First World War Crossword Puzzle

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Across
  1. 2. The month-long chain reaction of threats, ultimatums, and mobilizations after the assassination that led to war in 1914.
  2. 6. A war that mobilizes an entire society—economy, labor, propaganda, and civilians—for the war effort.
  3. 7. International organization created after WWI to prevent future wars through diplomacy and collective security.
  4. 9. Armored vehicles developed to cross trenches and barbed wire; introduced to break the trench stalemate.
  5. 12. The act of preparing for war by calling up troops and moving armies; once started in 1914, it was hard to stop.
  6. 14. A chemical weapon that burns skin and lungs and causes blindness; used in WWI to injure and terrify soldiers.
  7. 15. When powerful countries expand control over other regions for resources, markets, and prestige; intensified rivalries before 1914.
  8. 16. The dangerous area between opposing trenches, exposed to artillery and machine-gun fire.
  9. 17. Competition between nations to build more weapons and larger armies/navies, increasing fear and tension.
  10. 18. Rapid-fire weapon that made frontal assaults deadly and helped create a stalemate in trench warfare.
  11. 20. The Bosnian Serb nationalist who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, sparking the July Crisis.
  12. 21. The pre-WWI partnership of Britain, France, and Russia, formed to counter Germany and its allies.
  13. 22. A volatile region in southeastern Europe with ethnic tensions and rival empires; often called a “powder keg” before WWI.
Down
  1. 1. A place or situation filled with tension that could explode into conflict at any moment; often used to describe the Balkans before WWI.
  2. 3. German submarines used to sink Allied ships; unrestricted attacks helped draw the United States into WWI.
  3. 4. Strong loyalty to one’s nation, or desire for national independence, that fueled tensions and conflicts in Europe.
  4. 5. Serbian nationalist secret society linked to the plot that led to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
  5. 8. The wartime alliance led by Germany and Austria-Hungary, later joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.
  6. 10. The belief that military power is essential; shown through building up armies/navies and preparing for war.
  7. 11. Germany’s strategy to defeat France quickly by attacking through Belgium, then turn to fight Russia.
  8. 13. The 1919 peace treaty that blamed Germany, demanded reparations, reduced its military, and redrew borders.
  9. 19. Fighting from long defensive ditches protected by barbed wire and machine guns, especially on the Western Front.