Civilian life was also altered by the dawn of new forms of government that followed the conclusion of the war. It can be said that frustrations towards governments is what could have added to the snowball toward war, but even as the war raged on this frustration remained and grew larger in fact. It did not take a wait till the end of the war for governments to get turned upside down, though. As seen in Russia, it could happen at anytime even if that time is wartime. What was to follow in Russia would eventually duplicate itself in other countries across Europe, and other parts of the world. While Russia was already engaged in World War I, a mutiny against the current government occurred. Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, or also commonly know as Lenin, whom had been in exile in Germany at the outbreak of war, was sent back to Russia to seemingly overthrow the sitting government and pull the Russians out of the war. This is exactly what he did. Russian civilians and soldiers were all tired of war already and dissatisfied with the people leading the country. The door was open for a new leader and a new type of government to emerge. This is exactly what Lenin essentially was. Lenin took over Russia by creating a Marxist revolution and implemented the Communist government in control of the country. (Kishlansky, “What Is to Be Done?” 272) This extreme step was the milestone in which copies of were eventually created in both Italy and Germany following World War I. It can be thought that three Fascist dictators may have never had the opportunity to gain control of vast empires without a World War stunting the human race. Joseph Stalin, who took over control in Russia after the fall of Lenin, Benito Mussolini in Italy, and Adolf Hitler of Germany, became the leaders of their country because of the disgust the common people had for the sitting powers. Possibly without the instillation of Lenin as the head of the Soviet Union, these three powerful and ultimate killers would have never had a chance at power. All of this mistrust with the governments was also not helped at all by the statement and eventually massive miscalculation that all the opposing forces made that the troops would be “home for Christmas.” As all the countries involved in the conflict came to find out, this war would last for many years, not just a few months. The elongation of fighting made the civilian population distrust their leaders and again leave the possibility for new governmental approaches open. The final event to mention involving the outcomes and effects that World War I had on the world’s governments would be found out twenty years later. When the fighting stopped and the war ended, no real treaty was signed. Instead, an armistice was signed as a cease fire between the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente. The only thing that this hopeful piece of paper did was delay the start of World War II. This “ink waster” was nothing but a twenty year cease fire between Germany and the World. The mistake of not signing a treaty, and not effectively dealing with the “losing” or defeated sides of the war made a flaming cinder that would eventually engulf the world in a bigger and hotter fire. World War I was a harsh lesson to governments all over the planet that war of awesome magnitude could possibly erupt at any time, and that nowhere was free and clear of such devastation. Yet again, in 1939 the world would see this to be true in déjà vu fashion.
Ernst Junger said of one of his fellow soldiers in his first novel, Storm of Steel, “One could see that the man had been through horror to the limit of despair and there had learned to despise it. Nothing was left but supreme and superhuman indifference.” (Kishlansky, Storm of Steel 266) No one was prepared for the war, or the outcomes from the war… but it was the soldier who became the most staggered and bewildered by this new “great war,” and its new type of warfare. There was hardly any offense in the fighting. Defense was king and the side able to hold the ground would end up being the victor. Trench warfare, the machine gun, and mustard gas ruled the battlefield and the side able to utilize these three were the dominant soldiers. The book speaks that the development of trench warfare on the Western Front of the war hindered the military leaders who had expected to fight war based on military movement and maneuvering. The leaders learned of their follies after sending hoards of soldiers to there death over open fields towards trenches with machine gun nests. (Kishlansky, 267) The advent of the machine gun changed war forever and was tested first hand in the bloody battles of WWI. With the use of trench warfare and technology playing a major role in this defensive war, it was only natural for the use of long range cannons to come into play. Junger wrote in his novel about at all times of day hearing the shells flying by and seeing familiar buildings fallen to the ground, no longer a structure but now simply rock.. “From nine to ten the shelling was frantic. The earth rocked and the sky boiled like a gigantic cauldron.” (Kishlansky, Storm of Steel, 267) The psychological strain on the common soldier had to have been seen for a long time after the final bullet was shot. But even if no bullets were shot, the thick cloud of gas along the ground would have been enough to scar anyone. The high use of mustard gas was something that no soldier had ever seen before. It was one of the most effective ways of killing, especially while the other side hid in the trenches. The gas would simply seep down into the trench and stay, killing or maiming whoever it came into contact with. Soldiers on both sides were changed forever in these battles. Ernst Junger probably stated the prolonged and lasting effects of the war on those who fought it best with his line, “Time only strengthens my conviction that it was a good and strenuous life, and that the war, for all its destructiveness, was an incomparable schooling of the heart.” (Kishlansky, Storm of Steel)
World War I affected all aspects of life during and after it occurred. The world, from average citizens, to soldiers and governments, was never quite the same after it was all said and after it was all done. The world became a much smaller place after World War I. Maybe this occurred because of the unity between soldiers of different countries fighting for common cause, but it probably happened because of the loss of humanity that was felt by all, and giving them all something to share in common.