Global Effect of world war

The Global Effect of World War 1

European Civilization:

The First World War has change the aspect of European civilization. The government was transformed to fight a total war. The war changed the European union socially, politically, economically, and intellectually. European countries channeled all of their resources into total war, which resulted in enormous social change. World war one had devastating effects on Europe. The Great War demolished the Austria-Hungary Empire and the Russian Empire. New states were established out of these former empires including Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Communism arose in Eastern Europe, and France and Britain gained many new territories from the defeated nations, as Germany, Austria, and Turkey lost most of their land and resources. Death knocked down all barriers between people.
Clothing and Out look:
All belligerents had enacted some form of a selective service that leveled classes in many ways. Wartime scarcities made luxury impossible and unfavorable. Example of this is clothing. Clothing became uniform and Utilitarian. Europeans would never again dress in fancy, elaborate costumes. Uniforms led the way in clothing change. The bright blue-and-red prewar French infantry uniforms had been changed after the first few months of the war, since they made whoever wore them into excellent targets for machine guns. Women's skirts rose above the ankle permanently and women became more of a part of society than ever.
Women in World War 1
They undertook a variety of jobs previously held by men. They were now a part of clerical, secretarial work, and teaching. They were also more widely employed in industrial jobs. By 1918, 37.6 percent of the work force in the Krupp armaments firm in Germany was female. In England the proportion of women works rose strikingly in public transport (for example, from 18,000 to 117,000 bus conductors), banking (9,500 to 63,700), and commerce (505,000 to 934,000). Many restrictions on women disappeared during the war. It became acceptable for young, employed, single middle-class women to have their own apartments, to go out without chaperones, and to smoke in public. It was only a matter of time before women received the right to vote in many belligerent countries.

The Rights of the Workers
Labor unions had supported the war effort. This support paid off after the war as labor unions earned new respect and importance.

Unemployment Rises Up:
As the war ended, and soldiers started to return home, the industry production began to slow, and there was less need for workers in factories. Many women stopped working, but even so there were not enough jobs for the men returning home from Europe. This rising unemployment after a time of industry and economic prosperity, planted the seeds of the coming of Great Depression affecting everybody all over the world.
Newer Technology
On the other hand, several technologies that had been developed over the prior several decades first saw widespread use in European-style combat during WW1, and it was these technologies, which proved to define the fighting. A short list would include: the practical submarine, machineguns, mass quantities of long-range artillery, effective hand grenades and mortars, and barbed wire. Lesser-known technologies which weren't as immediately apparent in impact, but still had a noticeable one, were: the diesel engine, motorized vehicles (primarily the tractor, not the automobile/truck), steam turbines, advances in field medicine, and improvements in many chemical processes (most noticeably, the introduction of smokeless powder for firearms, and radically more effective high explosives).

Social Changes

The war was terribly destructive causing the deaths of ten million soldiers and roughly the same number of civilians. Workplaces and homes were destroyed.

Fourteen Points
> U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had issued his ideas for a peace settlement that would be fair to all nations – winners and losers alike. Because it had 14 terms of peace it was known as the “Fourteen Points”.
> At the heart of Wilson’s plan was self-determination or the opportunity for national groups to form their own countries. He also wanted a peacekeeping organization called the League of Nations that would reduce the chances for a future war.

Treaty of Versailles
 In 1919, the Allies met in Versailles, France to consider the Fourteen Points. The European Allies did not agree with Wilson. They wanted to punish Germany. The terms of the treaty follow:
1. Alsace-Lorraine would become French territory again.
2. Poland would receive land from Germany and be independent.
3. Germany would lose all its overseas colonies.
4. France would control all the coal mined from Germany’s Saar Basin for 15 years.
5. Germany would huge reparations (money) for war damages.
6. Germany would have to disband its army to no more than 100,000 soldiers. 7. Germany would demilitarize the Rhineland.
8. Germany would take full blame for the war – the “war guilt clause”.
9. A League of Nations would be established to prevent future war.