The aftermath of the First World War had the effect of producing, throughout the world, the greatest revolutionary wave seen since the Revolutions of 1848. Regimes which had defined their time before the war were abruptly overthrown in Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Turkey. Revolutionary nationalism spread throughout nations, such as the Poles, Finns and Irish, which had been subject to centuries of domination by the great powers. Even the greatest empire on the face of the planet was unable to escape the socioeconomic effects of the War and its aftermath, as the United Kingdom's entire political system was turned on its head when Labour superseded the Liberals as the official opposition to Conservative government in 1922, and ascended to form a government themselves by 1924.