Key Terms
What word describes a situation in which neither side can advance and the front stops moving?
Stalemate
Name the four long-term causes of the First World War.
Alliances, imperialism, militarism, nationalism.
At what time, and on what date, did the armistice take effect?
11 a.m. on 11 November 1918
What percentage of its land, and what percentage of its population, did Germany lose?
10 per cent of its land. 12.5 per cent of its population.
Who promoted the League of Nations, and when did it begin work?
Woodrow Wilson promoted it. It began work in January, 1920, set up under the Treaty of Versailles.
Define 'attrition'.
A way of fighting in which each side tries to wear the other side down by inflicting losses it cannot replace (such as troops, supplies, or morale), until the enemy collapses or gives up.
What is the difference between a long-term cause and a trigger?
A long-term cause builds up over years and makes war more likely. A trigger is the short-term event that sets it off.
Give two reasons the Schlieffen Plan failed.
Belgian resistance slowed the advance; Russia mobilised faster than expected so troops went east; the advance was halted at the Marne in September 1914; the BEF arrived sooner than expected.
What limits were placed on the German armed forces? FIGURE REQUIRED.
An army of 100,000 men, conscription banned, no air force.
How many members did the League have at its peak? FIGURE REQUIRED
58
What is the difference between an armistice and a peace treaty? Give the date of each.
An armistice is a temporary agreement to stop fighting (as seen on 11 November 1918), and a peace treaty is a formal, binding contract that permanently ends a war and settles political issues between nations (28 June 1919).
Give the date Austria-Hungary sent its ultimatum to Serbia, and the date it declared war on Serbia.
Ultimatum 23 July 1914. Declaration of war 28 July 1914.
Explain why the stalemate came first and the trenches followed.
The advance was halted at the Marne in September 1914 and neither side could get round the other, so the fighting stopped moving. Men then dug trenches to survive in the open.
What did Clemenceau, Wilson and Lloyd George each want at Paris?
Clemenceau: France made secure and Germany permanently weakened, with heavy reparations. Wilson: a fair settlement on the Fourteen Points, self-determination, and a League of Nations. Lloyd George: a middle course, Germany punished but left able to trade.
Name two things the league did that were not about stopping wars
Refugee work, health work against pandemics, action against slavery and forced labour, and working conditions through the International Labour Organisation.
Define mandate, and say what made it different from a colony.
Mandate is a territory taken from a defeated power and administered by another state on behalf of the League of Nations. Held in trust and reported on, not owned outright.
Why did Britain declare war, and on what date?
Germany invaded Belgium on 4 August 1914 and Britain declared war the same day, under its guarantee of Belgian neutrality.
Give one figure for the part played in the war by people from outside Europe.
Indian Army, around 1.3 million served. Chinese Labour Corps, around 140,000. Carrier Corps, several hundred thousand recruited in East Africa, much of it by conscription.
What is Article 231, and why did it matter more than it looks?
The war guilt clause. Germany accepts responsibility for the loss and damage of the war. It names no sum, but it is the legal basis on which reparations could be demanded.
Give three weaknesses of the League, and what its consequences were.
1. The USA never joined, so sanctions lacked the largest economy. 2. The league had no army, so it could not enforce decisions. 3. Decisions needed unanimity, so any member could block action by refusing to agree.
Define collective security, and name the two things the League could do to an aggressor.
An attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. Economic sanctions, and military force.
Militarism is a long-term cause. Give one specific piece of evidence for it.
Any of these: Naval and military spending; Army size and conscription; War plans drawn up in peacetime; The standing of the army in society and government.
State the date the United States entered the war, and give the two reasons it entered then.
6 April 1917. The resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare on 1 February 1917, and the Zimmermann Telegram.
Give one point where the aims of the Big Three collided, and say who gave way.
Any of:
Name the two crises of the 1930s that exposed the League's weakness, with their years, and say what each one showed.
Manchuria 1931: Japan invaded, was condemned, and left the League in 1933. It showed the League could not act against a major power.
Abyssinia 1935: Italy invaded, sanctions left out oil, and Britain and France negotiated behind the League's back.