Charles I of AustriaCharles I or Karl I (Karl Franz Josef Ludwig Hubert Georg Otto Maria, Károly Ferenc József Lajos Hubert György Ottó Mária; 17 August 1887 1 April 1922) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (as Charles IV, IV. Károly), King of Croatia, King of Bohemia (as Charles III, Karel III.), and the last of the monarchs belonging to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to rule over Austria-Hungary. The son of Archduke Otto of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony, Charles became heir presumptive of Emperor Franz Joseph when his uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in 1914.
PaduaPadua (ˈpædjuə ; Padova ˈpaːdova; Pàdova, Pàdoa or Pàoa) is a city and commune in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 214,000 (). The city is sometimes included, with Venice (Italian Venezia) and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) which has a population of around 2,600,000. Padua stands on the Bacchiglione River, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza.
German General StaffThe German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (Großer Generalstab), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the German Army, responsible for the continuous study of all aspects of war, and for drawing up and reviewing plans for mobilization or campaign. It existed unofficially from 1806, and was formally established by law in 1814, the first general staff in existence.
Trench warfareTrench warfare is the type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. It became archetypically associated with World War I (1914–1918), when the Race to the Sea rapidly expanded trench use on the Western Front starting in September 1914. Trench warfare proliferated when a revolution in firepower was not matched by similar advances in mobility, resulting in a grueling form of warfare in which the defender held the advantage.
Paul von HindenburgPaul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (ˈpaʊl ˈluːtvɪç hans ˈantoːn fɔn ˈbɛnəkn̩dɔʁf ʔʊnt fɔn ˈhɪndn̩bʊʁk; abbreviated ˈpaʊl fɔn ˈhɪndn̩bʊʁk; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I. He later became President of Germany from 1925 until his death. During his presidency, he played a key role in the Nazi seizure of power in January 1933 when, under pressure from his advisers, he appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.
BlitzkriegBlitzkrieg (ˈblɪtskri:g , ˈblɪtskʁiːk; from Blitz 'lightning' + Krieg 'war') is a word used to describe a combined arms surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with artillery, air assault and close air support, with intent to break through the opponent's lines of defense, dislocate the defenders, unbalance the enemies by making it difficult to respond to the continuously-changing front, and defeat t