What were the long-term consequences of World War 1 for Europe?
The peace treaties after WW1 failed to produce a sound settlement. War continued in Europe (at the edges, anyway) till into the early 1920s (Russia, Poland, Greece, Ireland). Worse still, Europe merrily started sprouting dictatorships – the Soviet Union, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslvia, Bulgaria … While Europe was quite prosperous in 1920s, some of these dictatorhips managed to avoid being unduly oppressive, but in the harsh economic climate of the 1930s things changed. Austria, Germany, the Baltic Republics and Spain joined the dictatorships. Moreover, many of them were exceptionally vicious and violent …In the period c. 1790-1914 the use of torture was considered utterly beyond the pale; but suddenly, in many European dictatorships it again became common. It seemed that the clock was being turned back …
