The Age of Reformation – Study Guide

							APEH – Unit 10 – Chapter 26 Reading Comprehension Guide                                               1

                             Alliances, War and, a Troubled Peace
                The Western Heritage, since 1300.10th Ed. Kagan, Ozment, and Turner.
Name: _______________________________                 Class: _________________

ATTENTION: Read the instructions carefully as you move through this study guide. Please refer to the study guide from
chapter 10 for more detailed information on ID TERMS and DEFINITION CARDS.

MAJOR THEMES / BIG QUESTIONS: (As you work through the chapter, bear these questions in mind. As
you complete the chapter, ask yourself if you can answer these questions.)

1. How did the formation of alliances and the search for strategic advantage affect Europe’s major powers?
2. What were the origins of World War I?
3. Compare and contrast World War I progressed in the Eastern and Western Fronts.
4. Track the beginning of the Russian Revolution. At what point did it become the Bolshevik revolution and
what long-term impact did this overthrow have on not only Russia but the rest of Europe?
5. How was World War I finally brought to an end? Identify the important peace treaties, who was involved in
negotiating them and their long-term effects on Europe.

                  Reading Comprehension Questions Start HERE!!!
Unit 10. Day 1: pp. 830-836: Alliances
Write DEFINITION CARDS for the following terms for this section:
   jingoism  “splendid isolation”

1. Read the introduction section of this chapter very carefully!! There is a lot of information here that will help guide your
   reading of this chapter and points to future problems/issues that will arise in Europe as a result of the peace settlement of
   WWI. Identify more closely (in your own words) each of the following areas of tension, as explained in the introductory
   paragraphs:
        a. ongoing European international tension
        b. economic dislocation
2. Explain what way(s) each of these countries’ – Germany, Austria, France –position/role in European politics changed
   during the last few decades of the 19th century.
3. Bismarck was a master of alliance building and it is argued the only man who could keep these alliances. Over the course
   of pp. 831-836, I will ask you to read carefully about these various treaties. There are a lot – do not become discouraged –
   instead create a table that includes the treaties listed below and the following areas of interest: a) year the agreement was
   made; b) length agreement was maintained; c) member countries of the agreement; d) conditions of the agreement.
        a. Three Emperor’s League, 1873
        b. Dual Alliance
        c. Three Emperor’s League, 1881
        d. Triple Alliance
        e. Reinsurance Treaty, 1887
        f. Franco-Russian Alliance
        g. Entente Cordiale
        h. Triple Entente
4. Describe the impetus for the Russo-Turkish War: who was involved, what did they hope to achieve, etc. Describe the
   results of the Treaty of San Stefano, 1878 and how they would affect future diplomatic relations.
5. Describe the results of the Congress of Berlin, 1878. Who benefitted and how? Who was ignored / annoyed with the
   settlement?
6. In 1888 Wilhelm II became Emperor of Germany. What major changes did he make to German foreign policy? Why was
   Bismarck really the best and possibly the only man to hold the position of Chancellor at this time? Why did Wilhelm II let
   him go?
7. Who is General Leo von Caprivi and what impact did he have of German diplomacy?
APEH – Unit 10 – Chapter 26 Reading Comprehension Guide                                             2

8. The German and British relationship became very tense after Wilhelm II ascended the throne. Explain why the British
    population came to detest the Germans. Explain how the German population came to detest the British.
9. One of the first modern day arms races took place at this time between Germany and Great Britain. Explain the nature of
    this arms race and the pressure it eventually put on Great Britain.
10. Explain the role of Germany, France and Great Britain in the First Moroccan Crisis, 1905-1906.


Unit 10. Day 2: pp. 836-843: World War I
Write DEFINITION CARDS for the following terms for this section:
   dreadnought     fait accompli          mobilization                     Schlieffen Plan

1. Describe the important role Serbia played in the Balkan area at this time.
2. Describe the Bosnian Crisis – who was involved, what was gained, what was lost.
3. Explain the role of Germany, France and Great Britain in the Second Moroccan Crisis, 1911. What was the outcome of this
    crisis?
4. What is the significance of the Italian victories against the Turks in 1911?
5. Create a table for the Frist and Second Balkan Wars, include: who fought whom; how the European powers (esp. Austria
    and Russia) responded to each war. What did the Austrians “learn” during the course of these two wars?
6. Describe the events that took place on June 28, 1914. How did each of the following Austrians respond to the
    assassination: Conrad von Hotzendorf; Count Stephen Tisza; Count Leopold von Berchtold?
7. How did Wilhelm II and Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg reply to Austria’s request and what was the problem
    with this response? What was General Helmut von Moltke’s concern during this period?
8. Read pp. 840-842 closely and answer the bolded questions on pg. 840.
9. What was a primary concern of the Russian’s participating in a war against another major European power?
10. Describe the chain reaction that took place after Russia made the decision to mobilize their military. Create a timeline
    of each country as it entered “The Great War” – include the date and who declared war against whom.

Unit 10. Day 3: pp. 843-849: Strategies and Stalemates
Write DEFINITION CARDS for the following terms for this section:
   Allies    Central Powers        howitzers

1. How did the majority of western Europeans feel about the start of the war? What helped to facilitate these feelings?
2. Describe the original intentions of the Schlieffen Plan. Did it succeed?
3. Traditionally a military campaign is waged in order to take as much ground as possible from the enemy – this did not
    happen in WWI on the western front. Explain what did happen on the western front (i.e. trench warfare, technology, poison
    gas).
4. Describe how the Germans, under Ludendorff and Hindenburg, gained the upper hand over the Russians on the Eastern
    Front (be sure to explain the Battle of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes).
5. What two other countries joined the Central Powers on the eastern front? Why? Italy was originally allied with the Central
    Powers. What happened in 1915 and why? What other country joined the Allied forces?
6. What other countries or uprisings did the Central Powers and the Allies support and why?
7. Describe Winston Churchill’s idea to “break the deadlock on the western front”. Was this plan a success? Why (not)?
8. Describe the intention and outcome of each of these battles: Battle of Verdun, 1916; Battle of the Somme, 1916.
9. How did the Germans use their submarines during WWI? Describe the importance of the sinking of the Lusitania.
10. What two incidences led to the USA joining WWI?


Unit 10. Day 4: pg. 849-853: The End of World War I
Write DEFINITION CARDS for the following terms for this section:                   White Russians

1.   Describe the two distinct stages of the Russian Revolution.
2.   Why were all political factions discontented with Nicholas II?
3.   Read pg. 851 and answer the bolded questions concerning the primary document.
4.   Fill-in-the-blanks:
          a. ______________________ are defined as councils of workers and soldiers.
APEH – Unit 10 – Chapter 26 Reading Comprehension Guide                                           3

         b. Russian _________________________ believed that a proletarian revolution could occur only after the bourgeois
             stage of development had run its course.
5.   Explain why Alexander Kerensky was unable to keep the new provisional government functional at this time.
6.   How did Lenin get to Russia at this time? What was Lenin’s slogan for the Bolshevik Revolution? Was Lenin and
     Trotsky’s first attempt to overthrow the provisional government a success?
7.   Read the primary document on pp. 852-3 and answer the bolded questions on pg. 852.
8.   Did the Bolsheviks win a majority during the election of Nov. 1917? If not, how did they finally take control of the
     Russian government? Explain the direct impact the new Communist Dictatorship had on Russians as well as World War I.
     How long did the Russian civil war last?


Unit 9. Day 10: pg. 853-863: The End of World War I
Write DEFINITION CARDS for the following terms for this section:
   aegis        Fourteen Points (Wilson’s) mandates        League of Nations               reparations
   war guilt clause (Clause 231)

1. Describe the last German offensive at the Marne, March 1918. Why did Ludendorff want to make peace before the military
    was totally defeated?
2. List the five “idealistic principles” of Wilson’s Fourteen Points mentioned in our textbook. Why did Prince Max von
    Baden agree to these principles?
3. What happened in Nov. 9, 1918 in Germany? (2 distinct items)?
4. List the number of military and civilian casualties (dead, wounded). What different results arose from the end of WWI?
5. What became of Ottoman Empire and Arab countries after the Treaty of Paris, 1920? What was so “unusual” about the new
    independent Turkey under Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk)?
6. Why is it that idealistic intentions of self-determination could not be realized at the end of WWI? For what other reason
    were Wilson’s Fourteen Points unrealistic in the European climate after WWI? What is the Balfour Declaration, 1917 and
    what point of tension existed here?
7. What was the “greatest immediate threat” at the end of WWI? Was this threat valid? Explain.
8. TRUE or FALSE: Germany and America were excluded from the formal treaty talks in Paris.
9. Explain the role the League of Nations was to have. Give specifics.
10. What did France receive as a result of the Treaty of Paris? What did Germany have to give up in the west and the east?
    What significant changes occurred in Eastern Europe as a result of the Treaty of Paris?
11. Describe the terms of Germany’s war reparation payments. Why was the war guilt clause, Clause 23, so problematic?
12. What affect did WWI have on these different aspects of imperialism:
         a. redistribution of colonies after the Treaty of Paris
         b. colonial participation in the war itself
         c. impact of future colonial relations
13. Describe John Maynard Keynes economic evaluation of the Treaty of Paris. How was America removed from European
    politics for the time being?
14. What serious problems were created with the dissolution of the Austrian Empire?
15. Describe what Kagan refers to as the Treaty of Paris’ “failure to accept reality”. What was the “only hope for a lasting
    peace”?