MEPX
Chapter 8 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Before writing
  2. 2Cities and states
  3. 3Classical empires
  4. 4The middle centuries
  5. 5The world connects
  6. 6Political revolutions
  7. 7Industrialisation
  8. 8The world wars
  9. 9The Cold War and decolonisation
  10. 10The recent past

Chapter 8 of 10

The world wars

1914 to 1945.

The first war

Alliance systems, nationalism and industrial weapons produced four years of attritional slaughter, followed by a settlement that left grievances unresolved.

  • The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more people than the fighting.
  • Empires in Europe and the Middle East dissolved, redrawing borders.

The second war

A wider and more destructive conflict, including the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered along with millions of Roma, disabled people and others. It ended with nuclear weapons in use and a new international order.