World War I: Key Concepts, Alliances, and Events

Key Terms and Concepts

• Tanks: War machines
• Enlist: Sign-up to war
• Counter-attack: To fight back
• Stalemate: Situation where no one can win
• Revolution: The people don't want a king
• Armistice: Agreement to stop war
• Reserves: Spare stocks, material, and army of the war
• Offensive: An aggressive movement or attack

Key Leaders

• Germany: Kaiser Wilhelm II
• Austria-Hungary: Emperor Franz Josef
• Russia: Tsar Nicholas II
• Britain: Prime Minister George V
• Italy: Prime Minister Antonio Salandra (until two years into the war, then Giovanni Giolitti)
• France: Prime Minister George Clemenceau

Alliances

• Triple Entente: Russia, France, Britain
• Triple Alliance: Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary
• Russia-France Alliance

Key Events of 1914

• June 28: Franz Ferdinand assassinated
• July 23: Austria sends an ultimatum to Serbia
• July 28: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
• July 29: Austria-Hungary repeatedly invades Serbia but is repeatedly repulsed
• August 1: Germany declares war on Russia
• August 3: Germany declares war on France
• August 4: Britain declares war on Germany
• August 4: Germany invades neutral Belgium

Poison Gas

• First Used By: Germany
• When & Where: Battle of Loos, April 1915
• Effects: Some died, majority became blinded

Trench Warfare

Trench warfare was characterized by:

• Millions of rats
• Infection (2 main types: black & brown)
• Some rats grew to the size of a cat
• Contaminated food
• Problem lasted for all the war
• Rats produce 900 babies
• Poor food (bully beef with bread or biscuits), poor quality, poor eating
• Little water, so soldiers drank rum instead
• Trenches were boring; some wrote letters and diaries

The Schlieffen Plan Failure

The Schlieffen Plan was the German plan of attack designed to defeat France quickly and then turn on Russia. It was intended to avoid a war on two fronts. However, the plan was based on a number of assumptions, and these turned out to be flawed.

• It was thought that Russia would take at least six weeks to mobilize. In reality, Russia mobilized in just ten days.
• The German General Staff thought that Belgium would not resist any German attack. When Germany invaded on August 2, 1914, they were held up by the Belgium army, backed up by the BEF (British Expeditionary Force).
• It was also estimated that France could easily be defeated in six weeks. Backed by the British, the French managed to halt the German advance.
• The Germans thought that Britain would not fight and that its army was just a huge joke.
• With the quick Russian mobilization, Germany was forced to withdraw troops from France to defend her eastern border.

The Lusitania

The Lusitania was a passenger boat that traveled from New York to Liverpool. Built in 1906, it had 2000 civilians on board, the majority of whom were American. A German U-boat launched a torpedo at it, and it sank in 18 minutes because it didn't have naval defense.