HST 504 Lecture 5: HST 504 - Week 5.docx

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: History
• Course: HST 504
• Professor: Mike Kasprzak

Document Summary

The legacy of the great war: the changed world. Firstly, trying to win the war, all of the european belligerents seriously depleted their treasuries. It is roughly estimated that the great war cost about billion. The non-european world was the main beneficiary of the changes in trade and industrial production that ensued as a result of the fighting in europe. Whatever manufacturing industries and markets britain, france and germany lost were taken over by the. In the course of the war, the great powers turned from creditors to debtors. The landscapes of france, serbia or poland the war"s winners unfortunately constituted the war"s battlegrounds. Ironically, the industrial areas and agricultural lands of the winners had been destroyed, while those of the losers, like germany, had remained undamaged. Secondly, beyond europe"s loss of economic dominance, there were significant political geostrategic shifts as well. The balance of power system of five european great powers was spent.