Deck 25: The Beginning of the Twentieth-Century Crisis: War and Revolution

Question 1

Talk about:
No Man's Land

Answer 1

Answers may vary.

Question 2

Why did the nations of Europe go to war in 1914? What did they hope to gain from the conflict, and how did their goals change during the course of the war?

Answer 2

Answers may vary.

Question 3

How did the Russian Revolution alter the dynamics of European statecraft and policy during the waning months of the war and into the time of the Paris Peace Conference?

Answer 3

Answers may vary.

Question 4

What is meant by the concept of total war, and how applicable is that concept to World War I?

Question 5

How did wartime governments maintain public order and mobilize public opinion during the course of the war? Compare these actions with those taken by governments in nineteenth-century wars.

Question 6

Talk about:
mobilization

Question 7

Talk about:
"blank check"

Question 8

Talk about:
Black Hand

Question 9

Talk about:
militarism

Question 10

What caused the Russian Revolution? How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks manage to seize and hold power despite their small numbers? How did the Bolsheviks secure their power during the civil war?

Question 11

Can the Treaty of Versailles be viewed as a successful settlement of the war? Why or why not?

Question 12

Were there any realistic alternatives to the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, given the causes and the consequences of the war and its impact upon Western civilization?

Question 13

Discuss the course of the first two years of World War I: Why did many people expect a short war? Why was it not a short war? Why did World War I become a "war of attrition"? Why did the warring nations, worn out by the end of 1916, not make peace?

Question 14

Why can 1917 be viewed as the year that witnessed the decisive turning point of World War I?

Question 15

In what ways did the ideologies of the nineteenth century fuel the antagonisms that led to the outbreak of World War I?

Question 16

Talk about:
General Paul von Hindenburg

Question 17

Talk about:
conscription

Question 18

Talk about:
First Battle of the Marne

Question 19

Talk about:
the Schlieffen Plan

Question 20

Is it accurate to consider World War I as primarily a European civil war? Why or why not?

Question 21

Talk about:
"Peace, land, and bread"

Question 22

Talk about:
Germany's War Raw Materials Board

Question 23

Talk about:
unrestricted submarine warfare

Question 24

Talk about:
Petrograd

Question 25

Talk about:
Central Powers

Question 26

Talk about:
Defence of the Realm Act

Question 27

Talk about:
trench warfare

Question 28

Talk about:
Ireland's Easter Rebellion

Question 29

Talk about:
Rasputin

Question 30

Talk about:
the Nineteenth Amendment

Question 31

Talk about:
tanks

Question 32

Talk about:
Verdun and the Somme

Question 33

Talk about:
Britain's Ministry of Munitions

Question 34

Talk about:
the machine gun and poison gas

Question 35

Talk about:
Georges Clemenceau

Question 36

Talk about:
nationalization

Question 37

Talk about:
Lawrence of Arabia

Question 38

Talk about:
total war

Question 39

Talk about:
the Lusitania

Question 40

Talk about:
Nicholas II and Alexandra

Question 41

Talk about:
genocide

Question 42

Talk about:
Alexandra Kollontai and the Zhenotdel

Question 43

Talk about:
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points

Question 44

Talk about:
armistice on November 11, 1918

Question 45

Talk about:
war communism

Question 46

Talk about:
soviets

Question 47

Talk about:
War Guilt Clause

Question 48

Talk about:
self-determination

Question 49

Talk about:
the "April Theses"

Question 50

Talk about:
Alexander Kerensky

Question 51

Talk about:
V.I. Lenin

Question 52

Talk about:
Leon Trotsky

Question 53

Talk about:
Reds and Whites

Question 54

Talk about:
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Question 55

Talk about:
Second Battle of the Marne

Question 56

Talk about:
Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg and the Free Corp

Question 57

Talk about:
Treaty of Versailles

Question 58

Talk about:
Bolsheviks

Question 59

Talk about:
the Cheka

Question 60

Talk about:
League of Nations

Question 61

Which pair of nations had not practiced conscription prior to World War I?

A) Germany and Austria-Hungary.
B) Great Britain and the United States.
C) France and Great Britain.
D) Italy and Germany.
E) Russia and France.

Question 62

The underlying motive that led Great Britain to declare war on Germany was

A) the German invasion of Belgium.
B) a desire to plunder on the continent.
C) the desire to maintain world power.
D) fear of German intentions in France.
E) anxiety concerning a possible German invasion of Britain.

Question 63

Talk about:
Yugoslavia

Question 64

Talk about:
reparations

Question 65

The Schlieffen Plan was designed to prevent

A) America's entry into the war.
B) war.
C) a prolonged two-front war.
D) a war of attrition.
E) a European-wide war.

Question 66

Talk about:
"dictated peace"

Question 67

Among nineteenth-century European political movements, the one most responsible for triggering World War I was

A) nationalism.
B) liberalism.
C) conservatism.
D) socialism.
E) modernism.

Question 68

The immediate cause of World War I was

A) an uprising of Catholic peasants in Bavaria.
B) the assassination of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo.
C) the German invasion of Poland.
D) the German naval blockage of Britain.
E) the French occupation of the Ruhr.

Question 69

On the eve of the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, William II of Germany

A) was plotting the overthrow of Nicholas II in Russia.
B) was intentionally provoking the Russians to attack Austria and set off a world war.
C) attempted to engage Nicholas II in a diplomatic dialogue to possibly avoid war.
D) sent ultimatums to England and France that were so clumsy and insulting as to make war inevitable.
E) abdicated in favor of his son, the Crown Prince, and sought exile in Belgium.

Question 70

The "blank check" had the effect of

A) assuring Russia a sufficient supply of guns.
B) making the war vastly more expensive than it had to have been.
C) making it impossible for England to enter the war.
D) encouraging Austria to attack Serbia.
E) demonstrating Germany's desire for peace.

Question 71

In August 1914, the general perception of the upcoming war among Europeans was that

A) it would be the dawn of a new socialist Europe.
B) the war would be very short, possibly only weeks in duration.
C) it would mark the end of European civilization.
D) its long-term nature would revive Europe's suffering economy.
E) it would be avoided at the last minute, once the diplomats finally met together.

Question 72

The most important consequence of the first year of World War I was

A) a deadly stalemate on the western front as a result of the failure of German war plans.
B) Italy's decision to switch sides to the German-Austrian alliance.
C) the collapse of German armies on the Russian front.
D) Serbia's rapid advance into Austria-Hungary.
E) the Ottoman Empire's decision to join the Triple Entente.

Question 73

Most Europeans believed that the Great War would

A) be much like the American Civil War in length.
B) be an exciting, emotional release from the otherwise dull and boring existence of mass society.
C) last for years and create a rousing state of perpetual heroics as proclaimed by Nietzsche in his writings on the "superman."
D) ultimately bring about the unification of Europe in one centralized and highly militarized government.
E) result in a new balance of power throughout all of Western civilization.

Question 74

Talk about:
League of Nations' mandates

Question 75

During 1914, in contrast to events in Western Europe, the war in the east

A) was marked by immobility.
B) was marked by mobility.
C) developed methodically and took months to get heated.
D) was marked by careful diplomacy.
E) involved smaller numbers of troops.

Question 76

Which of the following trends helped lead to the outbreak of the Great War?

A) The hopes of conservative leaders to crush internal democratic movements through war.
B) The adoption by European generals of new military policies.
C) The belief of European states that they had to uphold the power of their allies for their own internal security.
D) The downward spiral of European economies.
E) The dismantling of Europe's overseas empires.

Question 77

The leader who remarked, "In questions of honor and vital interests, you don't consult others" was

A) Empire William II of Germany.
B) Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
C) Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary.
D) General Paul von Hindenburg.
E) Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

Question 78

As early as July 28, 1914, European diplomats were becoming incapable of slowing a rush toward war mainly because

A) European kings, tsars, and emperors were too bent on war to heed their advice.
B) the complex, rigid, and demanding mobilization plans devised by European army generals made immediate military action essential.
C) ordinary people everywhere went to the polls and voted for immediate opening of the war on all fronts.
D) European industrialists, seeking to profit from mass destruction, induced the politicians they owned through bribery to push declarations of war through all European legislatures.
E) the slowness of communications in a pre-computer era.

Question 79

The rivalry between Russia and Austria-Hungary for domination of the new states in southeastern Europe played out largely through a conflict involving

A) Slovenia.
B) Bulgaria.
C) Greece.
D) Italy.
E) Serbia.

Question 80

The Great War annihilated which of the following basic precepts on which Western civilization seemed to have been founded?

A) The belief in democracy.
B) The belief in progress.
C) The belief in equality.
D) The belief in the benevolence of the Christian God.
E) All of the above.