Dictatorships of Inter-War Europe

In the decades after the end of World War I many European countries experienced periods of dictatorial government. These regimes had certain elements in common, for example they were often strongly nationalist, presided over the suppression of parliamentary democracy, and elevated an individual leader as a focal point of loyalty. Nevertheless, they spanned a range of political views, from the Communist Soviet Union to the conservative Catholic regimes in Spain and Portugal. When World War II broke out in 1939 many of the dictatorships found themselves in conflict with each other, particularly when confronted with the territorial ambitions of Germany and the Soviet Union.