ABSTRACT
This contribution points out that the First World War influenced societies around the globe and, more specifically, altered the social position of the middle classes in both Europe and other parts of the world. Even though the developments in the respective areas were influenced by local conditions, they were also affected by global processes such as imperialism and capitalism. The Great War can thus be considered a global moment indeed; however, its effect was much greater in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa than in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa because the war and the ensuing decline of imperial power had a greater effect in the former areas. This comparative examination of the bourgeois middle classes offers a lens to better understand the social and political transformations of the interwar years and to assess the relationship between global processes and local conditions.
