Possible UPSC Questions
- “The First World War ended Europe’s primacy and prepared the ground for bipolarity.” Discuss.
- Evaluate the impact of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) on inter-war international politics.
- Explain the term “balkanisation” in the context of the Ottoman Empire’s disintegration.
- Assess India’s military and economic contribution to World War I.
Quick Outline of Key Facts
| Aspect | Details |
| Immediate cause | Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo (28 June 1914) |
| Main blocs | Allied Powers – Britain, France, Russia (later joined by US, 1917) vs Central Powers – Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire |
| Warfare | Predominantly trench warfare on Western Front (Somme, Verdun, Ypres); limited use of tanks & aircraft |
| Human cost | ~17 million dead; Indian troops > 1 million; India Gate commemorates fallen |
| 1917 turning-points | Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution → exit via Treaty of Brest-Litovsk; Balfour Declaration → future Israel; US entry |
| End & peace | Armistice: 11 Nov 1918 (11th hour, 11th day, 11th month) → Treaty of Versailles (1919) with “War Guilt” & reparations on Germany |
| Empires dissolved | Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Russian Romanov → new nation-states; League of Nations mandate system (Syria, Iraq, Palestine, etc.) |
| Long-term impact | Rise of US & USSR, decline of European dominance; groundwork for WWII (1939) & Cold War; redrawing of West Asia boundaries |
Summary
World War I – often called the “Great War” – shattered the nineteenth-century European order that had survived, despite minor conflicts, since the Congress of Vienna (1815). Sparked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 and fanned by tangled alliances, the conflict pitted the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire) against the Allied Powers (Britain, France, Russia, later the United States).
Fighting rapidly became a war of attrition, epitomised by trench systems stretching from the Belgian coast to Switzerland. Technological innovations such as machine-guns, poison gas, early tanks and aircraft increased lethality but produced little mobility; battles like the Somme and Verdun caused enormous casualties with minimal territorial gain. In the absence of antibiotics, infected wounds were often fatal, leaving profound psychological scars that found expression in the poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.
The war globalised through imperial linkages: over a million Indian soldiers served in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In West Asia, Britain’s Gallipoli failure against Ottoman Turkey illustrated the campaign’s breadth. Two critical 1917 events reshaped the war’s trajectory: the Bolshevik Revolution pulled Russia out via the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, while the United States, entering on the Allied side, tipped the balance with fresh manpower and resources.
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the fighting but the Paris Peace Conference that followed imposed severe reparations and the controversial “war guilt” clause on Germany. John Maynard Keynes famously warned in The Economic Consequences of the Peace that such terms bred future conflict – a prophecy realised with Hitler’s rise in 1933 and the outbreak of WWII six years later.
Most visibly, WWI dismantled centuries-old empires. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman entities fragmented into multiple successor states, a process dubbed “balkanisation”. The League of Nations created mandates over former Ottoman lands, allocating Iraq and Palestine to Britain and Syria-Lebanon to France – arrangements sowing seeds of later Middle-Eastern turmoil. Europe’s strategic decline was matched by the ascent of two extra-European powers: the US and the Soviet Union, who would later anchor the bipolar Cold War order.
Thus, WWI acted as a hinge in modern history: it redrew political maps, redirected economic power, and transformed warfare and diplomacy, making the conflict indispensable for understanding twentieth-century international relations.
Significance to the UPSC Exam
- GS I (World History): collapse of empires, Versailles settlement, inter-war instability.
- GS II (International Relations): birth of League of Nations, US ascent, Soviet emergence, West Asian mandates shaping contemporary geopolitics.
Essay/Optional: themes of war-guilt, economic reparations, impact on colonies (India’s role), ideological shifts (Bolshevism, Wilsonian idealism).
Understanding WWI equips aspirants to link colonial contributions, national movements, and subsequent global conflicts—core areas across Prelims, GS Mains and History optional.
