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Was the First World War a ‘Total war’ for Britain?
the Russian Tsar. We were also owed almost as much from France and Italy. We owed over 800 million pounds to the United States. We were still paying off out debt in 1965.
We did not only loose money we also lost a huge amount of our gold debt. Twelve countries increased their gold debts as a result of the First World War. The greatest gainer was the United States, whose gold reverses increased by £278 million. Japan was the second most successful and they gained £183 million. By contrast, the principal victors, as well as the vanquished, were saddled with a considerable depletion of their gold reserves. Germany headed the list of the vanquished by losing £123 million. Britain headed the list of the victors with a loss of 342 million.
With all this evidence and facts I feel that the First World War was definitely an engagement of Britain’s economic, cultural, social and political capital, a total war. Many things changed because of the war either for better or for worse, many things had to change for a chance of success. Britain engaged its resources sensibly but was still stretched to find enough of everything to win. Women played a major role in the war effort and their help back home was just as important as those on the front line. There is not one thing that during that period did not relate to the war effort and everything that was possible, was done.