- It is generally held that the immediate cause of the First World War was the assassination of
Archduke Francis Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. Explain the significance of the assassination in
terms of: a) Serbian nationalism, b) Austro-Serbian relations, c) actions of the German imperial
government.
- Assess the importance of each of the following in the chain of events that precipitated the war:
a) Bethmann-Hollweg's "blank check" to the Austrian foreign minister, b) Russian mobilization,
c) French support of Russia.
- Why could the outbreak of war in 1914 be characterized as "a tragedy of miscalculation"?
- What considerations led to Britain's entrance into the war?
- Describing the competing propaganda efforts on the two sides of the war.
- Why did Italy, a member of the Triple Alliance, finally enter the war on the side of the Triple
Entente?
- What changes in the technology of warfare were demonstrated in the First World War?
- What were the reasons for the entrance of the United States into the war?
- How did the war contribute to the outbreak of revolution in Russia?
- How do you account for the failure of the Russian provisional government of 1917?
- Why were peace proposals from the socialists and from the Pope rejected by the belligerents?
- Which of Wilson's Fourteen Points do you consider most important? What was the role of
the Fourteen Points in bringing the war to an end? To what extent were the Fourteen Points
embodied in the peace settlement?
- Summarize the chief provisions of the peace settlement of 1919-1920. Why was the peace
more like "a sentence from a court than a negotiated settlement"?
- How was the professed principle of national self-determination violated in the peace
settlements with Austria, Bulgaria, and Hungary?
- Why did Turkey, in contrast to Germany and its other wartime allies, obtain a negotiated
peace settlement?
- What were the weaknesses of the League of Nations from its very inception?
- In what ways did the First World War pave the way for the Second World War?
- What was the overall effect of the war upon national economies and international trade?
- What did the war contribute to the emancipation of women?
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