| Glossary Term | Definition |
| The Great War | A global military conflict that took place primarily in Europe between 1914 and November 1918 but officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. It left millions dead and re-shaped the modern world. |
| Central Powers | The nations allied with Germany during World War I. They included Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. |
| Allies | The Central Powers’ opposition during WWI. They included the British Empire, Italy, the Russian Empire, the United States, and France. |
| Chlorine gas | The first killing agent employed in WWI. Fairly ineffective at killing soldiers, but did serve as a terror tactic. |
| Bombs | Were first dropped from airplanes late in WWI. Mainly dropped on Britain by German Zeppelins and planes. |
| Tanks | Invented during WWI. They functioned by getting into the enemy trenches and shooting sideways down the trench. They were extremely unreliable. |
| Airplanes | First saw military action during WWI. First used as communication and spy machines, then later equipped with guns. |
| “cult of the offensive” | In Germany and elsewhere, military officers believed that spirited attacks and high morale would lead to victory. They believed that manpower was the key to victory. |
| First Battle of the Marne, 1914 | A World War I battle fought from September 5 to September 12, 1914. It was a Franco-British victory against the German army under German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. |
| Trench warfare | A form of war in which both opposing armies have static lines of defense. Characterized by terrible disease and rodent infestation. |
| U-Boat | German submarines that caused havoc on Allied shipping lanes. |
| Sinking of the Lusitania | U-boat attack that led to many British citizens dying. There were many American passengers on board and this event led to the U.S. joining the war. |
| Woodrow Wilson | American president during WWI. Introduced the Fourteen Points. |
| Battle of Jutland | The only naval battle of the war to showcase battleships. An inconclusive outcome. May 1916. |
| “over the top” | A phrase that describes the style of warfare that soldiers encountered. It was characterized by mindless charges across muddy fields. |
| Battle of Verdun, 1916 | One of the most important battles in World War I on the Western Front, fought between the German and French armies from 21 February to 19 December 1916 around the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in northeast France. Over 220000 fatalities. |
| Battle of the Somme, 1916 | One of the largest battles of the First World War. With more than one million casualties it was also one of the bloodiest battles in human history. |
| Battles of attrition | Battles in which armies attempt to continually wear down the enemy. |
| “total war” | When an entire nation (every citizen) is involved in the war effort. All else basically shuts down. |
| Burgfriede | In Germany during WWI, political grievances were set aside for the sake of the war. |
| union sacré | n France during WWI, political grievances were set aside for the sake of the war. |
| Propaganda | A type of message aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of people. Instead of impartially providing information, propaganda is often deliberately misleading, using logical fallacies, that, while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid. |
| Rationing | To combat the lack of war-time resources, governments resorted to permitting citizens only a small specified amount of supplies. |
| “turnup winter” | Between 1916-17 in Europe, the temperature was so cold that in Germany, the only food available were turnips. |
| unrestricted submarine warfare | Using U-boats, the German Navy was able to effectively limit British shipping capacity. The Allies had few ways to prevent this. |
| Russian Revolution March 1917 | Revolutionaries ousted the tzar and created the Provisional government, in an effort to create political reform. |
| Russian Revolution Oct. 1917 | After the first installment of the Russian Revolution (which brought forth the Provisional Government), Russia was in disarray. Lenin and the soviets used this to their advantage and took control of the government by force in 1918, instating Bolshevism. |
| Abdicated | Tzar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate by the Russian Revolutionaries in March 1917. |
| Provisional Government | The government that was set up at the onset of the Russian Revolution. It was made up of the members of the old Duma. Alexsandr Kerensky was PM at the time. It lasted less than a year. |
| Lenin | Leader of the Bolshevik takeover during the Russian Revolution. |
| Bolsheviks | members of a faction the RSDLP that ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Best known for seizing power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, and for founding the Soviet Union |
| April Theses | Written by Lenin, it was a radical document that called for Russia to withdraw from the war. |
| Aleksandr Kerensky | A Socialist Revolutionary and Prime Minister of the Provisional Government. |
| Lavr Kornilov | A general who led an unsuccessful coup attempt against the Provisional Governement. |
| Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 1918 | A treaty signed between Russia and the Central Powers, marking Russia's exit from WWI. The treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year but is significant as a chief contributor to the independence of Finland,Estonia,Lativia,Lithuania,Poland |
| Russian Civil War | Lasted from 1917-1922. Was fought between the Communist (Red)army and the loosely allied anti-communist (White) forces. |
| Reds | Pro-Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War. |
| Whites | Anti-revolutionary forces during the Russian Civil War. |
| Leon Trotsky | A Jewish Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. An influential politician in the early days of the Soviet Union, first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War. |
| The Cheka | The Bolshevik secret police. |
| Comintern | The Third International or Communist International. Founded by the Bolsheviks, its purpose was to replace the Second International as the central organization of communism. |
| Red Army | The Bolshevik army during the civil war and later the name of the USSR’s army. |
| Americans join the war, 1917 | The US ended its isolationist policy regarding WWI when Germany resumed its unrestricted submarine warfare and the plan for Mexico to fight the US was exposed. |
| Spartacists | Radical socialist faction in Post-WWI Germany. Favoured political experience that would give workers political experience. |
| Karl Liebknecht | Co-founder of the Spartacists. |
| Rosa Luxemburg | Co-founder of the Spartacists. |
| Friedrich Ebert | Social Democratic leader who led Post-WWI Germany and the Weimar Republic. |
| Freikorps | Roving paramilitary band of students and demobilized soldiers. |
| Kapp Putsch | An attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic, based in opposition to the imposed Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI. |
| Weimar Republic | In February 1919, a German republic was proclaimed in Weimar. It lasted until Hitler took control. |
| Paris Peace Conference, 1919-1920 | A massive collection of treaties which decided the fate of the combatants in WWI. |
| Georges Clemenceau | French premier and the French representative at the Paris Peace Conference. |
| David Lloyd George | British prime minister and British representative at the Paris Peace Conference. |
| Fourteen Points | Woodrow Wilson’s ideas that he brought to the Paris Peace Conference. Called for open diplomacy, arms reduction, an open-minded settlement of colonial issues, and the self-determination of peoples. This led to the creation of the League of Nations. |
| Self-determination | A concept of principle, wherein a people or nation, have a human right to statehood, and that such a state has an equal right to sovereignty. |
| War Guilt Clause | In the Treaty of Versailles, it was included that the Germans were at fault for the war. |
| Successor state | A state that takes over some or all of the territory, assets, treaty obligations and rights from a previously well-established state. |
| Polish corridor | Formed as a result of the Peace of Paris. Gave Poland connection to the Baltic Sea and separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. |
| League of Nations | The precursor to today’s U.N. It was proposed by Wilson (though the U.S. never joined). It promised security in numbers, yet was extremely ineffective. |
| Collective security | A system aspiring to the maintenance of peace, in which participants agree that any "breach of the peace is to be declared to be of concern to all the participating states," and will result in a collective response. |
| War reparations | Money that Germany was forced to pay for their part in WWI. |
| John Maynard Keynes | British economist. Designed terms of credit between Britain and its continental allies during the war. |
| Occupation of the Ruhr | When Germany was unable to keep up payments of war reparations, France and Belgium sent troops into the Ruhr basin to take control of key coal mines. However, the citizens resisted. |
| Treaty of Rapallo, 1922 | Treaty in which Germany and Russia renounced all territorial and financial claims against the other following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and World War I. |
| Treaty of Berlin, 1926 | Treaty in which Germany and Russia agreed to neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party. |
| Washington Conference, 1921 | A naval conference that set the ratio of American, English, and Japanese shipbuilding industries to 5:5:3. |
| Hyper-inflation | Following WWI, Germany experienced a massive jump in prices due to the war reparation payments. |
| The Dawes Plan, 1924 | Reduced payments to the victors and restored the value of German currency. |
| The Young Plan, 1929 | Reduced payments to the victors and restored the value of German currency. |
| Treaty of Locarno | Treaty that provided Germany with a seat in the League of Nations. |
| Gustav Stresemann | A German liberal politician and statesman who served as Chancellor and Foreign Secretary during the Weimar Republic. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| “Little Entente” | Formed by Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania by means of a collective security agreement which protected them from Germany and Russia. |
| Kellogg-Briand Pact | A formal rejection of international violence signed by the major European powers, Japan, and the United States. |
| Roaring Twenties | The name given to the 1920’s which signified the decade’s outpouring of culture. |
| Women get right to vote | Universal suffrage was finally obtained in many major powers around the 1920’s. |
| Jozef Pilsudski | Was a Polish revolutionary and statesman, Field Marshal, first Chief of State and dictator of the Second Polish Republic, as well as head of its armed forces. Largely responsible for Polish independence. |
| Treaty of Versailles | Treaty which determined the fate of Germany after WWI. Famous for its “war guilt clause” and the demand for massive war reparations to be paid by Germany. Returned Alsace and Lorraine to France. |
| Brown Shirts | Paramilitary group who acted as bodyguards for Hitler and other Nazis. Later became the SA (Sturmabteilung). |
| Adolf Hitler | Leader of the Nazi party. Gained power in Germany through propaganda and oratory. Later became Chancellor and Fuhrer. |
| Nazis | Name for members of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei(National Socialist German Workers Party, or NSDAP). Adolf Hitler was the leader of the party after 1921. The party was founded in 1919 as the German Workers’ Party by Anton Drexler. |
| Mein Kampf | “My Struggle.” A book written by Adolf Hitler while he was in prison. Somewhat an autobiography and somewhat an exposition of the political ideology of Nazism. |
| Munich or Beerhall Putsch | A coup d’etat launched by Adolf Hitler and Erich Luderdorff. The failure of the coup led to Hitler’s jail time. |
| Erich Ludendorff | A noted German general from WWI. Supported Nazism for a time and led the Beerhall Putsch with Hitler. |
| Ramsay MacDonald | The first Labour prime minister in Britain. |
| Amritsar Massacre, 1919 | A massacre of protesters in India by British forces who were afraid that India would leave the Empire. |
| Henry Ford | American industrialist who built a massive automobile empire. Invented the assembly line. |
| Assembly Line | Method of production which maximizes efficiency by having each worker do an extremely specific task over and over. |
| Frederick Taylor | American efficiency expert who developed methods to maximize workers’ productivity. |
| “cult of efficiency” | An idea embraced by union leaders who found that efficiency cut down work hours. |
| Theodoor van de Velde | Dutch author of Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique. |
| D.H. Lawrence | English author who wrote Women in Love. |
| Ernest Hemingway | American author who wrote The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea. |
| Charlie Chaplin | Internationally popular English comedian, actor, and producer who created the character of the Little Tramp. |
| Kathe Kollwitz | German artist who made sculptures and woodcuts that portrayed heart-wrenching scenes. Her depressing subject choices were influenced by the loss of her son in WWI. |
| George Grosz | Prominent member of the Dada movement. He created caricatures of Berlin life in the 1920’s and paintings of maimed soldiers and other bleak images of the war. |
| Dada | An artistic movement formed by artists who were shocked by the brutality of the war. Marked by nonsense, incongruity, and shrieking expressions of alienation. |
| Ernst Junger | Popular German author who glorified the soldiers’ lives. Called for the militarization of society. |
| Erich Maria Remarque | German author who wrote All Quiet on the Western Front, a best-selling anti-war novel. |
| T.S. Elliot | American poet who wrote “The Waste Land” and “The Hollow Men,” poems which portrayed post-war life as petty and futile. |
| William Butler Yeats | Irish nationalist poet who lamented the loss of old society in his poem “Sailing to Byzantium.” |
| Franz Kafka | Czech expressionist novelist whose The Trial and The Castle presented the world as a vast, impersonal machine. |
| Marcel Proust | French author who published Remembrance of Things Past. |
| James Joyce | Irish author of Ulysses and The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. |
| Virginia Woolf | British author of Mrs. Dalloway. |
| Bauhaus | German artistic movement that strove to make normal objects and buildings more artistic and useful. Inspired by East Asian and African art. |
| Josephine Baker | American dancer, singer, and actress who traveled to Europe and became very popular there. |
| Louis Armstrong | American jazz musician who toured Europe and became popular world-wide. |
| Kronstadt revolt | In spring, 1921, workers in Petrograd and sailors at a nearby naval base protested small rations and the Bolshevik corruption. |
| New Economic Policy (NEP) | A temporary measure invoked by Lenin that allowed peasants to sell their grain freely and to profit from free trade. This was a very capitalist method and many got rich off of it. |
| Alexandra Kollontai | Commissar for public welfare who promoted birth control education and the establishment of day care programs for children of the workers. |
| The Zhenotdel | “Women’s Bureau.” Wanted to teach women about their rights and about hygiene. |
| “Americanization” | Bolsheviks attempted to rid the country of its tsarist backwardness by westernizing it. However, many traditionalists rejected the new technologies and ideas. |
| Death of Lenin, 1924 | After suffering a stroke in 1922, Lenin passed away two years later. Stalin was the chief mourner at the funeral. Lenin’s status was elevated to that of a secular god. |
| Joseph Stalin | General Secretary of the Communist Party. After Lenin’s death, he gained much power in the Party. Was the creator of the USSR. By 1929, no one in the Party could stop him. |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party | The powerful position which Stalin held from 1922-1953. |
| Benito Mussolini | Creator of fascism. Was appointed Italian prime minister in 1922. Led Italy through WWII. His leadership was marked by violence and mass propaganda. |
| Black Shirts | Mussolini’s personal army. Were a major force in bringing Mussolini to power. |
| March on Rome | Mussolini’s Black Shirts forced King Victor Emmanuel III to make Mussolini prime minister. |
| King Victor Emmanuel III | Reigned in Italy from 1900-1946. Was forced by the Black Shirts to appoint Mussolini prime minister. |
| Fascism | An extreme right political system started by Mussolini. It was marked by violence and a violent opposition to the left and to parliaments. |
| Lateran Accord | Made the Vatican a state under Papal rule. In return for ending its criticism of fascism, the church was given recognition of its right to determine marriage and family doctrine in Italy. |
| Easter Uprising in Ireland, 1916 | After the British government failed to institute Irish home rule, Dubliners attacked government buildings. However, the attack was poorly planned. |
| Stock Market Crash, 1929 | Due to over investing, share prices plummeted out of control, leading to a depression which lasted through much of the 1930’s. |
| Black Tuesday | The start of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Share prices on the NYSE collapsed. |
| Mandate system | A system instated by the League of Nations. It justified the governing of weak nations by stronger nations. |
| Emmeline Pankhurst | Leading suffragist in Britain. |
| Britannia | The new, patriotic wartime name of Emmeline Pankhurst’s suffragist newspaper. Reflects the fact that even activists became nationalists during the war. |
| Italy joins the Allies, 1915 | After being promised postwar gains, Italy entered the war. |
| November 11, 1918 | On this day, an armistice was signed ending WWI. |
| Marie Stopes | British scientist who published Married Love in 1918. |
| Sergei Eisenstein | Innovative Russian filmmaker who added a Bolshevik view of history to his films. |
