Abstract
The Great War (1914-1918), which occurred because of political and geopolitical issues in Europe, came as an exogenous shock to the international trade. Indeed, the world never had been so well integrated than before the outbreak of this major conflict. The Great War engaged the twentieth century on the path of disintegration while the international economy had successfully reached a fine level of integration throughout the 19th century. It put an end to a prosperous period for the international economy and would affect its course over the 20th century.
The conflict changed to a great extent the forms and the dynamics of globalization as a process. It goes without saying that a "world war" would have global impacts. Even though the Great War's theater was mainly Europe, it had global economic repercussions. Indeed, how did the World War I impact the international commodity market? The Interwar period that followed faced major economic issues with a second disintegration in the 1930s after a brief period of reintegration. The Great Depression worsened an already affected European economy, which was not saved by flawed policy responses- such as protectionist measures and monetary policies.
However, this time was also an extraordinary opportunity for non-European countries to industrialize and play a different role in the international economy, and thus changing the balance of power. We will try to show throughout this paper that the Great War took the 20th century international economy on a long detour and profoundly affected the evolutionary path of international economy. First, World War I corresponded to the first major breakdown of the international economy and had severe implications for its future.
