| A | B |
|---|
| militarism | the belief that a nation needs a large military force |
| Central Powers | an alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria during WW1 |
| Allies | an alliance of Serbia, Russia, France, Great Britain, Italy aans 7 other countries during WW1 |
| trench warfare | a kind of warfare during WW1 in which tropps huddled at the bottom of trenches and fired artillery and machine guns at each other |
| Woodrow Wilson | President of the US during WW1 who announced a policy of neutrality when the war started |
| neutrality | refusing to take sides in a war |
| Zimmerman telegram | a message sent in 1917 by the German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance and promising to help Mexico regain Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona if the US entered WW1 |
| convoy system | a heavy guard of dsestroyers that escorts merchant ships during wartime |
| Second Battle of the Marne | a 1918 battle during WW1 that marked the turning point in the war; allied troops along with Americans halted the German advance into France |
| war bonds | a low-interest loan by civilians to the government, meant to be repaid in a number of years |
| propaganda | an opinion expressed for hte purpose of influencing the actions of others |
| League of Nations | an organization set up after WW1 to settle internations conflicts |
| Fourteen Points | President Woodrow Wilson's goals for peace after WW1 |
| Treaty of Versailles | the 1919 treaty that ended WW1 |
| reparations | money that a defeated nation pays for the destruction caused by a war |
| Red Scare | in 1919-1920, a wave of panic from fear of a Communist revolution |
| ARMISTICE | The cessation of all hostilities |
| ATROCITY | Any horrible and violent action taken against an innocent or unarmed person or group. |
| ATTRITION | The act of weakening or exhausting by constant harassment, abuse or attack. |
| CONSCRIPTION | Forcing people to join the army |
| DREADNOUGHT | Class of super battleships introduced by Britain in 1906. |
| HOWITZERS | Field guns |
| INFANTRY | Foot soldiers |
| MOBILIZATION | All the activities associated with preparing the armed forces of a nation to go to war. |
| MUNITIONS | Military equipment – ammunition, bullets, shells |
| OFFENSIVE | An attack |
| OVER THE TOP | An expression referring to climbing out of a trench or over the front edge of the trench to begin moving across no man's land. |
| PACIFIST | Someone who objects to killing |
| PROPAGANDA | Ideas and messages created to promote a cause or to damage an opposing cause and to persuade people to think in a particular way or to take particular actions. |
| RACE TO THE SEA | Name given to the continuous series of flanking movements by Germans and British in October and November 1914; resulted in a continuous line of trenches from the Marne to the English Channel. |
| RECONNAISSANCE | Surveying the enemy positions |
| SHRAPNEL | Piece from a shell |
| STALEMATE | Neither side is able to win |
| TOMMIES | Nickname for British soldiers |
| HUN, JERRY | Nickname for German soldiers |
| U-BOAT | Short for Unterseeboot, the German name for submarine. |
| MUSTARD GAS | Poison gas first used by the Germans at Ypres in 1917. The gas, dichloroethyl sulphide, attacked the mucous membranes, lung tissue, and the eyes causing severe conjunctivitis. Also referred to as “Yellow Cross |
| SHELL | ammunition consisting of a cylindrical metal casing containing an explosive charge and a projectile; fired from a large gun |
| MORTAR | a muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short range |
| balkans | area in the south west of Europe, incl Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia |
| Alliance | Agreement between two or more countries to help each other in time of war |
| Imperialism | The policy of building up an empire |
| The scrap of paper | A reference to the 1839 Treaty of London, stating Belgium's neutrality |
| Nationalism | A strong love for one's own country |
| heir | next in line to the throne / position |
