ABSTRACT
Allied victory in the First World War seemed to herald the triumph of liberal democracy in Europe. In Germany the fall of the monarchy brought to power the Social Democrats (SPD), the major opposition party of the late imperial era. A new constitution, drawn up in the city of Weimar in 1919, embodied liberal and democratic principles. Yet twenty years after the armistice of November 1918 there would not be a single democracy left in central or eastern Europe. Mussolini's Fascists took power in Italy as early as 1922 and consolidated their dictatorship in 1925-6. The Weimar Republic survived, at least in form, until 1933, though normal parliamentary process had virtually ceased by 1930. The collapse ofWeimar democracy paved the way for the Nazi takeover in January 1933.
