Summary. Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, and both Prime Minister Joseph Cook and Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher, who were in the midst of an election campaign, pledged full support for Britain.

Assorted References. The major Allied powers in World War I were Great Britain (and the British Empire), France, and the Russian Empire, formally linked by the Treaty of London of September 5, 1914.

Italy

Triple Alliance, secret agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed in May 1882 and renewed periodically until World War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary had been closely allied since 1879.

The UK is home to a number of large energy companies, including two of the six oil and gas “supermajors” – BP and Royal Dutch Shell. The UK is also rich in a number of natural resources including coal, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead and silica.

Overall, there were important adverse effects of World War I on British income levels in the 1920s, working through higher unemployment, lower trade, and a vastly increased public debt to GDP ratio. 2006), real GDP each year would be lower by 4.5%.

The British Empire England had ruled them for the next 700 years. After 1918 Britain gained territory from Germany in Africa making British rule continuous from Cape Town to the Suez Canal and they promptly built a railway northwards to the Mediterranean to prove it.

19th century

Economic impact: World War Two had been extraordinarily costly for Britain and her empire, and in 1945 the country was exhausted and devastated. Aerial bombardment had destroyed many British cities, and there were major shortages of goods and labour for the rebuilding of the country.

The First World War destroyed empires, created numerous new nation-states, encouraged independence movements in Europe’s colonies, forced the United States to become a world power and led directly to Soviet communism and the rise of Hitler.

Colonial rivalry was a cause of the First World War. First of all, colonial rivalry led to strained relations among the European powers. Secondly, colonial rivalry led indirectly to the formation and strengthening of alliances and ententes. Italy turned to Germany and Austria when she lost Tunis to France in 1881.

The European colonists who depended entirely on export production were discouraged by the experience of the Depression, and the declining revenues affected colonial governments. The possession of colonies was no longer profitable, but colonial rulers were also creditors, who did not wish to relinquish their control.

The stock market crash of October 1929 led directly to the Great Depression in Europe. The effects of the disruption to the global system of financing, trade, and production and the subsequent meltdown of the American economy were soon felt throughout Europe.

On October 29, 1929, the United States stock market crashed in an event known as Black Tuesday. This encouraged many people to speculate that the market would continue to rise. Investors borrowed money to buy more stocks. As real estate values declined during the late 1920s, the stock market also weakened.

As the Depression worsened in the 1930s, many blamed President Herbert Hoover…