The Most Significant World Events of the Century
Over the past century, humanity has witnessed some of the most significant changes in history. From wars to technological breakthroughs, the world has been transformed.
As our survey suggests, Americans are primarily bound together by their generation and the major events that occurred during their formative years. For the Silent and Greatest generations, that unifying event is World War II.
The First World War
The First World War was the first truly global conflict, with battles taking place across several continents. It also saw the rise of new military technology, including aircraft and poison gas.
The war pitted the Allied Powers against the Central Powers, a group of European powers led by Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. They fought over territory and resources, and the result was a series of treaties that divided up Europe into separate successor states.
Britain and France, the two most powerful countries in Europe, formed a strong alliance called the Triple Entente. This alliance was joined by Germany, and in 1917 by Italy and the United States.
Germany invaded Belgium and France in August 1914, causing Britain to join the war. These two attacks were followed by a series of small battles along the Western Front, where armies slowly pushed back toward Paris.
These slow attacks were accompanied by terrible losses, as more and more of the soldiers died in battle. This made the stalemate along the Western Front even more painful for the troops.
By the end of the war, more than ten million people were dead or wounded. The war had ruined the lives of people all over the world, and it changed how people thought about their role in the world.
After the war, Russia became a country that was run by an elected government, with a president and a legislature. This was the beginning of a new type of government, called communism.
The war also brought about the formation of the League of Nations, which was a body of nations that tried to promote international peace and security. It was a step forward in the quest for universal rights and was a turning point for the United States as well.
The Bolshevik Revolution
The Bolshevik Revolution was a major event in the history of Russia. It was a revolution that brought about the creation of a new communist nation and the end of autocracy in Russia.
Before the revolution, Russia was a country that was mostly agrarian and had not made any significant steps toward industrialization. It was a country that depended on the European world for its prosperity. However, the revolution allowed Russia to enter into the industrial age and also gave a boost to the economy.
After the revolution, many important things were achieved in Russia like social justice and equality among all classes of people. The government was given the power to control the economy and create a better economic situation for all people.
Although the revolution was a successful one, it also caused a lot of problems in Russia. There was a lot of unrest in the country and many people began to distrust the government.
Anti-Bolshevik sentiments started growing. Posters were pinned on walls and fences, repudiating the authority of the Bolsheviks.
The Red Guard, an armed unit of the Bolsheviks, seized control of government buildings in Petrograd. The Winter Palace was captured and Kerensky fled the city.
In the days that followed, there were a lot of demonstrations and clashes between the people and the police. Eventually, the police arrested a large number of people.
After this, a lot of people were killed and there was a rise in anti-Bolshevik sentiments. This was because the government had not been able to solve the problem of the peasants and the workers.
The Bolsheviks were a group of workers who wanted to overthrow the government and make Russia a socialist country. They did this by destroying the aristocracy, the church, and the monarchy in Russia.
The Soviet Union
The Soviet Union, a union of republics that formed within the territory of former Imperial Russia, was one of the most powerful states of the twentieth century. Its influence extended throughout Eastern Europe, aided the postwar reconstruction of war-torn countries and turned them into Soviet satellites, supplied aid to the Communists in China, and was a major player on the global stage.
The country was led by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) under its head, General Secretary Joseph Stalin. He and his party were able to gain absolute power through the use of police repression against opposition elements.
During the late 1920s, Stalin began employing a system of purge trials, where he executed political dissenters, particularly party members. He then launched the forced labor camps, or Gulag, which incarcerated millions of people, including murderers and other common criminals as well as religious and political dissenters.
Stalin also used the Soviet Union as a vehicle to advance his ambitions and became a leading figure in world affairs through his efforts to expand the Communist Party's international influence. By the end of the 1940s, he had expanded the Soviet Union's territory into Finland and Poland and annexed the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it left behind a legacy of political, economic, and social turmoil. Nevertheless, it had made great strides in developing relations with the rest of the world and had been able to maintain its status as one of two superpowers for four decades.
During the decade that followed, Mikhail Gorbachev introduced perestroika and glasnost reforms. However, these did not produce the economic and political miracles many expected. Instead, lines in stores grew longer, civic unrest mounted, and a bloody crackdown was carried out in many areas.
The United Nations
The United Nations is a global organization that works to keep the world safe and prosperous. Its members include 193 nations and it has a powerful influence on the world.
The UN’s principal organs are the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. The Secretary-General is the head of the UN and he oversees the organization’s work.
In addition, the UN has several other organizations and agencies. These include the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World Food Programme, UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization.
These bodies all work together to help the world achieve Sustainable Development Goals. These goals are a set of 17 goals that the UN hopes to see achieved by 2030.
During the conflict, the UN often sends troops to the scene of war to help resolve it. These troops are primarily non-combatants. They are not armed, have no heavy weapons, do not take sides in the conflict, and must carry out their mission without taking advantage of others.
Many nations also rely on the UN to protect them from foreign threats and help them achieve peace. The UN also monitors the world’s nuclear programs to ensure that they are not being diverted for military use.
Despite the UN’s influence, there are still calls for substantial reform. Some want more power for the Security Council and other proposals seek to establish a UN Parliamentary Assembly. This would allow a new generation of leaders to influence the Organization’s policies.
The Second World War
A global conflict that involved all of the world's major countries from 1939-1945. It was the most destructive war in history, and millions of people died. It was also the first time that large-scale warfare was fought in the air.
The Second World War began when the Germans invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany.
Throughout the years leading up to the war, there was tension between the European powers. During this period, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy were both growing in power. Their ambitions, rivalries, fears, and anxieties reflected the international tension that was still unresolved after the end of the First World War.
Hitler's aggressive expansion and the invasion of Czechoslovakia triggered a deterioration in relations between the Axis Powers and the Allies. Among the issues was whether Germany would be allowed to take part in the multi-ethnic state of Czechoslovakia, as well as whether the Germans would be allowed to occupy the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
Britain and France feared that Hitler would use this to expand his empire and wanted to prevent this from happening. They also worried about the threat that Russia would resist Germany's invasion of Poland.
As a result, they signed a pact in Moscow in August 1939 known as the Nonaggression Pact. This entailed that Germany was not allowed to invade Russia, while Poland had assurances from both France and Britain that it would be protected should Germany attack.
In 1940, Hitler launched an invasion of Western Europe, focusing on the blitzkrieg tactics that combined fast armored tanks on land with the superior air force. This strategy was incredibly effective against Allied forces, who could not match the speed and precision of German aircraft.
