1. In World War One

2.  War has many direct impacts on the economy of participating countries, mainly in military expenditures.  Primarily, a country must be fairly confident in its economic status in order to dive into war.  Generally, by the end of the war, losing countries will have a battered economy.

3.  Germany had a thriving economy before and during WW1, and was excited to compete with the French and British economies, who were also growing.  Germany, who had entered the race of imperialism quite late, was now able to compete with the British Navy and Military. Britain, France, and Germany needed more resources to support their growing economies. African colonies proved a good solution.  This competition caused an all out arms race. Britain’s policy was because she had the largest overseas empire, she would have to have the largest navy (larger than the second and third largest combined).

4.  The arms race took a toll on the economies of Britain and Germany. Because expenditures were increasing for military purposes.  As the war progressed, economies weren't faring as well as they were at the start of the war.

5. The graph on the left shows how Britain’s Economy was affected over the years of WW1.

6.  By the end of the War, Germany was devastated. By the time France, Britain, and America and reached a mutual conclusion as to Germany’s punishment for “starting the war”. Germany’s economy was practically sentenced to death.  Germany had to pay a vast amount for “reparations”. Which made the German mark nearly worthless due to inflation.  Britain and France were also in great debt to the USA, who had lent them a great deal of money. The USA became the economic center of the world when she ordered France and Britain to repay their debts, and gave loans to Germany to pay the “reparations.”

7.  WW1 made countries put all of their inventing power into coming up with new ways to communicate, move, and effectively kill enemies.  Inventions during war seem to suddenly skyrocket because of a general feeling of competition.

8.  With the first WW1, came with a clash of 20 th century technology and 19 th century tactics. Armies were modernized and were making use of telephone, wireless communication, armored tanks, and aircraft.

9.  WW1 saw the creation of  Chemical Warfare  Aircraft  Trenches  Trench railways  Big Berthas (big guns that could take trains)  Zeppelins  Aerial Reconnaissance  Aerial Photography  U-Boats  Depth Charges  Flamethrowers  Observation Balloons  Machine guns (first stationary, then portable)  And Passive Sonar

10.  These inventions were all created within the time period of WW1. This shows that humans work much more efficiently when there is an incentive (defeat the enemies).  Thus it is shown that WW1 had such a great impact on technology that changed our everyday lives.