Essay Example on WWI: Allies vs Central Powers: 1914-1918

Introduction

The First World War was a combat between the allies. The war began after Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo on 28th June 1914. The war was fought from 1914 to 1918, between the central powers (Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Austria-Hungary) and (Montenegro, United States, Russia, Portugal, France, Greece, Belgium, Japan, Italy, Rumania, and British Empire). After the murder, Austria-Hungary threatened to attack Serbia, if it did not meet the harsh demands they requested them to make, but Russia joined the Serbians and threatened to fight back. On 1st and 3rd August 1914, Germany attacked Russia and France, respectively, and the war broke out. The effects of World War are said to be monumental. This is because they bought prosperity in some countries, while some other nations were affected negatively and faced economic depression. This paper outlines the social, political, and economic effects of World War 1 on Europe.

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Political Impacts of World War 1

After the Treaty of Versailles was signed, Germany was demanded to make substantial territorial reductions on its western and eastern borders. For example, it was requested to give up the Alsace-Lorraine territory to France, which was the most important reduction, because this territory was a cause of dispute between Germany and France for a long time. After the Franco-Prussian War, Germany took this area from Germany in 1871, and after some time, France wanted its land back, leading to disputes between the two countries (Huang 283-311). After the 1st World War was over, Great Britain and France gained control over Saarland for fifteen years, while Poland and Denmark, the newly independent nations were offered some parts of Germany. In Germany, a socialist rebellion known as the German Revolution broke out as the War was coming to an end, which led to the forming of the left-leaning Weimar Republic. The German Revolution was put to an end in the early 1930s by Adolf Hitler when he held power. The rise of Hitler and his Nazi party were due to the harsh conditions that were imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.

Russia was also not satisfied with World War 1, and there was a rise of the Russian Revolution in the year 1917 (Huang 283-311). This revolution caused the Russian empire to fall, and Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the socialist government, replaced it. As the Russian Empire came to an end, new states such as Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and Finland, which were formerly owned by Russia, started to emerge in northeastern Europe. It is stated that after World War 1 was over, Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian Empires split into several independent states. As the war ended, America left with a lot of confidence, and it became the 'savior of Europe.' There was a downfall of four empires; these include Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey (Huang 283-311). Some Nations in Europe were exposed to new ideologies, for example, despotism that prevailed Italy and Germany, and the rise of Bolsheviks power in Russia.

The Economic Impacts of World War 1

Many countries in Europe faced economic depression after World War 1. Some countries such as France and the United Kingdom experienced a devastating moment due to the war, and they went through a hard time and too much difficulty before they recovered economically. Unlike the United States, that became stronger after the war, and its industrial production flourished up. Germany is the country that mostly suffered economically after the war due to the demands it was required to meet under the Treaty of Versailles (Cantoni, 561-598). The terms stated by the Treaty of Versailles treaty said that Germany had to pay financial payments to the associates. These monetary payments were known as reparations. The economic depression in Germany was caused by the heavy compensations, political tautness under the Republic of Weimer, and the distressed economic substructure in Germany.

There was a staggering of unemployment and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany, and their currency (Reichsmarks) became so devalued. It became infinitely worse than the citizens of Germany carried money on wheelbarrows when they went to buy basic stuff, such as bread. Germany was able to stabilize its economy in the late 1920s, but in the year 1929, the American stock market crashed, and Germany experienced the Great economic depression all over the country. The great depression wreaked the German community from the year 1929 to 1930, and it was due to these conditions that led Hitler and his party Nazi rise to power (Cantoni, 561-598). Since the compensations were too high for Germany, the government printed a lot of money so that it could compensate for war. Their currency increased from 13 billion to 60 billion, and this led their sovereign debt to rise from 5 billion to 100 billion Deutschmarks.

Later the German government printed other 132 billion marks to meet the requirements that were set on the Treaty of Versailles, and due to this, Germany experienced hyperinflation (Cantoni, 561-598). As a result, the production of goods in Germany collapsed due to the shortage of goods, mostly food. This was because there more money was circulating in the market and there were few goods. As the days went by, the price of every product increased by double, and German lost its purchasing power.

Social Impacts of World War 1

As the war ended, the role of women in society changed significantly. Since men were being deployed to go and join in the war, women were left behind to take care of the homes, and they also started to run the businesses. At the end of the war, everybody who participated in it was exhausted, including the Losers and the winners. Since the fight was very vigorous, the European countries used all material resources and humans available to sustain the war efforts. There were enormous deaths due to the war ended, but France experienced the highest death toll. Since many Europeans wanted to live standards, the governments started implementing labor laws due to mass mechanization and production. Although the war had ended, people remained bitter with each other saying the treaties had not been made fairly, and this led to World War 2. The employment rate of women increased by 23.6 percent to 46.7 % in the industries (Crouch 2015).

Although there were high employment rates, women were paid les salaries than men, and this caused worries that the employers would continue paying them low wages even after the war was over. However, this did not happen because after the war was over, the women were sacked and replaced by men. This led some women workers in London to strike in 1918, requesting for an increase in salary as a war bonus (Crouch 2015). The women demanded they be paid the same as men, and the strike spread all over the other towns in the United Kingdom, and their demands were met. This was recorded as the first equal pay foray, which was led by women, and they later won.

Conclusion

These impacts were too harsh for some European countries, such as Germany, and they felt that they were not treated fairly. The Germans were devastated, and they started looking for anyone who could help. Adolf Hitler was the First World War veteran, and he demanded the treaty of Versailles to be fair for everyone. This bitterness, later led to World War 2 because some countries felt that they were not being treated fairly.

Works Cited

Cantoni, Davide. "The economic effects of the Protestant Reformation: testing the Weber hypothesis in the German lands." Journal of the European Economic Association 13.4 (2015): 561-598.

Huang, Haifeng. "A war of (mis) information: The political effects of rumors and rumor rebuttals in an authoritarian country." British Journal of Political Science 47.2 (2017): 283-311.

Crouch, Colin. Governing social risks in post-crisis Europe. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015.