WW1- The impact

WW1

The Impact of the World War I

BY SLIDECORE

Source article: britannica.com

Social Impact

It is estimated that nine million soldiers were killed (15% of the combatants) Millions of soldiers were permanently disabled by the war. For example: Britain had about 40,000 war veterans who had lost a limb in the fighting It was common to talk about the “Lost Generation”, in Europe the phrase referred to the soldiers between 20 and 40 years old who were killed during WWI.

Famine

Social Impact

In the USA the concept was used differently, it refers to the generation of people who reached adulthood during or immediately following World War I. Psychologists were referring to the “disoriented, wandering, directionless” feelings that haunted many survivors of what had been one of the most horrific wars in modern history. In a deeper sense, the lost generation was “lost” because it found the conservative moral and social values of their parents to be irrelevant in a post-war world.

Lost Generation

Social Impact

The terrible destruction provoked the loss of many agricultural fields. The population of Europe faced starvation. Displacement was common Civilians were targeted for the first time and killed during the war, but many others died after the war due to the famine and the lethal flu epidemic called the Spanish flu. The Spanish Flu was killing more people than the war, it caused from 20 million to 100 million deaths worldwide, It doubled the number of deaths in World War I. It started in the United States but spread rapidly to the world. It was called Spanish flu because it had great press attention when it moved from France to Spain in 1918.

The Spanish flu

Source article: britannica.com

Economic impact

The cost of the war for Britain was about 34 billion pounds. They had financed the war by borrowing money. The USA had lent about $2000 million dollars to Britain and France The British navy was devastated about 40 percent of their merchant ships were sunk by the German U-boats Britain has spent one-third of their public expenditure on debt charges and repayments. The British government never recovered their international financial predominance, they had lost several overseas markets.

Loans and Debt

Economic impact

Source article: britannica.com

For France, the situation wasn’t different from those of the British. France paid about one-half of the public expenditure in debt, they had a tremendous debt with the Americans too. The farmland of about 2 million hectares had suffered damage, it was necessary to make arable land productive again by the removal of unexploded shells All factories and railway lines located in the Western front were totally ruined. Hospitals and houses needed to be rebuilt. In general, in all of Europe manufacturing output declined dramatically, and a loss of trade and foreign investments brought clearly an acute economic crisis beginning in 1919

France

Political Situation

“Turmoil and chaos” was the general status quo of the postwar period. Many Old Empires ended:

• Germany
• Russia
• Austria-Hungary
• Ottoman empire-Turkey

The new States that replaced them struggled to bring stability and establish new political and economic systems Many European States feared the spread of communism which was a direct consequence of the Russian Revolution and the establishment of a communist government in that country. The idea of communist revolutions threatened the stability not only of the New States in Europe but also the Nations around the world.

During the first Russian Revolution, the tsarism ended in Russia and it was replaced by a Provisional Government that attempted to organize elections. The provisional government was overthrown and a second revolution started in which the communist Bolsheviks seized power and sought to establish a dictatorship. The Civil War lasted until 1920 and Lenin finally took control of the Soviet Russian nation.

Political Situation

Russia

Political Situation

Britain and France (European victorious nations) did not suffer political changes. Huge changes were seen in Central Europe, specifically for the defeated members of the Central Powers and Russia. In general, their empires collapsed and new political systems were established.

Britain and France

Political Situation

Revolts started in Germany, Sailors mutinied in northern Germany, and socialist uprisings of workers and soldiers started in ports and cities of Germany. Bavaria declared an independent socialist republic. After all, the Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and fled to Holland. The Weimar Republic (Republic of Germany) was declared under the socialist leader Friederich Ebert as the head of state.

Germany

Political Situation

The Dual Empire of Austria-Hungary disintegrated and the nation was divided into two independent states The Ottoman Sultanate finally came to an end in 1922 and it was replaced by an authoritarian regime under the command of Mustapha Kemal. The new nation was recognized as Turkey.

Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire

Political Situation

As a consequence of the collapse of these empires, new nations emerged in Central Europe as independent small new nations. New borders were drawn causing huge land losses for the Central Powers and changing the face of Europe. As the maps show:

New Nations

• The former empire of Austria-Hungary was dissolved, and new nations were created from its land: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. • The Ottoman Turks had to give up much of their land in southwest Asia and the Middle East. In Europe, they retained only the country of Turkey. • Poland, which had long been divided among Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, was reconstituted. • Russian land yielded the new nations of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. • Russia and Austria-Hungary gave up additional territory to Poland and Romania.

Political Situation

New Nations

Impact of the War outside Europe.

Mandate System

Mandate definition: an authorization granted by the League of Nations to a member nation to govern a former German or Turkish colony. The territory was called a mandated territory, or mandate.

Class A mandates - Independent but under administrative control until capability

Class A mandates consisted of the former Turkish provinces of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. These territories were considered sufficiently advanced that their provisional independence was recognized, though they were still subject to Allied administrative control until they were fully able to stand alone. Iraq and Palestine (including modern Jordan and Israel) were assigned to Great Britain. On the other hand, Syria and Lebanon went to France. All Class A mandates reached full independence by 1949 after WWII

Class A mandates - Independent but under administrative control until capability

Class B mandates - Administration

Class B mandates consisted of the former German-ruled African colonies of Tanganyika, parts of Togoland and the Cameroons, and Ruanda-Urundi. The Allied powers were directly responsible for the administration of these mandates but were subject to certain controls intended to protect the rights of the mandates’ native peoples. Tanganyika (which is now part of Tanzania) was assigned to Britain, while most of the Cameroons and Togoland were assigned to France, and Ruanda-Urundi (now Rwanda and Burundi) went to Belgium.

Class B mandates - Administration

Class C mandates - Integral parts

Class C mandates consisted of various former German-held territories that mandatories subsequently administered as integral parts of their territory. South West Africa (now Namibia) was assigned to South Africa. New Guinea was assigned to Australia. Western Samoa (now Samoa) was assigned to New Zealand. The islands north of the Equator in the western Pacific was assigned to Japan And Nauru was assigned to Australia, with Britain and New Zealand.

Class C mandates - Integral parts

Japan

Japan did well economically out of the war, new markets and new demands for Japanese goods brought economic growth and prosperity. Their exports tripled during the wartime period Japan made territorial gains, they seized German positions in Shandong, China and some German Islands in the Pacific. They extended their dominion to China, they presented a list of 21 demands that aimed at political and economic domination.

Territorial Gains

Source article: britannica.com

United States

The USA emerged from the war as the world’s leading economy as the American industry prospered with the war effort The USA had taken European overseas markets, and American industries had become more successful than their European competitors. For example: the USA became the world’s leading producer of fertilizers, dyes, and chemical products replacing Germany. The USA was now the world leader in mechanization and the development of plastics.

Woodrow Wilson. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZ62-13028)

This is a war to end all wars

WOODROW WILSON, 1917

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