6.2 Global Conflicts and their Consequences
At the beginning of the 20th century, a European-dominated global political order existed, which also included the United States, Russia and Japan. Over the course of the century, peoples and states around the world challenged this order in ways that sought to redistribute power within the existing order and restructure empires, while those people and states in power attempted to maintain the status quo. Other peoples and states sought to overturn the political order itself. These challenges to and attempts to maintain the political order manifested themselves in an unprecedented level of conflict with high human casualties. In the context of these conflicts, many regimes in both older and newer states struggled with maintaining political stability and were challenged by internal and external factors, including ethnic and religious conflicts, secessionist movements, territorial partitions, economic dependency and the legacies of colonialism.
Europe dominated the global political order at the beginning of the century, but both land-based and transoceanic empires gave way to new forms of transregional political organization by the century’s end.
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Emerging ideologies of anti-imperialism contributed to the dissolution of empires and the restructuring of states.
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Political changes were accompanied by major demographic and social consequences.
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Military conflicts occurred on an unprecedented scale.
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Although conflict dominated much of the 20th century, many individuals and groups— including states—opposed this trend. Some individuals and groups, however, intensified the conflicts.
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