Effect

England had also been the great creditor nation of the world, providing shipping and insurance services to the rest of the world. The cost of the war was so great that England consumed all of its credits and became heavily indebted to the United States. As a result of the war, the world's financial center shifted from England to the United States, from London to New York. In France, the heavy loss in manpower at the front decimated an entire generation of Frenchmen and is thought to have created a leadership vacuum when that generation came of age. France had fallen behind Germany and England in population during the 19th century. They were, therefore, less able to sustain wartime losses. France also suffered untold property damage since most of the war on the western front was fought on French soil. Furthermore, the United States was a great continental power, with great population and resources. The war stimulated the U.S. economy, increased employment and wages, and brought great profit to industry. The United States emerged from the war as clearly the greatest power in the world as well as the creditor nation of the world. U.S. losses in life were great, more than 100,000, but this was small in comparison to the millions lost by the other major powers. Germany had entered World War I as the greatest power among the belligerents, with its people immensely proud of Germany's achievements in the years since unification. Defeat in war was a profound shock, and coupled with economic privation and collapse, was more than the German people could accept. Austria-Hungary collapsed during the war, torn apart by its multi-national divisions. Though the Treaty negotiators in Paris in 1919 recognized a new political arrangement after the war, it, too, lacked stability because it was impossible to put to rest the multi-ethnic tension between the people in the region. In Russia, the war led to the Russian Revolution and a civil war which continued the conflict for three years beyond World War I. The civil war involved foreign intervention, almost total disintegration of the economy and by 1921 massive famine.

In other words, the war accelerated the process of change driven by industrialization, and created circumstances in Germany, in the Balkans, and in Russia which people were not prepared for. The problems, the instability, the uncertainties, and the economic collapse created by the war were far more difficult to deal with than any situation that existed prior to the war.

Outcome
The outcome of World War One was the defeat of the German Empire, the removal of its colonial holdings, and the eventual rise of Hitler; the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire and the Turkish Empire; the independence of many smaller, ethnically-based states in central and eastern Europe, the beginning of Arab nationalism and British promise of a Jewish homeland in what was then Palestine. Germany was stripped of many of its European holdings, such as Prussian Poland, West Prussia, and the Rhineland. Austria- Hungary was the hardest hit, with much of its holdings becoming separate countries, such as Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania. The Ottoman Empire lost its holdings in Trebizond and the Middle East (such as Palestine and Iraq)

Conclusion

This article has not by any means encompassed all of the suggested contributory factors that led inexorably to world war.

It has however attempted to pull together the main strands: Austro-Hungarian determination to impose its will upon the Balkans; a German desire for greater power and international influence, which sparked a naval arms race with Britain, who responded by building new and greater warships, theDreadnought; a French desire for revenge against Germany following disastrous defeat in 1871; Russia's anxiety to restore some semblance of national prestige after almost a decade of civil strife and a battering at the hands of the Japanese military in 1905.

Having dealt with these topics, however briefly, feel free to further explore the First World War.com site to gain a wider perspective of what happened, when, and to whom. The How It Began section is probably as good a place as any to start.

Conclusion A. Summary of your points