What difference did the First World War make to the international economy? Since “one thing leads to another,” avoiding this conflict might have prevented the Bolshevik revolution and the Second World War. The Soviet empire need not have collapsed because it would never have arisen. By the same token, the Fascist rulers of Europe and the militaristic government of Japan might never have come to power. On this reckoning, the impact of the “Great War” was to take the twentieth century on a long detour.