Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present

Looking beyond the revolutions of the past, Part Two examines the issues of economics, technology, and community identity from a global perspective. Starting at the end of the 19th century, rapid economic growth and industrial advances made some forms of employment obsolete. The global economic depression of the late 19th century created hardship for the working class, especially farmers, even though advances in transportation and communication were expanding opportunities for other segments of the population. Zakaria note that “the winners of this struggle tended to be the conservative nationalists who often addressed domestic unrest by unifying or distracting people with nationalism and imperialism” (177).

On the international front, America and the leading nations of Europe engaged in a competitive land grab overseas while ignoring the prospect of cooperation. These policies resulted in one military crisis after another that eventually culminated in World War I. The aftermath of the war fostered an attitude of economic protectionism that raised tariffs across the board and dried up international trading. Both Germany and Japan were vulnerable to being shut out of the marketplace, making invasion a viable way of acquiring goods that could no longer be accessed through trade. Eventually, “the German and Japanese ideologies of economic imperialism and cultural, national, and racial superiority pushed the world into total war once again” (180).