Short-term Consequences
of WW1
The Consequences:
Revolutions
Treaty of Versailles
League of Nations
Collapse of the Ottoman Empire & Austria-Hungary
Social & Economic Cost
Geopolitical Rearrangement
Growth of Socialism & Fascism
Revolutions after WWI
Communist Revolutions:
Russia
Central Europe
USA
China
Non- Communist Revolutions:
Greece
Ireland
Mexico
The Russian Revolution
(1917)
February Revolution:
Abdication of Czar Nicholas II; collapse of Imperial
Russia and end of Romanov dynasty.
The Russian Provisional Government took over.
The formation of the Petrograd Soviet by the socialists.
Dual power.
October Revolution (Bolshevik Revolution):
The Bolsheviks took over after the Russian Provisional
Government failed.
Caused the Russian Civil War.
Revolutions Throughout the
World
Communistic Revolutions:
Germany
The German Revolution (Nov 1919 – Aug 1918): the
communistic revolutionaries tried to take over the
government (as the Bolsheviks did in Russia), but failed.
USA
After the war and the Russian Revolution, USA had its first
red scare.
China
The nationalist party, Kuomintang, joined with the Chinese
Communist Party to fight for a reunification of China
(1923).
The Treaty of Versailles (28th
of June 1919)
A peace treaty at the end of World War I in Versailles,
it ended the war state between Germany and the Allied
War Powers.
Germany had to accept full responsibility for causing
the war. She also had to pay war reparations of a total
of 132 billion marks ($385 billion today).
Territorial Changes.
Establishment of the League of Nations.
League of Nations
League of nations was
founded in order to maintain
the peace in Europe and make
sure another war didn’t break
out after world war 1.
American president Woodrow
Wilson was appalled by the
behavior, which took place
during the war; the gruesome
killings. To make sure such a
thing did not happen again,
he felt that the only thing to
do was to create an
international body, which
would only have the
purpose of maintaining
world peace.
If an international dispute
were to take place, the
League of Nations would
sort them out, and avoid
any further violence and
war.
The world (especially
Europe) was so devastated
after World War 1, so
getting the peoples
support for this idea
wasn’t hard.
of the
Ottoman
Empire
The Turkish Was of Independence
(1919-1923)
The Treaty of Sèvres (10th of August
1920).
France, Britain, and Italy divided
the Empire into territories, which
where under their command.
Internal Degeneration & External
Pressure.
Many new countries were created.
The Collapse of AustriaHungary
The monarchy collapsed due to the German loss on
the western front.
The leftist and liberal movements in Vienna and
Budapest supported the separation of ethnic
minorities.
Economic Costs
Technology grew drastically; production of cars, planes,
radios etc. skyrocketed.
The United States economy grew quickly with the use
of mass production, thus producing goods without
using human labor and producing it much quicker and
cheaper.
Europe's overall economy suffered loss in landscapes,
physical property and finances
Europes economy was weakening while The United
states was growing into a global economic power.
In 1914, Europe was seen as a reliable money-lender,
but after WW1, all of Europe was greatly in debt (10
billion US dollars) to allies.
In order to pay back debts, countries in Europe began
to print large amounts of money; leading they
countries into a long period of inflation
People who had earlier enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle
in the middleclass, were now financially in a rocky
state.
Germany was struggling the most; with war damages
and reparations to pay created a great inflation in
Germany. German mark jumped from 4.6 millions to
one dollar, to 4.6 trillion to one dollar in 3 months.
Social Costs
Death and destruction, war killed 10-13 million
people, families suffered and the optimistic spirited
people of the past had now lost all hope
Many people were angered as they did not see why the
war had taken place
Pain and suffering; this generation is called the Lost
Generation as so many died during the war.
Growing sense of mistrust towards the leaders and
government officials, after witnessing the horror of the
war and felt that the Government didn’t have their
best interests in mind.
Political Changes
Spreading of fascism and socialism (Germany, Austria,
Britain, France).
Republic government gains influence: before war
Europe contained 19 monarchies and 3 republics, after
war there were 13 monarchies, 14 republics and 2
regencies
The government (Weimar) which was set up in
Germany, wasn’t liked by the people and didn’t do
much for controlling Germany.
Geographical Changes
Nations that gained territory after WWI:
Yugoslavia
Romania
Greece
France
Italy
Denmark
Belgium
Poland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
UK (League of Nations mandates)
Japan
Nations that lost territory after the WWI:
China
Bolshevist Russia
Weimar Germany
Austria
Hungary
Turkey
Bulgaria
UK (most of Ireland)
Geographical Changes
With the formation of new small states in especially
eastern Europe, there were many ethnic minorities
wanting to be united with other countries where their
ethnicity dominated.
The border changes among with political changes,
resulted in a large number of refugees
Growth of Socialism &
Fascism
Fascism:
The Fascist Manifesto, 1919.
In 1920, Mussolini and the Fascists allied themselves
with industrial businesses and started attacking workers
and peasants in order to preserve order internal peace
in Italy
Socialism:
Revolutions throughout Europe and the rest of the
world.