What effects did World War I have on social classes?

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What effects did World War I have on social classes? Discuss in an essay of no more than 2000 words

World War I, the Great War, the War to end all Wars", each of these soubriquets has been used to describe the conflagration that exploded on the world, or more particularly, European stage in 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in June 1914. However, why should this conflict have an impact on the world that was greater in its significance than any of the myriad conflicts that had taken place in the preceding centuries, leaving aside the important fact that Europe, in the previous century had enjoyed relative calm when compared to the period that began with Churchill's victory at Blenheim and ended with Napoleon's downfall at the hands of Wellington at Waterloo?

The simple answer would be to state that the world had changed beyond recognition since 1815, the advent of nationalism that had grown throughout the later decades of the nineteenth century had given birth to a world that people born a few years earlier would not be able to recognise. In addition, industrialisation on a grand scale across Europe, following the lead of Britain in particular, meant that the armies that marched off to war were armed with weapons that had been unthinkable in the complexity and numbers and yet were becoming increasingly taken for granted. Indeed, Briggs makes reference to Bagehot's view that "modern society had moved...into the 'age of discussion'" (p.273, History of England)

It is reasonable to take World War I to mean the period August 1914 - November 1918 for the purposes of the essay, in my opinion. Therefore, what needs to be defined, before an effective answer can be constructed, is what is the phrase "social classes" and what it encompasses. Any answer must also involve comparison between pre and post war society in order to demonstrate what changes were brought about, if any. Furthermore, I believe that in order to provide an accurate response it is imperative that "social classes" is expanded beyond the stereo-typical definition of upper, middle and working class to look specifically at the effects of the war on women and children since they were affected in ways which the men fighting were not and vice versa.
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Much of Europe, at the start of the war, was still ruled by monarchies of varying degrees, from the democratic, parliamentary Britain to the autocratic total monarchy of Russia, where the Tsar still ruled with an iron fist and without recourse to the people. The Kaiser dominated Germany and an Emperor ruled Austria-Hungary. In the west, there was a wealthy aristocracy that exerted an influence far beyond its numbers, based on a centuries old system of "noblesse oblige", whilst the Russian aristocracy treated the peasantry as pawns.

Lower down the social order were the so-called middle/professional classes-self ...

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