The surge that could change Europe

Migrants crossing the rail tracks after arriving at the Slovenian border in Harmica, Croatia, on Oct 26, 2015. In its chaos, desperation and sheer scale, the sudden surge of tens of thousands of migrants into a Spanish territory in North Africa rec recalled similar scenes 11 years ago along the coasts of Greece and Italy. — Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times

IN its chaos, desperation and sheer scale, the sudden surge of tens of thousands of migrants into a Spanish territory in North Africa recently recalled similar scenes 11 years ago along the coasts of Greece and Italy.

It was that 2015 crisis – when more than a million people, mostly from the Middle East, swept into southern Europe – that deepened opposition to immigration across Europe and emboldened the far right.