The First World War of 1914-1918 radically changed the face and further fate of old Europe. It was this bloody, destructive and unparalleled conflict at the time of the end that finally determined the end of the old order that developed after the Napoleonic conquests, and became an important factor in the emergence of World War II. What were the consequences of World War 1?
Parties to the conflict
During World War I, a confrontation unfolded between the military-political bloc Atlanta, which included Great Britain, France and the Russian Empire (later the republic), and allies (more than twenty states were on the Atlanta side) on one side and the powers of the Fourth Union (Second Reich, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and the Third Bulgarian Kingdom) according to another. Neutrality was maintained by European Albania, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and several other countries.
Brief summary
The outcome of the conflict was disappointing for everyone. The consequences of World War 1 (briefly) are as follows:
- Human losses: Atlanta - 5.6 million out of 45 million mobilized, civilian - 7.9 million; opponents - 4.4 million of the 25.9 million soldiers, civilians - 3.4 million.
- The main territorial consequences of World War 1 are the redistribution of borders and the cessation of the existence of four powerful empires.
- Political results - US approval as a world leader, transition to a new legal system.
- Economic consequences - the decline of the national economy, the loss of national wealth. Amid the conflict, only two countries managed to improve the economic situation.
The human losses of the Fourth Union
After the declaration of war, Austria-Hungary mobilized 74% of the male population from 15 to 49 years old. For every thousand soldiers, on average, about 122 were killed by the Atlanta and died from other causes on the battlefields. Human losses in terms of the entire population of the empire amounted to 18 people per thousand citizens.
In Germany, the number of people mobilized was 81% of the total male population from 15 to 49 years old. Most of the losses were among young people born in 1892-1895, thousands of Germans returned with disabilities from the war. For a thousand soldiers, the losses of the Second Reich amounted to approximately 154 people, and if calculated on the whole population - 31 people per 1000 citizens of the empire. In 1916, female mortality in Germany increased by 11% from the pre-war level, and by 1917 - by 30%. The main causes of death were diseases caused by chronic malnutrition.
Of the 685 thousand soldiers in Bulgaria, 88 thousand were killed. The Ottoman Empire mobilized almost three million men (out of 21.3 million of the population), every fourth of them died. In total, the powers of the Fourth Union sent almost 26 million males to the war, every sixth (almost four and a half million men) died on the battlefield.
Human losses of Atlanta and allies
The casualties of Great Britain are more than seven hundred thousand soldiers out of almost five million; France - 1.3 million out of 6.8; Italy - 462 thousand from almost six million; USA - 116 thousand from 4.7 million; Russian Empire - 1.6 million people out of 15.3 million mobilized.
Damage to the global economy
The consequence of World War I was a reduction in sown area by more than 22%, grain harvest - by 37% of the pre-war years. In France alone, for example, almost eight thousand railways, almost five thousand bridges, twenty thousand factories and more than three hundred thousand residential buildings were destroyed during the hostilities.
Metal smelting decreased by 43% from the pre-war period, other industries also suffered significantly. German public debt grew 63 times, the UK - almost nine times. In 1921, three years after the establishment of peace, twenty thousand German marks were given for one pound sterling.
Territorial losses
The results and consequences of World War I are also expressed in the large-scale redistribution of the borders of the Old World. The Second Reich lost more than 13% of its territories, the Ottoman Empire (more precisely, it was no longer an empire, but Turkey) - 68%. Austria-Hungary ceased to exist at all. Subsequently, Hungary was located on 13% of the empire, Austria - 12%. The remaining territories became part of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania. Only 7% of them “plucked” from Bulgaria.
Russia, which was part of Atlanta, lost 15% of its territory. Some of them passed to Poland, some went to Latvia, Finland and Romania. Part of these lands in 1939-1940. returned the Soviet Union.
Political Results
Following the First World War, new states appeared on the map, and the United States became leaders. Europe, as the center of the colonial world, no longer existed, since four powerful empires disappeared: German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman. It was after the First World War that a new legal system was laid in the world, class, ethnic and interstate contradictions intensified, and the social processes that arose at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries turned out to be frozen.
Economic impact
The economic consequences of World War I were a heavy burden on both winners and losers. Direct military losses amounted to more than two hundred billion US dollars, which is twelve times higher than the gold reserves of European states. A third of the national wealth of the Old World was destroyed.
Only the United States and Japan increased income over the years of conflict. Japan established a monopoly on trade in southeastern Asia, and the United States established itself as a leader in the international arena. The national wealth of the States for 1914-1918 increased by 40% of the pre-war period, the volume of trade with other countries doubled, and the value of exported products tripled.
The social consequences of World War I - hunger, crime, fatherlessness, increased rates of alcohol consumption and frequent illnesses.