The Great War, also called World War 1 took place between 1914 and 1918. The war was majorly a European conflict. This is because it involved the Allied forces comprising of Britain and France while the axis forces comprised of Germany, Italy and Russia. The war affected most European kingdoms in several ways. Some kingdoms lost their dominance while others gained power. Some economies weakened, and the international political environment also changed significantly.
The United Kingdom was worst hit by the aftermath of the war. The cost of the war was so large that the Allied forces resorted to loans from the public and abroad. Britain borrowed heavily from the USA. After the war, Britain had lost most of its economic power due to debt. Countries such as France had also incurred so much that they lost their status as the elite nations in the world to USA. America became the super power because of the decline of Britain and France because of the Great War.
The industrial strength of the European kingdoms such as France, Germany and Britain became out of date. These countries had focused their resources on military strengthening and ignored all other sectors in their economies. Even though these countries were still rich after the war, they were overtaken by other countries in terms of industrialization. The European kingdoms could not trade during the war hence; their trading partners resorted to new partners, which reduced the demand for goods from European Kingdoms.
There were also political costs. After losing the Great War, the ancestral power of the German emperor was lost. This was the same case for the Emperors of Russia and Austria, as well as the Sultan of Turkey. Loss of monarchial power led to the transfer of loyalty from kings to states. Such was the impact that the 450 year existence of the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires declined in a short stint. After the war, European powers also resorted to technological progress to improve their military superiority.
Therefore, the Great War significantly changed the social, political and economic structure of the leading European kingdoms. It also changed the structure of the world superiority powers as power shifted to Russia and USA.
References
Kennedy, P. M. (2006). The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery: Paul M. Kennedy (2, illustrated, reprint ed.). New York: Humanity Books.
Wells, M. (2011). History for the IB Diploma: Causes, Practices and Effects of Wars. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
