The Legacy of WW1

The First World War was a watershed moment. It killed millions and restructured global power. It generated a quantum leap in industry, military technology, medicine, culture and international politics – a legacy that shaped the Twentieth Century. The phrase “lost generation” described not just the loss of lives, but the disillusionment felt by survivors after World War I. The loss of faith in traditional values and ideals led many who came of age during World War I to become hedonistic, rebellious, aimless and “lost.” This cynicism and disillusionment defined the literary and creative landscape of the 1920s. In Britain, the Lost generation took on an another meaning, in that the disproportionate losses amongst the social elites, robbed the nation of high achievers and weakened Britain as a superpower. 

All over the world and in many aspects of life, people challenged and rejected the past. The pre war era of Imperialism, Capitalism and Enlightenment were seen as the causes of war. The world now sought new alternatives. After WW1, revolution, and republicanism flourished. New ideologies, such as Communism and Fascism also emerged, promising a different world order. Old Empires soon fell apart, creating new nations, mass democracy and the rise of “people power”. Government’s which had expanded their powers and responsibilities to win the war, were now expected to win the peace, by managing health, welfare and taxation. Women were granted the vote and more political rights for their war service. The war accelerated Modernism in arts, culture and literature. This rejected traditional convention, for more innovative ways to convey human experience and emotion. The war also renewed the interest in Pacifism, with diverse groups, forming the Woman’s Peace Party, and the American Union Against Militarism. Their message of peace, non violence and protest, influenced public opinion on war and conflict for decades. A League of Nations a pre curser to the United Nations was created to prevent further wars. These legacies of World War I, continue to shape global politics, society, and military strategies today.

The unprecedented violence and destruction caused many to re-evaluate beliefs about human nature and morality. The Great War was soon revealed as not the war to end all wars. The new world order emerging after the war, widened the world and made politics international. It fuelled more global tensions, conflict, rebellions and uprisings throughout the 1920’s. Civil wars soon broke out in Ireland, the Balkans, and Russian States. The creation of new territories in the Middle East, such as Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, sparked resistance movements to challenge European dominance. All over the colonized world, new nationalist sentiments emerged in the wake of World War I. Many in Asia and Africa adopted and adapted European ideas about nationalism to begin their own, long march toward independence. 

The legacy of the Great War still resonates. Many of the current problems in the Middle East can be directly traced to the boundaries and territories that were drawn up directly after the First World War. The 700,000 war dead left in France, made Britain very reluctant to involve itself in Europe again. Even today Britain is still undecided to be a part Europe. The War forced America to emerge from isolation, and become the World Superpower which dominates today.

While the meaning of the Great War has changed over time, it is possible after 110 years to take a more balanced view. It is becoming accepted that the Great War was not a ‘bad’ or ‘unjust’ war, at least from an Allied point of view. It was fought against military aggression and to protect the sovereignty of small states, as well as the integrity of British power. The war had a powerful democratising affect, with people who fought it, demanding a new place in society for the ordinary citizen. The Britain we’ve inherited today and it’s citizen democracy grew out the sacrifice of World War 1. What went wrong was the bad peace that followed WW1. We can now remember the scale of sacrifices made at the time, the moving stories of the “Pals’ regiments, the horrors of  battles, such as Gallipoli, the Somme, and Passchendaele, without allowing any doubts about the justice of the war, preventing our respect for the fallen.

Delegates at Versailles, Paris 1919, negotiate peace talks and start to rebuild Europe after WWI. The Germans were not invited. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919, between Germany on the one side and France, Italy, Britain and other minor allied powers on the other, officially ended war between those countries. Included in the 440 articles of the Treaty of Versailles were the demands that Germany officially accept responsibility “for causing all the loss and damage” of the war, pay economic reparations and limited the German army. The Treaty of Versailles confiscated 10% of Germany’s territory but still left Germany the largest, richest nation in central Europe. Germany was largely unoccupied and financial reparations were linked to its ability to pay, which mostly went unenforced anyway. The treaty was notably less harsh than treaties that ended the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War and World War Two. However, the Treaty was perceived as unjust and fuelled such  bitterness and resentment, that Germany would seek revenge in the 1939-1945 Second World War.
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