Introduction | Overview | Population | Life expectancy
A world of empires | Independence | Rich and poor
Before and after | Did you know? | Find out more

Overview

In 1900, the imperial and capitalist civilisations of the West - that is, Europe and the United States – seemed supremely confident and superior to the rest of the world, ruling as it did 85% of the land surface. Then, from 1914, it stumbled blindly from one catastrophe to another:

• Two world wars, causing horrific destruction, symbolised by Hitler's concentration camps and the atom bombs exploded by the United States.

• Two waves of revolution, one led by Lenin and Trotsky and the other by Mao. These resulted in Communist alternatives to the capitalist model, but were actually totalitarian dictatorships that seemed to many to pose a real threat to the democratic way of life.

By 1920, one sixth of the world's land surface was under Lenin's Communism. Thirty years later, Communism under Stalin and Mao ruled one third of the global population.

In the 20th century, events happened at mind-boggling speed. Hitler was in power for only 12 years (1933-45), but he managed to leave Europe in ruins. In 1900, Britain's empire – on which the sun never set – seemed destined to last for centuries more, but did not survive the lifetime of Winston Churchill (1874-1965).

The century also witnessed the Great Depression (1929-39), an economic crisis of such intensity that it almost destroyed the United States, the strongest capitalist economy in history.

As well as an economic crisis, there was a profound political crisis. Liberal democracies gave way to Fascist governments in Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan.

They were defeated during World War II (1939-45) by means of an unholy alliance between the capitalist US and Britain and the Communist Soviet Union. But no sooner was the war against Fascism won than the Allies fell out and a 'cold war' dominated world affairs for more than 40 years (1945-89).

After World War II, and to everyone's surprise, the West enjoyed a 25-year boom (1947-73), an unprecedented golden age. But by 2000, the world – more globalised than ever before – was in crisis once again. With only one superpower, the US, and only one dominant economic system, capitalism, there was still no end to conflict, instability and war. And some people were asking: can the system survive? And as well as these momentous events and big questions, the 20th century also saw changes that affected the daily life of everyone born anywhere in the world. It was truly an amazing century.

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