History’s Revenge: Why the USSR’s Collapse Is Like WWI

... century, broke out a hundred years ago, in August of 1914. Apart from the millions killed, the war destroyed four empires – Russian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and German. It sparked a genocide (the Armenians in Turkey), and saw the first use of weapons ... .... This slow-motion catastrophe unfolded over the first half of the century. The Great Depression could be added to the list. WWI unleashed revanchism in Germany, weakened democracies and markets, and strengthened the USSR, which existed in an alternate economic universe. When Vladimir Putin called the collapse of the USSR the greatest geopolitical ...