DEFINING THE 20th CENTURY WORLD

The 20^th century was the founding stone of the modern world of information age. Undeniably, the early generations of this century had to give a lot of sacrifices to make a stable world rising with development and cooperation. From the great enduring generation to the baby boomers and finally to Gen X, many events as part of a longer process have taken place defining the global scenario as it is today and will be in future.

·         The Killing of Franz Ferdinand: the assassination of archduke of Austria resulted in an immediate chain of trigger happy events leading to the First World War. The globe was never the same after the massive war, millions lost their lives, and economies languished under recession and deplorable economic opportunities. Sanctions-embargos raised against belligerents further fomented resentment amongst imperial powers leading to the Second World War.

·         The October Revolution: Lenin and his Bolshevik party leading his men to overthrow the Tsarist autocracy in Russia and resulting in the establishment of the Soviet Union. The formation of the USSR resulted in the post-world war era partition of power in the globe, the cold war and its subsequent dissolution resulted in painful socio-economic and political transition of emerging nations. Overall the 20^th century’s latter part was dominated with aspects related to the USSR, communism and its policies.

·         Rise of Asia: The rapid growth and industrialization of Asian economies especially China and India shifted the power towards the eastern hemisphere of the globe. Former colonies and victims of imperialistic ambitions, many Asian economies rose in an unprecedented manner utilizing their vast natural resources, demographic dividend and enjoying the fruits of globalization and liberalization. The world no longer belonged solely to the policies and ideology of the western super powers.

·         Computers, telephone and the internet: the launch of the first satellite into space, landing of man on the moon, invention of computers, advancement in transport and communication technology made the world a smaller place to live in. Boundaries no longer seemed to exist as intercontinental distances were covered in fractions of seconds while communicating over e-mails and chats. Economies were integrated and interdependence increased to extraordinary levels across national boundaries.

·         Scourge of Terrorism: 9/11 attack on WTC towers, war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, rebels in Palestine and sporadic international terrorist activities gave way to a new threat to humanity. The threat of political usage of religious sentiments for vested interests or rather put simply, the scourge of terrorism. It has given rise to numerous politically motivated aggressive outfits which are shaping up the world of the 21^st century. Though the world is united in fighting this menace for the time being, things are looking far worse than before. There is a pressing requirement for highest levels of cooperation in all fronts and mobilization of societies to get rid of terrorism.

Though there were numerous other instances which had a profound impact upon the world. However, the above mentioned brings into light the most significant happenings as per my belief.