How Does Ww1 Affect The Economy

World War I, one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of human civilization, brought tremendous damage not only to the military and those on the front-lines, but the home-front the soldiers fought so hard to protect. With massive technological and weapon advancements, old strategy and methods no longer functioned in the conflict. World War I introduced the concept of total war as the conflict affected the total population. The repercussions were felt globally with food shortages, military occupations, civilian deaths, and the loss of many laborers that had left to fight. The disruption of an age of globalization extended past the end of the war. World War I encompassed all aspects of life, both military and civilian. Global economics

Niall Ferguson writes in The War of the World, “(investors and financiers in London) had a great deal to lose in the event of such a war”. Financier Ivan Bloch, estimated the war would cause an immediate drop in price of securities, a large blow to the stock market. In the age of a newly globalized world, such predictions not only spelled financial ruin for those in possession of the securities, but the global stock market and trade. German U-boats literally sank 13 million tons of shipping, a huge loss for the economy, both within individual countries and on a global scale. Civilian companies such as N. M. Rothschild & Sons in London, lost an estimated £1.5 million as a direct result of the First World War. Such economic losses deeply affected individuals as fortunes were lost and the impoverished struggled with an already bleak financial situation. The global economics took a large hit as distrust between international companies led to ad downturn in global trade after the war. Securities for companies such as the American railroads destabilized as European stock holders rapidly attempted to liquidate their holdings. These actions affected international stock prices as fear of the war caused people to exchange securities for physical currency which caused stocks to drop and civilians to lose

Civilians had their property decimated by the war as well as a massive loss of lives. Storm of Steel, by Ernst Jünger, details such gore as the German army enters a town that had clearly fallen victim to war. He describes the town as “the image of dread” and describes the image of a young girl, dead on the doorstep of a house, a clear sign of the war’s impact on the lives of civilians. These portrayals contrast with the antebellum view provided by MCMXIV, by Philip Larkin, that details a “countryside not caring” and provides a gentle air of innocence that “Never before or since,/As changed itself to past/Without a word—the men/Leaving gardens tidy,/The thousands of marriages/Lasting a little while longer:/Never such innocence again”. The innocence describes the peace before the war and the impact caused as “thousands of marriages/Lasting a little while longer”. The description of marriages won to be over as men leave for war is a powerful image of the impact of military deaths on civilians, as well as the death of civilians as collateral