The Age of Extremes A History of the World, 1914-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm is separated into three sections, and covers what Hobsbawm calls the short twentieth century. The three sections are, The Age of Catastrophe, 1914-1945, which is called so because it covers the first two world wars, the decaying of colonial empires, the spread of communism, the near breakdown of the capitalist system, and ended only after the liberal West and the Soviet Union forged a temporary, unlikely alliance to defeat Hitler. The second part of the book is The Golden Age, 1950-1970, where Hobsbawm covers the cold war and communism The real story of The Golden age is in the massive growth of the world 's economy, technological revolution and, for most of
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Hobsbawm states that there had been no world wars at all before the twentieth century. This all changed in 1914. The first world war involved all of the major powers and indeed all European states except Spain and the Netherlands. What is more, troops from the world overseas were, for the first time sent to fight and work outside their own regions ( Hobsbawm 23). World War One, was centred in Europe and began on the July 28th, 1914 and lasted until November 11th 1918.the war pitted the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against the Allied forces of Great Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Italy and Japan. Soldiers fought largely in trenches during the war, and thousands suffered from stress, known as shell-shock. The introduction of modern technology to warfare resulted in about nine million soldiers deaths and many more critically wounded. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic depression in the 1930s. The depression started in the United States, after the fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929. The Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investments dropped, causing major declines in industrial output and rising levels of unemployment as companies were going out of business and had to …show more content…
The mid century Golden Age was noted by the partnership of three major historical events. First was the long boom, a wave of economic growth which produced the most rapid tangible expansion of capitalism in its two hundred year history. Second was the separation of the European empires, that gradually replaced the colonial world order with a system of sovereign states. Finally there was the Cold War,which was a period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. The Cold War was an important influence on the process of decolonization. The granting of independence was increased by the existence of two superpowers. The combination of events in the Golden Age brought a huge change in the material and social conditions of human life. It took a while to notice, and even longer to take measure of, the transformation of quantitative material growth into the qualitative upheavals of life, even in those parts of the world. For 80 per cent of humanity, the Middle Ages ended suddenly in the 1950’s. In many ways those who actually lived through these transformations, did not grasp their full extent, since they experienced them incrementally… are not conceived as permanent revolutions (Hobsbawm
Hobsbawm states that there had been no world wars at all before the twentieth century. This all changed in 1914. The first world war involved all of the major powers and indeed all European states except Spain and the Netherlands. What is more, troops from the world overseas were, for the first time sent to fight and work outside their own regions ( Hobsbawm 23). World War One, was centred in Europe and began on the July 28th, 1914 and lasted until November 11th 1918.the war pitted the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against the Allied forces of Great Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Italy and Japan. Soldiers fought largely in trenches during the war, and thousands suffered from stress, known as shell-shock. The introduction of modern technology to warfare resulted in about nine million soldiers deaths and many more critically wounded. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic depression in the 1930s. The depression started in the United States, after the fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929. The Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investments dropped, causing major declines in industrial output and rising levels of unemployment as companies were going out of business and had to …show more content…
The mid century Golden Age was noted by the partnership of three major historical events. First was the long boom, a wave of economic growth which produced the most rapid tangible expansion of capitalism in its two hundred year history. Second was the separation of the European empires, that gradually replaced the colonial world order with a system of sovereign states. Finally there was the Cold War,which was a period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. The Cold War was an important influence on the process of decolonization. The granting of independence was increased by the existence of two superpowers. The combination of events in the Golden Age brought a huge change in the material and social conditions of human life. It took a while to notice, and even longer to take measure of, the transformation of quantitative material growth into the qualitative upheavals of life, even in those parts of the world. For 80 per cent of humanity, the Middle Ages ended suddenly in the 1950’s. In many ways those who actually lived through these transformations, did not grasp their full extent, since they experienced them incrementally… are not conceived as permanent revolutions (Hobsbawm