World War I

Ideas of Wilson and Lenin

In all parts of the continent the old order was being questioned and challenged. Many Europeans were looking up to Wilson and Lenin. Wilson’s 14 points had started up a ferment of democratic hope and expectancy. The millions of dead and wounded, ruins of cities and villages made large masses receptive to the call for revolution. Demonstrations were staged in the streets of London, Paris and Rome.

Europe After World War I

Finally European domination was undermined by World War I because of the repercussions in the overseas colonies. The spectacle of one bloc of European powers fighting another to the bitter end damaged the prestige of the nations .No longer they were regarded as divinely ordained to rule over the colored. Many soldiers from the colonies fought in the war. The colonials who returned home after such experiences were not likely to be as obedient to European masters as before.

Revolutionary ideas in the colonies were also spread by propaganda spread with the conduct of the war. The revoluntary phases of self-determination of people left its imprint on the colonial world as well as upon Euope.Equally influential were the ideologies of socialism and communism. The War gave hope to the colonies of getting freedom from slavery. Papers on World War I and other topics here.