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:

    “I am a soul in the world: in
    the world of my soul the whirled
    light from the day
    the sacked land
    of my father.”
    —Imamu Amiri Baraka (b. 1934)

    “Now his wars on God begin;
    At stroke of midnight God shall win.”
    —William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    “Shall I make it clear, boys, for all to apprehend,
    Those that will not hear, boys, waiting for the end,
    Knowing it is near, boys, trying to pretend,
    Sitting in cold fear, boys, waiting for the end?”
    —William Empson (1906–1984)

    “I certainly know that if the war fails, the administration fails, and that I will be blamed for it, whether I deserve it or not. And I ought to be blamed, if I could do better. You think I could do better; therefore you blame me already. I think I could not do better; therefore I blame you for blaming me.”
    —Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)