The Twentieth-Century World

This paper will introduce students to the global twentieth century, an era of intense conflict, idealism, and catastrophe. This was the century of genocide, eugenics and the nuclear bomb, but also of feminism, social security, international governance, and rising health standards.  

More than in any other period, events around seemed to accelerate and become ever more deeply interconnected. To understand the 20th century, historians have to bring together developments in different regions, to trace how developments in the American economy affected the livelihoods of Indian merchants, and how protests in Mexico affected those in Prague. But to what extent were these developments interconnected? How did ideologies like fascism and communism and processes like the Cold War take form in different regions of the world? How did relationships shift between the Global North and South and what happens if we tilt our orientation southwards? This paper will help students look at how we can connect events in different places at the same time approach questions to historical problems with the tools of world history.

WATCH >> Dr Rachel Leow introduce The Twentieth Century World.