vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
World War I
This figure could be paid in cash or in kind ( coal , timber , chemical dyes , etc . ) . In addition , some of the territory lost -- via the treaty of Versailles -- was credited towards the reparation figure as were other acts such as helping to restore the Library of Louvain . By 1929 , the Great Depression arrived , causing political chaos throughout the world . In 1932 the payment of reparations was suspended by the international community , by which point Germany had only paid the equivalent of 20.598 billion gold marks in reparations . With the rise of Adolf Hitler , all bonds and loans that had been issued and taken out during the 1920s and early 1930s were cancelled . David Andelman notes `` refusing to pay does n't make an agreement null and void . The bonds , the agreement , still exist . '' Thus , following the Second World War , at the London Conference in 1953 , Germany agreed to resume payment on the money borrowed . On 3 October 2010 , Germany made the final payment on these bonds .
World War I
The optimism of la belle époque was destroyed , and those who had fought in the war were referred to as the Lost Generation . For years afterwards , people mourned the dead , the missing , and the many disabled . Many soldiers returned with severe trauma , suffering from shell shock ( also called neurasthenia , a condition related to posttraumatic stress disorder ) . Many more returned home with few after - effects ; however , their silence about the war contributed to the conflict 's growing mythological status . Though many participants did not share in the experiences of combat or spend any significant time at the front , or had positive memories of their service , the images of suffering and trauma became the widely shared perception . Such historians as Dan Todman , Paul Fussell , and Samuel Heyns have all published works since the 1990s arguing that these common perceptions of the war are factually incorrect .
United States declaration of war on Japan
The United Kingdom declared war on Japan nine hours before the US did , partially due to Japanese attacks on the British colonies of Malaya , Singapore , and Hong Kong ; and partially due to Winston Churchill 's promise to declare war `` within the hour '' of a Japanese attack on the United States .
War of 1812
The U.S. Army had done poorly , on the whole , in several attempts to invade Canada , and the Canadians had fought bravely to defend their territory . But the British did not doubt that the thinly populated territory would remain vulnerable in a third war . `` We can not keep Canada if the Americans declare war against us again '' , Admiral Sir David Milne wrote to a correspondent in 1817 , although the Rideau Canal was built for just such a scenario .
Surrender of Japan
Its production and its use were not lightly undertaken by this Government . But we knew that our enemies were on the search for it . We know now how close they were to finding it . And we knew the disaster which would come to this Nation , and to all peace - loving nations , to all civilization , if they had found it first .
World War II
In December 1940 , British Commonwealth forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa . The offensive in North Africa was highly successful and by early February 1941 Italy had lost control of eastern Libya and large numbers of Italian troops had been taken prisoner . The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats , with the Royal Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission by a carrier attack at Taranto , and neutralising several more warships at the Battle of Cape Matapan . Captured
American Indian Wars
The Indian wars under the government of the United States have been more than 40 in number . They have cost the lives of about 19,000 white men , women and children , including those killed in individual combats , and the lives of about 30,000 Indians . The actual number of killed and wounded Indians must be very much higher than the number given ... Fifty percent additional would be a safe estimate ...
United States in World War I
The United States declared war on Germany on April 6 , 1917 , during World War I . The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies . It closely cooperated with the Allies militarily but acted alone in diplomacy . The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies , raw material and money , starting in 1917 . American soldiers under General John Pershing , Commander - in - Chief ( C - in - C ) of the American Expeditionary Force ( AEF ) , arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918 . Before entering the war , the U.S. had remained neutral , though it had been an important supplier to Great Britain and the other Allied powers . During the war , the U.S. mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths , including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic . The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. Armed Forces . After a relatively slow start in mobilizing the economy and labor force , by spring 1918 , the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict . Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson , the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world , although there was substantial public opposition to U.S. entry into the war .
Central Powers
Subsequently , several states declared war on Germany in late August 1914 , with Italy declaring war on Austria - Hungary in 1915 and Germany on 27 August 1916 , the United States declaring war on Germany on 6 April 1917 and Greece declaring war on Germany in July 1917 . Colonies
Economic history of World War I
The Russian economy was far too backward to sustain a major war , and conditions deteriorated rapidly , despite financial aid from Britain . By late 1915 there was a severe shortage of artillery shells . The very large but poorly equipped Russian army fought tenaciously and desperately despite its poor organisation and lack of munitions . Casualties were enormous . By 1915 , many soldiers were sent to the front unarmed , and told to pick up whatever weapons they could from the battlefield .
Western Front (World War I)
Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this front . The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances . Entrenchments , machine gun emplacements , barbed wire and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties during attacks and counter-attacks and no significant advances were made . Among the most costly of these offensives were the Battle of Verdun , in 1916 , with a combined 700,000 casualties ( estimated ) , the Battle of the Somme , also in 1916 , with more than a million casualties ( estimated ) , and the Third Battle of Ypres , in 1917 , with roughly 600,000 casualties ( estimated ) .
Surrender of Japan
I think the term is inappropriate , but the atomic bombs and the Soviet entry into the war are , in a sense , divine gifts . This way we do n't have to say that we have quit the war because of domestic circumstances .
German declaration of war against the United States
The German Government , consequently , discontinues diplomatic relations with the United States of America and declares that under these circumstances brought about by President Roosevelt Germany too , as from today , considers herself as being in a state of war with the United States of America .
Aftermath of the Korean War
The Korean War was the first war in which the United Nations ( UN ) participated . Some commentators argued that it showed that the UN was a powerful organization for helping to keep world peace . The UN Command in South Korea is still functional .
Thirteen Colonies
In 1738 , an incident involving a Welsh mariner named Robert Jenkins sparked the War of Jenkins ' Ear between Britain and Spain . Hundreds of North Americans volunteered for Admiral Edward Vernon 's assault on Cartegena de Indias , a Spanish city in South America . The war against Spain merged into a broader conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession , but most colonists called it King George 's War . In 1745 , British and colonial forces captured the town of Louisbourg , and the war came to an end with the 1748 Treaty of Aix - la - Chapelle . However , many colonists were angered when Britain returned Louisbourg to France in return for Madras and other territories . In the aftermath of the war , both the British and French sought to expand into the Ohio River valley .
Peninsular War
The Proclamation of the Conde de Montarco on 25 March 1812 described the government in Cadiz as an `` infamous and illegitimate government ... composed , of the very scum of Spain , dependent on the caprice of an ignorant mob , dominated by British influence , and possessed of no more territory than the prison in which it resides ... that has deceived the foolish Spaniards who submit to its tyranny by promising them an illusory liberty '' . Under threat of punishment by sequestration of property , escape to the Patriot zone was not a practical possibility except for officials with a secure position in government service , notables with property in the Patriot zone , or career - oriented young men with no family responsibilities . Thus the French obtained a measure of acquiescence among the propertied classes . While refusing to take service with the French , and in instances serving as spies or couriers , they accepted the presence of the occupying forces and on occasion struck up friendships with them . Francisco de Goya , who remained in Madrid throughout the French occupation , painted Joseph 's picture and documented the war in a series of 82 prints called Los Desastres de la Guerra ( The Disasters of War ) . For many imperial officers , life could be comfortable . The German Heinrich von Brandt -- an officer in one of Napoleon 's Polish regiments stationed in Aragón after the fall of Zaragoza -- said that the French `` were not as hated as has since been alleged '' .
Second Sino-Japanese War
On July 24 , 1941 , Roosevelt requested Japan withdraw all its forces from Indochina . Two days later the USA and the UK began an oil embargo ; two days after that the Netherlands joined them . This was a decisive moment in the Second Sino - Japanese War . The loss of oil imports made it impossible for Japan to continue operations in China on a long term basis . It set the stage for Japan to launch a series of military attacks against the Allies , including the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 . Play
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The surprise attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters . The following day , December 8 , the United States declared war on Japan , and several days later , on December 11 , Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. The U.S. responded with a declaration of war against Germany and Italy . Domestic support for non-interventionism , which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940 , disappeared .
Conscription in the United States
Conscription in the United States , commonly known as the draft , has been employed by the federal government of the United States in five conflicts : the American Revolution , the American Civil War , World War I , World War II , and the Cold War ( including both the Korean War and the Vietnam War ) . The third incarnation of the draft came into being in 1940 through the Selective Training and Service Act . It was the country 's first peacetime draft . From 1940 until 1973 , during both peacetime and periods of conflict , men were drafted to fill vacancies in the United States Armed Forces that could not be filled through voluntary means . The draft came to an end when the United States Armed Forces moved to an all - volunteer military force . However , the Selective Service System remains in place as a contingency plan ; all male civilians between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register so that a draft can be readily resumed if needed . United States Federal Law also provides for the compulsory conscription of men between the ages of 17 and 45 and certain women for militia service pursuant to Article I , Section 8 of the United States Constitution and 10 U.S. Code § 246 .
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl , also known as the Dirty Thirties , was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s ; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion ( the Aeolian processes ) caused the phenomenon . The drought came in three waves , 1934 , 1936 , and 1939 -- 1940 , but some regions of the high plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years . With insufficient understanding of the ecology of the plains , farmers had conducted extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains during the previous decade ; this had displaced the native , deep - rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds . The rapid mechanization of farm equipment , especially small gasoline tractors , and widespread use of the combine harvester contributed to farmers ' decisions to convert arid grassland ( much of which received no more than 10 inches ( ~ 250 mm ) of precipitation per year ) to cultivated cropland .
Financial costs of the American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War inflicted great financial costs on all of the combatants , including the United States of America , France , Spain and Great Britain . France and Great Britain spent 1.3 billion livres and 250 million pounds , respectively . The United States spent $400 million in wages for its troops . Spain increased its military spending from 454 million reales in 1778 to over 700 million reales in 1779 .
Conscription in the United States
Some conscientious objectors objected to the war based on the theory of Just War . One of these , Stephen Spiro , was convicted of avoiding the draft , but given a suspended sentence of five years . He was later pardoned by President Gerald Ford .
John C. Calhoun
Calhoun was reelected to the Senate in 1845 following the resignation of Daniel Elliott Huger . He soon became vocally opposed to the Mexican -- American War . He believed that it would distort the national character by undermining republicanism in favor of empire and by bringing non-white persons into the country . ( See § The evils of war and political parties . ) When Congress declared war against Mexico on May 13 , he abstained from voting on the measure . Calhoun also vigorously opposed the Wilmot Proviso , an 1846 proposal by Pennsylvania Representative David Wilmot to ban slavery in all newly acquired territories . The House of Representatives , through its Northern majority , passed the provision several times . However , the Senate , where non-slave and slave states had more equal representation , never passed the measure .
Allies of World War II
On 8 December 1941 , following the attack on Pearl Harbor , the United States Congress declared war on Japan at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt . This was followed by Germany and Italy declaring war on the United States on 11 December , bringing the country into the European theatre .
Korean War
In South Korea , the war is usually referred to as `` 625 '' or the `` 6 -- 2 -- 5 Upheaval '' ( 6.25 동란 ( 動亂 ) , yook - i-o dongnan ) , reflecting the date of its commencement on 25 June .
Spanish–American War
The Spanish -- American War was fomented on outright lies and trumped up accusations against the intended enemy ... War fever in the general population never reached a critical temperature until the accidental sinking of the USS Maine was deliberately , and falsely , attributed to Spanish villainy ... In a cryptic message ... Senator Lodge wrote that ' There may be an explosion any day in Cuba which would settle a great many things . We have got a battleship in the harbor of Havana , and our fleet , which overmatches anything the Spanish have , is masked at the Dry Tortugas .
USS Maine (ACR-1)
Maine 's destruction did not result in an immediate declaration of war with Spain . However , the event created an atmosphere that virtually precluded a peaceful solution . The Spanish -- American War began in April 1898 , two months after the sinking . Advocates of the war used the rallying cry , `` Remember the Maine ! To hell with Spain ! '' The episode focused national attention on the crisis in Cuba , but was not cited by the William McKinley administration as a casus belli , though it was cited by some already inclined to go to war with Spain over perceived atrocities and loss of control in Cuba .
World War I
The Battle of the Somme was an Anglo - French offensive of July to November 1916 . The opening of this offensive ( 1 July 1916 ) saw the British Army endure the bloodiest day in its history , suffering 57,470 casualties , including 19,240 dead , on the first day alone . The entire Somme offensive cost the British Army some 420,000 casualties . The French suffered another estimated 200,000 casualties and the Germans an estimated 500,000 .
Korean War
The United States reported that North Korea mistreated prisoners of war : soldiers were beaten , starved , put to forced labor , marched to death , and summarily executed .
English Civil War
Figures for Scotland are less reliable and should be treated with greater caution . Casualties include the deaths of prisoners - of - war in conditions that accelerated their deaths , with estimates of 10,000 prisoners not surviving or not returning home ( 8,000 captured during and immediately after the Battle of Worcester were deported to New England , Bermuda and the West Indies to work for landowners as indentured labourers ) . There are no figures to calculate how many died from war - related diseases , but if the same ratio of disease to battle deaths from English figures is applied to the Scottish figures , a not unreasonable estimate of 60,000 people is achieved , from a population of about one million .
Great Depression
When the United States entered into the war in 1941 , it finally eliminated the last effects from the Great Depression and brought the U.S. unemployment rate down below 10 % . In the U.S. , massive war spending doubled economic growth rates , either masking the effects of the Depression or essentially ending the Depression . Businessmen ignored the mounting national debt and heavy new taxes , redoubling their efforts for greater output to take advantage of generous government contracts .
World War II
On 1 September 1939 , Germany invaded Poland under the false pretext that the Poles had carried out a series of sabotage operations against German targets near the border . Two days later , on 3 September , after a British ultimatum to Germany to cease military operations was ignored , Britain and France , followed by the fully independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth -- Australia ( 3 September ) , Canada ( 10 September ) , New Zealand ( 3 September ) , and South Africa ( 6 September ) -- declared war on Germany . However , initially the alliance provided limited direct military support to Poland , consisting of a cautious , half - hearted French probe into the Saarland . The Western Allies also began a naval blockade of Germany , which aimed to damage the country 's economy and war effort . Germany responded by ordering U-boat warfare against Allied merchant and warships , which was to later escalate into the Battle of the Atlantic . German
American Indian Wars
Like the Revolutionary War , the War of 1812 was also a massive war on the western front . Encouraged by Tecumseh , the Creek War ( 1813 -- 1814 ) , which began as a civil war within the Creek ( Muscogee ) nation , became part of the larger struggle against American expansion . Although the war with the British was ultimately a stalemate , the United States was more successful on the western front . Tecumseh was killed by Harrison 's army at the Battle of the Thames , ending the resistance in the Old Northwest . The Creeks who fought against the United States were defeated . The First Seminole War in 1818 was in some ways a continuation of the Creek War and resulted in the transfer of Florida to the United States in 1819 from Spain .
First Nations
More than 6,000 First Nations , Inuit and Métis served with British forces during First World War and Second World War . A generation of young native men fought on the battlefields of Europe during the Great War and approximately 300 of them died there . When Canada declared war on Germany on September 10 , 1939 , the native community quickly responded to volunteer . Four years later , in May 1943 , the government declared that , as British subjects , all able Indian men of military age could be called up for training and service in Canada or overseas .
Western Front (World War I)
All sides had signed the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 , which prohibited the use of chemical weapons in warfare . In 1914 , there had been small - scale attempts by both the French and Germans to use various tear gases , which were not strictly prohibited by the early treaties but which were also ineffective . The first use of more lethal chemical weapons was against the French near the Belgian town of Ypres .
Democratic Republic of the Congo
According to Jan Egeland , Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council , the situation in the DRC became much worse in 2016 and 2017 and is a major moral and humanitarian challenge comparable to the wars in Syria and Yemen , which receive much more attention . Women and children are abused sexually and `` abused in all possible manners '' . Besides the conflict in North Kivu , violence has gone up in the Kasai region . The armed groups are after gold , diamonds , oil , and cobalt to line the pockets of rich men both in the region and internationally . There are also ethnic and cultural rivalries at play , as well as religious motives and the political crisis with postponed elections . He says people believe the situation in the DRC is `` stably bad '' but in fact it has become much , much worse . `` The big wars of the Congo that were really on top of the agenda 15 years ago are back and worsening '' . Due to disruption of planting and harvesting caused by the conflict , the UN estimated in March 2018 that two million children risk starvation .
Financial costs of the American Revolutionary War
As the war progressed , the Americans ' deteriorating financial stability quickly became Britain 's greatest asset . Because it did not possess the power to tax the colonists , the Continental Congress printed money at a rapid rate to fund the army 's expenses and pay off its loans from foreign nations . As a result , the colonies experienced severe inflation and depreciation of the Continental dollar . The colonists also had great difficulty in financing a wartime effort against the British southern campaign , not effectively halting the British destruction until the battle of Yorktown in 1781 . When war ended in 1783 , American negotiations , monetary policies and government restructuring all contributed to paying off the American national debt .
World War I
The Australian prime minister , Billy Hughes , wrote to the British prime minister , Lloyd George , `` You have assured us that you can not get better terms . I much regret it , and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies . '' Australia received ₤ 5,571,720 war reparations , but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been ₤ 376,993,052 , and , by the mid-1930s , repatriation pensions , war gratuities , interest and sinking fund charges were ₤ 831,280,947 . Of about 416,000 Australians who served , about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded .