World War I: Social, Cultural, Political, and Economic Impacts

The major social, cultural, political, and economic fallouts of WWI include a loss of faith in collectivist culture, emergence of totalitarianism, disruption of social norms, increased feminism, and distrust of political leaders. Politically, the Treaty of Versailles led to Germany's territorial concessions, while economically, it resulted in heavy reparations, depression, unemployment, and hyperinflation. The war also caused the rise of Nazi power and fractured empires like Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russia into independent nations.

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What was the major social, cultural, political, and economic fallout of WWI?
Introduction
The world got shaken by the World War I (1914-1918). This is because, it did not happen
before that the technology was put to such destructive ends, and the war had also never been
such large in scope. Apart from the death of several empires and birth of several nations, the
WWI led to redrawing of the national boundaries all over the world. Some countries got
prospered by it but some faced economic depression. The fallouts of WWI were far reaching
in the form of political, cultural, social and economic impacts. Some of them are listed below:
Cultural fallouts
Earlier, people had a favour towards the collectivist culture. But after the WWI, this
confidence got shattered. Many artists and creative people emerged who reacted to the
tragedy that the people were facing. There was emergence of a new menace of
totalitarianism that developed from the wreckage and the new technology. The western
science depicted that it could be a menace. In a single day, during the Battle of the Somme,
Great Britain lost 19,200 men, most in the first hour. The sheer loss of life that the
participants in World War One experienced in such a short period of time was something
dreadfully new and unprecedented (Mosier, 2011).
Social fallouts
The WWI disrupted the social norms that were followed for years and the progressive
thinking got increased. The war changed the trend of countries towards liberalisation. But,

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when the social norms got broken, the feminism got propagated and women could do many
tasks that were earlier booked for men.
But, the effects on that the war had on the minds of people did not want them to connect to
people of the outside world. The distrust was developed for the political leaders and they
were not able to come out of the horror and destruction that they faced during the war. The
people felt disillusioned and they were moaning for the deaths of their loved ones for long
time. So, it became difficult for the people to gain acceptance of the new social ties that were
building and the benefits that liberalisation could give them were not seen by them.
Political fallouts
The Treaty of Versailles was signed that required Germany to make significant territorial
concessions along the eastern and western borders (Coltheart, 2011). The focus was on
ceding of Alsace-Lorraine to France because this was a cause of dispute between France and
Germany for a long time. When Germany got victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871,
this area got ceded to Germany, not France. But, France continued to make to make efforts to
get it back. In WWI, France and Britain emerged as victorious powers and for fifteen years,
they controlled Saarland. Poland and Denmark were the newly independent countries and the
rest of the parts of Germany were given to them.
Germany saw a socialist revolution during the end of WWI and Weimar Republic was
created due to German Revolution of 1918-1919 (Haffner, 1986). This lasted until 1930s
when the Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party seized power. Due to the defeat of Germany, the Austro-
Hungarian Empire broke and it created several independent states. France and Britain

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controlled some of the broken parts and majorly the split parts emerged as Republic of
Turkey.
Economic fallouts
The economic fallouts were observed by Germany, Britain and France. The Treaty of
Versailles was signed that required Germany to make payment to Allies which was called
reparations. These were very heavy in numbers and created tension under the Weimar
Republic because Germany was also facing a devastated infrastructure. This created
economic depression in the country (Carr, 1969).
The country was also staggering from unemployment and hyperinflation. The currency was
devalued to such an extent that the people could not even buy the items of daily needs.
In 1929, the stock market of America crashed and it led to spread of great depression to
Germany. The condition became so bad that it led to emergence of Nazi power.
Conclusion
The major fallouts were observed by Germany. Other countries also suffered but they
somehow managed to nullify the effects. For example, WWI made US emerge as the world
superpower. But, on the other hand this situation fractured Empires like Austro-Hungarian,
Ottoman, and Russia into several independent nations. This is in a sense a fallout as well as
an advantage for them for the future.
The fallout did not touch countries like USA as the factories there were unharmed and
performed better than before. But, Germany again suffered the most in many ways.

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References:
Carr, W. (1969). A history of Germany, 1815-1945. St. Martin's Press.
Coltheart, L. (2011). Treaty of Versailles.
Haffner, S. (1986). Failure of a revolution: Germany 1918-1919. Banner Pr.Mosier, J.
(2011). The Myth of the Great War: A New Military History Of World War 1. Harper Collins.