abdicate to relinquish high office, especially a monarch

American Expeditionary Force US army commanded by General John J. Pershing that served in Europe during WWI

Arthur Zimmermann German foreign minister who proposed in 1917 that if the US declared war on Germany, Mexico should become a German ally and win back Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico and should try to persuade Japan to go to war with the United States






Balkan peninsula region of southeastern Europe; included a number of relatively new and sometimes unstable states in the early 20th century

belligerent a nation formally at war

boll weevil small beetle that infests cotton plants and damages the cotton bolls, which contain the cotton fibers

Bolsheviks radical socialists, later called Communists, who seized power in Russia in November 1917

Bryan-Chamorro Treaty 1914 treaty in which Nicaragua received $3 million in return for granting the US exclusive rights to a canal route and a naval base






Central Powers in WWI, the coaliation of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire

collective bargaining negotiation between the representatives of organized workers and their employer to determine wages, hours, and working conditions

conscientious objector person who refuses to bear arms or participate in military service because of religious beliefs or moral principles

contraband goods prohibited from being imported or exported; in time of war, contraband included materials of war

creditor nation nation whose citizens or government have loaned more money to the citizens or government of other nations than the total amount that they have borrowed from the citizens or government of other nations

Creel Committee US Committee on Public Information (1917-1919), headed by journalist and editor George Creel; it used films, posters, pamphlets, and news releases to mobilize American public opinion in favor of WWI

criminal syndicalism laws state laws that made membership in organizations that advocated communism or anarchism subject to criminal penalties

Croix de Guerre French military decoration for bravery in combat






daylight savings time setting of clocks ahead by one hour to provide more daylight at the end of the day during late spring, summer, and early fall

deportation expulsion of an undesirable alien from a country

disarmament reduction or dismantling of a nation’s military forces or weaponry






eastern front line of battle between the Central Powers and Russia in WWI

Espionage Act 1917 law mandating severe penalties for anyone found guilty of interfering with the draft or encouraging disloyalty to the US






Fourteen Points Wilson’s program for maintaining peace after WWI, which called for arms reduction, national self-determination, and a league of nations

Francisco “Pancho” Villa Mexican bandit and revolutionary who led a raid into New Mexico in 1916, which prompted the US government to send troops into Mexico in unsuccessful pursuit






Great Migration movement of about a half-million black people from the rural South to the urban North during WWI






Harlem section of New York City; became one of the largest black communities in the US

Henry Cabot Lodge prominent Republican senator from Massachusetts and the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who led congressional opposition to Article 10 of the League of Nations

Herbert Hoover US food administrator during WWI known for his proficient handling of relief efforts; he later served as secretary of commerce (1921-28) and president (1929-1933)

Hun disparaging term used to describe Germans during WWI






influenza contagious viral infection characterized by fever, chills, congestion, and muscular pain, nicknamed “the flu”; an unusually deadly strain swept across the world in 1918 and 1919






J. Edgar Hoover official appointed to head a new antiradical division of the Justice Department in 1919; he served as head of the FBI from its official founding in 1924 until his death in 1972

Jim Crow refers to laws or practices that discriminate against black people






League Covenant constitution of the League of Nations; incorporated into the 1919 Treaty of Versailles

League of Nations a world organization proposed by Wilson and created by the Versailles peace conference; it worked to promote peace and international cooperation; the US never joined

left-wing not conservative; usually implies socialist or otherwise radical leanings

Liberty Loan one of a series of four bond issues floated by the US from 1917 to 1919 to help finance WWI

Lusitania British passenger liner torpedoed by a German submarine in 1915; more than one thousand drowned, including 128 Americans, creating a diplomatic crisis between the US and Germany






mandate territory that the League of Nations authorized one of its member nations to administer, with the understanding that the region would move toward self-government

mobilize






National War Labor Board federal agency created in 1918 to resolve wartime labor disputes

nationalism intense patriotism, or a movement that favors a separate nation for an ethnic group that is part of a multiethnic state

neutral not aligned with either side in a war; traditionally, a neutral nation had the right to engage in certain types of trade with nations that were at war

no man’s land the field of battle between the lines of two opposing, entrenched nations






Palmer raids government raids on individuals and organizations in 1919-1920 to search for political radicals and to deport foreign-born activists

Porfirio Díaz Mexican soldier and politician who became president after a coup in 1876 and ruled Mexico as a dictator until 1911






Red Army army created by the Bolsheviks to defend their communist government in their civil war and to re-establish control in parts of the Russian Empire that tried to create separate republics in 1917 and 1918; the Red Army was the army of the Soviet Union throughout its existence

Red Scare wave of anticommunism in the US 1919-1920

reparations payments required as compensation for damage or injury






Sacco and Vanzetti Italian anarchists convicted in 1921 of the murder of a factory paymaster and theft of a $16,000; electrocuted in 1927 despite doubts about their guilt

salient part of a battle line where the enemy has launched an offensive and pushed the line forward; a projection of the line

Sedition Act 1918 law supplementing the Espionage Act by extending the penalty to anyone deemed to have abused the government in writing

Selective Service Act 1917 law establishing compulsory military service for men aged 21 to 30

self-determination the freedom of a given people to determine their own political status

Slavic relating to the Slavs, a linguistic group that includes the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, and Bulgarians of central Europe, as well as Russians, Ukrainians, Belarussians, and other groups in eastern Europe

subversion efforts to undermine or overthrow an established government

Sussex pledge 1916 German promise to stop sinking merchant ships without warning if the US would compel the Allies to obey “international law”






Treaty of Brest-Litovsk humiliating treaty with German that Russia signed in 1918 in order to withdraw from WWI; it required Russia to surrender vast territories along its western boundary

Treaty of Versailles 1919 treaty ending WWI; imposed harsh terms on Germany, created several territorial mandates, and set up the League of Nations

Triple Alliance alliance that linked Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary in the years before WWI

Triple Entente informal alliance that linked France, Great Britain, and Russia in the years before WWI

tsar/czar monarch of the Russian empire






U-boat German submarine

universal military service governmental policy specifying that all adult males are required to serve in the military for some period of time






Venustiana Carranza Mexican revolutionary leader who helped to lead armed opposition to Victoriano Huerta and who succeeded to the presidency in 1914; this government was overthrown in 1920

Veracruz major port city located in east-central Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico; in 1914, Wilson ordered the US Navy to occupy the port

Victoriano Huerta Mexican general who overthrew President Francisco Madero in 1913 and established a military dictatorship until forced to resign in 1914

vigilante person who takes law enforcement into his own hands, usually on the grounds that normal law enforcement has broken down

Vladimir Lenin leader of the Bolsheviks and of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and head of the Soviet Union until 1924






War Industries Board federal agency headed by Bernard Baruch that coordinated American production during WWI

western front western line of battle between the Allies and Germany in WWI, located in French and Belgian territory