This presentation focuses on the first world war which I believe the modern American population is uneducated on. The subject of the matter and how it relates to geography, is the political devolutionary and evolutionary conflicts or gains that arose during and after the first World War.

World War 1 provides a great example of the physical changes of the landscape, the diffusion of ideas or political parties, the changes in the political landscape, changes in human development, and the economic and industrial development that followed.

The first world war or the "great war" it was called before the second world war was a global war centered in Europe that began 28, July 1914 and lasted until November 11, 1918. The war drew in all the world's strongest economic states of the world that were split into two opposing parties or sides.

The Allies, based on the triple entente, an alliance trusted document included the states of the Russian Empire, France, and the UK. The United States and many other states joined later for the fight against the central powers of Germany. Which included Germany and other neighboring countries which are referred to as the quadruple alliance composing of Germany, Austria-Hungry, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.

The resurgence of colonialism was the underlying cause of conflict.

But the spark for war was the 28 June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by a Yugoslav nationalist in Sarajevo. This set off a diplomatic crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within months, the major powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around Europe.

Between Germany and Great Britain, Naval dominance was a priority and so both nations strove to build better and bigger weapons and ships for their military which led to the need for more raw materials and more factories to build these weapons. Later the rest of Europe joined the race. This exemplified economic and industrial development.

With the arms race and industrial boom, a surge in new innovations, technologies, and tactics began. Wireless communications; radio and the telephone, new formations; instead of maneuvers of a company of a 100 men, squads of 10 men were favored, and new technologies and weapons; armored cars, tanks, and airplanes hit the war.

This led to huge economic spending and industrial development, spending in their military in Europe increased about 50%. Preconditions for another great migration of rural to urban, reflecting on the 2nd urban revolution.

For the short half decade period of time, the workforce roles were drastically changed in Europe and across America. As the number of factories boomed and demand for weapons spiked, women were called to work in factories while a large male population were drafted to the war. This exemplifies a step in Rostow's ladder of development, drive to maturity, where more women are employed in the workforce and during, less children were born, another sure sign of the drive to maturity.

Supplying a sufficient labour force was another challenge. Many of the state's population that were killed in action were men in their 20's. 20% of young men in France eligible to serve in the military were killed in action. And most states of the world economy were composed of primary sector jobs. State's lacking that grunt work labour force left a delaying growth in their economy that these states needed.

Another influential geographic point given are the changes in Europe's political landscape and the rise of communism and how economies fell.

During or after the 4 year war, century old empires devolved into "successor states". Empires such as the Habsburgs, Romanovs, and Hohenzollerns dominated the European landscape for centuries but unfortunately devolved into independent states. Particularly the Austria-Hungarian dynasty broke themselves into more democratic provinces to influence independence and create a buffer against communist Russia. After WW1 they soon became independent states.

Damage to roads, railroads, vast areas of farmland, and other important infrastructure were severely damaged. States were faced with the burden to rebuild entire cities and transportation systems that were lost in the war. This made an economic catastrophe for the whole of Europe involved in the war. The cost for war was an estimated 200 Billion dollars.

A political movement that arose from the harsh conditions of WW1 was Fascism, fundamental to which were the principles of extreme nationalism, totalitarianism, economic self-sufficiency, and military strength.

Ex. Italy was drained of their resources and was heavily in debt. Wealthy landowners and industrialists who feared of losing their land to socialist Russia lobbied a more capitalist movement. Also the unpopularity of Germany's unsuccessful liberalist ideals in WW1 led to a fascist movement.

Explain the chart

More than 70 million military personnel were mobilized and 9 million of them died in combat or during the war. 4 million of those deployed were American and about 140 thousand were killed in action. A casualty rate caused by the technological and industrial sophistication, and tactical stalemate. Cities were left in ruins and countries economies collapsed.

The war ended with a formal treaty, the Treaty of Versailles between the allies and Central powers of Germany on 18th of June 1919. Some allies like the US said the proposed negotiations between the two powers were biased towards Russian interests. All of this precedented the second world war.