The 20th century was rich in events and outstanding personalities. In his book Age of Extremes. Eric Hobsbawm provides an extended reappraisal of what happened during the Twentieth Century and the impact of those events on human development. Harmonizing to Hobsbawm. the Twentieth Century was both the Age of Catastrophe and the clip of the extraordinary economic growing – a complex sandwich of events and developments that changed the human society “more deeply than any other period of comparable brevity” ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ).
In the first two chapters of Age of Extremes. Eric Hobsbawm ( 1995 ) tries to measure the societal and historic bequest of the Twentieth Century and creates a brief image of the events and achievements that took topographic point between 1914 and 1991. The writer is confident that human society can non distance itself from the events of the yesteryear. because everyone on the Earth. irrespective of their life history and personal background. went through more or less similar cardinal experiences that affected them all ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ).
Hobsbawm ( 1995 ) traces the development of the Twentieth Century from the First World War. which marked “the dislocation of the western civilisation of the 19th century” ( p. 6 ). The western civilisation was characterized by capitalist economic system. broad constitutional construction. bourgeois image of the hegemonic category. and the glorification of scientific. educational. technological. cognition. and moral progress ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ).
The decennaries following the beginning of the First World War were the Age of Catastrophe: until the terminal of WWII. the society stumbled from one catastrophe to another and lived at the border of endurance ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ). The failure of the major colonial imperiums and the economic crisis of unprecedented deepness added their portion of complexness to the province of universe personal businesss ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ). Hobsbawm ( 1995 ) believes that the triumph of the Soviet Union over Hitler was one of the most of import events of the Twentieth Century.
Without it. the whole Western universe could hold turned into set of fluctuations on fascist subjects ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ). The rise of the socialist motions was the direct consequence of the failings in the nineteenth-century businessperson society ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ). How and why the universe threw itself into the Golden Age of capitalist economy between 1947 and 1973 remains one of basic historical mystifiers ; but the Golden Age could non be eternal and the planetary crisis that followed affected all. irrespective of their political. societal. and economic constellations ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ).
The economic crisis bit by bit extended to cover political issues – the prostration of the Soviet Union produced an tremendous zone of political uncertainness and destroyed the stable system of international dealingss ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ). The economic and political uncertainnesss were followed by the moral and societal crisis – the crisis of beliefs. which worlds had used over the class of the Twentieth Century to win their conflict over the 19th century’s political orientation ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ).
The century that had begun with incredible optimism and religion in the hereafter ended with a knock and a whine. go forthing the society in the thick of the moral. societal. economic. and mental prostration ( Hobsbawm. 1995 ). In Hobsbawm’s ( 1995 ) position. the Twentieth Century was the clip of unprecedented accomplishments and dramatic failures. The cyclical nature of development resulted in uninterrupted instability and profound economic. societal. and political displacements.
For many states. the Twentieth Century became the clip of singular alterations and the beginning of the new epoch of uncertainness and pandemonium. Whether states win in deciding the bing contentions depends on how good they can larn the lessons of the yesteryear and usage sagely the historical. political. and moral bequest of the stormy Twentieth Century. Conclusion The Twentieth Century was the clip of unprecedented accomplishments and failures. The capitalisation of the word combination “Twentieth Century” by Hobsbawm ( 1995 ) is non inadvertent.
The writer feels that the Twentieth Century reflected a alone paradox: the victory of the stuff values and their absolute rejection at the terminal of the epoch. The century that had begun with incredible optimism and religion in the hereafter ended with the deep crisis of the moral and mental political orientations. go forthing humanity in the thick of the societal. economic. cultural. and moral prostration. Whether states win in deciding the bing contentions depends on how good people can larn from the yesteryear and usage sagely the historical. political. and moral bequest of the stormy Twentieth Century.
