The Impact of the WWI on the World Economy - Report Example

20th March World War I Introduction Global historical and political development has undergone major challenges including war. One of the major global wars was the World War One (WWI). Having taken place in Europe between 1911 and 1918, WWI resulted to extensive damage of properties as well as loss of many lives. One of the major aspects that led to the expansion of the war was the development in the technology sector. Even though the industrial sophistication was not as developed as compared to the present times, European countries were in a position to produce weapons that were capable of making expansive destruction. Other areas where the war took place include Africa, China, North America, Middle East and South America coasts. Allied powers include France, British Empire, Russia, United States, Japan and Montenegro among others. Central powers on the other hand entailed Germany, Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire among others. This paper seeks to discuss the causes as well as the impact of the WWI on the world economy. Prior to the war, there were a number of political alliances that were in place thus creating a sustainable support during the war. For example, Franco-Russian in 1892 while in 1904 the Entente Cordiale was formed that involved France and Britain. The Anglo-Russian Convention that involved Russia and Britain was also a major treaty that ensured the support of the two countries. World War I started when Archduke Ferdinand who was a nephew to the emperor of Austria was assassinated in 1914 (Halpern 76). Despite not being liked by majority of Austria Hungary residents, Archduke death created an opportunity that his country used as an excuse to attack Serbia. The assassins were the Serb nationalists who came from Serbia, a country that was in political conflicts with the Austria-Hungary. However, after the assassination the Austria-Hungary did not reach swiftly but it had to seek the help of other countries. This made the country to look for Germany backing. On their part, Serbia realized that Austria-Hungary was arranging for an attack and it therefore sought the help of Russia based on a treaty that the two countries have adopted. Additionally, Russia made the backing of Britain and France before Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia one month after the occurrence of the assassination. Causes of World War I The causes of WWI revolved around many factors. Major cause of the war included the tension that existed between European powers and the political problems that emerged between the European two camps. Most specifically there was a problem in the balance of power between the central powers and the Triple Entente camps. According to the Triple Entente that entails the France, Russia and Great Britain there was dire need to maintain the delicate balance between the European strong nations. However, the Central Powers challenged the move by the other camp. The imperialism, militarism, nationalism and alliances are also major factors that played a significant role during the devastating war. The section below indicates some of the factor that led to the war. Domestic political factors Apart from the conflicts that existed between the two extreme camps, domestic political development also played a major role in the global conflict. The part below discusses the impact of the domestic politics on the emergence of WWI. German domestic politics During the 1912 election in German, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) made a significant move in the political arena. Having been dominated by Prussian Junkers, the government was nervous about the political impact of SDP. As the result of the strong support from the public, Fritz Fischer a renowned German historian argued that the Prussian Junkers intentionally engaged in an external war in order to divert the attention of the public from the SDP. France domestic politics Contrary to the German situation, majority of France military leaders and politicians believed that participating in the world war was a costly affair that would result to dire consequences. One of the major aspects that were hindering France from participating in the war was the territorial loss the country experienced during the Alsace-Lorraine conflicts (Roth 17). Additionally, during the time of Alsace-Lorraine France was made to pay huge amount of compensation to Germany. On its part, Germany alienation of France before the WWI further made the country to be more resentful. During their political intermingling, the France leaders noted that as the result of technological advancement in Germany, the country has a stronger military that possessed better war equipment. Based on the colonial expansionism that France was advocating during the Agadir and Tangier crises, France noted that Germany could not accept the France policies. Thus, it became clear for France that war with Germany was inevitable. In its effort to create a stronger positive relationship with other countries prior to the war, France maintained a stronger foreign ministry that consisted of six ministers. France leaders also wanted to fight Germany in order to acquire back Loraine and Alsace provinces that it lost during the Franco-Prussian War (Putnam 36). Based on the fact that France military was strongly defensive, it could not trigger a war with Germany which has a highly developed military. Australian Empire and Austria-Hungary With the surfacing of nationalism within the Austria Empire, political leaders were of the opinion that Germany aristocracy could only be preserved if there was a compromise. This led to the emergence of Ausgleich that ensured that within the authority of Austria-Hungary, the Hungarian elite had equal share. However, as the result of the agreement, majority of the German speaking leaders were extensively dissatisfied. According to them, it was not easy to come up with a foreign policy that could advantage the Hungarian elite as well as the Germans. As a result, there were high chances of German going to war with Serbia. Based on the fear that Serbia was arranging itself to fight Austro-Hungarian and formation of new political compromise in which the South Slavs could be attacked by Hungarians through the assistance of German, a section of leader within the Austro-Hungarian authority supported the war against Serbia. International relations The start of the World War I can also be attributed to the negative international relations that existed between various countries. The section below provides a discussion on the key aspects that triggered the war in reference to international relations. Imperialism Studies by some historians indicate that the adoption and expansion of the policy of imperialism by countries such as France and UK could have caused the war to start. Through the control of international market as well as resources in the European and other regions, countries that engaged on imperialism accumulated huge amount of wealth. In their efforts to improve their economic position by controlling resources and trade, other countries were frustrated since most of the resources were in the hands of countries practicing imperialism. As a result, tension arose among the strong European countries. Apart from the trade control in the European and foreign markets, rivalries for instance the Anglo-German rivalry emerged as the countries tried to exploit resources from the African region. Two major aspects that resulted to a conflict between British and German in Africa were the political boundaries of the African countries as well as business partition. For example, due to existence of minerals such as gold and diamond in South Africa, German and British rulers were aiming at outdoing each other in taking over the mining ores as well as other resources in the country. The scrabble for Africa is thus one of the notable aspects that generated rivalry among the European countries resulting to the World War I. Effects of World War 1 In the year 1918, World War I came to an end after signing of treaties. Some of treaties that were signed in the course of 1919 and 1920 were saint Germaine treaty and Versailles among others. The war brought changes across Europe, Asia, Africa and other areas which were directly involved. This made countries involved in the war to start rebuilding again, boundaries being redrawn again and this made people to starting having new and old ideologies in their mind. Political effects of World War I Russian revolution One of the political effects of World War I was the Russian revolution where Russia was facing a lot of problems since Russian leaders assumed responsibility and joined armies where they spent a lot of time. This made widespread peasant strike which lead to poverty and hunger to the Russian people. Due to the Russian leader’s concentration on the war, people suffered from hunger and the government was unstable where the Russian army lacked weapons and other types of ammunitions. This led many of the armed men to resign. When Tsar was away, he left Rasputin and his wife to run the government where they oppressed the civilians and they never used the ministers in the government (Marks 19). The industrial strike continued and the government forced the army to shoot all striking workers but the army joined the revolt. This led to signing of armistice with Germany and the Russian government where all claims were to be given out to countries like Finland and Poland among others. Emergence of socialism Due to mass destruction of people’s property, there was emergence of socialism and capitalism ideas. For example, Britain, France and Germany fought for state ownership of property so that workers could benefit from better working conditions. Workers were supposed to work for only 8 hours per day, right for collective bargaining, workers to be given wages and proper accommodation. This was associated with how people can change their life after the war and have better way of life. Signing of Versailles treaty Germans were said to be root cause of war and thus being forced to sign the Versailles treaty in 1919 this made all the other allies to hate Germans due to the money spent on the war, and to be the root cause of the war and the deaths that were as the result of the war (Glaser 388-391). Germans had to pay $33 billion dollars and $500 million per year until 1988 due to the damage caused by the war. Germany had to stay without colonies, no long range artillery among other things. Rise of dictatorship Due to Germany restriction and treaties that were signed, Germany was forced to pay fines and thus Hitler came with an idea to build the economy of Germans thus the creation of dictatorship in Germany. As an army leader and having experience at the front, Hitler aim was to build Germany as a national socialist community where Germans were faced with all sought of atrocities. Social effects of World War 1 Artillery and disillusionment Artillery machine killed more people than any other weapons where the solders were killed in large numbers and destroyed everything that came within. The artillery attacked enemies’ trenches and even created landscape due to the force it used. Disillusionment Many who went to war in 1914 believed that they are going to be associated with heroism and others thought that they are going to attain experience. This was cut short with anger and disbelief and others died due to the machines that were being used in the war. Labor unions At the end of the war, and due to the striking workers, labor unions were allowed to be formed and there was wide acceptance of unions where long working hours were abolished and payment was to be negotiated. Restriction of rights The government took a lot of power from the civilians in order to fight the total war; this meant that the government had to increase police powers and introduction of authoritarian regimes. The government had to empower police and control public opinion so that in case of war the police can be able to curb it. Influenza After the war, the soldiers who came back home in 1918 and 1919 spread the disease known as influenza that killed an estimated 20 to 40 million people worldwide. The disease was spread among civilians causing the countries to lower the production due to lack of workers. Economic effect of World War 1 Low production in agriculture Due to people concentration in war farming and other economic activities were not conducted during the period of the World War 1. People died due to hunger and economic stability of the countries was poor. Economy Many countries that were involved directly or indirectly in the World War 1 had their economy grew weak since they had to depend on other countries to be financed in their effort to participate in the in war. After the war peace was engaged but the economy of the countries deteriorated. This was because they had to pay the loan and start rebuilding their countries. Those countries that financed other nations had a well developed economy. For instance, the United States economy grew significantly due to their involvement in World War 1. European refugees After the war, many people were left homeless resulting to large number of Europeans to be refugees. The war brought misery to the citizens and deaths. Europeans and the refugees of the Russian civil war led to the introduction of passport which every refugee had to carry when moving from one place to another (Fromkin 50). The document was known as Nasen passport which was to be carried and shown to the police who were at border points. Due to the large number of refugees the boundaries had to be redrawn again after the war. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is clear that WWI cause was not only based on the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, but also the rivalry that existed between strong European countries. Notable causes of the war include domestic political conflicts, imperialism and the scramble for African resources. As the result of the war, the world and especially the countries that participated in the war experienced various problems. These included Russian revolution, socialism, emergence of dictatorship, disillusionment, Influenza and refugees among others. Works Cited Fromkin, D. A Peace to End All Peace: Creating The Modern Middle East. New York: Holt Press, 1989.Print. Glaser, H. The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment After 75 Years. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Print. Halpern, G. A Naval History of World War I. New York: Routledge, 1994. Print. Marks, S. The Postwar Era in Martel, Gordon. The Origins Of The Second World War Reconsidered. Boston: Allen & Unwin,1918. Print. Putnam, R. Alsace and Lorraine from Cæsar to Kaiser, 58 B.C.–1871 A.D. New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1915. Print. Roth, F. Alsace-Lorraine, De 1870 À Nos Jours: Histoire dun "pays perdu". Nancy: Place Stanislas, 2010.Print. Read More