9.7Meanwhile, elsewhere (1900–1929)

World War I devastated Europe, killing millions and toppling four empires—German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian. In 1917, revolution brought the Bolsheviks to power in Russia, creating the world's first communist state, the Soviet Union, whose ideology would challenge the capitalist order for the rest of the century.

The postwar settlement redrew Europe's map and imposed harsh terms on Germany, sowing resentments that would fuel a second, greater war. Elsewhere, anti-colonial movements stirred in India and beyond, and Japan continued its rise. The 1920s' fragile prosperity was global, and so, soon, would be its collapse.