How did WW1 change the world

It is 100 years since the end of one of the most significant wars in modern history - World War One.

It became known as the Great War because it affected people all over the world and was the biggest war anyone had ever known.

It even came to be known as 'the war to end all wars', as no conflict before World War One had caused destruction on this scale before. People wanted to believe that nobody would ever want to go to war again after it. (Sadly, we know it was not to be the last devastating war that the world would experience).

Millions of people - both soldiers and ordinary citizens - lost their lives. Of those who did come home from the war, many were injured physically or struggled mentally as a result of what they had experienced.

On 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent and the war came to an end, but its impact was felt for many, many years after.

World War One changed the world in ways that nobody could have imagined. Here, we take a look at how.

New technology

One of the most significant impacts of World War One was huge advances in technology, which would transform the way that people all around the world travelled and communicated, in particular, in the years after the conflict.

New weapons and technologies were developed and used that led to more destruction than any war had seen in the past

Engineers went to war, creating deadly technologies never seen before WW1.

In 1914, planes were still a very new invention. The first one had only taken to the skies just 11 years before!

They were rare and fragile, but when war broke out, scientists and engineers worked hard to develop planes that were stronger, quicker and capable of being used in battle.

The first bombs were dropped from the air (by hand at first by the pilot!) and planes were used to spy on enemy territory. It is estimated that it would take a plane just four hours to gather the same amount of information as a patrol on foot could get in 24 hours.

France only had 140 aircraft when war began, but by the end of it, it had used around 4,500

It wasn't just the war in the air that saw huge advances in technology, though. Special technology to detect German submarines called U-boats was invented to protect the British Navy - at the time, the largest navy in the world.

Meanwhile on the land, poisonous gas was being used as a weapon, so gas masks were created to protect soldiers.

Special technology called sound ranging that enabled soldiers to pinpoint where the enemy was from the sound of their gunfire also proved extremely important.

Finally, tanks were also used for the first time, which could drive across muddy battlefields and fire lethal weapons. Britain used tanks in battle for the first time on 15 September 1916 and, in total, produced around 2,600 of them throughout the war.

It wasn't just weaponry that advanced, though. New methods of photography, sound recording and ways to communicate were developed during the war, which had a long-lasting impact.

Knowing more about these new technologies and ways of fighting would prove vital for future military tactics and in preparations for World War Two.

Medical innovation

Wounds inflicted on soldiers were like nothing medical professionals had had to deal with before - not least in terms of the numbers of people injured.

So the war meant that medicine had to catch up to be able to deal with these problems.

Donating and giving blood started during World War One, when a US army doctor called Captain Oswald Robertson realised that blood needed to be stockpiled so it was there ready and waiting when casualties arrived.

He set up the first blood bank on the Western Front in 1917, using sodium citrate to stop the blood from clotting and becoming unusable.

A special rod called a Thomas splint, which was used on soldiers who had broken their leg, was also developed. At the start of the war, four in every five soldiers with a broken femur died. By 1916, four out of five survived.

During World War One, medical professionals and army generals learned many important lessons about administering medical aid during warfare.

Financial hardship

War is incredibly expensive - and this war was no different. Just one day's worth of bullets cost £3.8 million in September 1918.

Before the war, Britain was in fact the world's economic superpower, with significant levels of wealth and resources.

But war took its toll and the effect of how much it cost was felt for many years to come. It left much of Europe in severe economic hardship.

Germany, especially, had to pay an enormous bill of £6,600 million for the damage caused, as well as provide other compensation.

Role of women

Up until the war, women were perceived in a certain way in society. Their role was traditionally to stay in the home.

Issues like politics and war were very much seen as things for men to deal with.