The economic effects of the First World War were:
(i) The First World War led to huge expenditures in defence. These expenditures were to be financed by increasing the taxes and by raising custom duties.
(ii) During the time of the First World War, crop failure resulted in acute shortage of food.
(iii) During the war, the food prices increased, they almost doubled between 1913 and 1918. This increased the hardships of the people of India.
(iv) Villages were called upon to supply soldiers. At some rural places, the colonial government forced people to join the army. It caused widespread resentment and anger amongst the people. It set the stage for the Great Depression.
(v) There was spread of influenza epidemic which contributed to the hardships of the people. The war weakened the gold standard.
OR
Nationalism spreads when people begin to believe that they are all part of the same nation and when they discover that it binds them together. This sense of collective belonging unites people of different communities, regions or languages by experience of many united struggles.
There were also a variety of cultural processes through which nationalism captured people's imagination. History and fiction, folklore, and songs, popular poems and symbols, all played a vital role in the awakening of the spirit of nationalism. The identity of a nation is often symbolised by a figure or image. It was in the early 19 th century, with the growth of nationalism that the identity of India came to be visually associated with the image of Bharat Mata. The image was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and in the 1870 s he wrote 'Vande Mataram' as a hymn to the motherland. Moved by the Swadeshi movement, Abanindranath Tagore painted his famous image of Bharat Mata. In this painting, Bharat Mata is portrayed as an ascetic figure, she is calm, composed, divine and spiritual.
Ideas of nationalism also developed through a movement to revive Indian folklore. In the late 19th century India, nationalists began recording folk tales sung by bards and they toured villages to gather folk songs and legends.
These tales gave a true picture of traditional culture that had been corrupted and damaged by outside forces. When people would hear these songs, they would be filled with a spirit of belongingness to the country. They felt energised and highly patriotic. It was thus, essential to spread this folk tradition in order to discover citizen's national identity and restore a sense of pride for their past.