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Allies
The Triple Entente consisted of France, Britain, and
Russia. -
Central Powers
Germany and Austria-Hungary, together with the Ottoman Empire
—an empire of mostly Middle Eastern lands controlled by the Turks -
1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot the Archduke and his wife Sophie. Princip was a member of the Black Hand, an organization promoting Serbian nationalism.
The assassinations touched off a diplomatic crisis. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared what was expected to be a short war against Serbia. -
Schlieffen Plan
Germany invaded Belgium, following a strategy known as... -
Sinking of British Liner - Arabic
Three months later, a U-boat sank another British liner, the Arabic, drowning two Americans. Again the United States protested, and this time Germany agreed not to sink any more passenger ships. -
Sinking of British Liner - Lusitania
One of the worst disasters occurred when a U-boat sank the British liner off the southern coast of Ireland. -
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. -
Shell shock, trench foot, and trench mouth
Constant bombardments and other experiences often led to battle fatigue and “shell shock,” a term coined during World War I 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. A painful infection of the gums and throat, called trench mouth, was also common among the soldiers. -
Battle of the Somme
The British suffered 60,000 casualties the first day alone. Final casualties totaled about 1.2 million, yet only about seven miles of ground changed hands. -
Trench Warfare
Armies fought for mere yards of ground, continued for over three years. -
Germany blockades the North Sea
First, American ships carrying goods for Germany refused to challenge the blockade and seldom reached their desti- nation. Second, Germany found it increasingly difficult to import foodstuffs and fertilizers for crops. -
Wilson's "Peace without victory speech"
In a speech before the Senate, 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 in a “league for peace” that would work to extend democracy, maintain freedom of the seas, and reduce armaments. -
Bolshevik Revolution
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
The act required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service. -
369th Infantry Regiment
Most African Americans were assigned to noncombat duties, although there were exceptions. The all-black 369th Infantry Regiment saw more continuous duty on the front lines than any other American regiment. -
Convoy System
A heavy guard of destroyers escorted merchant ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups. -
War Industries Board
The main regulatory body was the War Industries Board (WIB). It was established in 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch, a prosperous business- man. The 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 materials. -
Anti-German sentiment in America
In a burst of anti-German fervor, Americans changed the name of German measles to “liberty measles.” -
Espionage and Sedition Acts
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, pro- fane, or abusive about the government or the war effort. -
Eugene 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. -
Victor Burger
The House of Representatives refused to seat Victor Berger, a socialist congressman from Wisconsin, because of his antiwar views. Columbia University fired a distinguished psychologist because he opposed the war. -
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.” -
American Expeditionary Force and General John J. Pershing
The American Expeditionary Force (AEF), led by General John J. Pershing, included men from widely separated parts of the country. American infantrymen were nicknamed doughboys, possibly because of the white belts they wore, which they cleaned with pipe clay, or “dough.” -
Conscientious objector
A person who opposes warfare on moral grounds, pointing out that the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” -
Food Administration
To help produce and conserve food, 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.” -
Raising money for 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 (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 Public Information and the "four minute men"
To popularize the war, the government set up the nation’s first propaganda agency, the Committee on Public Information.Creel persuaded the nation’s artists and advertising agencies to create thou- sands of paintings, posters, cartoons, and sculptures promoting the war. He recruited some 75,000 men to serve as “Four-Minute Men,” who spoke about the draft, rationing, bond drives, victory gardens, and topics such as “Why We Are Fighting” and “The Meaning of America.” -
Wilson's Fourteen Points
He delivered his now famous Fourteen Points speech before Congress. The points were divided into three groups. The first five points were issues that Wilson believed had to be addressed to prevent another war. -
Second Battle of the Marne
Was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The attack failed when an Allied counterattack by French and American forces, including several hundred tanks, overwhelmed the Germans on their right flank, inflicting severe casualties. -
Austria-Hungary suurenders to the Allies
THE COLLAPSE OF GERMANY: On November 3, 1918, Austria- Hungary surrendered to the Allies. That same day, German sailors mutinied against government authority. -
Establishment of the German Republic
Everywhere in Germany, groups of soldiers and workers organized rev- olutionary councils. On November 9, socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne. -
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. -
Agreement made in the Treaty of Versailles
The treaty barred Germany from maintaining an army. It also 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. -
Reparations and the War Guilt Clause
First, the treaty humiliated Germany. It contained a war-guilt 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.
