Q 01/05

What event is often cited as the immediate cause of World War I?

A) The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

B) The sinking of the Lusitania

C) The Agadir Crisis over French Morocco

D) The formation of the Triple Alliance

Answer · why

A) The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand nearly failed: an earlier bomb missed, then his driver took a wrong turn in Sarajevo and stalled the car...

Q 02/05

Which country first declared war in World War I?

A) Imperial Germany

B) Austria-Hungary

C) Tsarist Russia

D) Great Britain

Answer · why

B) Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the crisis and declared war on 28 July 1914; Russia mobilised in Serbia's defence and Germany then declared war on R...

Q 03/05

Which alliance of Britain, France and Russia faced the Central Powers in World War I?

A) The Triple Entente

B) The Triple Alliance

C) The League of Nations

D) The Holy Alliance

Answer · why

A) The Triple Entente

The Triple Entente was an informal understanding, not a war pact: it grew from deals that settled London's colonial quarrels with France in 1904 and w...

Q 04/05

What did contemporaries call the 1914–1918 conflict before a second world war renamed it?

A) The Great War

B) The Long War

C) The Grand War

D) The Continental War

Answer · why

A) The Great War

The Great War stayed the usual name until 1939, yet 'First World War' was already in print: Charles Repington used it as the title of his war diaries ...

Q 05/05

What was Germany's plan for a swift Western Front victory at the start of World War I called?

A) Operation Barbarossa

B) The Schlieffen Plan

C) Plan XVII

D) Operation Overlord

Answer · why

B) The Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan aimed to beat France through neutral Belgium within the six weeks Russia was expected to need to mobilise; the march through Belgi...