<P> Images of trench warfare became iconic symbols of human suffering and endurance . The post-war world had many veterans who were maimed or damaged by shell shock . In 1921 1,187,450 men were in receipt of pensions for war disabilities, with a fifth of these having suffered serious loss of limbs or eyesight, paralysis or lunacy . </P> <P> The war was a major economic catastrophe as Britain went from being the world's largest overseas investor to being its biggest debtor, with interest payments consuming around 40 percent of the national budget . Inflation more than doubled between 1914 and its peak in 1920, while the value of the Pound Sterling fell by 61.2 percent . Reparations in the form of free German coal depressed the local industry, precipitating the 1926 General Strike . During the war British private investments abroad were sold, raising £ 550 million . However, £ 250 million new investment also took place during the war . The net financial loss was therefore approximately £ 300 million; less than two years investment compared to the pre-war average rate and more than replaced by 1928 . Material loss was "slight": the most significant being 40 percent of the British merchant fleet sunk by German U-boats . Most of this was replaced in 1918 and all immediately after the war . The military historian Correlli Barnett has argued that "in objective truth the Great War in no way inflicted crippling economic damage on Britain" but that the war only "crippled the British psychologically" (emphasis in original). </P> <P> Less concrete changes include the growing assertiveness of the Dominions within the British Empire . Battles such as Gallipoli for Australia and New Zealand, and Vimy Ridge for Canada led to increased national pride and a greater reluctance to remain subordinate to London . These battles were often portrayed favourably in these nations' propaganda as symbolic of their power during the war . The war released pent - up indigenous nationalism, as populations tried to take advantage of the precedent set by the introduction of self - determination in eastern Europe . Britain was to face unrest in Ireland (1919--21), India (1919), Egypt (1919--23), Palestine (1920--21) and Iraq (1920) at a time when they were supposed to be demilitarising . Nevertheless, Britain's only territorial loss came in Ireland, where the delay in finding a resolution to the home rule issue, along with the 1916 Easter Rising and a failed attempt to introduce conscription in Ireland, increased support for separatist radicals, and led indirectly to the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence in 1919 . </P> <P> Further change came in 1919 . With the Treaty of Versailles, London took charge of an additional 1,800,000 square miles (4,700,000 km) and 13 million new subjects . The colonies of Germany and the Ottoman Empire were distributed to the Allied powers (and to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) as League of Nations mandates, with the United Kingdom at least gaining control of Palestine and Transjordan, Iraq, parts of Cameroon and Togo, and Tanganyika . Indeed, the British Empire reached its territorial peak after the settlement . </P>

Why was great britain’s role important in the beginning of world war i