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 world, wars, cold and/or war:

    “We could say, then, that man is an instrument the world employs to renew its own image constantly.”
    —Italo Calvino (1923–1985)

    “O how wretched
    Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favors!
    There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
    More pangs and fears than wars or women have;
    And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
    Never to hope again.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “One ... aspect of the case for World War II is that while it was still a shooting affair it taught us survivors a great deal about daily living which is valuable to us now that it is, ethically at least, a question of cold weapons and hot words.”
    —M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)

    “Hate-hardened heart, O heart of iron,
    iron is iron till it is rust.
    There never was a war that was
    not inward; I must
    fight till I have conquered in myself what
    causes war, but I would not believe it.”
    —Marianne Moore (1887–1972)