Post-War Turmoil



After World War I ended, Empires were disintegrating, new nation states emerging, engaged in finding a political constitution as well as national borders. Production had to be switched from planned wartime production to peacetime free market economy and had to adjust to the new political conditions. This process was accompanied by a strong INFLATION in some countries, moderate inflation in others and even deflation in a few.
The REPUBLIC was now the most widely spread form of government (constitutional monarchies being republics in all but name). Yet parliamentary democracy was new to most countries, with the result that often there were too many small parties competing for the votes, politicians and parties were not very willing to engage in compromises; in many countries, cabinets changed frequently. Even worse, in some countries civil unrest, sparkled by the occupation of factories and city halls by socialists hoping for the revolution, had broken out. In Italy, Germany, Finland, street fighting threatened the rule of law and order.
In countries such as Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy large segments of society rejected the parliamentary democracy, demanding either a socialist constitution or an authoritarian government.
RUSSIA, IRELAND and TURKEY went through a full scale Civil War, with massive foreign interference.

The economic and political situation differed from country to country. The successor states of the Central Powers were burdened by the REPARATIONS they had to pay. France, Belgium and Italy had to deal with the damage done by 4 (3) years of trench warfare; reconstruction was costly and took decades.


Russian Revolution Revolutions elsewhere Russian Civil War Inflation Border Conflicts


Britain 1918-1924 Ireland 1921-1939 Germany 1920-1923 Austria 1918-1920 Italy 1918-1922 Bulgaria 1918-1926
Albania 1918-1924 Greece 1918-1924 SHS 1918-1929 Hungary 1918-1921 Poland 1918-1939 Estonia 1918-1920
Latvia 1918-1920 Lithuania 1918-1922 Finland 1918-1920 Turkey 1918-1923




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This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on November 3rd 2004

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