WORLD WAR ONE EXAMINATION --- Western Civilization in the Twentieth Century

Father Foster

NAME:___________________________ Due Thursday, October 7th.

Please write an essay on three of the questions below. Each essay should be as long as necessary to answer the question thoroughly. You may use your class notes but NO OTHER SOURCE! Do not under any circumstances consult the Internet during the exam or talk to your fellow students or parents about its content. Be sure to cite specific dates and locations when it will help your essay.

YOU MUST ANSWER BOTH QUESTIONS NUMBER ONE AND TWO BELOW (forty points each):

1. Describe the factors that increased international tensions in the years before World War I. How did the alliance system come into existence and who was aligned with whom? Describe the particular trigger that started the war. How did the war develop in 1914? Why precisely did it stalemate in the West?

2. What was Germany’s plan to fight the war called? Describe it. Why did it not work the way they expected. How did fighting on the Western Front develop in unexpected ways (e.g., was it a “war of movement” or something else)? What was the outcome of fighting on the Eastern (or “Russian”) Front? Give a reasonably thorough sketch of the course of the war until its conclusion in the Armistice. Include relevant dates and places.

PICK ONE OF THE TWO QUESTIONS BELOW AND ANSWER EITHER QUESTION THREE OR QUESTION FOUR (twenty points):

3. How did technological developments change the war on land, air, and sea? Discuss airpower and sea power, as well as land weapons that shaped the battlefield.

4. How did America come to be involved in the war? What specific events brought the US into the fight and how did American troops impact the fighting of the war?