World War I

World War I is also known as the Great War which lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. It was fought between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. It is one of the largest wars in the history of the world in which more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million European people, were mobilised and cost the lives of over 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians. The war changed the political scenario of the world and paved the way for a number of conflicts and in many of the involved nations.

Changes In The Economic Nature

1. World War I cost heavy money to the participating countries. Germany and Great Britain spent about 60% of their money produced from the economy.
2. Countries had to raise taxes and borrow money from their citizens. They also printed money in order to buy weapons and other things they needed for war. This led to inflation after the war.
3. Defeated Germany incurred war reparation cost of 6600 million pounds, later reduced to 2000 million ponds, which crippled Germany’s economy for many years .
4. The U.S had given loans to Allied powers during the war and to Germany after the war for meeting the costs involved for reparations (that was imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles). The U.S thus made a significant profit during World War1.
5. Up till the 1929 economic depression, the U.S was one of the most prosperous countries in the world as it’s military industry contributed the most to its economy through the sale of weapons and ammunition to the countries involved in the war.
6. Free-market capitalist systems were temporarily shelved as governments experimented with price, wage, and rent controls; the rationing of food supplies and materials; the regulation of imports and exports; and the nationalization of transportation systems and industries. This finally led to the conception of a planned model of development.
7. The overproduction in the economy during the war led to the glut in post-war situations which finally led on to the great economic depression of 1929. These economic repercussions of world war I collectively played a significant role in laying the ground for the economic depression of 1929.

Changes In The Political Nature

1. World War I brought an end to four monarchies: Czar Nicholas II of Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, Emperor Charles of Austria, and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire had to step down.
2. Consequently, new countries were created out of old empires. Austria- Hungary was carved up into a number of independent states. Russia and Germany gave land to Poland. Countries in the Middle East were put under the control of Great Britain and France and what was left of the Ottoman Empire became Turkey.
3. The U.S., which had won the war but had not experienced the conflict on its territory, became a hegemonic and first world power.
4. The triumph of the Soviet Revolution (Russian Revolution) and the social crisis that followed the war encouraged workers in many countries to protest, creating a pre-revolutionary climate.
5. The extreme nationalism experienced during the war, coupled with the fear of a Communist revolution, encouraged the middle-class populations of some countries to move to the extreme right. This created amicable conditions for the emergence of fascist movements.
6. The League of Nations was an international diplomatic group developed after World War I as a way to solve disputes between countries before they erupted into open warfare.
7. The need to organize masses of men and material for years of combat led to increased centralization of government powers, economic regimentation, and manipulation of public opinion to keep the war effort going.
8. The strategies of total war led to the breakdown of familiar world order and its replacement by an efficient national war machine which led to the emergence of states based on new ideologies like socialism and fascism.
9. Woodrow Wilson’s espousing of the principle of self-government along with the conversion of colonies of defeated Africa and Germany to mandates was in turn appropriated for the benefit of imperial interests of Allied powers like Britain, France etc.
10. Principles of nationality, ethnicity and self-determination were promoted by the allied powers for re-organizing the European borders and creating new states, also precipitating freedom struggles and conflicts for self-rule in many countries.
11. The role of women also changed in the post-war period as they played a major part in replacing men in factories and offices. Many countries gave women more rights after the war including the right to vote as a result of the rise in feminist movements.

The war changed the course of freedom struggle by changing social and economic situations in the world and consequently affected India as well. To compensate for the rising fiscal deficit, the British government increased taxes on all classes leading to difficulties for the common people. Apart from this, the Russian Revolution at the end of the War inspired many towards socialist ideals and power of masses residing in peasants and workers. These events created the ground for discontent against British Raj among across class divide. Furthermore, the war had deep-seated and long-lasting consequences globally both during and the post-war phase. Great War of 1914-1918 lead to a crucial change in the political and economic nature of the world, that eventually set the stage in the long run for the second world war.