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The First World War was a truly momentous event; things fell apart rapidly all over the world after it; the centre seemed not to hold anymore; millions died or were traumatised because of it; and innocence seemed to give way permanently to massive disillusionment long after everything had become quiet on western fronts. Life became tragic for war survivors and their families; politically the Russian Revolution and Communism became unavoidable after it; feudalism in Europe was swept away, and the great empires of the nineteenth century now felt clearly for the first time that the sun was about to set on them. The rest of the 20th century would be shaped by this war.
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