The political decisions that led to World War I were for the most pat made by the ruling monarchies of
Europe. The 20th century was not kind to those great royal houses. The turn of the 20th century saw a Europe
still largely dominated by monarchical government. The continent was largely controlled by four monarchical
based empires: Austro-Hungary, Germany, the Ottomans, and Russia. Each were either absolute monarchies or
monarchies in which the king or emperor while not absolute dominated the political system. And most of the rest
of the continent was governed by various other monarchies. The only important republic was France. All other
European states, with only minor exceptions, were ruled by hereditary monarchs. This vast monarchical system
was virtually swept away in a few years by the maelstrom of the First World War. More than half of the monarchs
were forced to abdicate. The Romanovs were shot. Most of the monarchs stepped down peacefully in the face of
popular outrage over the war. New countries based on national ethnic groups emerged (Czechoslovakia, Estonia,
Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey, and Yugoslavia). At the time it was seen as a progressive
democratic step, but the nationalistic passions unleashed played a major role in the horrors of the Second World
War. Monarchies in Austria, Italy, Germany, and Russia were replaced or eclipsed by totalitarian regimes of the
left and right that were to challenge the very principle of democratic rule. And as seen still today in the
Balkans, where the First World War erupted, the ultra-nationalist excesses that were once constrained by
European monarchies have still not yet fully played out.
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