Apr 28, 2021 When helping my daughter with her AP World History class recently, I was struck by the similarities between the present day and the troubled years between the first and second world wars. This similarity was driven home even more strongly by the recent death of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s spouse of almost 74 years. Philip’s passing reminds us that we will eventually lose Elizabeth herself, who, at 94, is the longest-reigning monarch in British (and world) history. We are witnessing the end of an era. The aftermath of the Great War saw the implosion of three European kingdoms: the German-Prussian Empire, the Habsburg dynasty that ruled Austria-Hungary and the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty in Russia.