Key Terms

Allies

the nations that united to oppose Germany and Austria-Hungary, originally, Russia, France, and Britain

armistice

a cease-fire agreement

Balkan League

an alliance created in 1912 by Greece, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Serbia against the Ottoman Empire

Bolsheviks

a radical majority faction of Russia’s Social Democratic Party led by Vladimir Lenin

Central powers

a World War I coalition that included the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Ottoman Empires

Easter Rising

the 1916 rebellion of Irish Nationalists against the British in Dublin

Espionage Act

a 1917 act passed in the United States that made anti-war propaganda illegal

Schlieffen Plan

a German war plan to sweep through Belgium and northern France before turning to Russia

Sedition Act

a 1918 act passed in the United States that forbade forms of speech considered disloyal to the war effort

Sykes-Picot Agreement

a secret agreement reached between France and Britain in 1916 to partition areas of the Middle East after the war

total war

a war fought using all available resources, with no restrictions on weapons or their targets

Triple Alliance

a treaty of alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy

Triple Entente

a treaty of alliance between France, Russia, and Britain

U-boats

German submarines equipped with torpedoes that sank thousands of pounds of cargo over the course of World War I

War Industries Board (WIB)

a U.S. federal agency created in 1917 to control the economic and industrial output of factories in times of war

Women’s Land Army

a British program to help women ensure enough foodstuffs were produced on farms while men served in the military

Zimmermann Telegram

a 1917 telegram sent by Germany’s foreign minister offering an alliance with Mexico in return for Mexico causing disturbances along its U.S. border