ESSAY CEMETERY

Video 1: Total States WWI is an important event in world history because of how it changes the way modern societies are organized. There's a different feeling to warfare in WWI. The devastation is worse than ever before because of the technology that is able to ravage the land: create holes in the ground that are so big soldiers drown in them; eradicate whole forests; blind soldiers from poison gas. WWI sees the creation of "Total States": States are seeing themselves as large war-centric corporations Governments begin to control national money to make sure they have enough for warfare Government regulates staples The end of the gold standard -- self-reliance instead of international trade Conversion of plants and factories from civilian factories to war factories Creation of new factories for war supplies Governments take control of manpower and industrial resources, controlling which people and how many of them are allocated to factories, farming, and militaries. Libera

Video 1: The Shock of 1914 Reasons for WWI International rivalry: WWI began in August 1914 and people didn't see it coming. The most common reason given for WWI is international rivalries in Europe: [The Central Powers: Germany and Austro-Hungary] against [the Entente: France and Russia]. GB didn't have a formal treaty with France so it wasn't part of the Entente but it did have friendly relations with France. After WWI began though GB joined the Entente. Militarism and arms race: lots of people were bulking up their armies Imperial rivalries Economic rivalries: Many empires were financially insecure. Businesspeople were loaning money internationally with low interest rates, which meant that they deemed its return highly probable. There was no indication in the bond markets in the summer of 1914 that war was coming. Why were so people surprised when it happened with so many reasons for war?  Why did so many expect peace? - Europe had been mostly peaceful for 40 years. Peace