On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 2011 we remember once again the armistice that was meant to be the end to the War that would end all Wars or The Great War. Sadly that didn’t take, so the conflict was renamed World War I when a larger and more destructive war started 21 years later.

World War I started nearly a century ago. Most of the battles and lessons of the War have been forgotten. But just to jog your memory, let’s see what we do remember. Some multiple choice and some straight up questions.

1) Most people know that the immediate cause of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Of what country or empire was Franz Ferdinand an archduke of?
a) Germany
b) Austria
c) Serbia
d) Russia

2) Longer term conflicts which led to the start of WWI included destabilization in this region of Europe which became known as “the powder keg of Europe”
a) the Baltics
b) the German Empire
c) The Balkans
d) Alsace-Lorraine

3) WWI saw the introduction of various new weapons and tactics. One of the most feared new weapons caused slow and painful death. What was it?
a) poison gas
b) biological weapons
c) laughing gas
d) trained rats

4) Which Allied power fell into an internal revolution during WWI which effectively removed it from involvement in the war?

5) The main method of combat during WWI was
a) guerilla warfare
b) sniper fire
c) line battles
d) trench warfare.

6) WWI was also the first use of what then recent invention during war?
a) movie cameras
b) light bulbs
c) airplanes
d) atomic weapons

7) In 1916 President Wilson ran for president with the slogan:
a) “We must join the battle for democracy”
b) “Our fate is joined with Europe’s”
c) “Peace in our Times”
d) “He kept us out of war”

8) Following WWI, France set out on a defense strategy and structure that they believed would inhibit any future German agression. This project was known as the __________________.

9) Despite the crippling effect of WWI reparations, Germany did eventually repay them. When was the last payment made?
a) 1933
b) 1992
c) 1977
d) 2010

10) The wearing of poppies on Armistice Day (Nov. 11) was inspired by:
a) The poem ‘In Flanders Fields’
b) A speech by Woodrow Wilson asking that “poppies be worn where once there were wounds.”
c) The painting “Poppies Cover Trench Rows”
d) The last, little known verse of the song “Over There.”

Hard to believe that WWI started nearly a century ago. If there has been one major change, cameras and television have revealed that war is not the romantic glory once thought, but humans in pain often because of their leaders’ lack of ability to seek peace. Here is hoping we leave Afghanistan and bring our troops home from around the world. WWI has been over for nearly 70 years.

BTW – WWI also saw the introduction of tanks and armored vehicles,  and the first use of barbed wire and the machine gun in war.

Answers? Alright – don’t get belligerent! (from the Latin – to wage war)
1) b) Franz Ferdinand was the archduke of Austria
2) c) the Balkans – hence the word Balkanization to describe a greatly fractured, unstable region or group.
3) a) poison gas – such as chlorine, mustard gas and phosgene
4) The Russian Revolution started in 1917. The Romanov dynasty was eventually replaced by the communists
5) d) Trench Warfare which resulted in huge losses on both sides.
6) c) airplanes – who can forget the Red Baron
7) d) “he kept us out of war” at least for a time
8) The Maginot Line. Praised when it was constructed, Hitler merely went around the flank and over it in planes. Therefore it was essentially useless.
9) d) About a year ago, Angela Merkl’s government made the final payment on the WWI reparations, thus officially ending the war.
10) a) The poem “In Flanders Fields.” All the rest I made up.