Impact of World War I

1
Impact of World War I

• My friend, you would not tell with such high
  zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,
• The old Lie "Dulce et decorum estPro patria
  mori."(The Old Lie "It is sweet and glorious
  to die for one's country.")
• From "Dulce et Decorum Est"by Wilfred Owen,
  October, 1917

2
Immediate Impact

• Treaty of Versailles
• Soviet union and Germany excluded from peace
  talks
• Creation of League of Nations
• France received Alsace-Lorraine and rights over
  the German Saar creation of German demilitarized
  zone along Rhine River
• Disarmament of Germany
• Austria-Hungary dismembered (Austria, Hungary,
  Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia Italy got Italian
  irradentia)
• Russia lost Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
  Poland was recreated out of Russian territory
• Ottoman Empire dismembered Middle East became
  mandates controlled by France Britain
• War guilt clause Germany solely responsible for
  the war
• Reparations Germany to pay 5 billion annually
  until 1921

3
End of an Era

• Four defunct dynasties, the Hohenzollerns, the
  Habsburg, Romanovs and the Ottomans all fell
  during the war.
• 8-10 million soldiers had died during the war
  (1.4 million In France alone), and some
  20,000,000 were injured. A worldwide influenza
  epidemic in 1918 and 1919 cost 500,000 more
  European lives and 50 million worldwide.

4
Changes in Warfare

• New weapons technology (aircraft, submarines,
  tanks, machine guns, poison gas)
• Total war (civilian targets, entire population
  mobilized for war)

5
Longer Term Impact

• The experiences of the war led to a sort of
  collective national trauma afterwards for all the
  participating countries. The optimism of the
  1900s was entirely gone, and those who fought in
  the war became what is known as the Lost
  Generation. because they never fully recovered
  from their experiences.
• Disillusionment towards humanity found a cultural
  climax with the Dadaist art movement (Salvador
  Dali).
• Loss of faith in democracy and capitalism (rise
  of fascism and communism)
• War guilt clause and reparations led to
  bitterness in Germany and rise of nationalist
  movements, esp. Nazism
• Communism Revolution in Russia