• textbook --> pp. 878 - 883.

1. What were the long-term origins of the "irreconcilable" differences between the various European Great Powers in the years after 1870?
2. Of what significance for international relations was the rivalry for the spoils of the Ottoman Empire?
3. Why wasn't Bismarck able to maintain an alliance between Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia?  Why did he negotiate the Triple Alliance?
4. What brought republican France and Tsarist Russia together in an alliance?
5. Why did Britain agree to ally itself with France in 1904?  What developments led the British to abandon their "splendid isolation?" 
6. Evaluate the following statement:  The statesmen of Europe became conditioned by the many crises to believe that war could be avoided by international conferences and compromises.  by discussing these events-->the First & Second Moroccan Crises;  the Bosnian Crisis;  the First & Second Balkan Wars.

                          ASSIGNMENT 2:

• textbook --> pp. 886 - 894 [esp. the doc. on pg. 891].
• reading --> "Who Started World War I?"
• document --> The "Willy - Nicky" Telegrams.

1. What role did the alliance system play in causing World War I?  What were some of the other long-range factors?
2. How important were the decisions made by European statesmen during the summer of 1914 in bringing about World War I?
3. In what way was each of the nations involved partly responsible for the outbreak of World War I?  Who do you think is most responsible?  Why?
4. Was World War I inevitable?
5. What long-term considerations produced the German Schlieffen Plan?  Why did it fail?
6. What kind of war did the Europeans expect in August, 1914?

                         ASSIGNMENT 3:

• textbook --> pp. 894 - 907 [esp. the doc. on pg. 897].
• document --> excerpts from the Hussein-McMahon Letters.
• document --> Sykes-Picot Agreement.
• document --> Balfour Declaration.

1. Why did the Western Front "freeze" into a static line of trenches?  What was trench warfare like?
2. Why were the military engagements on both the Western and Eastern Fronts so deadly?
3. How would you summarize the major military campaigns of 1915 and 1916?  What was the general state of political and military affairs at the end of 1916?
4. How was life on the home front affected by the war?
5. How was civilian morale maintained in the face of "total war?"
6. Why did the U. S. enter the War in 1917?  What impact did this have on the outcome of the war?
7. How was the Arab Revolt and the political deals made between Britain, France, and the Jewish and Arab communities within Europe and the Ottoman Empire a portend of future problems in the Middle East?  What problems did it create for President Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference?

                          ASSIGNMENT 4:

• textbook --> pp. 907 - 914.
• document --> Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

1. What signs of dissatisfaction could be discerned in Russia at the beginning of the 20c?
2. Why was there dissatisfaction with the Tsarist regime among various elements of the Russia population during World War I?
3. How did the workers in Petrograd precipitate the crisis of March, 1917?
4. Describe the program of the Provisional Government under Kerensky.  What obstacles did it face?
5. What was Lenin's program?  Why did it have more appeal?
6. What role did Trotsky play in the Bolshevik Revolution?  in the Russian Civil War?
7. Why did Lenin accept the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?  What were its provisions?
8. Which groups resisted the new Communist regime in the civil war that broke out at the end of 1918?  What role did the Allied governments play in this conflict?  What factors helped the Bolsheviks triumph?
9. What were the net results of the "Terror" and civil war for Russia?

                         ASSIGNMENT 5:

• textbook --> pp. 914 - 919.
• document --> Fourteen Points.

1. What happened to the German and Austro-Hungarian governments at the end of World War I?
2. Create a CHART which identifies the chief aims of the major political players at the Paris Peace Conference.
3. To what extent were British, French, Italian, and American expectations incompatible at the outset of the Paris Peace Conference?
4. Identify the major agreements reached at the Paris Peace Conference concerning the following:  territorial changes;  disposition of the German colonies;  restriction on German naval and military power;  reparations.
5. Why was Article 231 written into the Versailles Treaty?  What objections might legitimately be raised to it?
6. To what extent was the peace settlement a victory for the principle of "self-determination?"
7. How did World War I and the peace treaties change the political structure of Europe?
8. Evaluate the success and the wisdom of the Treaty of Versailles.  What sources of future trouble might be anticipated?