Open Access

Cyrille Huteau

• The twentieth century was a period of great agitation in terms of historical and political events. Two World Wars erupted between 1914 and 1945 in a world already changing. They were separated by both growth and depression. This deeply impacted economics worldwide. In order to understand how the events reshaped the economical world and what it modified, the available literature was reviewed and summarized to focus on the main changes. This helps us to better comprehend the situation for the people at the time, and the economic order as we know it today. The wars had different consequences on countries, as France hosted the fights, it was fully destroyed and its economy was a ruin, while the United States did not fight the war on its soil, the wars boosted its economy, and it exited as a major economic power. This paper showed that war economy is incredibly expensive and hard to finance, being a considerable burden on any economy. Trade appears as a superior choice for countries, because as exchanges increase, the life of population improves, alike the economic health of a country.