Global Awareness

Unit 15 Assignment – World War I

Unit Readings:

Western Heritage

    Chapter 26

Modern European History

    Chapters 28-29

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Part I - 14 QUESTIONS NOT TO ANSWER ON PAPPER - Read Chapter 26 in Western Heritage and be able to explain the answers to the following questions (no assignment to be turned in):

 

1.  What is imperialism?

2.  What different explanations have historians offered for acquisition of colonies by the major European powers?

3.  Where did the major countries establish important colonies? [Do not try to memorize, but it is useful to know that Britain had India and Egypt, France was in West Africa, etc.]

4.  What were Otto von Bismarck’s goals once he unified Germany? How did he use foreign alliances to protect Germany? How did Kaiser Wilhelm II change German policy after he dismissed Bismarck in 1890?

5.  What were the major European alliances on the eve of World War I?

6.  What were the concerns/ambitions of the major European powers in 1914? (Germany - Austria - France - Serbia - Britain - Russia - Italy)

7.  What series of events led to the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 (beginning w/ the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand)?

8.  How was WWI fought?

9.  Why did US enter WWI?

10.  Why did Russia make peace w/ Germany and leave WWI?

11.  Why did the Germans surrender in 1918?

12.  What main issues did the Allies have to deal w/ in the Versailles peace settlement?

13.  What were the major decisions made at Versailles?

14.  What, according to the text, were the strengths and weaknesses of the Treaty of Versailles?

 

Part II - 14 QUESTIONS TO ANSWER ON PAPER - Treaty of Versailles Questions (pp. 990-995) -- Due Thursday, April 5

1.  Who were the representatives of the "Big Four" at Versailles?

  1. United States: _________________________________________

  2. Great Britain: __________________________________________

  3. France: ______________________________________________

  4. Italy: ________________________________________________

2.  What were Woodrow Wilson’s "14 Points"? (see p. 989)

3.  Explain at least three problems that the peacemakers at Versailles faced in 1919 that the diplomats at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 did not have:

4.  Why did the European public become disillusioned with Woodrow Wilson after first treating him as a hero?

5.  What was the League of Nations?  List four features of the League of Nations that made it unlikely to be effective.

6.  List 5 provisions that the Versailles conference made regarding Germany in the West to ease French fears.

7.  List 8 newly independent countries created by the Treaty of Versailles.

8.  What was the mandate system?

9.  How effective was the mandate system in practice?

10.  What was the purpose of the "reparations" that Germany was required to pay?

11.  What was the "notorious" Clause 231?

12.  What did John Maynard Keynes mean when he attacked the Treaty of Versailles as a "Carthaginian Peace"?  Why does Kagan (the textbook author) disagree w/ Keynes?

13.  List 4 legitimate criticisms that Kagan believes may be made against the Versailles settlement.

14.  What, in your own words, was the main reason that Kagan regards the Treaty of Versailles as a tragedy?

 

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