World War 1
World War I was deemed the end of all wars but led to unprecedented human and economic costs. The War cost more than nine million soldiers and 12 million civilians through its four-year duration. Britain and Germany, among other countries, spent enormous resources in the fight and only managed to breed ground for international hostilities. The human losses resulted directly from the conflict and through deaths from disease and confinement. The social and economic cost of World War I proved that wars are not the recommended ways to solve disputes.
The major participating countries allocated substantial financial resources to the War, adversely affecting their economies. France spent more than half of their national wealth on funding the conflict while Britain and Germany allocated close to 60% of their national wealth to war-related expenses. The USA, although joined the War later, spent 17% of its GDP on the War (Vujačić and Aradarenko(Eds.), 2015). Germany suffered additional losses in the aftermath as the post-war agreement required the country to pay for the damages of the War. Other indirect economic losses included destruction of infrastructure. The human loss of the War was unprecedented as the conflict claimed close to 1% of both the civilian and military population of the participating countries (Vujačić and Aradarenko(Eds.), 2015). France, Serbia-Montenegro and Romania comprised the allies with the most substantial proportion of the human loss. Russia also suffered massive human casualties, as did Britain, Italy, and Hungary.
World War I was an unprecedented conflict that relied on the national wealth of countries. The economic performance of countries like Britain and Russia substantially diminished after the War. Britain depleted almost a quarter of its overseas investments towards the War (Vujačić and Aradarenko(Eds.), 2015). France, on the other hand, incurred heavy losses because of the debt burden from Russian loans. Among the allied powers, France lost 25% of its soldiers while Russia lost 30% Romania 6% while Britain lost 16% of its military personnel. Germany suffered the most significant loss in military deaths among the allied forces at 52%, followed by Austria-Germany at 35% and the Ottoman empire at 10% (Robert-schuman.org). World War 1 involved many countries leading to unprecedented loss of human and economic resources.
References
Robert-schuman.org. World War I Casualties. accessed 23rd April 2020 from http://www.centre-robert-schuman.org/userfiles/files/REPERES%20%E2%80%93%20module%201-1-1%20-%20explanatory%20notes%20%E2%80%93%20World%20War%20I%20casualties%20%E2%80%93%20EN.pdf
Vujačić, I., & Aradarenko, M. (Eds.). (2015). The Economic Causes and Consequences of the First World War. Publishing Center, Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade.