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

Question 1

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

A)European kings, tsars, and emperors were too committed to war to heed their advice.
B)Inflexible war plans devised by European 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.

Answer 1

Inflexible war plans devised by European generals made immediate military action essential.

Question 2

Which of the following powers seized German-held territories in the Pacific?

A)Japan, Australia, and New Zealand
B)Japan, India, and China
C)China and Japan, supported by the United States

Answer 2

Japan, Australia, and New Zealand

Question 3

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

Answer 3

The belief in progress

Question 4

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

Question 5

As public morale and support for the war ebbed, what was the result?

A)Workers' strikes became less frequent as they were brutally repressed.
B)The liberal French government under Clemenceau found it impossible to end internal dissent.
C)Police powers were expanded across Europe to include the arrest of all dissenters as traitors to the state.

Question 6

The collapse of Russia's tsarist regime in March 1917 was aided by all EXCEPT which of the following?

A)The leadership of the Mensheviks in forming the new provisional government
B)A general strike in Petrograd and a rebellion in the south of Russia
C)Growing wartime casualties due to incompetent military leadership and poor equipment

Question 7

Economically, World War I resulted in which of the following?

A)European governments adopted a "hands off" policy toward their economies to boost morale.
B)European governments took control only of war-related industries and left the rest alone.
C)European governments gradually took full control of all aspects of their economies.

Question 8

The women workers of World War I played which of the following important roles?

A)They served as support troops behind the front-line trenches.
B)They campaigned for and won the right to vote immediately following the war.
C)They achieved permanent job security in the once male-dominated workplace.

Question 9

The chief reason for the United States' entry into World War I was which of the following?

A)The success of British propaganda
B)German violations of the principles of neutrality and freedom of the seas
C)The expulsion of the American consul from Berlin

Question 10

As soldiers on both sides realized that no one could gain an advantage in trench warfare, what was the result?

A)Savage treatment of prisoners became commonplace.
B)The trenches were sterilized and sanitized and offered satisfactory accommodation.
C)Daily life for the soldier became increasingly squalid and miserable in rat-infested trenches.

Question 11

Which of the following principles led Great Britain to declare war on Germany?

A)To defend the idea of neutrality that had been violated by the German invasion of Belgium
B)To take the opportunity to seize Germany's colonial empire
C)To help France and Russia defeat Germany so Britain could retain its status as a major world power

Question 12

What was the most important outcome of the first year of World War I?

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

Question 13

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

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.

Question 14

What was the effect of entry of the United States into World War I in April 1917?

A)It gave the nearly defeated Allied Powers a psychological boost.
B)It was greatly feared by the German naval staff.
C)It was a response to Turkey's entrance into the war on the side of the Central Powers.

Question 15

Why was poison gas introduced in 1915?

A)As an attempt by Germany to gain some kind of strategic advantage
B)As an accidental by-product of artillery bombardments
C)As an effort to convince other countries not to join the fighting

Question 16

The development of trench warfare in France was characterized by which of the following?

A)Quick advances and seizures of enemy trenches
B)Fewer casualties but fewer advances due to thick fortifications
C)An increase in the reliance upon artillery, heavy weapons, and entanglements to defend complex, static positions

Question 17

In 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the war on whose side?

A)France
B)Italy
C)Germany

Question 18

The tank was introduced by to the battlefields of World War I by whom?

A)The Germans
B)The Americans
C)The British

Question 19

How many men died during the ten-month Battle of Verdun?

A)700,000
B)100,000
C)500,000

Question 20

Internal opposition to the war in European nations came largely from which group?

A)Factory owners and businessmen ruined by wartime inflation
B)Liberals and socialists appalled by the scale of human slaughter
C)Government ministers terrified of losing complete control over armies and the civilian populations being fed into the military

Question 21

At the end of World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire experienced which of the following fates?

A)It was allowed to occupy Serbia and most of the Balkans.
B)It broke apart into independent nation-states.
C)It was absorbed into a weakened Germany.

Question 22

How did imperialism affect the outbreak of World War I?

Question 23

What were the most important long-term causes of World War I?

Question 24

As a result of World War I, Eastern Europe experienced which of the following fates?

A)It experienced little or no real change.
B)It fell subject to the new Russian communist state.
C)Many newly independent states emerged from the ruins of old empires.

Question 25

How is the Second Battle of the Marne best described?

A)It was the end of Germany's final, futile effort to win the war.
B)It was the decisive victory Germans had long sought.
C)It was a disaster for the French, whose army mutinied.

Question 26

The 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Russia and Germany resulted in which of the following?

A)Russia lost much of its European territory in order to achieve peace.
B)Poland and Finland joined together into a newly independent Lithuanian duchy.
C)Germany surrendered most of east Prussia to Russia to stop the fighting.

Question 27

For Woodrow Wilson, the most important thing after the war was to do which of the following?

A)Punish Germany by requiring economic sanctions
B)Ensure acceptance of his Fourteen Points by forming an international meeting institution
C)Keep the United States completely isolated from Europe so as not to suffer through another horrible war

Question 28

Why did the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand precipitate war?

Question 29

Lenin's "April Theses" contained which of the following arguments?

A)Russia's movement toward socialism followed a uniquely Russian path that allowed it to avoid a bourgeois revolution.
B)Russian participation in World War I was essential to reaching a greater, more unified socialist state.
C)Only Bolshevik leadership would guarantee the success of the revolution: the installation of a people's republic led by liberal reformers.

Question 30

Which of the following was the result of the Treaty of Versailles?

A)It forced Germany to acknowledge "war guilt" and to pay reparations for its alleged wartime aggression.
B)It created the United Nations.
C)It created a system by which the old Turkish Empire could be safely dismantled.

Question 31

The Bolshevik takeover in November 1917 could best be described as which of the following?

A)A nationwide uprising by the peasants
B)An armed takeover of the capital
C)The successful machinations of foreign nations coming to fruition

Question 32

Describe the main events of the war in 1914.

Question 33

Describe the main events of the war in 1915.

Question 34

In the aftermath of World War I, how did birthrates in Europe change?

A)They slowly increased as soldiers returned from war.
B)They skyrocketed, erasing the loss of the life caused by the war by 1930.
C)They declined noticeably as a result of the death and maiming of a generation of young men.

Question 35

Following the Bolshevik seizure of power in November 1917, what policy did Lenin follow?

A)Lenin accelerated the war effort against Germany.
B)Lenin returned the control of factories to their rightful owners.
C)Lenin ratified the redistribution of land that had already been seized by peasants.

Question 36

Which of the following events was the immediate cause of World War I?

A)An uprising of Catholic peasants in Bavaria
B)The assassination of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo
C)The German invasion of Poland

Question 37

What was the chief motivation of Georges Clemenceau's terms of armistice?

A)To punish Germany and gain security for France
B)To help Germany become a democracy
C)To maintain a demilitarized Europe

Question 38

How did the United States Senate respond to the treaty of Versailles and the formation of the League of Nations?

A)It barely passed the treaty and only reluctantly accepted the invitation to join the League.
B)It failed to ratify the treaty and refused to join the League.
C)It refused to ratify the treaty but gladly took a position of leadership in the League.

Question 39

Why were European mobilization plans so inflexible?

A)They were extremely complex, involving millions of men, large amounts of matériel, and transportation infrastructure across very large distances.
B)European high commands had still not adopted virtually any modern military organizational principles, resulting in dramatic inefficiencies.
C)No European state had a standing army, so each had to recruit and train a large force in a very short amount of time to gain an advantage in any war.

Question 40

Why did Germany and Russia feel unable to stop the mobilization of their armies?

Question 41

What was the result of the March 1917 Revolution?

Question 42

Which was most responsible for the outbreak of World War I, nationalism, internal dissent, or militarism? Why?

Question 43

What were the key ideas underpinning Wilson's Fourteen Points?

Question 44

Why did World War I become a global war?

Question 45

Why did World War I's peace treaties result in the creation of so many new states?

Question 46

What was the result of defeat in Germany and Austria?

Question 47

Why did the United States fail to join the League of Nations?

Question 48

Could the outbreak of World War I have been avoided? Why or why not?

Question 49

What is a total war?

Question 50

How did Russia's exit from the war affect the Western Front?

Question 51

How did European societies respond to "total war" measures?

Question 52

What did the Treaty of Versailles require of Germany?

Question 53

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

Question 54

What was the result of the October 1917 Revolution?

Question 55

Describe the main events of the war in 1917.

Question 56

Why did the United States eventually decide to participate in World War I?

Question 57

Describe the main events of the war in 1916.

Question 58

What was the outcome of the Russian Civil War?

Question 59

What role did the United States play in achieving allied victory?

Question 60

Among nineteenth-century European political movements, which of the following was the most responsible for triggering World War I?

A)Nationalism
B)Liberalism
C)Conservatism

Question 61

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

A)Slovenia
B)Bulgaria
C)Serbia

Question 62

How was Germany ultimately defeated? Why is it incorrect to maintain that the German government "stabbed the army in the back"?

Question 63

How did the Bolsheviks eventually defeat the White forces during the Russian Civil War?

Question 64

To what extent was Wilson successful in achieving his goals? To what extent did he compromise on them? To what extent were they inherently impossible?

Question 65

Which of the following was the "blank check" effect?

A)Assuring Russia a sufficient supply of guns if it was attacked by Germany and Austria
B)Private business's response to the outbreak of war signaling their total support
C)Encouraging Austria of Germany's support in any attack on Serbia

Question 66

Describe the communist revolts that broke out in Germany after World War I. What was the result of the uprising, and how did it change postwar Germany?

Question 67

The Schlieffen Plan was designed to prevent which of the following?

A)America's entry into the war against Germany
B)War between France, Italy, and Germany
C)A prolonged two-front war with Germany on the defensive

Question 68

How did the Western Front and the Eastern Front differ by 1915?

Question 69

Describe the differences between the approach of the Tsarist, provisional, and Bolshevik governments to the war with Germany and Austria. Why were their approaches different?

Question 70

On the eve of the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, what was William II of Germany trying to do?

A)Overthrow Nicholas II in Russia
B)Provoke a Russian attack on Austria to set off a world war
C)To persuade Nicholas II to halt Russian mobilization so he could halt Germany's

Question 71

On what points were the United States, France, Britain, and Italy aligned during the peace negotiations following World War I? On what points did they differ? Who ultimately prevailed?

Question 72

What role did the United States play in ending World War I? Why was it able to play this role?

Question 73

How were civilians affected by World War I? Discuss civilian experiences from at least two countries in your response.

Question 74

Why did the Western Front bog down so significantly? Why did attempts to advance by both sides fail?