Term | Definition |
Wilhelm II | German emperor (Kaiser) whose militarism helped cause the First World War |
Otto von Bismarck | German chancellor who unified Germany in 1871; dismissed by the new German Kaiser in 1890 |
Weltpolitik | refers to Germany's attempt to become a world power with its navy; means "world politics" |
Realpolitik | refers to Bismarck's attempt to use practical political considerations in foreign policy and domestic policy |
Diplomatic Revolution | re-alignment of alliances from 1890-1914 that caused France, Russia, and Great Britain to form the Triple Entente |
Reinsurance Treaty of 1887 | alliance between Germany and Russia that isolated France and prevented Germany from fighting two-front war |
Dreadnoughts | big-gun battleships |
Alfred von Tirpitz | German naval theorist who called for a large German navy that would challenge Britain for world power |
Triple Entente | World War I alliance between Great Britain, France, and Russia |
Triple Alliance | World War I alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy |
Serbs | ethnic group in the Balkans who were the primary nationalist agitators against Austro-Hungarian rule |
Franz Ferdinand | heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne assassinated in Sarajevo in June 1914 |
Gavrilo Princip | assassin of Austro-Hungarian archduke |
Franz Joseph | Emperor of Austria-Hungary |
July Crisis | diplomatic crisis that led to the start of World War I |
blank check | term to describe the idea that Germany urged Austria-Hungary to be aggressive toward Serbia after the Archduke's assassination |
Schlieffen Plan | German war plan that called for an attack through Belgium into France |
total war | the concept that the entire population of a nation should be mobilized for a war |
Easter Rebellion | Irish nationalist rebellion of 1916 put down by the British |
Karl Liebknecht | radical German socialist; murdered in aftermath of WWI by right-wing Germans |
Rosa Luxemburg | radical female German socialist; murdered in aftermath of WWI by right-wing Germans |
Nicholas II | Russian tsar; murdered by Bolsheviks in 1917 |
Rasputin | "holy man" who influenced Russian empress during war; murdered by Russian aristocracy |
Alexander Kerensky | moderate liberal leader of the 1st Russian Revolution that resulted in tsar's abdication |
Vladimir Lenin | radical Bolshevik leader of the 2nd Russian Revolution (October Revolution) |
Leon Trotsky | Bolshevik military leader of Petrograd Soviet; later organized Red Army |
Petrograd Soviet | workers council of St Petersburg |
Bolsheviks | radical socialist revolutionaries of Russian Revolution |
Treaty of Brest Litovsk | treaty that ended WWI on eastern front between Germany and Russia |
David Lloyd George | British prime minister at Versailles Peace Conference |
Georges Clemenceau | French leader at Versailles Peace Conference |
Versailles Treaty | treaty that ended the First World War |
Balfour Declaration | British promise to give part of Palestine to Jews for a homeland |
Fourteen Points | Woodrow Wilson's plan for peace following WWI |
League of Nations | international organization that would help prevent another war; the most important point in Wilson's peace plan |