WORLD WAR I

KEY TERMS AND PEOPLE

Nationalism a devotion and loyalty to ones country; develops among people with a
common language, religion, or history
Imperialism the control of a region or country by another country
Communism an economic and political system in which the government owns all
businesses and controls the economy
Vladimir Lenin - Bolshevik leader who built support among workers and soldiers and
created the worlds first Communist state: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics


THE ONSET OF WAR
UNDERLYING CAUSES
Nationalism people were willing to go to war to prove the superiority of their nation
Imperialism industrial nations competed fiercely for colnies and saw them as a way to
display the greatness of their empire
Militarism European nations were building up large standing armies and spending
huge heavily on modern weapons
Alliances because of their distrust for each other, European nations entered into an
alliance system that had a domino effect at the beginning of hostilities
THE SPARK FOR WAR
1914 a Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the
Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia and the first domino has been tipped
Miscalculations that the war would only last a few months contributed to the willingness
to go to war
THE WAR
Trench warfare characterized World War I and caused a stalemate that resulted in
unprecedented casualties
Many new weapons introduced during World War I
Machine guns
Airplanes and zepplins
Poison gas
tanks
Submarines

THE ALLIES VICTORY
German submarines were sinking ships trying to deliver supplies to Great Britain
The United States warned Germany to stop sinking ships and entered the war when
Germany continued
Reinforcements from the United States helped allow the allied forces to finally push
Germany back out of France and finally to surrender
THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
Wilsons plan
Promote democracy
Create a League of Nations (an organization where countries could come together to
solve their problems peacefully)
Help nationalities rule themselves by redrawing the European map


TREATY OF VERSAILLES GERMANYS
FATE
Forced to accept blame for the war
Forced to give up land
Forced to give up its foreign colonies
Forced to pay reparations for war damage
Germany felt these conditions were too harsh
TREATY OF VERSAILLES
Other dissatisfactions
Not all nationalities got their own nation
Some countries resented having to give up land
The treaty set the stage for further conflict

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION




Under Vladimir Lenin Russia sets up the worlds first Communist state