HIST363: Global Perspectives on Industrialization

The First World War, known as the Great War before 1939 and as World War One after 1950, lasted from August 1914 to the final Armistice with Germany on November 11, 1918. During the war, it was referred to as the war to end all wars. Some question the appropriateness of the term "world war" because it was largely a European, North African, and Middle Eastern war. However, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and other British dominions and colonies contributed troops, and the United States also entered the conflict. Much of Asia and South America were not directly involved. The Allies of World War I, led by the United Kingdom, France, Russia (until 1917), and the United States (after 1917), defeated the Central Powers, led by the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. The war caused the disintegration of four empires: Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian. It also brought about radical change in the European and Middle Eastern maps. The Allied Powers before 1917 are sometimes referred to as the Triple Entente and the Central Powers are sometimes referred to as the Triple Alliance. Many people believed that this would be the last European conflict and that in the future, diplomacy and detente would resolve differences. Many question whether the war was necessary, suggesting that it could have been avoided.

The legacy of the war, in many respects, was World War II, which was rooted in the punitive sanctions that the World War I's victors placed on Germany. The war can be represented as totalitarian regimes verses democratic regimes, but that is a somewhat simplistic analysis because rivalry and jealousy between the two sides was a fundamental issue. Germany felt that it was entitled to an empire; Britain, France, and even Belgium possessed extensive overseas territory while Germany had just a few colonies. The democratization process, though, was more advanced among the Allies than in Germany and her main ally, the Ottoman Empire. Humanity should learn from the legacy of this war that war cannot end war - it can only lead to more violence. The higher principle of peaceful resolution of differences attracted much interest after 1918 when the League of Nations was formed, but the nations of the world were unwilling to establish this as an effective body, being reluctant to give it any real power. President Woodrow Wilson had been one of its chief architects but the U.S.A. did not join and league members tended to act in their own interest, rather than in that of all members.

Source: New World Encyclopedia, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/World_War_I
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