History of Europe - World Wars and Cold War

World Wars and Cold War

See also: Twentieth century

The "short twentieth century", from 1914 to 1991, sees the First World War, the Second World War and the Cold War, including the rise and fall of Nazi Germany and of the Soviet Union. These disastrous events spell the end of the European Colonial empires and initiated widespread decolonisation. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 to 1991 leaves the United States as the world's single superpower and triggers the fall of the Iron Curtain, the reunification of Germany and an accelerated process of a European integration that is ongoing.

Read more about this topic:  History Of Europe

Famous quotes containing the words cold war, world, wars, cold and/or war:

    “The Cold War began with the division of Europe. It can only end when Europe is whole.”
    —George Bush (b. 1924)

    “A world of made
    is not a world of born-”
    —E.E. (Edward Estlin)

    “Fortunately art is a community effort—a small but select community living in a spiritualized world endeavoring to interpret the wars and the solitudes of the flesh.”
    —Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)

    “Under bare Ben Bulben’s head
    In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
    An ancestor was rector there
    Long years ago, a church stands near,
    By the road an ancient cross.
    No marble, no conventional phrase;
    On limestone quarried near the spot
    By his command these words are cut:
    Cast a cold eye
    On life, on death.
    Horseman pass by!”
    —William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    “The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone
    In the ranks of death you’ll find him,
    His father’s sword he has girded on,
    And his wild harp slung behind him.”
    —Thomas Moore (1779–1852)