World War I began in 1914 after tensions between European powers led to a system of alliances that pulled countries into war. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand led Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia, drawing in allies on both sides. Over four years, new military technologies like machine guns, tanks, aircraft, and poison gas led to stalemate and trench warfare with millions of casualties. The U.S. initially remained neutral but entered the war in 1917 after German U-boats attacked American ships. An armistice in 1918 ended the war. The ensuing Treaty of Versailles imposed harsh terms on Germany, sowing seeds for future conflict.

1. World War I

2. Tension in Imperial Europe
 During Imperial Age, European nations
sought power through acquisition of colonies
 Countries competed with each other for relative
power
 They began to get paranoid about their
neighbors—If a war broke out, would they be
strong enough to survive?
 Nations began to look for ways to ensure their
security

3. Militarism
 Policy of aggressively building up a
nation’s armed forces in preparation
for war

4. Alliances
 Secret treaties
or informal
understandings
between nations
that promised
they would side
together in the
event of war

6. Gavrilo Princip
 Bosnian-Serb terrorist and nationalist
who assassinated Franz Ferdinand

7. Archduke Franz Ferdinand
 Heir to the Austria-
Hungarian throne.
His assassination
was the spark that
ignited the war.

8. Brinksmanship
 A strategy where a country seeks an
advantage by creating the impression
that they are willing and able to push
a situation to the point of war in
order to get their demands

9. Mobilization
 The readying of troops for war

10. Ultimatum
 A statement, especially in diplomatic
negotiations, that expresses or
implies the threat of serious penalties
if the terms are not accepted

11. Road to war

12. Kaiser Wilhelm II
 German leader during
World War I. He declared
war on Russia and invaded
France.

13. Allied Forces
 The group of nations that opposed
the Central Powers; originally
consisting of Great Britain, France
and Russia and later joined by the
U.S., Italy and others

14. Central Powers
 The group of nations--led by
Germany, Austria-Hungary and the
Ottoman Empire--that opposed the
Allied Forces

15. Military Alliances before the war

16. Schlieffen Plan
 German plan of attack to avoid a 2-
front war: first quickly take out
France, then focus troops on Russia

18. “Rape of Belgium”
 German war crimes
committed during the
march through neutral
Belgium on the way to
Paris

19. Race for the Sea
 Early in the war when both sides tried
to outflank each other; resulted in a
front line of trenches over 200 miles
long

21. Trench warfare
 A form of warfare where opponents
occupy static (non-moving) fighting
lines, especially fortified trenches in
the ground.

26. No Man’s Land
 Area between the two opposing lines
of trenches

27. Barbed wire
 Formed a barrier to attacking soldiers
attempting to cross no man's land

28. Mustard gas
 First used by Germans in 1917; one
of several poison gases used during
the war

30. Machine Guns

31. Tanks

32. Aircraft

33. Manfred von Richthofen
 a.k.a. The "Red Baron," a
German fighter pilot who shot
down 80 enemy planes and
commanded the Flying Circus

34. Stalemate
 A situation in which neither side can
gain the advantage

35. Shell shock
 Battle fatigue; a range of behaviors
brought on by exposure to combat
and acute psychological stress
The
“Thousand-
yard stare” --

36. Total war
 The organization
of entire
societies for war
in a social,
economic, and
even spiritual
sense.

37. War of attrition
 A war that is won by slowly wearing
down the enemy through prolonged
casualties and loss of resources

39. Woodrow Wilson
 U.S. President during World War I

40. Isolationism
 Foreign policy of neutrality and non-
involvement
 Wilson made a declaration of
neutrality just days into the war

41. Blockade
 An effort to cut off food, supplies, war
material or communications from a
particular area by force
 England used their powerful navy to cut off
Germany
 Some estimate 750,000 Germans died of
starvation

43. U.S. Exports
•After war
began, U.S.
traded even
more Allies
•U.S. economy
boomed from
supplying Allies
with war
materials and
extending credit

45. U-boat
 German submarine (Unterseeboot)
 Germany began targeting merchant ships

46. Lusitania
 British passenger ship sunk off coast
of Ireland by German submarine; 128
Americans dead, led to U.S. outrage

47. American Reaction
 Wilson issues warning to
Germany
 He affirms Britain’s right to
blockade Germany but
demands Germany stop
attacks on ships
 Secretary of State, William
Jennings Bryan, resigned in
protest of U.S. non-neutrality

49. Germany Resumes Attacks
 Germany declares they will attack
without warning after all
 Submarine attacks seen as unfair
tactic by Americans

51. Zimmerman Telegram
 Telegram intercepted by
British intelligence
 German ambassador asks
Mexico to enter the war
on the German side
 In return Germany
promises to help them
recover territory they lost
in the Mexican War

52. Autocrat
 A ruler with unlimited power
 Russian Revolution ends their autocracy
 Makes it easier for U.S. to justify war “to make the
world safe for democracy”
 Russia out of war, leaving France and Britain
vulnerable
 Wilson declares war on April 6, 1917

53. American Expeditionary Force
 American forces sent to Europe

54. Harlem Hellfighters
 369th (Colored)
Infantry
Regiment
integrated into
the French
Army
 Received
France's highest
combat medal

55. Selective Service Act of 1917
 Act that
authorized the
draft
 Draft began
almost
immediately

56. "Four Minute Men"
 75,000 volunteers
recruited by the
Committee on Public
Information
 Gave 4-minute
speeches in support of
the war effort
 Helped turn public
opinion

57. Espionage Act of 1917
 Made it illegal to oppose the draft

58. Sedition
 Speech or actions meant to incite
rebellion against a government

59. Sedition Act of 1918
 Made it illegal to
obstruct the sale
of Liberty Bonds
or to discuss
anything
"disloyal" to the
U.S. government

60. Charles Schenck
 Anti-war activist who was arrested for
distributing pamphlets urging men to
avoid the draft.

61. Schenck v. United States
 Established restrictions of freedom of
speech in cases of "clear and present
danger"
Oliver
Wendell
Holmes

62. Liberty bonds
 Bonds sold to promote the war effort;
heavily-promoted by the government

63. Women on the Homefront
 Shortage of
male labor
led to
women
being hired
to do work
traditionally
done by
men

64. Workers were
especially needed
to produce war
supplies

66. Great Migration
 Massive
numbers of
African-
Americans
also migrated
North for jobs
previously
closed to
them

68. Armistice
 Cease-fire
 November 11, 1918

69. Fourteen Points
 President Woodrow Wilson
drafted 14-point plan for
peace in 1918
 First presented to joint
session of Congress before
war to justify entry in moral
terms
 Later presented at Versailles
peace conference after the
war, but failed to win
approval of all 14 points
into final treaty
 Wilson advocated “Peace
without victory”

70. Main Points
 No secret alliances
 Freedom of the seas
 Removal of trade barriers
(tariffs, etc.)
 Reduce military to just
what’s necessary to protect
your own country
 Let go of some colonies
 Create a League of Nations

71. Treaty of Versailles
 Treaty that
ended the
war
 June 28,
1919

72. Big Four
 Countries at
the table:
*U.S.
*Italy
*France
*Great Britain
 Germany and
Russia
excluded

73. Reparations
 Payments from an
enemy for economic
costs of war

74. Terms of the Treaty
 Germany humiliated:
--Charged with war crimes
--Forced to accept guilt for the war
--Must drastically reduce military
--Allow France to occupy the
Rhineland for 15 years
--Give up territory
--Pay reparations
 France wanted revenge and security
against any future German threat

75. League of Nations
 International body
proposed by
Woodrow Wilson to
ensure peace and
stability after the
war through
cooperation and
accountability

76. Ratification
 Congressional
approval of a
bill
 Wilson tours
country
making
speeches

77. Failure to Ratify
 Congress fails to
ratify
 League is weak
without U.S.
 Wilson collapses
from stroke

78. Irreconcilables
 Would not accept U.S. membership in
the League of Nations, no matter
what

79. Reservationists
 Would accept the League of Nations
with reservations
Henry Cabot Lodge

80. Dulce Et Decorum Est
 Poem written by
British poet and
solider Wilfred
Owen, famous for
its horrific imagery
of war
 Owen died in battle
shortly before the
armistice