Pre–World War One Europe consisted of several large and powerful nations, these nations were rivalling over the largest and most powerful armies, navies, the greatest and most far reaching empire and the most effective workforce. These rivalries lead way to a build up of tension throughout Europe, tension which was heightened by the conflicts occurring before the outbreak of War, such as the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. The murder of Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian empire began the events which turned a strained Europe into one at War. The Austro-Hungarians dispatched an ultimatum to Serbia demnanding that the assassin (who was believed to be of the Black Hand group, believed to be in league with the Serbians (the truth of this is now contested)) to justice. Serbia refused the strict terms imposed through the document, leaving the Austro-Hungarian empire feeling justified in declaring war upon them. It was the Austro-Hungarians who approached Germany for an ally, should Russia decide to defend Serbia, which they did.  Then Britain, French and Italy also agreed to defend Serbia as Russian allies.

There were many individual battles which made up World War One; however, the borders of the fronts altered little throughout the war years. Germany quickly found itself attacked on two fronts. It had miscalculated the time it would take Russia to mobilise its forces and launch an attack in the East. Germany had estimated that Russia would take three weeks after the outbreak of war, giving Germany enough time to take France, unfortunately the Russians only took three days; consequently the German forces were spread out. However, the Russians, after an initial push took little land because of their, for the most part, incompetent commanders and the growing revolutionary ethos in Russia (see the Russian Revolution).  The Russians, despite this, did continually demand the attention of Germany and therefore eased the pressure on the Western Front. This was until Russia made peace with Germany in early-1918 resulting in the transportation of a million German troops to the Western Front. Up to this time the Western Front had changed little. In the first year the Germans had taken Belgium and the uppermost part of France quickly, by the second year trenches were dug and the border settled down. For the next two years there were many battles between the Allies and the Germans, including The Battle of Verdun, early-1916 and The Battle of the Somme (also known as ‘The Big Push’), 1916. Britain and France managed to push the Germans back slowly and only a few miles at a time. After peace in the East, the Germans decided for one last offensive, realising that, with the increasing number of American troops in France, this was their last chance. In March 1918 this offensive ended, by July a counterattack was imminent and 11th November saw the end of the fighting as peace descended on Europe.

The human cost of the War was catastrophic, estimates of casualties are around 35 million. The British civilians saw bombing in the south of England, notably Scarborough, by German Zeppelins. But the effect was further reaching for northern France and Belgium. France lost almost an entire generation of young men to death or injury. France and Belgium had also formed the battlegrounds of the Western front and were devastated, partially wiped out. It would be several years before these were rebuilt and several more before all the countries involved recovered financially from the conflict.

In Britain the question of women’s suffrage had long been debated and before the War the dispute was coming to a head, the suffragettes stepped up military action, but the ministers refused to alter the law. However, in response to the actions of women during the war when they kept factories running, the military supplied and food growing, they did receive the vote and by 1928 all women and men over 21 could vote.

The longer term impact, in short, developed into WWII; the feeling of animosity towards the allies, harboured by Germans following the peace treaty, The Treaty of Versailles, turned into the hatred that Hitler harnessed during the 1930s. Also, the destruction caused by the first war, meant Britain, France and other nationswanted to avoid another war at all costs; this lead to the 1930s policy of appeasement, which delayed WWII, but made it inevitable (I cannot argue though that had appeasement not happened, WWII would not have occurred, or would have been any less appalling).

Ironically, the ‘war to end all future wars’ and the handling of the situation after the war, lead and resulted in another such war, which would, in total, kill more people.