Things Fall Apart
This experiment involving a dead cat showed how basic misinterpretations of quantum mechanics lead to absurd real-life outcomes.
What is Schrödinger's Cat?
Created by Bismarck, this defensive alliance united Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1879.
What is the Dual Alliance?
This army was the most powerful one pre-WWI.
What is the Imperial German Army?
In the event of a two-front war, Germany, following this military strategy developed in 1905, would advance through northern France around the Ardennes, knock out France in six weeks, and transport its troops by rail east to defeat the Russians.
What is the Schlieffen Plan?
In 1894, this Jewish officer in France was falsely accused of leaking military secrets to the Germans, revealing French antisemitism. He was subsequently imprisoned in French Guyana for twelve years. Tragically, his granddaughter Madeleine died at Auschwitz.
Who is Alfred Dreyfus?
Pablo Picasso & Georges Braque, both painters trained in classic portrait style, pioneered this art form, a style of painting that lacks a single perspective and appears bizarrely broken.
What is Cubism?
This 1882 defensive alliance expanded the Dual Alliance to include Italy.
What is the Triple Alliance?
These powerful ships launched in 1906 by the British established the pattern of the turbine-powered, “all-big-gun” warship, a type that dominated the world’s navies for the next 35 years.
What is the dreadnought?
The most common type of poison gas used in WWI.
What is mustard gas?
This Protestant group of Irish wanted to remain part of Great Britain and was concentrated in northern Ireland (notably in the province of Ulster).
Who are the Unionists?
This name was given to the year 1905, in which Albert Einstein made a series of revolutionary discoveries, especially in physics. They included the theory of special relativity & the constancy of the speed of light.
What is the annus mirabilis ("miraculous year")?
This 1894 agreement established the Franco-Russian alliance; both nations agreed to fight together if the Germans attacked either state.
What is the Dual Entente?
Gavrilo Princip, Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassin, belonged to this secret Serbian nationalist group with ties to the Serbian government and army.
What is the Black Hand?
During this battle in September 1914, the French army under General Joseph Joffre counterattacked and stopped the advancing Germans. This strategic victory prevented the capture of Paris.
What is the First Battle of the Marne?
This nationalist Irish movement for independence dates back to the 1860s. Most of its members are Catholic.
What is Home Rule?
This principle asserts that one cannot know both the position & velocity of an object with perfect accuracy.
What is Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle?
Bismarck signed this 1887 treaty with Russia to prevent war on two fronts and emphasize the defense nature of previous German alliances.
What is the Reinsurance Treaty?
The only major naval battle of WWI, with no decisive winner.
What is the Battle of Jutland (1916)?
This British campaign (Feb 1915-Jan 1916) sought to knock out the Turks and transport British supplies to the struggling Russians via the Black Sea. Organized by Winston Churchill, the plan failed miserably; troops landing at the Dardanelles were routed by the Turks, who were well dug in.
What is the Gallipoli campaign?
During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), Russia embarrassingly lost to Japan, revealing the complete bankruptcy of the Tsarist state. During the ensuing 1905 Revolution, this massacre saw soldiers of the Imperial Guard fire upon demonstrators led by Father Gapon as they marched towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II.
What is Bloody Sunday?
In 1913, this Danish scientist developed modern atomic theory, in which electrons circle a nucleus of an atom in different, unique orbits.
Who is Niels Bohr?
This 1904 agreement signed by Britain and France solved certain contentious colonial issues and would solidify the Triple Entente following the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907.
What is the Entente Cordiale?
This lethal electric fence created by the German military controlled the Dutch–Belgian frontier and prevented fleeing to the Netherlands after the occupation of Belgium (began 1914).
What is the Wire of Death?
This nickname eventually became slang for all heavy German artillery used during WWI. These 42-centimeter howitzers featured in the German offensive against the French fortress of Verdun.
What is "Big Bertha"?
This term describes the mandatory dominance in Austria-Hungary before WWI of the most prominent ethnic group in Hungary. This imposition of their language & culture led to hostilities among other nationalities.
What is Magyarization?