; formerly known as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment. -
Second Battle of the Marne
Last major German offensive on the Western Front during World War I. The tide had turned against the Central Powers. U.S. soldiers began to mount offensives against the Germans at Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne area. -
Conscientious objector
A person who refuses, on moral grounds, to participate in warfare. -
Austria-Hungary surrenders to the Allies
On November 3, 1918, Austria-Hungary surrendered to the Allies. That same day, German sailors mutinied against government authority. -
Establishment of the German Republic
On November 9, socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne. -
Cease-fire and armistice
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.
Armistice: A truce, or agreement to end an armed conflict. -
National War Labor Board
To deal with disputes between management and labor, President Wilson established the National War Labor Board. Workers who refused to obey board decisions could lose their draft exemptions. The board also worked to improve factory conditions. It pushed for an eight-hour workday, promoted safety inspections, and enforced the child labor ban. -
Raising money for the war
Once the gov't had extended its control over the economy, it was faced with two major tasks: raising money and convincing the public to support the war. The United States spent about $35.5 billion on the war effort. The government raised about one-third of this amount through taxes, including a progressive income tax, 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. -
Eugene V. Debs arrest
Eugene V. Debs was handed a ten-year prison sentence for speaking out against the war and the draft. -
Victor Burger
The House of Representatives refused to seat Victor Burger, a socialist congressman from Wisconsin, because of his antiwar views. -
Wilson's Fourteen Points
On January 18, 1918, Wilson delivered his now famous Fourteen Points speech before Congress; the principles making up his plan for world peace following World War I. -
Reparations and the War-Guilt Clause
Treaty of Versailles required Germany to return the region of Alsace-Lorraine to France and to pay reparations, or war damages, amounting to $33 billion to the Allies. The treaty contained a war-guilt clause forcing Germany to admit sole responsibility for starting World War I. -
Shell shock, trench foot, and trench mouth
Shell shock: a term coined during World War I to describe a complete emotional collapse from which many never recovered.
Trench foot: caused by standing in cold wet trenches for long periods of time without changing into dry socks or boots.
Trench mouth: painful infection of the gums and throat. -
Agreements made in the Treaty of Versailles
Peace treaty at the end of World War I which established new nations, borders, and war reparations. Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the kingdom that later became Yugoslavia, and shifted the boundaries of other nations. It carved 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 mandates until the areas were ready for self-rule and then independence.
