The First World War: Was it worth it?
Did the outcome of the First World War justify the enormous loss of life? We ask two leading historians, Gary Sheffield and Richard J Evans, to put the case, both for and against
This article was first published in the November 2018 edition of BBC History Magazine
Yes, says Professor Gary Sheffield
Was the outcome of the First World War, from the British point of view, worth the sacrifice? At the time, the vast majority of the British population thought it was. But the society of today is very different from that of a century ago and, not surprisingly, we struggle to grasp why our predecessors were prepared to endure privation and the death of young men on a vast scale. Even in Ireland, a majority supported the war until the events of 1916–18 overturned the consensus. In 1914 the UK was a democracy, albeit an incomplete one, governed on liberal principles. The masses actively supported a total war that encompassed the whole of society. Without that 'buy-in', waging such a conflict would have been impossible. As dreadful as the war was, a German victory was regarded as even worse.
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