Giving Peace a Chance Trivia Quiz

Answer: continuous mediation

Continuous mediation called for setting up a permanent organization which belligerents could contact with possible ideas for peace, and ask the committee to approach the opposing coalition to see how they might feel about some of those ideas. The plan for continuous mediation showed that the women who participated in the conference at the Hague were not simply "hysterical peacettes", as they were called by Theodore Roosevelt, but they were smart and were able to identify a logical way to work for peace.

First, it was purposeful and realistic. The women did not think they could remove all hostilities from the world and render future warfare impossible; they just wanted to put an end to this war as soon as possible. Second, there was the fact that a third party would be the one to approach the opposing coalition. Any government or army command which went to the committee for assistance would be doing so in secret, thus eliminating the main concern of all belligerents: if you went directly to an enemy's government to ask for peace, you would appear weak and vulnerable to an attack. A 'court of continuous mediation' was set up in 1915, but no belligerent country ever took advantage of the service.

Answer: Henry Ford

Henry Ford was inspired by the initiative of the Women's Peace Party, and developed the idea of sending pacifist delegates overseas to see if they could negotiate an end to the war. He made the prediction that he would "have the boys home for Christmas". Ford chartered a ship, the "Oskar II", and recruited people to go with him to Stockholm. However, his attempt was regarded as a possible publicity stunt and Ford was unable to get any of the most famous pacifists and peace workers on board.

He also did not have the support of people working for peace in the warring countries in Europe. The ship sailed from New Jersey in December 1915, but nothing much came of the journey. The delegates that did go spent the entire journey quarreling, and Ford jumped ship in Norway. The "Ford Peace Ship" ended up being referred to as a "ship of fools" in the media.

Answer: All of these

For the internal political considerations, the German government was most concerned about keeping the Social Democratic Party (SPD) on board with continuing the war. The support of the SPD was contingent on the claim that Germany was fighting a defensive war. By issuing a peace note (that they didn't expect the Allies would accept), the government was showing the SPD, as well as the German population as a whole, that they did want peace and it was the Allies who were impeding a speedy conclusion to the war.

The insincere peace note was an also attempt to influence outside parties. In particular, the German government wanted to make an impression on neutral countries, especially the United States (neutral until the spring of 1917). Germany realized that they were most likely going to resume their campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare if they hoped to win the war. The US had already strongly spoken out against USW, and Germany hoped that by getting the Allies to reject a peace proposal, they could justify resuming USW under the pretense that it was the Allies who did not want to end the war, and therefore Germany would have to do anything they could to end it.

Finally, the peace proposal was a show of good faith to Austria, who had been suffering more internally than Germany had. Austria had been wanting to make peace, so Germany made an insincere proposal to show Austria that the Allies were the ones who did not want to end the war.

Answer: Karl, Emperor of Austria

Sixte was the brother of Karl's wife, Zita. Karl wanted to undertake a separate peace initiative with France and then the other Allies, without Germany knowing about it. Zita and her mother contacted Sixte, who was serving in the Belgian army (his family connections made him illegible to serve with the French army). Sixte agreed to act on the emperor's behalf, and in his duties as an emissary he held meetings with Cambon of the French foreign ministry and President Poincaré. In these meetings, he delivered messages from Karl, including an interesting letter given to Poincaré on the 31st of March, 1917.

The letter, handwritten by Karl, in which he praised the spirit and perseverance of the French army, and said that he supported "in every way the legitimate French claims relative to Alsace-Lorraine". The French government ultimately turned down all proposals for a separate peace with Austria, primarily because Italy was an Entente power, and Italy and Austria were sworn enemies.

Answer: Central Powers

Specifically, it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire that the Pope was believed to be favouring. While it is certainly true that the Pope simply did want an end to the war, to stop the bloodshed and save human lives, he also had a vested interest in being the one who helped bring about the end to the war. Austria-Hungary was the remaining major Catholic power in Europe. While some other countries, such as France, still were predominantly Catholic, they were also democratic countries, with secular governments.

Austria-Hungary was an empire ruled by a monarch, and the emperor and his wife were both devout Catholics. The Pope wanted a peace that would not carve up the empire, and wanted Karl and Zita to remain in power. The Pope also wanted to be the one to help bring peace to Europe, because he wanted to have a seat at the future peace conference, again to preserve the Austrian Empire, and also to have a say in what Italy would gain in the peace settlement. (From the 1860s till the 1920s relations between the Vatican and Italy were appallingly bad).

Answer: Petrograd Formula

After the revolution in Russia in February 1917 (March in the Gregorian calendar), the Tsarist regime was overthrown and a Provisional government took office. In addition to the Provisional government, there was the Petrograd Soviet - a council of workers and soldiers who attempted to share the power. At a time when the major question on every one's mind was whether Russia would continue to fight the war or seek peace negotiations with Germany, the Provisional government and the Petrograd Soviet both supported staying in the war, in order to protect the land they fought to gain control of from the Tsar and to get the invading enemy out of their country.

The Petrograd Soviet, however, made it clear that they would not support a war of conquest, and in May of 1917, they published the 'Petrograd Formula', in which the last paragraph called for future "peace discussions on the basis of no annexations and no indemnities". The lesser known third element of the 'Petrograd Formula' was self-determination of the peoples; i.e. a province or territory could not be transferred from country to country without the majority of the population consenting to such.

Answer: All of these

The only Allied power that allowed Socialists to travel to Stockholm was the Provisional Government of Russia, because they felt that they could not refuse. It was the second power in the country, the Petrograd Soviet that was hosting the conference, and Russia did not want to encourage further internal conflict.

France and the United States immediately reacted to the invitations to the Stockholm Conference by refusing to allow their delegates to go. Britain was originally hesitant, and thought that it could maybe be allowed under certain conditions. They did not want to refuse outright because, since Germany had accepted the invitations gracefully, Britain did not want to give the impression they were the ones who were impeding peace. They were persuaded by their Allies, however, not to provide travel documents.

The reason for this was primarily because the Allied governments could not agree with the clause of the Petrograd Formula that called for "no annexations" - one of France's war aims was to regain the province of Alsace- Lorraine, which had been taken by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), and Britain and the US were backing up that desire. Britain also needed to see Germany evacuate captured Belgian territory, especially those with Channel ports. The Allies also wanted indemnities paid for the damage done in France, Belgium and in the waters surrounding Great Britain.

There was also fear of dissent in the military. The French army had already experienced problems with the growing dissatisfaction of the soldiers at the front, and the soldiers had already begun to refuse to continue fighting. The army command felt that, if it were to become known that the government was participating in peace negotiations, it would be impossible to get the army to keep fighting, because it would not be worth it if the war were coming to an end. In addition, the French especially were adamant about not wanting their citizens talking to representatives of the German government that was currently waging war in their country.

Answer: Russia

Though the official position of the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet was in favour of remaining in the war, Vladimir Lenin disagreed. By the fall of 1917, he had stirred up enough trouble as the leader of the Bolshevik faction, and they led a second revolution, in October (November in the Gregorian calendar).

The coup d'etat executed by the Bolsheviks led to a Russian civil war, which took up a great portion of the country's resources and they took the opportunity to immediately withdraw from the war. Germany granted Russia an armistice in the fall, and negotiations for a separate peace began in December. The treaty was signed at Brest-Litovsk (in what is now Belarus) in March 1918. The Russian civil war would last until 1921-22, with the Red Army emerging victorious.

Answer: Woodrow Wilson (USA)

The OHL (German High Command) had come to the conclusion that they would not win in August 1918, but kept delaying asking the Allies for peace, because they thought that they could at least hold the line, if not breakthrough the other side. However, by the end of September, the commanders of the army, Paul von Hindenberg and Erich Ludendorff, both decided that they could not delay getting out of the war any longer. The OHL, together with Emperor Wilhelm II, knew that the first step to getting the Allies to negotiate would be to make internal changes in the German government, because the Allies had no interest in talking to the same men who had waged war against them.

Wilhelm appointed Prince Max of Baden, a man of a more liberal ideology, as the new chancellor and told him that his first task was to approach the Allies immediately and ask for an armistice. The plan was to approach solely Woodrow Wilson, because they thought he would be their best bet to receive softer terms of peace. Prince Max sent a note to Wilson, saying that Germany would accept his [Wilson's] "14 Points" as a basis for making peace, and wanted him to convince to accept the "14 Points" as well. Wilson carried on correspondence with Germany for a while before approaching the other Allies, and once both sides had agreed that the "14 Points" could be adhered to in the future peace settlement, Wilson turned negotiations for the armistice over to Marshal Ferdinand Foch, commander of the armies. Germany agreed to Foch's terms and a ceasefire was signed just after five in the morning (French time) on 11 November 1918.

Answer: Treaty of Batum

The outcome of the Paris Conference was five treaties known as the 'suburban treaties', because they were signed in five different suburbs just outside of Paris. The first and most well-known one was the Treaty of Versailles, signed with Germany on 28 June 1919 - a significant date. It was the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, seen by many as the spark that lit the powder keg in Europe, leading to the war.

The Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed with Austria in September 1919, the Treaty of Neuilly was signed with Bulgaria in November 1919, and the Treaty of Trianon was signed with Hungary in June 1920. Finally, the Treaty of Sèvres was signed with Turkey in August 1920 but it did not bring a lasting peace. Fighting resumed with the Turkish War of Independence, and ended in 1923 when the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, replacing the Treaty of Sèvres.