Aftermath of World War I
The fighting in
World War I ended when an
armistice took effect at 11:00 hours on
November 11,
1918. In the
aftermath of World War I the political, cultural, and social order of the world was drastically changed in many places, even outside the areas directly involved in the war. New countries were formed, old ones were abolished, international organizations were established, and many new and old ideas took a firm hold in people's minds.
Throughout the armistice the
Allies maintained the
naval blockade of
Germany begun during the war. This blockade is estimated to have caused the death of 800,000 German
civilians from
malnutrition during the final two years of the war. The continuation of the blockade after the fighting ended, as
Leckie wrote in
Delivered From Evil, would "torment the Germans… driving them with the fury of despair into the arms of the devil". Some
historians have since argued that the harsh post-war treatment was one of the primary
causes of
World War II; others have advocated the Allies should have been even harder on Germany.
Winston Churchill referred to the blockade during his
March 3,
1919, speech to the
British House of Commons: :"We are holding all our means of
coercion in full operation… we are enforcing the blockade with vigour… Germany is very near
starvation. The evidence I have received… shows… the great danger of a collapse of the entire structure of German social and national life, under the pressure of
hunger and malnutrition." The blockade was not lifted until June of 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles was signed by most of the combatant nations.
After the
Paris Peace Conference of
1919, the signing of the
Treaty of Versailles on
June 28 1919 officially ended the war. Included in the 440 articles of the treaty were the demands that
Germany officially accept responsibility for starting the war and pay
heavy economic reparations. The treaty also included a clause to create the
League of Nations. The
US Senate never ratified this treaty and the US did not join the League, despite
President Wilson's active campaigning in support of the League. The
United States negotiated a separate peace with Germany, finalised in August
1921.
An indirect action of the treaty, the division of Germany's colonies throughout Africa and Asia, would not be seen for decades. The United States, while not happy with the terms of the treaty, pressed European nations that were accepting Germany's old colonies to have the native citizens there treated with the same respect they got when Germany was there. This was not the case.
A separate but related event was the great
influenza pandemic. A virulent new strain of the flu, originating in the United States but misleadingly known as "
Spanish Flu", was accidentally carried to
Europe by infected American forces personnel. The disease spread rapidly through both the continental U.S. and Europe, eventually reaching around the globe. One in every four Americans had contracted the influenza virus. The exact number of deaths is unknown but between 20 and 40 million people are estimated to have died from the flu worldwide. In 2005, a study found that, "The 1918 virus strain developed in birds and was similar to the 'bird flu' that today has spurred fears of another worldwide epidemic" [
1]
Revolutions
Perhaps the single most important event precipitated by the privations of the war was the
Russian Revolution of 1917.
Socialist and explicitly
Communist uprisings also occurred in many other
European countries from
1917 onwards, notably in
Germany and
Hungary.
As a result of the
Bolsheviks' failure to cede territory, German and Austrian forces defeated the Russian armies, and the new communist government signed the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March
1918. In that treaty,
Russia renounced all claims to
Estonia,
Finland,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Poland (specifically, the formerly Russian-controlled
Congress Poland of
1815) and
Ukraine, and it was left to Germany and Austria-Hungary
"to determine the future status of these territories in agreement with their population." Later on,
Lenin's government renounced also the
Partition of Poland treaty, making it possible for Poland to claim its
1772 borders. However, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was rendered obsolete when Germany was defeated later in 1918, leaving the status of much of eastern Europe in an uncertain position.
Germany
See: German RevolutionRussia
Russia, already suffering socially and economically, was torn by a deadly
civil war that killed more than 15 million people in one way or another and devastated large areas of the country. During the
Russian Revolution and subsequent
civil war, many non-Russian nations gained brief or longer lasting periods of independence.
Finland,
Lithuania,
Latvia, and
Estonia gained relatively permanent independence, although the Baltic states were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939.
Romania, initially formed from the union of
Wallachia and
Moldova retrieved the
Bessarabia from Russia.
Armenia,
Georgia and
Azerbaijan states were established in Caucasus region. In
1922 all these countries were invaded by Soviets and proclaimed Soviet Republics. Similar events happened in
Central Asia. However, the
Soviet Union, the successor of the Russian Empire, was lucky that Germany lost the war against the Western Allies because it was able to reject the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. That treaty would have taken huge portions of rich territory and population from them.
Austro-Hungarian Empire
With the war having turned decisively against the
Central Powers, the peoples of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire lost faith in it, and even before the armistice in November, radical
nationalism had already led to several
declarations of independence in September and October
1918. Originally the Allies had hoped to maintain Austria-Hungary (although reduced) as a counterbalance to German power in central Europe and had interpreted the
Woodrow Wilson's 14 points within the framework of a federal Austria-Hungary. However, due to progress of the war and lobbying by separatists from within and outside the Empire the Allied powers slowly began to recognise its nations as distinct entities.
The resolution of borders and governments in south-central Europe in the time after November
1918 was not easy. As the central government had ceased to operate in vast areas, these regions found themselves without a government and many new groups attempted to fill the void. During this same period, the population was facing food shortages and was, for the most part, demoralized by the losses incurred during the war. Various political parties, ranging from ardent nationalists, to social-democrats, to communists attempted to set up governments in the names of the different nationalities. In other areas, existing nation states such as
Romania engaged regions that they considered to be theirs. These moves created de-facto governments that complicated life for diplomats, idealists, and the western allies.
The western allies were officially supposed to occupy the old Empire, but rarely had enough troops to do so effectively. They had to deal with local authorities who had their own agenda to fulfill. At the peace conference in Paris the diplomats had to reconcile these authorities with the competing demands of the nationalists who had turned to them for help during the war, the strategic or political desires of the Western allies themselves, and other agendas such as a desire to implement the spirit of the 14 points.
For example, in order to live up to the ideal of self determination laid out in the 14 points, Germans, whether Austrian or German, should be able to decide their own future and government. However, the French especially were concerned that an expanded Germany would be a huge security risk. Further complicating the situation, delegations such as the Czechs and Slovenians made strong claims on some German-speaking territories.
The result was treaties that compromised many ideals, offended many allies, and set up an entirely new order in the area. Many people hoped that the new nation states would allow for a new era of prosperity and peace in the region, free from the bitter quarelling between nationalities that had marked the preceding fifty years. This hope proved far too optimistic. Changes in territorial configuration after World War I included:
*Establishment of the new republics of
Austria and
Hungary, disavowing any continuity with the empire and exiling the
Habsburg family in perpetuity.
*Borders of newly independent Hungary did not include two-thirds of the lands of the former
Kingdom of Hungary, though it did include most of the areas where the ethnic Magyars were in a majority. The new republic of Austria maintained control over most of the mostly German-dominated areas, but lost various other lands.
[[Image:Österreich-Ungarns Ende.png|right|thumb|300px|Division of {{Austria-Hungary}} after WW1
]]
*
Bohemia,
Moravia, Czech
Silesia,
Slovakia and
Carpathian Ruthenia formed the new
Czechoslovakia.
*
Galicia was transferred to
Poland.
*The
South Tyrol and
Trieste were granted to
Italy.
*
Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Croatia-Slavonia,
Dalmatia,
Slovenia, and
Vojvodina were joined with
Serbia and
Montenegro to form the
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later
Yugoslavia.
*
Transylvania became part of
Romania.
These changes were recognised in, but not caused by, the Treaty of Versailles. They were subsequently further elaborated in the
Treaty of Saint-Germain and the
Treaty of Trianon.
The new states of eastern Europe nearly all had large national minorities. Hundreds of thousands of Germans found themselves in the newly created countries as minorities. A quarter of ethnic Hungarians found themselves living outside of
Hungary. Many of these national minorities found themselves in bad situations because the modern governments were intent on defining the national character of the countries, often at the expense of the other nationalities.
The interwar years were hard for the
Jews of the region. Most nationalists distrusted them because they were not fully integrated into 'national communities.' In contrast to times under the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Jews were often ostracized and discriminated against. Although
anti-semitism had been widespread during Habsburg rule, Jews faced no official discrimination because they were, for the most part, ardent supporters of the multi-national state and the monarchy. Jews had feared the rise of ardent nationalism and nation states, because they foresaw the difficulties that would arise.
The economic disruption of the war and the end of the Austro-Hungarian
customs union created great hardship in many areas. Although many states were set up as democracies after the war, one by one, they reverted to some form of authoritarian rule. Many quarelled amongst themselves but were too weak to compete effectively. Later, when Germany rearmed, the nation states of south- central Europe were unable to resist its attacks, and fell under German domination to a much greater extent than had ever existed in Austria-Hungary. After the
Second World War German domination was exchanged for a Soviet one.
Ottoman Empire
At the end of the war the Ottoman government collapsed completely and the
Ottoman Empire was divided amongst the victorious Entente powers with the signing of the
Treaty of Sèvres on
August 10,
1920. The fall of the empire led to the creation of the modern
Middle East. The
League of Nations granted
France mandates over
Syria and
Lebanon and granted the
United Kingdom mandates over
Iraq and
Palestine (which was comprised of two autonomous regions:
Palestine and
Transjordan). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the
Arabian Peninsula became part of what is today
Saudi Arabia and
Yemen.
Italy and
Greece were also given parts of
Anatolia. At the suggestion of Woodrow Wilson, the
Democratic Republic of Armenia was to be expanded into present-day eastern Turkey in areas where the
Armenian Genocide hit the hardest. An autonomous area for the
Kurds was also promised.
However, the Treaty of Sèvres was never applied and Turkish resistance led by
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk forced out the Greeks and Armenians while the Italians were unable to establish themselves. Kurdish attempts to become independent in the
1920s were suppressed by the
Turkish revolutionaries. After Turkish resistance gained control over Anatolia, a new treaty was needed as the conditions of the Treaty of Sèvres were no longer applicable. The
Treaty of Lausanne formally ended all hostilities and led to the creation of the modern
Turkish republic. The treaty formally acknowledged the new League of Nations mandates in the Middle East, the cession of their territories on the Arabian Peninsula, and British sovereignty over
Cyprus. Before Lausanne, Turkey and the newly-formed
Soviet Union had already signed the
Treaty of Kars, which already brought the peace on the eastern border of Turkey. The Treaty of Kars established that the Bolsheviks would cede the provinces of
Kars,
Iğdır,
Ardahan, and
Artvin to Turkey in exchange for
Adjara. The treaty was ratified in
Yerevan on
September 11,
1922 after the remainder of Armenia became part of Soviet Union.
United Kingdom
In the
United Kingdom, funding the war had a huge economic cost. From being the world's largest overseas investor, it became one of its biggest debtors with interest payments forming around 40% of all government spending.
Inflation more than doubled between
1914 and its peak in
1920, while the value of the
Pound Sterling (consumer expenditure [
2]) fell by 61.2%. Reparations in the form of free German
coal depressed the local industry, precipitating the
1926 General Strike.
Less concrete changes include the growing assertiveness of
Commonwealth nations. Battles such as
Gallipoli for
Australia and
New Zealand, and
Vimy Ridge for
Canada led to increased national pride and a greater reluctance to remain subordinate to Britain, leading to the growth of diplomatic autonomy in the 1920s. Traditionally loyal dominions such as
Newfoundland were deeply disillusioned by Britain's apparent disregard for their soldiers, eventually leading to the unification of Newfoundland into the
Confederation of Canada. Colonies such as
India and
Nigeria also became increasingly assertive because of their participation in the war. The populations in these countries became increasingly aware of their own power and Britain's fragility.
In
Ireland the delay in finding a resolution to the
home rule issue, partly caused by the war, as well as the
1916 Easter Rising and a failed attempt to introduce
conscription in Ireland, increased support for separatist radicals, and led indirectly to the outbreak of the
Anglo-Irish War in
1919.
United States
In the
USA, disillusioned by the failure of the war to achieve the high ideals promised by President
Woodrow Wilson, the American people chose
isolationism and, after an initial
recession enjoyed
several years of unbalanced prosperity until the
1929 Stock Market crash. However, American commercial interests did finance
Germany's rebuilding and reparations efforts, at least until the onset of the
Great Depression. The close relationships between American and German businesses became somewhat of an embarrassment after the
Nazis took over Germany in 1933.
France
For
France, the end of the War seemed to finally mark the end of Prussian-German domination which had lasted since the
1870 Franco-Prussian War.
However the Chief commander of the Allied forces, Field Marshal
Ferdinand Foch, had demanded that for the future protection of France the
Rhine river should now form the border between France and Germany. Based on history, he was convinced that Germany would again become a threat, and, on hearing the terms of the Treaty of Versailles that had left Germany substantially intact, he observed with great accuracy that
"This is not Peace. It is an Armistice for twenty years." After this critical statement, Foch was amazed to see himself rise in power.
Also extremely important in the War was the participation of French colonial troops from
Indochina,
North Africa, and
Madagascar without whom France might well have fallen. When these soldiers returned to their homelands and continued to be treated as second class citizens, many became the nucleus of pro-independence groups
Italy
After the war,
Italy failed to annex Dalmatia, and this led several Italian politicians to speak of a "mutilated victory". Actually, such a stance only showed the Italian leaders' incompetence and lack of understanding in matters of foreign policy.
Indeed, it should not have been difficult to see how, among the Allied Powers, Italy had been the one which benefited the most from the outcome of the war. Whereas Britain and France still faced a Germany which had kept about 80 percent of her industrial and economic potential and thus could attempt a
revanche in a matter of years, Italy had definitively gotten ridden of her century-old enemy: instead of the Austro-Hungarian Empire there were now a number of smaller States none of which could pose a credible threat, and some of them could even fall within the Italian sphere of influence.
With the annexation of
Trento,
Triest,
South Tyrol,
Friuli,
Istria,
Zara and several Dalmatian islands, Italy had completed her territorial expansion and could now rely on secure borders. Furthermore, Italian sovereignty over
Rhodes and the
Dodecanese had been officially recognized, as well as the Italian special interests in
Albania, and with a little more competence by her envoys at the Paris Peace Conference, Italy could also have taken part in the partition of former German colonies. However, the Italian politicians failed to perceive all this, and so the myth of the "mutilated victory" spread, fueling the Fascist propaganda and helping Mussolini seize power.
During the war, Italy had suffered fewer casualties than Britain and much fewer than France, and the social problems she was facing afterward (an inflated war industry to reconvert to civilian production, the large number of crippled people no longer able to sustain themselves, the new role of women) were common to other Allied countries which, however, did not suffer an authoritarian drift. Thus, it can be argued that the "mutilated victory" myth may have been the one element which made the difference and caused Italy to fall under the Fascist regime in 1922.
The experiences of the war led to a sort of collective national trauma afterwards for all the participating countries. The optimism of
1900 was entirely gone and those who fought in the war became what is known as "the
Lost Generation" because they never fully recovered from their experiences. One gruesome reminder of the sacrifices of the generation was the fact that this was the first time in warfare whereby more men had died in battles than to disease, which had been the main cause of deaths in previous wars. For the next few years, much of Europe became obsessive in its mourning and memorials were erected in thousands of villages and towns.
This social trauma manifested itself in many different ways. Some people were revolted by
nationalism and what it had caused and began to work toward a more
internationalist world through organizations such as the
League of Nations.
Pacifism became increasingly popular. Others had the opposite reaction, feeling that only strength and military might could be relied on for protection in a chaotic and inhumane world that did not respect hypothetical notions of civilization. Certainly a sense of
disillusionment and
cynicism became pronounced.
Nihilism grew in popularity. Many people believed that the war heralded the end of the world as they had known it, including the collapse of
capitalism and
imperialism.
Communist and
socialist movements around the world drew strength from this theory, enjoying a level of popularity they had never known before. These feelings were most pronounced in areas directly or particularly harshly affected by the war, such as central Europe, Russia and France.
Artists such as
Otto Dix,
George Grosz,
Ernst Barlach, and
Käthe Kollwitz represented their experiences, or those of their society, in blunt
paintings and sculpture. Similarly, authors such as
Erich Maria Remarque wrote grim novels detailing their experiences. These works had a strong impact on society, causing a great deal of controversy and highlighting conflicting interpretations of the war. In Germany, nationalists including the
Nazis believed that much of this work was
degenerate and undermined the cohesion of society as well as dishonouring the dead.
Throughout the areas where trenches and fighting lines were located, such as the
Champagne region of
France, quantities of
unexploded shells and other ammunition have remained, some of which remains dangerous and continues to cause injuries and occasional fatalities into the 21st century. Some are still found nowadays, for instance by farmers ploughing their fields and are called the
iron harvest. Some of this ammunition contains
chemical toxic products such as
mustard gas. Cleanup of major battlefields is a continuing task with no end in sight for decades more. Squads remove, defuse or destroy hundreds of tons of unexploded ammunition every year in Belgium and France.
One estimate is that at the current rate, France will not be cleared of unexploded First-World-War shells for several hundred years.
War memorials
Many towns in the participating countries have
war memorials dedicated to local residents who lost their lives. Those of particular importance include:
*
Liberty Memorial,
Kansas City, Missouri,
United States*
Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont-Hamel*
The Cenotaph,
London*
Menin Gate Memorial,
Ypres,
Belgium*
Montfaucon American Memorial*
Mort-Homme*
Ossuaire Memorial*
Pennsylvania Memorial*
Thiepval Memorial*
Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing at
Passchendaele*
Verdun Memorial Museum*
Vimy Ridge Memorial,
Vimy,
France*
Gallipoli Memorial,
Turkey*
Shrine of Remembrance,
Melbourne,
Australia*
Island of Ireland Peace Park,
Messines,
BelgiumTombs of the Unknown Soldier
*
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
Ottawa,
Canada*
Arc de Triomphe,
Paris,
France*
The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is in
Westminster Abbey,
London,
UK*
Tomb of the Unknowns,
Arlington National Cemetery,
Virginia,
USA*
Tomba del milite ignoto,
Rome,
Italy*
Australian War Memorial,
Canberra,
Australia*
New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior,
Wellington,
New Zealand*
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
Syntagma Square,
Athens,
Greece*
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
Bucharest,
Romania*
India Gate,
New Delhi,
India*
Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War by
Margaret Olwen Macmillan, John Murray ISBN 0719559391
*
Peacemaking, 1919 by
Harold Nicolson ISBN 193154154X
*
Hew Strachan ed.: "The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War" is a collection of chapters from various scholars that survey the War.
The Wreck of Reparations, being the political background of the Lausanne Agreement, 1932 by Sir
John Wheeler-Bennett New York, H. Fertig, 1972.
The first major television documentary on the history of the war was the
BBC's
The Great War (
1964), made in association with
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The
Imperial War Museum. The series consists of 26 forty-minute episodes featuring extensive use of archive footage gathered from around the world and eyewitness interviews. Although some of the programme's conclusions have been disputed by historians it still makes compelling and often moving viewing.
Main articles
*
List of people associated with World War I*
Banat Republic*
FirstWorldWar.com "A multimedia history of World War One"
*
The war to end all wars on BBC site*
"Heritage of the Great War" on geocities.com*
The British Army in the Great War
