Abstract:

The First World War constituted the mould for the 20th century. This was the first time countries were engaged in such a total war that drew on all their na-tional resources. For the first time too a European war involved major non-European countries, a fact that heralded redistribution of the centres of power on a global scale and, in particular, the rise of America. The Great War and its aftermath were also a hiatus for the European international system. Previously European wars had not broken out in this way, they had not been waged in this manner, and above all they had not ended as such and had not led to the same form of peace, all of which had consequences, the effects of which are still apparent today.


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