The meaning, causes and effects or impact of first world war

 THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Meaning of the concepts


War refers to any conflict between two or more people or group of people where various weapons are used to fight against each other. It can also be defined as any armed conflict between two or more people or group of people.


First World war was the greatest capitalist/imperialist war which was fought between two military camps, Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia) with full support from their allies i.e. USA, Japan, Rumania, Serbia, Belgium, Montenegro against Central Powers or Triple Alliance (German, Austria Hungary, Italy and Turkey) from 1914 to 1918.


Background of the First World War

The World War One had its roots in many political and economic tendencies of the big Capitalists nations. The glorious age of science, democracy and social reforms ended in one of the fatal wars that had not yet occurred in the history of the world.


Military and naval activities were likewise enormously increased. Until 1914 in particular, each continent of the great powers had not only a huge standing army but also millions of trained reserves among the civilians population. This sensation marked the beginning of the Great War to be inevitable.

Factors that led to the occurrence of First World War

There were many direct and indirect factors which contributed to the occurrence of the First World War. Some of the remote or underlying causes of the world war one can be traced far back into the history of Europe for more than the century from about 1870.

A. Long Term Causes of the First World War

Long-term causes are traced back in the 19th century mainly in the development of capitalism in Europe. Some of the underlying factors (causes) of the First World War are summarized below;


1. Economic motives of the Capitalist nations.

Since the rise and development of capitalism through various stages, Capitalists had been struggling to get four main capitalist demands i.e. raw materials, areas for investment, market and cheap labour. The struggle for these demands gave rise to various means of struggle which led to fear, suspicion, collision, conflicts and eventually the world War One.


Also due to industrial revolution competition was intensified in all capitalist nations, raw materials became the crucial need of them and market became the reason for expansionism, thus the struggle led to conflict which resulted into war.


2. Political reasons

Political aspect of the occurrence of the First World War was;

Nationalism of German in 1870. After completion of unification of German, intensified her military hence posing strong challenge to other capitalist nations in Europe especially Britain. This led her capability to expand and acquire more colonies in the world which led to conflict between her and other imperialist power which were also intensified in potential areas.

Pan-Germanism in 1895. This was the movement of German people (Pan-Germany League) which advocated to the expansion of Germany to incorporate all Teutonic people of central Europe. The boundaries of the empire had to be extended lie Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Austria, Poland as far as East Warsaw. This German expansionism brought about conflicts with other big imperialist nations and later led into the First World War.


3. French revenge movement

This was the movement of the French men who wanted to revenge and take back the two rich provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which were annexed by German during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871; the provinces were very rich in coal and iron which were very crucial minerals for industrialization. The demand of French cultivated a lot of hatred between the two nations, which resulted into conflicts eventually war.


4. Dissatisfaction of Territorial arrangement

By the 19th century almost all part of the world was under big capitalists powers with exception of Africa which came to be colonized at the end of 19th century after Berlin conference. The colonialists were never satisfied with their political and territorial boundaries; hence they started eying other territories with the aim of annexing them. Example;

British were interested in Mesopotamia, Iraq and Palestine which were the colonies of Turkey so as to secure Egypt.

Russia was interested in the partitioning of Turkey and Constantinople (present day Ukraine)

Japan was interested in expanding to China, Korea and other parts of Far East.


5. Moroccan Crisis (Crash over Morocco) in 1904 and 1911

The first and the second Moroccan crises of 1905 and 1911 respectively intensified the old hostile relation between Germany and France that was planted by the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871. Germany was attempting not primarily to keep French out of Morocco nor even to reserve Morocco to itself, but to break up the new understanding between France and England. The conference of 1906 supported the French claims in Morocco. The Germans government had thus created an incident and been rebuffed. British were disturbed by German diplomatic tactics but she stood by the French all the more firmly.

6. Formation of Entangling Military Alliances.

Military Alliance was the military union of the big capitalist nations formed for mutual benefits, like fighting together against common enemies. The military alliance formed were the Dual Alliance (1879) created between Austria Hungary and Germany but it changed to Triple Alliance after the joining of Italy to the alliance. On the other hand, France and Russia began political friendship which moved to Alliance in 1890, later on Britain join the Alliance in 1907 and came to be known as Triple Entente.

These alliances were accompanies with militarization which intensified fear and suspicion which stimulated aggression among the conflicting nations.


B. Immediate Causes of the First World War

These were the reasons that sparked off the outbreak/occurrence of First World War in 1914. There was only one factor that triggered off the outbreak of the First World War which was;


7. The Assassination of Ferdinand Archduke in Sarajevo the capital city of Bosnia.

On June 28, 1914, the Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in the empire. Archduke who would soon become the emperor of Austrian throne. For this Austria Hungary accused directly the Serbia government to have fully involved itself in the murder.

General impacts of the First World War

By the end of 1918 the European communities and the surrounding land witnessed death by tens of thousands; no one could have predicted the horrifying consequences of modern weapon being used together with out-of date’s tactics. People were affected directly and some indirectly. The effects are summarized here under;


Destruction of the economic infrastructure i.e. banks, industries, factories and roads and railways which were badly damaged by the war.

Many people were killed, it is estimated that in one hour (60 minutes) more than 3 millions of people were killed in the 2nd year of the war. This led to highly depopulation in Europe.

Failure of the economy and inflation of many European countries currencies.

Formation of dictatorship regime in Europe, i.e. NAZISM of Hitler in Germany and FASCISM of Mussolini in Italy.

The birth of League of nations in 1919

The occurrence of Great depression (economic slump), which invaded Europe and the global community at large, resulted from this great war of the 1914.

Dispossession of Germany colonies because she was accused of mobilizing the war.

It was the initial stage of the rise USA as giant capitalist nations in the world.

Effects of First World War on Africa

As matter of fact, the world war one didn’t originated in Africa, but still Africans were badly affected by the war, just because of being a colony of big power. Such effects included;

Intensification of exploitation of Africa aimed at recovery the war ruined European economies.

Cut down the colonial expenditure so as to reduce expenses and raise income.

Launching of different schemes in Africa i.e. land rehabilitation schemes and crops schemes.

Change of colonial master, i.e. Rwanda, Burundi and Tanganyika fall under Britain. These were formerly Germany colonies.

Prices of crops were lowered so as to maximize profits.

Forced labour was more intensified in colonies especially in Africa.

Depopulation, as many soldiers who went to battle field some of them died, while some came back with new nationalist ideas.

Economic stagnation

Famine and social miseries

Post War Settlement


This was the period after the war, whereby the international community led by the big nations summoned a meeting to evaluate the magnitude of the war, the causal, effects and nations involved in that war and to propose strategies that could be used to restore and maintain peace and order in the world. It aimed at preventing the occurrence of another world war.