(i) It involved the world's leading industrial nations.
(ii) This war was the first modern industrial war. Machine guns, tanks, aircrafts, chemical weapons, were used on a massive scale.
(iii) Most o{ those who were maimed were men of working age. The scale of death and destruction was great. These deaths and injuries reduced the
workforce.
(iv) Industries during the war were restructured to produce war-related products.
(v) The war led to the snapping of economic links between the world's largest economic powers which were now fighting with each other to pay for them. The war transformed the US from being an international debtor to an international creditor.