Lest We Forget

The impact of WWI on the 20th Century. It was birth of modern capitalism and imperialism and the death of fin de sicle 19th century. As Hobsbawm wrote the modern 20th century begins with WWI and ends with the downfall of the Soviet Union in 1989. This was an Imperialist War. It had no purpose other than as an internecine conflict to reshape the world for the European Imperial powers. As a result it ended the age of Empires, the old colonial powers in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, all met their inglorious end with WWI.