The Impact of the First World War on Society

The war put strains on societies around the world, and some were more or less prepared to deal with them. In Russia, this frustration and anger would feed into pre-existing dissatisfaction with Russian society which led to two revolutions in 1917. The entry of the Americans was important for many reasons, including that it provided the Allies a fresh pool of manpower after they had used up all their reserves. After April 1917, U.S. banks essentially bankrolled the Allied war effort by providing loans to several countries who could not pay back these loans at the end of the war. This contributed to an increase in demand for almost every type of raw material from food to steel - everything in between.