Of course it was.
Well, we were neutral in the War, mainly because UK wanted to keep buying our products without our ships risking to be sink. I mean, as we were neutral, we could sell to both sides, and UK preferred to keep buying our things instead of having our help (we did not have many weapons or soldiers to offer) and making our ships legit targets.
Besides, as Europe and USA were busy they did not sell us manufactured products. That was a significant change for us, as some of our industries were stopped because of the lack of supplies, but on the other hand, some people began producing things that were not produced here before.
But beside of that, we had a lot of inner problems, The worst was 1919, with terrible strikes that resulted in MORE THAN A THOUSAND deaths.
One of the best things, though, was the University Reform, in 1918.