The First World War left a deep imprint on European society and polity.

(i)Soldiers came to be placed above civilians. Politicians and publicists laid great stress on the need for men to be aggressive, strong and masculine.

(ii)The media glorified trench life. The truth, however, was that soldiers lived miserable lives in these trenches, trapped with rats feeding on corpses.

(iii)They faced poisonous gas and enemy shelling, and witnessed their ranks reduce rapidly.

(iv)Aggressive war propaganda and national honour occupied centre stage in the public sphere, while popular support grew for conservative dictatorships that had recently come into being.

(v)Democracy was indeed a young and fragile idea, which could not survive the instabilities of interwar Europe.