Failure of Democracy: Political Threats and Economic Crisis in Interwar Europe

Across Europe, the Great War was followed by a wave of democratisation. However, most of these democracies collapsed, paving the way towards the Second World War.

Kurt Weyland (University of Texas at Austin, author of Assault on Democracy: Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism During the Interwar Years) and Tobias Straumann (University of Zurich, author of 1931: Debt, Crisis, and the Rise of Hitler) will be joining us to discuss the reasons for the failure of democracy in interwar Europe. This event is organised by the Birmingham Research Institute for History and Cultures (BRIHC), in collaboration with the Institute for German and European Studies (IGES).