Post-WWI Europe: Rise of Democracy and New Nations

Political Consequences of World War I

Policies

• The traditional dynasties (Habsburg, Romanov) were dethroned.
• Democracy gained ground.
• Universal male suffrage was introduced in most of Europe, and some countries recognized women's suffrage.

Territorial Changes

• Dissolution of the great empires.
• Emergence of new countries: Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Yugoslavia (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro), Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia), and Hungary.

The Rise and Crisis of Democracy

The peace treaties that ended World War I led to the emergence of new states in Europe. Most of them introduced parliamentary governments. At the same time, ideological currents questioning democracy were born. Groups of veterans, especially in Germany, France, and Italy, advocated anti-democratic positions.

On the opposite side of these nationalist and authoritarian ideologies stood the extreme left, which advocated the "dictatorship of the proletariat." Communism presented itself as a working-class alternative to democracy. The proliferation of democratic regimes suddenly stopped. With Mussolini's rise to power in Italy (1922), dictatorships multiplied: Primo de Rivera in Spain, Portugal, and Eastern Europe. But the most significant was experienced by Nazi Germany.

The Weimar Republic in Germany

After the First World War, Germany attempted to establish a democratic regime: the so-called Weimar Republic. The German republic was proclaimed on November 9, 1918, and faced opposition from both the Communist Party and the right, who blamed Republicans and Communists for the defeat in the Great War.

It was named the Weimar Republic because the new constitution was drafted in this city. The Weimar Republic faced very serious problems, both political and economic. In 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor with the support of the center and right, who did not want a communist government.