Was the First World War a war worth fighting?

This
question asks us to make a value judgment about the costs and benefits of World War I. It is
important to note that the worth of the war depends mainly on the point of view of different
countries. For example, the concept of worth is going to be different for countries that lost
the war than those that won.

Economic Cost

In terms of economics, the war was costly to the vast majority of countries that
participated. The losers incurred substantial losses and costs. Many countries economies were
crippled entirely, while others, like Germany, were forced into massive debt to pay reparations
to the victorious nations. Even among countries that won, there was a loss of valuable resources
and massive debts incurred to pay for the war. Britain, for example, experienced growth of GDP
but was still paying off debt from World War I until 2015. One of the only countries that came
out ahead after the war was the United States, because of the increased trade for most of the
war. However, any gains were ultimately lost in the Great Depression. Hyperinflation brought on
by debt caused the Depression when the global economy fell. After the war, countries abandoned
the gold standard and printed more money to cover their debts; however, the increase of money in
circulation brought down the value of each individual unit. One example of how hyperinflation
occurred is the war guilt clause in the Treaty of Versailles. The clause pushed Germany to pay
132 billion Deutsche marks to the Allied Powers. Germany paid the debt by printing more money
that wasn't backed by anything, essentially stretching the value of one mark over many marks.
The money Germany paid was then used to pay other debts to the United States and other
countries, and eventually, the entire economy of the world suffered because of the use of
valueless money.

Human Cost

World War I
was one of the most costly wars in history. In terms of human life, there was a casualty toll of
15 to 20 million, including military personnel and civilians. There were a further 20 to 25
million who were wounded during the war. The loss of human life crippled many of the
participating countries for years to come. Some countries lost massive portions of their male
populations, which meant that men who would have been producing and providing for families were
no longer around. In Russia, there were millions of orphans who struggled to survive after the
war. Influenza and other diseases ran rampant after the war, exacting heavy tolls on human
life.

Along with the direct casualties of the war, there were also atrocities
like the Armenian genocide and Pogroms that killed countless millions during the war. These
atrocities were able to happen because of the tensions created during the war and the attention
of world powers being elsewhere.

National
Identity

While there were fluctuations in many areas, one change
was that the map of many places was redrawn. Four empires fell after the war: Austria-Hungary,
Germany, Ottoman Turkey, and Russia. In the aftermath, many independent nations declared
themselves free, which could be seen as a benefit to the nationalists who valued the
independence movements. Along with those social upheavals, there were massive changes in the
Middle East that led to redrawing country lines by the British and French, and the restructuring
of the Ottoman territory into Turkey. Some modern conflicts, like Isreal-Palestine, can be
traced back to the aftermath of World War I.

Why?

It is up to you to decide if you think the
war was worth it, but there were many costs that accumulated out of the war. The ultimate
question we have to ask is, why? Why did the war happen in the first place? What was the point?
World War I was not the result of any significant conflict but a set of mutual-retaliation
alliances established by the major states in Europe. The treaties they established with one
another created a powder keg that was primed to explode. The death of an Austrian duke meant the
eventual death of millions. What was essentially a local independence conflict led to a massive
loss for the entire world. That is what we must consider when we think about if it was worth
it.