Download PEOPLE EVENTS Cram Sheet: World War I

Cram Sheet:
World War I
P E OP L E
EV ENTS
Wilfred Owen
• British poet and soldier who fought in
WWI
• Killed in battle on 4 November 1918,
one week before the end of fighting
• His poems still help readers understand
life on the warfront during WWI
1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand
• Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip shot
and killed Austro-Hungarian Archduke
Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo, 28 June
1914
• Assassination set into motion a series of
events that eventually led to the
beginning of WWI
John J. Pershing
• Commanding general of U.S. Army
during WWI
• Had nearly 2 million men under his
command by the end of the war
• Refused to allow his soldiers to enter
the line before they were properly
trained, thus credited with saving many
American lives
Gavrilo Princip
• 19-year-old Serbian nationalist who
assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, June 1914, providing the
catalyst for World War I
• Too young to face the death penalty;
sentenced to maximum 20 years in
prison
• Died of disease in prison in April 1918
Manfred von Richthofen
• Most successful flying ace of WWI,
popularly known as the “Red Baron”
• German fighter pilot instrumental in
developing techniques of aerial combat
• Painted his plane red to help fellow
Germans identify him
• Killed in action in April 1918
Woodrow Wilson
• Democratic U.S. President from 1913 to
1919, pledged to keep America out of
WWI during his 1916 reelection
campaign
• Then asked Congress for a declaration
of war against Germany in spring 1917
• Authored the Fourteen Points, which
advocated for human rights and selfdetermination for all nations
• Failed to gain Congress's ratification of
the Treaty of Versailles, meaning U.S.
failed to join League of Nations
1915 Lusitania Incident
• British passenger ship sunk by German
submarine
• Resulted in death of 1200 people,
including 128 Americans
• Press coverage steered public opinion
in favor of the Allied side in the war
1917 Zimmermann Telegram
• British intercepted telegram from
German Foreign Secretary Arthur
Zimmermann to the German
ambassador in Mexico
• Telegram urged Mexico to fight with
Germany against U.S.
• Promised Mexico that when the war was
won, it would recover the territory it lost
to the U.S. in the Mexican-American
War (the American Southwest)
• Mexico declined the offer, but the leaked
telegram was published in the American
press, spurring anti-German sentiment
in U.S.
1917 U.S. Enters WWI
• After 3 years of fighting in Europe, U.S.
entered the war
• Declaration came after series of events
that convinced the American public and
the government that Germany was a
significant threat to the U.S.
• Shortly thereafter, Congress passed the
Selective Service Act to draft soldiers
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1917 Espionage Act
• Federal law passed in June 1917, just a
few months after the U.S. entered WWI
• Imposed fine of $10,000 and 20 years in
prison for any interference with the draft
or any act that encouraged national
disloyalty
1918 Sedition Act
• Federal law passed in May 1918
• More repressive than the Espionage Act
• Criminalized production of antiwar
materials and the delivery of any speech
deemed unpatriotic or detrimental to the
war effort
• Imposed fine and imprisonment on
anyone who discouraged military
recruiting or criticized the government,
the flag, or the military uniform
1919 Treaty of Versailles
• Officially ended WWI
• Treaty terms included the creation of
new League of Nations
• U.S. Congress refused to ratify treaty
and thus didn’t join League of Nations
GROUPS
Black Hand
• Serbian nationalist group
• Included 19 year old Gavrilo Princip,
assassin of Austrian Archduke Franz
Ferdinand
Central Powers
• WWI alliance of the German Empire,
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Ottoman
Empire
• Bulgaria joined later in the war
• Became enemy of U.S. after 1917
League of Nations
• International deliberative body originally
proposed as part of the Fourteen Points,
authored by President Woodrow Wilson
• Created by the Treaty of Versailles,
which ended WWI
• U.S. Congress refused to ratify it, thus
the U.S. didn’t join
Triple Entente
• WWI alliance originally comprised of
Britain, France, and Russia (a.k.a the
Allies)
• Fought against the Central Powers in
WWI
• Italy joined after the war began
• After Bolshevik Revolution, Russia
pulled out
• U.S. joined in April 1917, just before
Russia withdrew
CONCEP TS
Barbed Wire
• Fencing material invented in 1873 by
Joseph Glidden
• First used by farmers and ranchers in
the American Great Plains
• Used by both sides during WWI to
protect trenches and slow enemy
attacks
• Many died in WWI, killed by barbs or
trapped in them and then shot by enemy
gunners
"Flying Circus"
• A German military strategy utilized
during WWI
• Developed with the help of pilot Manfred
von Richthofen, a.k.a the “Red Baron”
• A mass air attack that confused Allied
air forces
Fourteen Points
• President Wilson's ambitious plan for a
just peace at war's end
• Most significant portions called for “selfdetermination” for all nations, formation
of League of Nations to resolve disputes
• Wilson presented the Points at the Paris
Peace talks in 1919, but other Allies
insisted upon a more punitive final treaty
No Man’s Land
• Term used to describe the area between
opposing trenches
• Could be as wide as several miles or as
narrow as a few hundred feet
• Extremely dangerous area with flying
bullets, artillery shells, and poison gas
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“Rape of Belgium”
• British propaganda term for alleged
German atrocities committed after 1914
invasion of Belgium
• According to Allies, German armies
raped and plundered their way through
the country; propaganda tilted American
opinion against Germany
• Debate still rages today over the truth of
the Allies’ claims
War of Attrition
• Type of military strategy based on
wearing down the enemy through
continuous warfare
• In these conflicts, the power with the
greatest resources usually prevails
PLAC ES
The Somme, France
• Site of extraordinarily bloody WWI
battle, 1916
• British army suffered 60,000 casualties
in one day in failed attack on German
trenches
Belleau Wood, France
• Site of first major battle to feature
American soldiers, 1918
Versailles, France
• Location of sprawling palace complex
built by French royalty
• Site of peace talks that ended World
War I
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