Causes of WWI
Historians use this acronym to summarize the five long-term causes of WWI
What is MANIA? (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism & Assassination)
These two alliance blocs faced off in WWI
What are the Central Powers & Allied Powers?
Britain introduced this armored, tracked vehicle at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, designed to cross trenches and withstand machine gun fire.
What is the tank?
WWI was fought on multiple "fronts." This front, stretching through France and Belgium, is where most of the trench warfare took place fighting Germany.
What is the Western Front?
This term described the dangerous open ground between opposing trenches, littered with barbed wire, shell craters, and corpses.
What is "no man's land"?
Between 1870 and 1914, European nations dramatically increased the size of their armies and navies, developed new weapons, and glorified military culture.
What is Militarism?
The Central Powers were also referred to by this nickname?
What is the "Triple Alliance"?
First used on a large scale at the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915, this weapon caused soldiers to suffocate, blister, and go blind.
WWI's Western Front was primarily fought across this country, whose rivers, ridgelines, and muddy plains defined years of trench stalemate.
What is France / Belgium?
On Christmas Day 1914, German and British soldiers famously climbed out of their trenches, met in no man's land, exchanged gifts, and even played this sport — a remarkable moment of humanity in the middle of a brutal war.
What is soccer/football?
The fierce pride people felt in their country or ethnic group — it united some nations, but dangerously inflamed ethnic minorities inside empires like Austria-Hungary who wanted their own independent states.
What is nationalism?
The Allied Powers are also referred to by this nickname?
What is the "Triple Entente"?
The introduction of poison gas initially gave attackers a major advantage, but both sides quickly developed this countermeasure, which evolved from urine-soaked rags in 1915 to sophisticated charcoal-filter designs by 1918 — representing one of WWI's earliest examples of defensive technology racing to catch up with offensive weapons.
What is the gas mask?
Russia fought Germany and Austria-Hungary on this front, which ran along the edge of Europe. Unlike the Western Front, this front was far more mobile, with battle lines shifting hundreds of miles.
What is the Eastern Front?
Soldiers in the trenches suffered from this painful medical condition caused by standing in cold, wet mud for days without being able to remove their boots.
What is trench foot?
This political murder on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo served as the immediate trigger for the war.
Who is Archduke Franz Ferdinand?
These were the four main countries teamed up to fight against France, Russia, and Britain.
Who was Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria?
Germany's unrestricted use of these vessels to blockade Britain disrupted global trade and helped draw the United States into the war.
What are submarines?
After WWI, the map of this region was redrawn by an agreement between Britain and France — secretly dividing former Ottoman Arab lands into spheres of influence and drawing borders that many historians argue planted the seeds of conflict still felt today.
What is the Middle East?
Beyond enemy fire, this was the leading cause of death and incapacitation for trench soldiers, including typhoid, dysentery, and the influenza pandemic of 1918.
What is disease / illness?
The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was carried out in this city, the capital of the newly annexed Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia — a region Serbia believed rightfully belonged to them.
What is Sarajevo?
This country switched sides in 1915, abandoning the Triple Alliance to join the Allies after being promised territorial gains in the secret Treaty of London.
What is Italy?
Though aircraft were primitive by later standards, WWI saw them evolve rapidly from unarmed reconnaissance tools into fighters and bombers. This strategic use of aircraft — flying deep behind enemy lines to photograph troop positions, supply routes, and fortifications — fundamentally changed how commanders planned battles.
What is reconnaissance?
This narrow body of water separating Britain from France and Belgium meant that despite being geographically close to the Western Front, Britain required a massive naval and logistical operation just to get troops to the fight.
What is the English Channel?
This psychological condition, now understood as PTSD, was poorly understood during WWI and often dismissed as cowardice — soldiers suffering from it sometimes faced court-martial rather than medical treatment.
What is shell shock?