Question # 6 - Post War Conflicts – Fredrick Wilhelm Heinz, a World War One veteran and later Nazi Party leader said of the end of the war, “People told us the war was over. That was a laugh. We ourselves are the war: Its flame burns strongly in us.” How did soldiers returning home from the war fuel wars of “national self-determination” that raged after the official peace?
Answer - Main Point – The war caused four empires that covered Eastern Europe and the Middle East to collapse. In the wake of the war, people in these regions began to reorganize countries based on nationalism. However, in many of these places there were intermixed populations and it was difficult to clearly draw national borders. Across this region (and in Ireland) soldiers who fought in the war became engaged in fighting to establish new countries and governments.
· Many soldiers from these regions returned home after the war with weapons and experience – ready to fight for independence.
· Poles fought Germans, Ukrainians and Soviets to establish a Polish nation, Turks fought Greeks for control of Western Turkey, and the Irish fought British for independence
