Term | Definition |
Militarism | A policy of military preparedness |
Alliances | a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations |
Imperialism | the actions used by one nation to exercise political or economic control over a smaller or weaker nation |
Nationalism | loyalty and devotion to a nation |
Trench Warfare | warfare in which the opposing forces attack and counterattack from a relatively permanent system of trenches protected by barbed-wire entanglements |
Archduke Franz Ferdinand | Heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, assassinated in Sarajevo, starting WWI |
Selective Service Act | Required all men 21 to 30 to register for the draft. Used a lottery system to pick draftees. |
General John "Blackjack" Pershing | Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War One |
Alvin C York | Conscientious objector, who later joined the war. Single handedly killed 28 and captured 132 German soldiers during the Battle of the Argonne Forest. |
Woodrow Wilson | President during World War One who tried to avoid involvement in the war. |
Communism | a way of organizing a society in which the government owns the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.) and there is no privately owned property |
Argonne Forest | Battle in which the Germans finally started to crumble to American forces and retreated |
Espionage Act | Made it illegal to aid the enemy, give false reports, or interfere with the war effort |
Propaganda | The spreading of ideas about an institution or individual for the purpose of influencing opinion |
Armistice | A temporary agreement to end fighting |
Stalemate | a contest, dispute, competition, etc., in which neither side can gain an advantage or win |
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare | Germany using submarines to sink without warning any ship they found in the waters around Britain, Main cause for US entry into World War One |
Treaty of Versailles | Peace Treaty to end the Great War, attended by 27 nations. Set seeds for WWII. US did not sign it. |
Zimmerman Telegram | Telegram from Germany to Mexico, promising to help Mexico recover lost territory if it attacked US, and returning to unrestricted submarine warfare |
Sedition Act | Made it illegal to speak against the war publicly. |
Fourteen Points | Wilson's proposal for peace after the war, including the creation of the League of Nations. |
Reparations | Money Germany had to pay for loosing World War One |
League of Nationa | An international organization of nations whose purpose was to prevent war |
Tanks | New technology used to break the stalemate of trench warfare |
Mustard Gas | Chemical agent used by Germany in WWI to break the stalemate of trench warfare |
Central Powers | Germany, Austria-Hungary Empire and the Ottoman Empire |
Allied Powers | England, France, Italy, and the United States |
American Expeditionary Force | American army sent to fight in Europe during WWI |