We tend to think of history as a collection of abstract facts that have no bearing on the 10 ways world we live in today, but every major event sends out ripples that keep crashing into the present. As William Faulkner famously warned, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” In this countdown we’ll uncover how the Great War’s shockwaves still reverberate through our laws, drinks, borders, and even our workout routines.
10 ways world: How the Great War Echoes Today
10 Espionage And Sedition Acts
When President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war in 1917, he warned that the nation was teeming with disloyal elements. Determined to crush any subversive activity, Wilson pushed for what he called “a firm hand of repression.”
His solution was the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act, statutes that gave the federal government sweeping powers to silence dissent. These laws let officials censor newspapers and motion pictures, imprison draft‑resisters, and even criminalize criticism of the Constitution itself. Thousands found themselves behind bars during Wilson’s term.
Even after the war, the Supreme Court in 1919 held that the statutes did not violate the First Amendment, and they have been invoked ever since. Most recently they were used to lock up Chelsea Manning, and they would likely be brandished against Edward Snowden if he ever faced capture.
9 Iron Harvest
Farmers across France, Germany, and Belgium still risk becoming accidental casualties because the First World War buried a staggering amount of ordnance beneath their fields. When they turn the soil, they often unearth unexploded shells that can still detonate, prompting specialist teams to hunt down and neutralize the devices.
In 2012 Belgium reported uncovering 105 tons of munitions, including lethal chemical agents—a haul dubbed the “iron harvest.” A 2004 German sweep yielded roughly 3,000 unexploded bombs. Those finds are just a drop in the bucket of the 1.4 billion shells fired during the conflict, and occasional tragedies still occur.
8 Champagne
You’ve probably heard the snob‑like claim that “Champagne is only champagne if it comes from the Champagne region in France.” The war explains why that rule exists.
The vineyards that could produce true champagne were devastated by the fighting. To protect the French monopoly, the Treaty of Versailles inserted a clause prohibiting any other country from labeling its sparkling wine “champagne.” The signatories all agreed to enforce it.
That protection still largely holds, though the United States never ratified the treaty. As a result, many cheap “champagne” bottles on American shelves are actually domestic sparkling wines, and they often leave drinkers nursing a hangover that feels a little less French.
7 The Red Zone
Some stretches of the French countryside were so ravaged and contaminated by the fighting that the government bought a swathe of land larger than Paris and declared it permanently uninhabitable.
Several villages in the Champagne‑Ardenne region bore the brunt of the heaviest combat. Their residents fled, the ground became riddled with unexploded shells, and the soil itself turned toxic. The towns never recovered after the war.
On 17 April 1919 the French state purchased the area and labeled it the “Zone Rouge.” Since then it has served only as a military training ground, and while a few communities have been reclaimed as the land cleared, a sizable strip remains off‑limits to civilians.
6 The Hungarian Diaspora
The 1920 Treaty of Trianon, which formalized the peace settlement with Hungary, sliced the former Austro‑Hungarian Empire into a patchwork of new states. Two‑thirds of Hungary’s pre‑war territory was handed to neighbors such as Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
This redrawing left millions of ethnic Hungarians stranded outside the new borders, forming sizable Hungarian enclaves in Romania, Slovakia, and elsewhere. Those communities have largely resisted assimilation, preserving a distinct Hungarian identity.
Modern Hungary has pursued a policy of “re‑empowerment,” granting full citizenship and voting rights to ethnic Hungarians abroad. The move has sparked diplomatic friction—most notably a near‑war episode in 2013—and has fueled far‑right rallies chanting “Down with Trianon!” a century after the treaty was signed.
5 Debt
World War I was a financial nightmare. Britain went from being the world’s biggest creditor to a massive debtor in just four short years, a reversal few could have predicted.
Germany, saddled with the war‑guilt clause and hefty reparations, finally settled its last payment—a modest $94 million—in 2010. Britain followed suit, clearing its £1.9 billion war debt in 2015, closing a century‑long accounting chapter.
4 ISIS
ISIS would not exist without the geopolitical fallout of World I. The extremist group frequently cites its mission to erase the post‑war treaties that carved up the Middle East.
Before 1914 the region was largely under Ottoman rule. As the Allies sensed victory, Britain and France covertly negotiated the Sykes‑Picot Agreement, deciding how to split the Ottoman lands between themselves.
The secret pact birthed modern Iraq and Syria, among other states, but the borders were drawn with little regard for ethnic, tribal, or religious realities on the ground.
Destroying those artificial lines is a central tenet of ISIS propaganda; in a 2014 video the group filmed a bulldozer tearing down a strip of earth at the Iraq‑Syria border, then panned to a sign reading “End of Sykes‑Picot.”
3 Divided Ireland
When World I erupted, Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom. Yet the war’s pressures helped sharpen the rift between Irish unionists—who fought loyally for Britain—and Irish nationalists, who increasingly resisted British rule.
Irish soldiers in the British army deepened the divide: Ulster loyalists welcomed conscription, while Catholic nationalists and republicans vehemently opposed it. This tension boiled over in 1916 when a group led by James Connolly seized Dublin’s General Post Office, proclaiming an Irish Republic.
The Easter Rising set the tone for a century of violence and political strife, ultimately leading to the partition of Ireland and the ongoing “Brexit‑style” division that persists today.
2 Pilates
Pilates, the sleek fitness system that now fills boutique studios, actually traces its roots to a World I internment camp. German native Joseph Pilates was working as a defense instructor for Scotland Yard when the war began.
In 1915 the British rounded up thousands of German nationals as potential saboteurs. While confined, Pilates invented a series of mat‑based exercises using whatever equipment was at hand—essentially a full‑body workout that required only body weight. His regimen proved popular among fellow internees, and after the war he emigrated to the United States in 1926, opening a studio in New York that sparked the worldwide Pilates craze.
1 Passports
Travel documents weren’t always a universal requirement. In the 19th century, passports were mainly used by sailors to clear customs. By the late 1800s, rail travel made borders essentially open, and many European nations abolished paperwork for cross‑border movement.
World I shattered that freedom. The United Kingdom was the first to institute the system we recognize today: the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act of 1914 produced a standardized passport—a cardboard cover containing a photograph and identifying details. Aside from minor updates in the 1920s, that design became the global template for international travel.