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95-616: The Cambridge Modern History is a comprehensive modern history of the world , beginning with the 15th century Age of Discovery , published by the Cambridge University Press in England and also in the United States. The first series, planned by Lord Acton and edited by him with Stanley Mordaunt Leathes , Sir Adolphus William Ward and G. W. Prothero , was launched in 1902 and totalled fourteen volumes,

190-599: A Second Industrial Revolution which enabled Germany , Japan , and the United States to become great powers that raced to create empires of their own . However, Russia and China failed to keep pace with the other world powers, which led to massive social unrest in both empires. While earlier centuries also saw significant developments, the 20th century was distinguished by the unprecedented pace and global scale of economic, technological, and cultural changes. Still, advancing technology and medicine have had

285-508: A royal house . A few of the smaller states survived, such as the independent principalities of Liechtenstein , Andorra , Monaco , and the republic of San Marino . Most theories see the nation state as a 19th-century European phenomenon, facilitated by developments such as state-mandated education, mass literacy , and mass media . However, historians also note the early emergence of a relatively unified state and identity in Portugal and

380-434: A federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism ). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of either party,

475-510: A great impact even in the Global South . Large-scale industry and more centralized media made brutal dictatorships possible on an unprecedented scale in the middle of the century, leading to wars that were also unprecedented. However, the increased communications contributed to democratization . Technological developments included the development of airplanes and space exploration , nuclear technology , advancement in genetics , and

570-574: A limited way, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it. A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws , and exercising internal and external force , including warfare against adversaries. Politics is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from clans and tribes of traditional societies, through modern local governments , companies and institutions up to sovereign states , to

665-663: A mutual defense agreement, the Tripartite Pact , and were known as the Axis Powers . Nine months later, on June 22, 1941, Germany launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, which prompted it to join the Allies. Germany was now engaged in fighting a war on two fronts. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor , bringing it too into the war on the side of the Allies. China also joined

760-796: A political entity that has monopoly on violence within its territory, while the Montevideo Convention holds that states need to have a defined territory; a permanent population; a government; and a capacity to enter into international relations. A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state . In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority ; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power and are generally not permanently held positions; and social bodies that resolve disputes through predefined rules tend to be small. Stateless societies are highly variable in economic organization and cultural practices. While stateless societies were

855-532: A result of political campaigns by nationalists , during the 19th century. In both cases, the territory was previously divided among other states, some of them very small. Liberal ideas of free trade played a role in German unification, which was preceded by a customs union , the Zollverein . National self-determination was a key aspect of United States President Woodrow Wilson 's Fourteen Points , leading to

950-539: A result of some shared rational interest. The theories largely focus on the development of agriculture, and the population and organizational pressure that followed and resulted in state formation. One of the most prominent theories of early and primary state formation is the hydraulic hypothesis , which contends that the state was a result of the need to build and maintain large-scale irrigation projects. Conflict theories of state formation regard conflict and dominance of some population over another population as key to

1045-488: A society. The history of political thought can be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal works such as Plato 's Republic , Aristotle 's Politics , Confucius 's political manuscripts and Chanakya 's Arthashastra . The English word politics has its roots in the name of Aristotle 's classic work, Politiká , which introduced the Ancient Greek term politiká ( Πολιτικά , 'affairs of

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1140-648: A sphere of influence over the area. These claims did not have to have any substantial land holdings or treaties to be legitimate. The French gained major ground in West Africa , the British in East Africa , and the Portuguese and Spanish at various points throughout the continent, while Leopold II of Belgium was able to retain his personal fiefdom, Congo . Electricity, steel, and petroleum fuelled

1235-563: A threat, it was causing anti-Western and anti-American feelings in parts of the world, especially in the Middle East . English was quickly becoming the global language, with people who did not speak it becoming increasingly disadvantaged. Terrorism , dictatorship , and the spread of nuclear weapons were also issues requiring immediate attention. Dictators such as Kim Jong-il in North Korea continued to lead their nations toward

1330-628: Is a term usually applied to the history of art, architecture and music during this period. Historians sometimes define a nineteenth century historical era stretching from 1815 (the Congress of Vienna) to 1914 (the outbreak of the First World War ); alternatively, Eric Hobsbawm defined the " long nineteenth century " as spanning the years 1789 to 1914. During this century, the Spanish , Portuguese , and Ottoman Empires began to crumble and

1425-523: Is an important transition period beginning between the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, which started in Italy. " Postmodernism ", coined 1949, on the other hand, would describe rather a movement in art than a period of history, and is usually applied to arts, but not to any events of the very recent history. This changed, when postmodernity was coined to describe the major changes in

1520-417: Is based on the use of power, irrespective of the ends being pursued. Agonism argues that politics essentially comes down to conflict between conflicting interests. Political scientist Elmer Schattschneider argued that "at the root of all politics is the universal language of conflict", while for Carl Schmitt the essence of politics is the distinction of 'friend' from 'foe'. This is in direct contrast to

1615-441: Is closely associated with the development of individualism , capitalism , urbanization , and a belief in the positive possibilities of technological and political progress . The brutal wars and other conflicts of this era , many of which come from the effects of rapid change, and the connected loss of strength of traditional religious and ethical norms, have led to many reactions against modern development . Optimism and

1710-552: Is closely linked to ethics , and is at its extreme in utopian thinking. For example, according to Hannah Arendt , the view of Aristotle was that, "to be political…meant that everything was decided through words and persuasion and not through violence"; while according to Bernard Crick , "politics is the way in which free societies are governed. Politics is politics, and other forms of rule are something else." In contrast, for realists, represented by those such as Niccolò Machiavelli , Thomas Hobbes , and Harold Lasswell , politics

1805-617: Is continually being written by the legislative and judiciary branch of government; this is just one of those cases in which the nature of the circumstances determines the form of government that is most appropriate. England did set the fashion of written constitutions during the Civil War but after the Restoration abandoned them to be taken up later by the American Colonies after their emancipation and then France after

1900-437: Is embedded in a particular political culture. Lucian Pye 's definition is that, "Political culture is the set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments, which give order and meaning to a political process and which provide the underlying assumptions and rules that govern behavior in the political system." Trust is a major factor in political culture, as its level determines the capacity of the state to function. Postmaterialism

1995-411: Is methodologically diverse and appropriates many methods originating in psychology , social research , and cognitive neuroscience . Approaches include positivism , interpretivism , rational choice theory , behavioralism , structuralism , post-structuralism , realism , institutionalism , and pluralism . Political science, as one of the social sciences , uses methods and techniques that relate to

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2090-572: Is not limited to modern institutions of government . Frans de Waal argued that chimpanzees engage in politics through "social manipulation to secure and maintain influential positions". Early human forms of social organization—bands and tribes—lacked centralized political structures. These are sometimes referred to as stateless societies . In ancient history, civilizations did not have definite boundaries as states have today, and their borders could be more accurately described as frontiers . Early dynastic Sumer , and early dynastic Egypt were

2185-632: Is the degree to which a political culture is concerned with issues which are not of immediate physical or material concern, such as human rights and environmentalism . Religion has also an impact on political culture. Political corruption is the use of powers for illegitimate private gain, conducted by government officials or their network contacts. Forms of political corruption include bribery , cronyism , nepotism , and political patronage . Forms of political patronage, in turn, includes clientelism , earmarking , pork barreling , slush funds , and spoils systems ; as well as political machines , which

2280-418: Is the science of comparison and teaching of different types of constitutions , political actors, legislature and associated fields. International relations deals with the interaction between nation-states as well as intergovernmental and transnational organizations. Political philosophy is more concerned with contributions of various classical and contemporary thinkers and philosophers. Political science

2375-591: The Canada Act 1982 , and the Australia Act 1986 , as well as the independence of countries like India , Pakistan , South Africa , and Ireland . The First World War was a world conflict , ranging from July 1914 to the final Armistice on 11 November 1918. The Allied Powers , led by the British Empire , France , Russia until March 1918, Japan and the United States after 1917, defeated

2470-849: The Central Powers , led by the German Empire , Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire . The war caused the disintegration of four empires — the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian ones — as well as radical change in the European and Middle Eastern maps. The Allied powers before 1917 are sometimes referred to as the Triple Entente , and the Central Powers are sometimes referred to as

2565-717: The Dutch Republic . Scholars such as Steven Weber , David Woodward , Michel Foucault , and Jeremy Black have advanced the hypothesis that the nation state did not arise out of political ingenuity or an unknown undetermined source, nor was it an accident of history or political invention. Rather, the nation state is an inadvertent byproduct of 15th-century intellectual discoveries in political economy , capitalism , mercantilism , political geography , and geography combined with cartography and advances in map-making technologies . Some nation states, such as Germany and Italy , came into existence at least partly as

2660-795: The Holy Roman and Mughal Empires ceased. The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as the fourth stage of the French Revolution , the first being the National Assembly , the second being the Legislative Assembly , and the third being the Directory . The Napoleonic era begins roughly with Napoleon's coup d'état , overthrowing the Directory and ends at

2755-536: The Hundred Days and his defeat at Waterloo ( November 9 1799 – June 28 1815 ). The Congress of Vienna soon set out to restore Europe to pre-French Revolution days. The Industrial Revolution was the major technological , socioeconomic , and cultural change in late 18th and early 19th century that began in Britain and spread throughout the world. During that time, an economy based on manual labour

2850-683: The Reconquista (1492) and Christopher Columbus 's voyage to the Americas (also 1492), to the Reformation begun with Martin Luther 's Ninety-five Theses (1517). The term "modern" was coined shortly before 1585 to describe the beginning of a new era. The term "early modern" was introduced in the English language by American historians at the turn of the 20th century (around 1900). It

2945-611: The Revolution and the rest of Europe including the European colonies. Constitutions often set out separation of powers , dividing the government into the executive , the legislature , and the judiciary (together referred to as the trias politica), in order to achieve checks and balances within the state. Additional independent branches may also be created, including civil service commissions , election commissions , and supreme audit institutions . Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system

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3040-574: The Second Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of steam-powered ships and railways, and later in the nineteenth century with the internal combustion engine and electric power generation. Following the Napoleonic Wars , the British Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one-quarter of the world's population and one-third of

3135-707: The Triple Alliance . Much of the fighting in World War I took place along the Western Front , within a system of opposing manned trenches and fortifications (separated by a " no man's land ") running from the North Sea to the border of Switzerland . On the Eastern Front , the vast eastern plains and limited rail network prevented a trench warfare stalemate from developing, although the scale of

3230-735: The Uruk period and Predynastic Egypt respectively around approximately 3000 BC. Early dynastic Egypt was based around the Nile River in the north-east of Africa , the kingdom's boundaries being based around the Nile and stretching to areas where oases existed. Early dynastic Sumer was located in southern Mesopotamia , with its borders extending from the Persian Gulf to parts of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Egyptians, Romans, and

3325-512: The World Trade Organization . The study of politics is called political science , It comprises numerous subfields, namely three: Comparative politics , international relations and political philosophy . Political science is related to, and draws upon, the fields of economics , law , sociology , history , philosophy , geography , psychology , psychiatry , anthropology , and neurosciences . Comparative politics

3420-526: The arts , and other aspects of culture —appear to have transformed an Old World into the Modern or New World . In each case, the identification of the change over time can be used to demarcate the old and old-fashioned from the modern. Starting in western countries, the modern world has seen a systematic re-evaluation of value systems , monarchical regimes, and feudal economic systems. These have often been replaced by democratic and liberal ideas in

3515-555: The belief in constant progress have been most recently criticized by postmodernism , while the dominance of Western Europe and North America over the rest of the world has been criticized by postcolonial theory . Eras can not easily be defined. 1500 is an approximate starting period for the modern era because many major events caused the Western world to change around that time: from the fall of Constantinople (1453), Gutenberg 's moveable type printing press (1450s), completion of

3610-647: The first civilizations to define their borders . Moreover, up to the 12th century, many people lived in non-state societies. These range from relatively egalitarian bands and tribes to complex and highly stratified chiefdoms . There are a number of different theories and hypotheses regarding early state formation that seek generalizations to explain why the state developed in some places but not others. Other scholars believe that generalizations are unhelpful and that each case of early state formation should be treated on its own. Voluntary theories contend that diverse groups of people came together to form states as

3705-412: The international level . In modern nation states , people often form political parties to represent their ideas. Members of a party often agree to take the same position on many issues and agree to support the same changes to law and the same leaders. An election is usually a competition between different parties. A political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within

3800-839: The 18th century, the classic non-national states were the multinational empires : the Austrian Empire , Kingdom of France , Kingdom of Hungary , the Russian Empire , the Spanish Empire , the Ottoman Empire , and the British Empire . Such empires also existed in Asia, Africa, and the Americas; in the Muslim world , immediately after the death of Muhammad in 632, Caliphates were established, which developed into multi-ethnic transnational empires. The multinational empire

3895-643: The 1950s and 1960s in economy, society, culture, and philosophy. These terms stem from European History; in worldwide usage, such as in China, India, and Islam, the terms are applied in a very different way, but often in the context with their contact with European culture in the Age of Discoveries . Changes, mostly seen as advances, in all areas of human activity— politics , industry , society , economics , commerce , transport , communication , mechanization , automation , science , medicine , technology , religion ,

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3990-575: The 4th century granted citizenship rights to their free population; in Athens these rights were combined with a directly democratic form of government that was to have a long afterlife in political thought and history. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) is considered by political scientists to be the beginning of the modern international system, in which external powers should avoid interfering in another country's domestic affairs. The principle of non-interference in other countries' domestic affairs

4085-491: The Allies, as did most of the rest of the world. China was in turmoil at the time and attacked Japanese armies through guerrilla-type warfare. By the beginning of 1942, the alignment of the major combatants was as follows: the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union, and the United States were fighting Germany and Italy; China, the British Commonwealth, and the United States were fighting Japan. The United Kingdom,

4180-467: The Cold War ended and the post–Cold War era began (which includes most of the 1990s , the last decade of the 20th century). The Korean War , Vietnam War , and Soviet–Afghan War , impacted political life, while the counterculture of the 1960s and the rise of computers changed society in different, complex ways, including higher social and local mobility. At the end of the twentieth century,

4275-577: The Greeks were the first people known to have explicitly formulated a political philosophy of the state, and to have rationally analyzed political institutions. Prior to this, states were described and justified in terms of religious myths. Several important political innovations of classical antiquity came from the Greek city-states ( polis ) and the Roman Republic . The Greek city-states before

4370-731: The Napoleonic Wars, which was modified by the mid-19th century's nationalistic revolutions. The results of World War I would be important factors in the development of World War II approximately 20 years later. The Interwar period was the period between the end of World War I in 1918 and the beginning of World War II in 1939. It included the Roaring Twenties , the Great Depression , and the rise of communism in Russia and fascism in Italy and Germany. World War II

4465-574: The Pacific Ocean, and in the air over Japan. Italy surrendered in September 1943 and was split into a northern Germany-occupied puppet state and an Allies-friendly state in the south; Germany surrendered in May 1945. Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Japan surrendered , marking the end of the war on September 2, 1945. It is possible that around 62 million people died in

4560-514: The UK, such as the Indian Empire . All of these countries declared war on Germany in September 1939. Following the lull in fighting, known as the " Phoney War ", Germany invaded western Europe in May 1940. Six weeks later, France, in the meantime attacked by Italy as well, surrendered to Germany, which then tried unsuccessfully to conquer Britain. On September 27, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed

4655-651: The United States, the Soviet Union, and China were referred to as a "trusteeship of the powerful" during World War II and were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in the Declaration by United Nations . These four countries were considered the " Four Policemen " or "Four Sheriffs" of the Allies and were the primary victors of World War II. Battles raged across all of Europe, in the north Atlantic Ocean , across North Africa, throughout Southeast Asia, throughout China, across

4750-533: The areas of politics , science , psychology , sociology , and economics . Some events of modern history, though born out of context not entirely new, show a new way of perceiving the world. The concept of modernity interprets the general meaning of these events and seeks explanations for major developments. Historians analyze the events taking place in Modern Times, since the so-called " Middle Ages " (between Modern and Ancient Times ). The " Baroque "

4845-964: The cities') . In the mid-15th century, Aristotle's composition would be rendered in Early Modern English as Polettiques [ sic ], which would become Politics in Modern English . The singular politic first attested in English in 1430, coming from Middle French politique —itself taking from politicus , a Latinization of the Greek πολιτικός ( politikos ) from πολίτης ( polites , 'citizen') and πόλις ( polis , 'city'). There are several ways in which approaching politics has been conceptualized. Adrian Leftwich has differentiated views of politics based on how extensive or limited their perception of what accounts as 'political' is. The extensive view sees politics as present across

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4940-399: The conflict was just as large. Hostilities also occurred on and under the sea and — for the first time — from the air. More than 9 million soldiers died on the various battlefields, and nearly that many more in the participating countries' home fronts on account of food shortages and genocide committed under the cover of various civil wars and internal conflicts. Notably, more people died of

5035-701: The dawning of the Information Age . Major political developments included the Israeli–Palestinian conflict , two world wars, and the Cold War . It also saw the former British Empire lose most of its remaining political power over Commonwealth countries, most notably by the dividing of the British crown into several sovereignties by the Statute of Westminster , the patriation of constitutions by

5130-430: The degree of horizontal integration between the legislature , the executive , the judiciary , and other independent institutions. The source of power determines the difference between democracies , oligarchies , and autocracies . In a democracy, political legitimacy is based on popular sovereignty . Forms of democracy include representative democracy , direct democracy , and demarchy . These are separated by

5225-487: The development of nuclear weapons. The fear existed that not only were terrorists already attempting to obtain nuclear weapons, but that they had already acquired them. Politics This is an accepted version of this page Politics (from Ancient Greek πολιτικά ( politiká )  'affairs of the cities') is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups , or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as

5320-445: The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire after the First World War , while the Russian Empire became the Soviet Union after the Russian Civil War . Decolonization lead to the creation of new nation states in place of multinational empires in the Third World . Political globalization began in the 20th century through intergovernmental organizations and supranational unions . The League of Nations

5415-532: The distribution of status or resources . The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science . Politics may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and non-violent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but the word often also carries a negative connotation. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or in

5510-474: The dramatic increases in production capacity. The development of all-metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The date of the Industrial Revolution is not exact. Eric Hobsbawm held that it "broke out" in the 1780s and was not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s, while T. S. Ashton held that it occurred roughly between 1760 and 1830 (in effect

5605-421: The fighting was confined to Poland. Pursuant to a then-secret provision of its non-aggression Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , the Soviet Union joined Germany on September 17, 1939, to conquer Poland and divide Eastern Europe. The Allies were initially made up of Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, as well as British Commonwealth countries which were controlled directly by

5700-427: The formation of states. In contrast with voluntary theories, these arguments believe that people do not voluntarily agree to create a state to maximize benefits, but that states form due to some form of oppression by one group over others. Some theories in turn argue that warfare was critical for state formation. The first states of sorts were those of early dynastic Sumer and early dynastic Egypt , which arose from

5795-454: The gutter between pages. The concluding index gives the latitude and longitude of the places named. Modern history The modern period has been a period of significant development in the fields of science , politics , warfare , and technology . It has also been an Age of Discovery and globalization . During this time, the European powers and later their colonies, strengthened its political, economic, and cultural colonization of

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5890-597: The interactions through which values are authoritatively allocated for a society." Each political system is embedded in a society with its own political culture, and they in turn shape their societies through public policy . The interactions between different political systems are the basis for global politics . Forms of government can be classified by several ways. In terms of the structure of power , there are monarchies (including constitutional monarchies ) and republics (usually presidential , semi-presidential , or parliamentary ). The separation of powers describes

5985-524: The kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis , case studies , experimental research , and model building. The political system defines the process for making official government decisions. It is usually compared to the legal system , economic system , cultural system , and other social systems . According to David Easton , "A political system can be designated as

6080-405: The land area. It enforced a Pax Britannica , encouraged trade, and battled rampant piracy. Slavery was greatly reduced around the world. Following a successful slave revolt in Haiti , Britain forced the Barbary pirates to halt their practice of kidnapping and enslaving Europeans, banned slavery throughout its domain in 1833, and charged its navy with ending the global slave trade. Slavery

6175-514: The last of them being an historical atlas which appeared in 1912. The period covered was from 1450 to 1910. Each volume includes an extensive bibliography. A second series, with entirely new editors and contributors, The New Cambridge Modern History , appeared in fourteen volumes between 1957 and 1979, again concluding with an atlas. It covered the world from 1450 to 1945. The first discussions about creating The Cambridge Modern History took place in 1896. The original Cambridge Modern History

6270-402: The maps, written by Ernest Alfred Benians . It is divided into several sections: Except for the first, each is in turn subsectioned for Europe and "Greater Europe", with the latter term referring mostly to the colonial empires. A separate index is provided for the introduction. There are 141 maps in this volume. Two-page maps are bound in such a way as to prevent information from being lost in

6365-445: The more co-operative views of politics by Aristotle and Crick. However, a more mixed view between these extremes is provided by Irish political scientist Michael Laver, who noted that: Politics is about the characteristic blend of conflict and co-operation that can be found so often in human interactions. Pure conflict is war. Pure co-operation is true love. Politics is a mixture of both. The history of politics spans human history and

6460-413: The norm in human prehistory, few stateless societies exist today; almost the entire global population resides within the jurisdiction of a sovereign state . In some regions nominal state authorities may be very weak and wield little or no actual power . Over the course of history most stateless peoples have been integrated into the state-based societies around them . Some political philosophies consider

6555-464: The personal is political ", which disputes the distinction between private and public issues. Politics may also be defined by the use of power, as has been argued by Robert A. Dahl . Some perspectives on politics view it empirically as an exercise of power, while others see it as a social function with a normative basis. This distinction has been called the difference between political moralism and political realism . For moralists, politics

6650-429: The reigns of George III , The Regency , and George IV ). The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting the majority of the world. The impact of this change on society was enormous and is often compared to the Neolithic Revolution , when mankind developed agriculture and gave up its nomadic lifestyle. The First Industrial Revolution gave way to

6745-437: The rest of the world. It also created a new modern lifestyle and has permanently changed the way people around the world live. In the 19th and early 20th century , modernist art , politics , science , and culture have come to dominate not only Western Europe and North America , but almost every area on the globe, including movements thought of as opposed to the western world and globalization . The modern era

6840-400: The sphere of human social relations, while the limited view restricts it to certain contexts. For example, in a more restrictive way, politics may be viewed as primarily about governance , while a feminist perspective could argue that sites which have been viewed traditionally as non-political, should indeed be viewed as political as well. This latter position is encapsulated in the slogan "

6935-423: The state undesirable, and thus consider the formation of a stateless society a goal to be achieved. A central tenet of anarchism is the advocacy of society without states. The type of society sought for varies significantly between anarchist schools of thought , ranging from extreme individualism to complete collectivism . In Marxism , Marx's theory of the state considers that in a post-capitalist society

7030-441: The state, an undesirable institution, would be unnecessary and wither away . A related concept is that of stateless communism , a phrase sometimes used to describe Marx's anticipated post-capitalist society. Constitutions are written documents that specify and limit the powers of the different branches of government. Although a constitution is a written document, there is also an unwritten constitution. The unwritten constitution

7125-580: The states or the federal political body. Federations were formed first in Switzerland, then in the United States in 1776, in Canada in 1867 and in Germany in 1871 and in 1901, Australia . Compared to a federation , a confederation has less centralized power. All the above forms of government are variations of the same basic polity , the sovereign state . The state has been defined by Max Weber as

7220-605: The term permeated all areas of professional activity from textbooks and graduate school seminars to conferences, research articles, and job descriptions.' The difference between "early modern" and just "modern" was defined by the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution . Sometimes distinct from the modern periods themselves, the terms " modernity " and " modernism " refer to a new way of thinking, distinct, from previous ways of thinking such as medieval thinking. The European Renaissance (about 1420–1630)

7315-611: The war ; estimates vary greatly. About 60% of all casualties were civilians, who died as a result of disease, starvation, genocide (in particular, the Holocaust ), and aerial bombing. The former Soviet Union and China suffered the most casualties. Estimates place deaths in the Soviet Union at around 23 million, while China suffered about 10 million. No country lost a greater portion of its population than Poland: approximately 5.6 million, or 16%, of its pre-war population of 34.8 million died. The Holocaust (which roughly means "burnt whole")

7410-483: The war, eventually resulting in the establishment of the People's Republic of China . The former colonies of the European powers began their road to independence. The Cold War between the "West" (the United States, Western Europe, and Japan) and the "East" (the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China) dominated politics from the end of World War II in 1945, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, at which point

7505-776: The way decisions are made, whether by elected representatives, referendums , or by citizen juries . Democracies can be either republics or constitutional monarchies. Oligarchy is a power structure where a minority rules. These may be in the form of anocracy , aristocracy , ergatocracy , geniocracy , gerontocracy , kakistocracy , kleptocracy , meritocracy , noocracy , particracy , plutocracy , stratocracy , technocracy , theocracy , or timocracy . Autocracies are either dictatorships (including military dictatorships ) or absolute monarchies . In terms of level of vertical integration, political systems can be divided into (from least to most integrated) confederations , federations , and unitary states . A federation (also known as

7600-511: The world was at a major crossroads. Throughout the century, more technological advances had been made than in all of preceding history. Computers, the Internet, and other technologies radically altered daily lives. However, several problems faced the world during the Cold War period and the 1990s that followed. First of all, the gap between rich and poor nations continued to widen. Some said that this problem could not be fixed, arguing that there

7695-433: The world. Viruses such as West Nile and Avian influenza continued to spread quickly and easily. In poor nations, malaria and other diseases affected the majority of the population. Millions were infected with HIV , the virus that causes AIDS , which was becoming an epidemic in southern Africa and around the world. Increased globalization , specifically Americanization , was also occurring. While not necessarily

7790-440: The worldwide influenza outbreak at the end of the war and shortly after than died in the hostilities. The unsanitary conditions engendered by the war, severe overcrowding in barracks, wartime propaganda interfering with public health warnings, and migration of so many soldiers around the world helped the outbreak become a pandemic . Ultimately, World War I created a decisive break with the old world order that had emerged after

7885-555: Was a global military conflict that took place in 1939–1945. It was the largest and deadliest war in history, culminating in The Holocaust and ending with the dropping of the atom bomb . Although Japan had invaded China in 1937, the conventional view is that World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Within two days, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, even though

7980-536: Was a set amount of wealth and it could only be shared by so many. Others claimed that powerful nations with large economies were not doing enough to help improve the rapidly evolving economies of the Third World . Developing countries faced many challenges, including the scale of the task to be surmounted, rapidly growing populations, and the need to protect the environment, along with the associated costs. Secondly, disease threatened to destabilize many regions of

8075-437: Was an absolute monarchy ruled by a king, emperor or sultan . The population belonged to many ethnic groups, and they spoke many languages. The empire was dominated by one ethnic group, and their language was usually the language of public administration. The ruling dynasty was usually, but not always, from that group. Some of the smaller European states were not so ethnically diverse, but were also dynastic states, ruled by

8170-768: Was founded after World War I , and after World War II it was replaced by the United Nations . Various international treaties have been signed through it. Regional integration has been pursued by the African Union , ASEAN , the European Union , and Mercosur . International political institutions on the international level include the International Criminal Court , the International Monetary Fund , and

8265-517: Was informally split into Western and Soviet spheres of influence . Western Europe later aligned as NATO , and Eastern Europe as the Warsaw Pact . There was a shift in power from Western Europe and the British Empire to the two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. These two rivals would later face off in the Cold War . In Asia, the defeat of Japan led to its democratization . China's civil war continued through and after

8360-540: Was laid out in the mid-18th century by Swiss jurist Emer de Vattel . States became the primary institutional agents in an interstate system of relations. The Peace of Westphalia is said to have ended attempts to impose supranational authority on European states. The "Westphalian" doctrine of states as independent agents was bolstered by the rise in 19th century thought of nationalism , under which legitimate states were assumed to correspond to nations —groups of people united by language and culture. In Europe , during

8455-610: Was later followed by similar multi-volume works for the earlier ages, namely the Cambridge Ancient History and the Cambridge Medieval History . As the first of such histories, it later came to be seen as establishing a tradition of collaborative scholarship. A second edition of the atlas (volume XIV) was published in 1924. Scanned full text here ( Archive.org ) This volume includes This volume begins with an extensive introduction to

8550-469: Was long thought that the concept was invented either in the 1930s to distinguish the time between the Middle Ages and time of the late Enlightenment (1800), or that "early modern" was not coined until the mid-20th century and only gained substantial traction in the 1960s and 1970s. Nipperdey (2022) pointed to its widespread usage by American historians around 1900 already, adding: 'In the interwar years

8645-484: Was planned by Lord Acton , who during 1899 and 1900 gave much of his time to coordinating the project, intended to be a monument of objective, detailed, and collaborative scholarship. Acton was Regius professor of modern history at Cambridge , and a fellow of All Souls , Oxford . He had previously established the English Historical Review in 1886 and had an exalted reputation. The new work

8740-500: Was published in fourteen volumes between 1902 and 1912, in the British Isles by the Cambridge University Press and in the United States by Macmillan & Co. of New York City . Written mostly by English scholars, the first twelve volumes dealt with the history of the world from 1450 up to 1870. The final volume, numbered 12, was The Latest Age and appeared in 1910. There then followed two supplemental volumes. The history

8835-426: Was replaced by one dominated by industry and the manufacture of machinery . It began with the mechanisation of the textile industries and the development of iron -making techniques, and trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals , improved roads , and then railways . The introduction of steam power (fuelled primarily by coal ) and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing ) underpinned

8930-593: Was the deliberate and systematic murder of millions of Jews and other "unwanted" groups during World War II by the Nazi regime in Germany. Several differing views exist regarding whether it was intended to occur from the war's beginning or if the plans for it came about later. Regardless, persecution of Jews extended well before the war even started, such as during Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). The Nazis used propaganda to great effect to stir up anti-Semitic feelings within ordinary Germans. After World War II, Europe

9025-756: Was then abolished in Russia in 1861, by the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States in 1863, and in Brazil in 1888. (see Abolitionism ). Following the abolition of the slave trade , and propelled by economic exploitation, the Scramble for Africa was initiated formally at the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1884–1885. All the major European powers laid claim to the areas of Africa where they could exhibit

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