World War I and the Downfall of Monarchies

Many of the major powers of World War I were monarchies. Whereas the royal families of Great Britain and Italy emerged victorious at the end of 1918 (and the kingdoms of Spain, The Netherlands, and Denmark, among others, remained neutral) the monarchies of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Russian Empire collapsed due to the pressures of maintaining a grueling war amidst internal political strife. And as these ruling dynasties collapsed following the torments of war, their countries fell into disarray, and in some cases, new countries were formed in the violent aftermath.

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Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany saw his country go from massive successes on the battlefield in the early stages of the war to becoming stuck in the unbearable war of attrition with Britain and France in the war’s latter half. Initially, the German people had great faith in the Kaiser and his armed forces. But the massive amounts of casualties suffered by the German forces, paired with the growing mistrust of the German people toward their leaders, led to a reduction of power in the monarchy. One of the leading Imperial field commanders, Crown Prince William, was better known for his womanizing, and the Kaiser himself was reluctant to directly attack the British Isles due to his ties with the British royal family2. In the end, the Kaiser abdicated and fled to the neutral Netherlands, while the German armed forces fell into disarray and the country became embroiled in a bitter civil war.

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Kaiser Franz Joseph of the Austro-Hungarian Empire saw the same fate befall his nation. Whereas the Austro-Hungarian forces saw their fair share of defeats on the front lines, the monarchy’s power was also undermined by discontent among its many ethnic minorities. A socialist Viennese newspaper noted, “We have not one Ireland, but six Irelands.4” The Austro-Hungarian empire was a patchwork nation of Poles, Hungarians, Serbs, Czechs, Croats, and many other ethnic groups. Each wanted their own say in imperial governance, but the Kaiser was reluctant to relinquish power. Following Franz Joseph’s death in 1916, the empire suffered a leadership crisis and even more losses at the front. Eventually, the Austro-Hungarian empire lost the war and split up into many different nations.

The Romanov Dynasty of Russia had arguably the most dramatic fall from power. Having represented his ruling family’s dynasty of over 300 years, Tzar Nicholas II had much to deal with during World War I. Russia faced the usual problems: massive casualties, labor deficiencies, and mistrust from the general populace. The Russian people’s dissatisfaction reached a breaking point in February 1917 with a revolution that eventually overthrew the Romanov dynasty, replacing it with a provisional government under the leadership of Alexander Kerensky. Even this government proved to be unstable, and a brutal civil war erupted between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Taking advantage of this power vacuum, Vladmir Lenin took control of the Russian leadership and ordered the brutal elimination of his foes.5 This included Tsar Nicholas and his family, and with their subsequent execution, Europe saw one of its last great monarchies come to an end.

1. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wilhelm_II_on_the_field.jpg
2. Eric Dorn Brose, Europe in the Twentieth Century (New York N.Y. Oxford University Press, 2005) pg. 88
3. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaiser_franz.jpg
4. Brose pg. 96
5. Brose pg. 90-94