The Role Of War And Its Impacts On The World - 1503 Words

The two world wars caused devastation across Europe and its neighbouring countries with the deaths of at least 40 million men from the continent and Russia alone. This said, the societies of the focus countries, Britain, France and West Germany, would be extremely different without the influence of war and its consequent impacts. The wars helped to make people think and consider social aspects of life to a greater extent, for example, religion and their own role within the society, but there were three main lasting impacts of the two world wars – the power of women, political change and the levelling of class. All three of these can be seen in today’s society but to a more developed level. Additionally, these three consequences would†¦show more content†¦Additionally, after WW1 women began to succeed at entering into the political sphere by gaining the right to vote (1918 in Britain, 1919 in Germany) however this didn’t occur until 1944 in France. This clearly indicates the acceptance of women in society, possibly helped by their increasing role in the workplace, but nevertheless it lead to a stronger representation of women and thus, women equality which can be seen in today’s society though figureheads like Angela Merkel. Another example of the power of women and how the world wars have transformed European society is the decline in birth rate. Increasing during interwar periods, the birth rates in England and Wales alone nearly halved between the start of the century and the 1930s. This trend continued to take place throughout the Second World War, thus starting the era of the ‘nuclear family’. Although this could have been due to the lack of men after and during the each war, it is more likely to be due to the increasing power of women within society and how they started to have a say in family matters. It is very likely that the suffragette movement would have forced its way into society and these change s would have happened despite the wars, however as mentioned previously, war helps to speed up advancements and the power of women is a strong example of this in action. All of the examples above can be seen in today’s