By 1917, and especially after the February Revolution in Russia, the Allies were framing the Great War as a conflict between democracy and autocracy, between freedom and oppression.

But by this time, the heavy social and economic costs of fighting this new kind of war were wearing down even the wealthiest of the belligerent nations.

With new restrictions on dissent and economic centralization, the Western allies were becoming less democratic and less free,

even as they took up the banner of freedom and democracy.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Thank you. The The Episode 159, The Liberal Crisis

Liberalism is the great 19th century idea that respect for individual rights and a democratic form of government

are beneficial not only for individual citizens, but for the nation as a whole.

By the beginning of the 20th century, there were those everywhere in the world promoting liberalism,

and in particular, most European nations seemed either

liberal or liberalizing. If you were sufficiently optimistic, you could imagine that the march

toward liberalism was moving inexorably forward, even in repressive nations like Russia and China,

and look forward to the day when the entire planet was governed

by peaceful democratic states bound together by economic and cultural ties.

Even if you were a socialist, you could still embrace this vision, only add to it the notation

that in the glorious future of peace and prosperity, not only will political

oppression disappear, but economic oppression as well.

Sadly, the Great War knocked to this vision askew. The most advanced and civilized nations

of the world, presumably, have now turned on each other with a

bloody savagery that would have disgusted a Neanderthal. Does that mean that liberalism has failed?

Well, as you well know, the advanced liberal nations of Britain and France have been maintaining

all along that the problem

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