World War I: Key Terms and Events
Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo in 1914. This event sparked a series of actions that led to the beginning of World War I.
Zimmermann Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917. It proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the event of the United States entering World War I against Germany.
U-boat
A U-boat was a German submarine used in World War I and World War II.
Neutrality
Neutrality is the policy or status of a nation that does not participate in a war between other nations.
Isolationism
Isolationism is the doctrine that a nation should stay out of the disputes and affairs of other nations.
Interventionism
Interventionism is a group of senators who opposed the Treaty of Versailles to end World War I unless specific changes were included.
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers.
Lusitania
The Lusitania was a British passenger ship sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland in 1915.
Conscientious Objector
A conscientious objector is a person who refuses on moral or religious grounds to serve in the armed forces or to bear arms in a military conflict.
Reservationist
A reservationist is a group of Senators, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, who opposed the Treaty of Versailles to end World War I unless specific changes were included.
Irreconcilables
The Irreconcilables were bitter opponents of the Treaty of Versailles in the United States in 1919.
Henry Cabot Lodge
Henry Cabot Lodge was an American Republican Senator and historian from Massachusetts. Lodge received his PhD in history from Harvard. Lodge was a long-time friend and confidant of Theodore Roosevelt.
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921.
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World, and five times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States.
Charles Schenck
Charles T. Schenck was the secretary of the Socialist Party of America in Philadelphia during the First World War and involved in the 1919 Supreme Court case Schenck v. United States.
14 Points
The 14 Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I.
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off supplies, war material, or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade.
War-guilt Clause
The War-guilt Clause was the opening article of the reparations section of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War between the German Empire and the Allied and Associated Powers.
Militarism
Militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests.
Alliance System
An alliance system is a formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations to cooperate for specific purposes.
Imperialism
Imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force.
Nationalism
Nationalism is patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts.
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink vessels such as freighters and tankers without warning, as opposed to attacks per prize rules.
Sedition Act
The Sedition Act was an Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered.
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an international organization established after World War I under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
Selective Service Act
The Selective Service Act authorized the federal government to raise a national army for the American entry into World War I through the compulsory enlistment of people.
Self-Determination
Self-determination is the process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and government.
Espionage Act
The Espionage Act was a law that prohibited many forms of speech, including”any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States”
First Amendment
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects freedom of speech, religion, and the press.
CPI
The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care.
WIB
The WIB was a United States government agency established on July 28, 1917, during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies.
Trench Warfare
Trench warfare is a type of combat in which opposing troops fight from trenches facing each other.
Western Front
The Western Front was the zone of fighting in western Europe in the First World War, in which the German army engaged the armies to its west, i.e., France, the UK (and its dominions), and, from 1917, the US.
No Man’s Land
No Man’s Land is the term used by soldiers to describe the ground between the two opposing trenches. Its width along the Western Front could vary a great deal. The average distance in most sectors was about 250 yards.
Peace without Victory
Peace without Victory was part of Woodrow Wilson’s final attempt to avert war, a moving address that correctly declared only a”peace without victor” (beating Germany without embarrassing them) would be lasting.
Great Migration
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million African-Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West that occurred between 1916 and 1970.
Reparations
Reparations are the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.