Social issues caused by WW1?

[capitalgentleman]

The huge numbers of men off to war (10% of Canada's population), and the loss of so many on all sides resulted in women taking on more responsibility. This definitely accelerated in WWII, but was also seen in WWI. Women's sufferage became a big issue, which resulted in women being able to vote, etc. E.g., in Canada, women were declared "persons" before the law in 1929. This gave land ownership rights, and all sorts of other things.

Another changes was in the class system, particularly in the UK. The officers were generally of the upper classes, trained from birth to lead. However, many senior officers made monumental blunders that resulted in the deaths of thousands in single battles. Commoners came to distrust those in the upper classes, all too often (it appeared) put in charge by accidents of birth rather than ability. This parallelled a move away from the lord/tenant relationship due to the Industrial Revolution, and the period after the war saw the virtual end of the Landed Gentry as a class.