What Was The Political Impact Of Wwi On Europe?

The first Total War also known as the Ð''bloodiest' war of the century, WWI proved to have a great impact upon all of Europe. Politically, there is a clear scene of what impact the War had on the main powers in Europe: for some countries, such as France and Britain, the change in regime was merely slight, in Germany rather significant, whereas in Russia it proved drastic and sparked off two revolutions. Hence, there were several common aspects of political impacts, both direct and indirect.

One of the instances of indirect political impact of WWI was the steadfastly developed idea of Ð''unity' behind ones government, borne by feelings of patriotism. This mainly existed at the very beginning of war, for example in France, the famous Ð''Union Sacre' formed in around 1914 is an illustration of where socialist ideas were put side in favour of nationalist feelings. Similarly in Germany Ð''Burgfrieden' pursued contamination socialism at the time. This enthusiasm could also be observed in Russia in early 1914, where everyone united behind the Tsar with constant demonstrations carrying his portraits. Such action, even from his opponents, again proves the great eagerness of nations to defeat the enemy and stresses a very new enhancement of nationalism above other political ideas throughout Europe. This accordingly strengthened the governments, providing them with an optimistic thrust as an initial political impact of WWI.

A more direct impact upon politics of the time was the governments' abrupt reduction of political freedom. This advanced as a consequence of mobilization of countries in order to support war effort, examples of which could be found in Britain, where magazines were subject to government censorship under the Defense of the Realm Act (DORA), introduced in 1914. The War Office supplied the magazine Ð''Great Push' with only information and photographs that it desires the public to see. Essentially, the DORA granted the government extensive powers during the war period, such as the power to requisition buildings or land needed for the war effort. Some of the things the British public was not allowed to do include; flying a kite or lighting a bonfire. This demonstrates how propaganda was used to maintain people's morale, keep them enthusiastic about the long-lasting war. Censorship was adopted to convince people that the war was progressing well; in Russia letters from the front were censored in order to have civilians feel satisfied and not oppose the war. In Germany official propaganda did its utmost to assure the Germans that final victory was close and that the supply situation (blockade) would get better once Germany would be able to import grain from Ukraine. All this highlights the adaptation of freedom reduction around the European governments due to war mobilization and miscalculations.

Elements of war opposition were a pervasive impact upon Europe politically too. Pacifists were very common everywhere and a worthy example of such would be in Britain, where conscription was introduced during WW1 and consequently an anti-conscription fellowship was founded in 1916 by Clifford Allen. Women's Peace Party organized in The Hague during the war, which included women from all the European fighting powers. These accentuate the strong anti-war feelings everywhere, considering that all women united despite the region or alliance their country was fighting for. In Austria-Hungary in 1916 there was a more secret element of war opposition: the new emperor Karl put out secret peace feelers, which again signifies that the original enthusiasm was fading away in groups