1) The Peace Treaties: They weakened Germany only temporarily because some of clauses like Disarmament and huge War Reparations were impossible to implement. Germany soon began rearmingitself with help of Russians and defaulted on the payments towards reparations.

a) The treaties only served to sow seeds of resentment and extreme national rivalries which were toharvest in form of the World War II.

b) Treaties divided Europe into two groups of states. While one group wanted to revise the peacesettlements, the other group wanted to defend/preserve the peace settlements.

c) US did not ratify the peace settlements and never joined the League of Nations as the public soondenounced Wilson and US reverted back to the Policy of Isolation to prevent any militaryengagement in future.

d) Italy felt cheated as it did not get all the territory that was promised to it in lieu of entering the warin 1915.

2) League of Nations was created to ensure world peace and for social work.

3) Russia became Communist: World War I led to rise of revolting Bolsheviks who were against the Russianparticipation in the war due to the economic burden it brought upon the Russian population. There weretwo phases of Russian Revolution of 1917. In the February Revolution (1917) the Czar was overthrown due to army mutinies and the civil unrest. A provisional government was setup but it failed to hold the

promised elections. Helped by the Germans, Lenin returned from exile to Russia and this paved way for the October Revolution (1917) that led to overthrow of the Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, came to power and a separate peace treaty (Treaty of Brest Litovsk) was signed with Germany in 1917. This treaty was very harsh upon the Russians and was used against the Germans when theycomplained about theTreaty of Versailles being immoral and excessively harsh.

4) Rise of US as a hegemonic power: US entered the war in 1917 when the German blockade of ships(1917) started targeting all the merchant vessels in Atlantic, including of the US. The Zimmerman Planwas another factor which changed the public opinion in US in favor of entering the war. This plan was aproduct of German diplomat Zimmerman and entailed persuading Mexico to attack US. Also, earlier USdid not want to enter the war on side of the autocratic Czar. The spirit of American Revolution was

behind the US reluctance. But the fall of the Czarist regime in Russia removed this barrier as well. Thefollowing factors helped US emerge as the true winner from the World WarI:

a) The war was not fought on the US soil. Thus, US escaped the usual damage to infrastructure andthe consequent economic costs of reconstruction a war brings.

b) US intervened militarily only during the last phase of the World War I and thus it lost minimalsoldiers in the warfare unlike the Europeans who had to deal with the shelling and the trenchwarfare.

c) US gave loans to the Allied Powers during the war and to the Germans after the end of the war tomeet the reparation costs imposed on them under the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, US made a lot ofmoney through World War I. Its war machine i.e. the military industries gained the most by sellingweapons during and after the war. The decade after the war, till 1929 when the economic crisis hitUS, was one of the most prosperous for US.

d) The leading role played by President Woodrow Wilson in the negotiations in Versaillesis asymbolic proof of the stature of US during and after the World War I.Thus, although even on the eve of World War I, US was the leading industrial economy, the World War Icatalysed its arrival on the world stage as a truly global power.

5) European economy suffered due to the war and European nations became dependent on loans from USfor reconstruction.

6) Dismemberment of Ottoman Empire: The Ottoman empire disintegrated after its loss in the World WarI and the new nation state of Turkey came into being.

7) Disintegration of Habsburg Empire: Austria-Hungary separated on their own justbefore the end of theWorld War I and the Habsburg empire came to an end.

8) Rise of new nations states: Turkey, Austria and Hungary were created as mentioned above. Further,Czechoslovakia and Poland were created. Serbia fulfilled its dream of uniting the Slav people underYugoslavia which was formed by merging Serbia and Montenegro. Also, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were made independent nations. Germany had ceased them from Russia after the Treaty of BrestLitovsk (1917).

9) Imperialism continued: The German colonies were converted into Mandates. Mandates were handedover to the victors for preparing them for independence at a suitable future date. The British got theGerman colonies in Africa. Ottoman Empire’sterritories of Iraq, Syria, TransJordan and Palestine were distributed as Mandates among France and Britain.

10) Introduction of new Weapons: Many new weapons were used for the first time in World War I. BarbedWires, Machine Guns, Tanks, Poison Gas and Shelling were put to great use. This pushed the world awayfrom peace and ensured that the future wars weremore dangerous.

11) World War I did change the people’s outlook towards war: War was now condemned by many thinkersdue to the high civilian casualties. Before the World War I, war was cited as glorious and there was adominating flavor of romanticism in the literature being published. This changed after the World War Iand writers like Hemingway began denouncing the war as inhuman. Most viewed the World War I as atragedy because it didn't need to happen, it didn't accomplish much and it only created socio-economicconditions that made World War II more likely.