Chapter 20 (pg973-1017)

         The "Great War" was known as the First World War. Europe had assumed an increasingly prominent position on the global stage, driven by its growing military capacity and the marvels of its scientific and industrial revolution. Few could have imagined that is "proud power" of European dominance would lie shattered less than a half century later. The starting point in that unraveling was the First World War. Since the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, a fragile and fluctuating balance of power had generally maintained the peace among Europe's major countries. The war broke out due to archduke's assasination prolonged the conflict. 

Legacies of the Great War

         In the late summer of 1914 was war was suppose to end by Christmas but it lasted for four years. Extended battles lasting months such as those at Verdum and the Somme in France generated causalities of a million or more each, as the Destructive potential of Industrialized warfare made itself  tragically felt. The German state, for example, assumed such control over the economy that its policies became known as "war socialism". Vast propaganda campaigns sought to arouse citizens by depicting a cruel and inhuman enemy who killed innocent children. Labor unions agreed to suspend strikes and accept sacrifices for the common good, while women, replacing the men who had left the factories for the battlefront.

         If World War 1 represented the political collapse of Europe, this catastrophic downturn suggested that Western capitalism was likewise failing. During the 19th century, the economic system had spurred the most substantial economic growth in world history. Much of Europe's worldwide empires had globalized the Great War, its economic linkages globalized the Great Depression. Countries or colonies tied to exporting one or two products were especially hard hit. The Great depression also sharply challenged the governments of industrialized capitalist countries, which generally had believed that the economy would regulate itself through the market. 

         The modern history of Japan parallel that Italy and Germany. All three were newcomers to great  power status, with Japan joining the club of industrilized and empir-building states only in the late 19th century.