MYP History Impacts of War on Societies Notes

Impacts of War on Societies: How Do Wars Reshape Lives?

1. Wars don’t just redraw borders or replace leaders: they basically hit society’s reset button.
2. World War I and World War II were total wars, meaning entire populations (not just soldiers) got pulled into the chaos.
3. Civilians felt the impact through rationing, bombing, propaganda, and economies being redirected toward war.
4. These wars massively reshaped social structures, economies, political systems, and cultural attitudes.
5. Both conflicts permanently altered the global order, shifting power, alliances, and how nations understood themselves.
6. Basically: big wars don’t just end, they rebuild the world in a different shape.

1. Social Impacts: How War Changes People and Communities

Mass Death, Trauma, and Loss

1. WWI and WWII caused death on a scale no one had imagined.
   1. WWI: ~20 million dead
   2. WWII: >60 million.
2. Families lost fathers, sons, and entire generations of young men.
3. Psychological trauma increased dramatically: WWI introduced the term “shell shock,” while WWII produced widespread PTSD, especially among bombing survivors and concentration camp victims.

Women’s Roles and Social Change

1. With millions of men away fighting, women took over crucial jobs.
   1. WWI: women worked in munitions factories, transport, agriculture.
   2. WWII: women built tanks and aircraft, encrypted enemy messages (e.g., Bletchley Park), served as medics, mechanics, engineers.
2. This created long-term effects:
   1. Many countries extended voting rights to women after WWI.
   2. After WWII, women’s wartime contributions helped fuel later pushes for gender equality.

Refugees, Displacement, and Population Shifts

1. War uprooted millions:
   1. WWI caused mass movements in Eastern Europe and Armenia.
   2. WWII created the largest displacement in history: over 60 million refugees, including Holocaust survivors and civilians escaping the Eastern Front.
2. Entire ethnic groups were forced to relocate, permanently changing the cultural map of Europe.