William Tyler
Romania: Dictatorship, Marxism and Democracy
Summary
The First World War had effects on history for over a century after it ended. Three empires collapsed: The Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The result for Romania at the end of WWI was the enlargement of its territory, creating ‘Greater Romania’. This lasted until after WWII when it was again reduced in size to its present borders.
WWII was traumatic for Romania as it changed sides in 1944 to join The Allies. Yet, at the war’s end it was reduced in size, and fell under control of Communism. Since the Fall of Communism in 1989, Romania finds itself once more on the rocky road to full democracy.
William Tyler
William Tyler has spent his entire professional life in adult education, beginning at Kingsgate College in 1969. He has lectured widely for many public bodies, including the University of Cambridge and the WEA, in addition to speaking to many clubs and societies. In 2009, William was awarded the MBE for services to adult education, and he has previously been a scholar in residence at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.
No, it wasn’t. It is the fact that in the interwar years, sorry, I shouldn’t have been so blunt. In the inter-War years, it is the two competing philosophies of fascism and communism that dominate much of Europe. The democracies, the big democracies, remain only in European terms, France and Britain. And France has its own problems with both communists and fascists. The British experience of fascism was a limited one.