The historian Erik Hobsbawm called the period from 1914 to 1991 an “Age of Extremes.” In these lessons, we’ll attempt to understand the causes and consequences of the twentieth century’s global conflicts.

In the summer of 1914, the guns of war echoed across Europe and brought to a screeching halt all the “progress” and rapid interconnections of the long nineteenth century. Colonial connections soon spread the conflict globally. What caused this war?

Twenty years after the devastation of the First World War, the world was engulfed in another, even deadlier global conflict. Between the two world wars, internationalists faced off against a tide of rising authoritarianism and a new ideology called fascism.

As World War II ended, new global conflicts were brewing. Across the colonized world, people demanded independence. Their struggles were soon entangled with the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.