European Society 1918–39

Abstract

As in economic life, so too in the social realm the First World War accelerated change and added new problems to the old. Millions of Europeans — a generation of young people — had died, and still more had become homeless refugees. Whole areas of countryside were destroyed, and national boundaries were changed. Women had assumed a new role in the workforce and were now being given the vote. Old occupational groups were no longer able to find work in the postwar world, and the thousands of returned soldiers had to be accommodated by the economy. Hardships did not end with the armistice, and in fact war continued.