World History: World War One

Do not focus on the dates---Just the chain of events

  1. The Western Front (German-French border)
  2. Germany quickly found itself fighting a two-front war: against ______in the west and against ______in the east
  1. The Western Front quickly became a stalemate
  2. both sides dug interlocking trenches for shelter
  3. conditions became unbearable – hot in summer, cold in winter, wet and muddy when it rained, rampant spread of disease and other illnesses like trench foot
  1. A Global War
  2. Other Participants
  3. ______joined the Allies (Britain, France, & Russia) in 1915
  1. ______joined the Allies to gain extra land.
  1. Fighting also took place between the various colonies in Africa, but colonial recruiting efforts received mixed results – many refused to fight for the powers which oppressed them, while others saw it as an opportunity to achieve citizenship or to “earn” independence
  1. The Later War (1917-1918)
  2. What countries left the war? ______
  3. March 1917: bread riots in St. Petersburg grew into a full revolution
  4. Thousands of Russian troops left the front to return home to take part in the revolution
  1. The U.S. Enters the War
  2. Germany U-boats conducted unrestricted submarine warfare
  3. U.S. insisted that Americans had a right to safe sea travel
  1. May 1915: Germans sank the passenger ship ______, killing 1200 civilians, including 128 Americans – this led U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to denounce Germany
  2. Early 1917: British intercepted a message from German foreign minister Arthur Zimmerman to Mexico. What was it called? ______
  3. Germany offered to help Mexico reconquer the American Southwest if they would begin a war that would keep the U.S. from being able to help the Allied powers in Europe
  4. Britain publicized the note; many Americans reacted angrily and called for declaring war on Germany
  1. U.S. sent ______troops, plus fresh financial aid to Europe in 1918
  2. January 1918: Wilson proposed “Fourteen Points” or terms for ending the war:
  3. No more secret alliances
  4. Freedom of the seas for all nations
  5. The removal of barriers to international trade
  6. Demilitarization by all nations
  7. An end to colonization
  8. Allow Russia to stabilize itself without interference
  9. Germany must pull out of Belgium
  10. All captured French territory, including that from the 1871 war, must be returned
  11. All captured Italian territory must be returned
  12. Austria must be freed of German influence
  13. All the Balkan states should become free, independent nations
  14. The Ottoman Empire should be reduced to just Turkey
  15. An independent Poland should be created between Germany and Russia
  16. A League of Nations should be formed to resolve future disputes between nations
  1. “The Big ______”
  2. Woodrow Wilson (U.S.): wanted a lasting peace based on his Fourteen Points
  3. (Britain): wanted to punish Germany and force them to make financial reparations for costs of war
  4. (France): wanted to leave Germany so weak that they could never again threaten France
  5. The Treaty of ______
  6. June 1919: Allies presented Germany with post-war treaty
  7. Germany was to accept all blame for the war
  8. Germany was to make reparations ($30 billion in 1919 or about $350 billion in today’s dollars)
  9. Limited size of German military
  10. Returned territory to France that was taken in 1871 war
  11. Stripped Germany of its colonies
  12. Germany signed the treaty because they had no choice, but they were furious over the terms
  1. League of Nations, with more than 40 member nations, was created to settle international disputes; U.S. did NOT join (also never ratified the Treaty of Versailles.) U.S. became isolationist after the war