Were people generally rich or poor in World War 1?

Answer 1

When asking a question, please think about the person who may want to try to answer it. As it stands, your question is far too general for anyone to give a full and accurate answer. A very large number of countries were involved in WW1, and at the least you need to specify the countries you want to know about. Some were prosperous, like the U.S. while a country like Turkey was very poor by comparison. However, this was true before, during and long after WW1. In other words, it was NOT a result of the war. Wars, especially major wars like WW1 are extremely expensive. However, real incomes will depend to a significant extent on how the war is financed - and that will result in widely differing levels of income tax, for example. In WW1 the British government made a point of financing its contribution to the war as far as possible by tax, especially income tax. This had the immense advantage of preventing large amounts of spare cash building up during the war, which would have fuelled inflation after the war. France relied less on taxation and prices increased by 700% plus just after the end of the war. Germany presents an even more spectacular case of low tax during the war followed by rip-roaring inflation afterwards. So, the issues are much less simple than you might think. By the end of WW1 large numbers of people in Germany and the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary were suffering from malnutrition as a result of the Allied naval blockade. In much of Vienna people were starving and conditions were appalling. In Istanbul conditions were utterly wretched. Many of these undernourished people, often living in unheated accommodation in the winter of 1918-19, very easily fell victim to the successive waves of the flu epidemic. I hope these points give you some idea of the complexity of the issues.

Answer 2

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