WW1 Glossary

• Democracy

  political system in which people choose their own rulers; in modern states

  = usually electing representatives to sit in a National Parliament
• Representative government

  a government that is elected to serve the needs of its citizens
• autocracy

  system of government by which all power is concentrated in the hands of the ruler and the official whom they appoint
• imperialism

  the policy of creating and expanding an empire/desire to do so
• Protectionism

  a policy designed to 'protect' domestic businesses from foreign competition by imposing a duty / tariff
• Maxim Machine Gun

  invented in 1884 and could fire 600 rounds per minute
• Weltpolitik

  'world policy' - relates to the desire under Bismarck and subsequent leaders to expand Germany's living space
• The Great Game

  a rivalry between the 19th-century British and Russian Empires over influence in Central Asia, primarily in Afghanistan, Persia and Tibet
• Splendid Isolation

  British policy of remaining aloof from foreign affairs in Europe
• Revanchism

  French attempt to overturn the losses of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71
• Reinsurance Treaty

  a diplomatic agreement between the German Empire and the Russian Empire that was in effect from 1887 to 1890

  The treaty played a critical role in Bismarck's complex network of alliances and agreements
• mobilisation

  process of moving soldiers and military equipment to the front of line of the border
• Détente

  improvement in relations between countries which had previously been strained
• Pan-Slavism

  the nationalist ambition to unite all slavs and win independence from the non-slav empires

  south slav nationalism refers to pan-slavism in the Balkans
• militarism

  belief that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend / promote national interests
• arms race

  a competition between countries to produce the most armaments
• Entente

  an understanding, it is not an alliance and does not bind either party to support the other in the event of a general war
• Two-power-standard

  Britain's navy should be at least equal the size of strength to the next largest navy in the world
• sovereignty


  the authority of a state to govern itself or another state
• Sultan

  Muslim sovereign
• National awakening

  a period of ethnic self-consciousness that often precedes a political movement for national liberation
• mobilisation

  the action if a country or its government preparing and organising troops for active service
• Risorgimento

  the Italian nationalism movement

  'reinsurance' or 'rising again' in Italy
• isolationism

  a policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affair of other countries
• Imperialism

  is the claiming of another territory as one’s own