Treaty of Versailles singed in 1919 was dominated by the Big Three. The defeated states were forced to accept it. There were strong resentment among the people in those countries such as Germany. Italians also harboured ill-feeling towards the treaties as they didn’t get what they were promised in the Treaty of London in 1915. The sense of national humiliation facilitated the rise of strong leaders who were ambitious , thus provided a favourable circumstance to the rise of totalitarian government. It was unwelcome to peace as strong foreign policy would be adopted. This in turn led to the outbreak of second world war.
Cultural communication became easier with the spread of mass media. The European cinema did not recover ground lost during the Great War, but Hollywood had by 1918 established a lead it never lost, so, most films shown in Britain and, to a slightly lesser degree, continental cinema after the war were made by American.Through them mass entertainment rapidly acquired a transatlantic flavour. Britain was successful to lead radio became a great force in mass communitcation. It was because the price of receiving sets decreased, their quantity demanded increased. By 1930’s, there were 2 millions sets, the popularity of radio rised. Other countries quickly followed. Both cinema and radio were a great educational force, diffusion notions of the desirable life which were often at variance with tradition, accepted practice and even at times, economic reality. It was a great standandizer of attitudes and manners. They were already sharping public attitudes. Some politican made use of these mass communication to spread out their ideas. For examples, the Nazis presented to the world a pictures of new ideas and irresistible Germany through films of massed storm-troppers and great party rallies. The Russians made great use of radio propaganda abroad, especially in the Middle East and India. These helped the spread of Nazism, Mazzism and Communism, paved the way of World War II.
The most important social impact of the First World War was the rising status of women. When the First World War was declared, large numbers of men were compulsory conscripted into the armed forces. The countries were no desperately short of labour. The governments decided that more wonmen would have to become involved in producing food and goods to support their war effort. Women found themselves filling many positions that had previously been reserved for men, as well as continuing to maintain traditional but no less important roles such as nursing. It was suggested that as a reward for their effort, women should be given the right to vote after the war. Let's take Britain as an example: On 6th February, 1918, Royal assent was given to the "Representation of the People Act", declaring that women were voters. Indeed, women had reaped a rich harvest of joy, laughter, romance, championship, and experience that no money can buy. On the other hand, the First World War also left Europe with other social impacts such as widespread diseases, thousands of refugees and broken homes. In short, the First World War had both positive and negative social impacts.
Militarily speaking, the First World War also affected the whole world. During The First World War, many new weapons were introduced and invented. Different countries competed to build new weapons in order to increase their military strength and win the war. Mechanized warfare, chemical warfare, biological warfare, tanks and air forces were introduced. Mechanized warfare included vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel engines, cannons and machine guns. All of them caused a great number of death and causalties. Tanks and air forces opened up the modern warfare. Tanks were developed by the British and first employed in The First World War in 1916. Chemical warfare included poison gases and other chemical substances. Poison gas was first used in the First World War when the Germans released chlorine gas against the Allies in Apr. 1915. We can see that the military impact of the First World War is far-reaching because it introduced a new kind of warfare. It paved the way for the development of new weapons in the following decades. The scientific discoveries and invention also made the World War Two more destructive than before.
As a conclusion, the First World War affected the whole world. The political structure, economic development, cultural and social life of people, and scientific development were all influenced. The war changed the world completely and it also sowed the seeds of the Second World War. We can conclude that the War had a very great influence on the world.
