Why was the first half of the twentieth century so violent?
WHAT: In this unit of study you will consider the ‘bloody’ events of the first half of the twentieth century – WW1, WW2, Holocaust, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You will consider the conceptual understanding of causes of this conflict and violence, considering its scale and impact.
WHY: We understand that increasing interconnectedness leading to growing inequities within an international system will lead to injustice and conflict. To build an awareness of the impact of Global inequity in the nineteenth century and the resulting period of fermentation which caused many of the key conflicts of the Twentieth Century
WHY: We understand that increasing interconnectedness leading to growing inequities within an international system will lead to injustice and conflict. To build an awareness of the impact of Global inequity in the nineteenth century and the resulting period of fermentation which caused many of the key conflicts of the Twentieth Century
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Statistical Analysis: Was the twentieth century the most violent?
Analysis Task
Suggested analysis tasks:
- What are the top 5 most violent events in terms of actual death toll?
- What are the top 5 most violent events in terms of adjusted death toll?
- How are the two lists different? which figure is most significant - actual or adjusted? Why?
- Create a bar graph of total deaths per century (those with available data). Which is the most deadly?
- Create a map of the most violent continent.
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Extension: Statistical analysis
The Visual History of Decreasing War and Violence
www.OurWorldInData.org (Source for the quote) The historical record shows that democratic governments are much less likely to engage in wars with each other. This is referred to as the Democratic Peace Theory and a good statistical analysis of the theory is Oneal and Russett (1999) The Kantian Peace: The Pacific Benefits of Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations, 1885-1992 And more and more countries are becoming democratic.
List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll - Wikipedia
This is a list of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll. It covers the name of the event, the location, and the start and end of each event. Some events may belong in more than one category.
Statistical analysis of the twentieth century
Atlas - Wars and Democide of the Twentieth Century
Wars, Massacres and Atrocities: Grand Total Magnitude Intensity Propaganda Exaggeration Well, what can you say about a century that begins and ends with killing in Sarajevo? "Good riddance" springs to mind. Somewhere around 180 million people have been killed in one Twentieth Century atrocity or another -- a far larger total than for any other century in human history.
Written analysis Task:
Was the twentieth century the most violent century?
Explain your answer using the statistical analysis that you have completed.
Explain your answer using the statistical analysis that you have completed.
'The bloody century' - additional reading
War and peace
The past 100 years changed the nature of war. With conflict worldwide showing no sign of abating, historian Eric Hobsbawm assesses the prospects for stability in the new century
Concept: Cause and Consequence
Conceptual Understandings
A closer look at the nineteenth century
Section 1 -- WHY WAS "THE WAR TO END ALL WARS" JUST THE BEGINNING?
THE FIRST WORLD WAR, 1914-1918
The presentation below contains a range of sources on the causes, effects & consequences of WW1:
The presentation below contains a range of sources on the causes, effects & consequences of WW1:
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The clips below explain the causes of WW1:
These are useful articles on the causes of WW1:
So, now you have looked through the evidence, answer the following questions:
1. What were the MAIN causes of WW1?
2. How did a European War become a World War?
3. What were the difficulties and dangers of living in Trenches during WW1?
4. How did the casualties compare between the Allies Powers and the Central Powers?
5. Why was there so much bloodshed in WW1 compared to other wars that had gone before it?
6. Why do you think WW1 was called "The War to end all Wars" in 1918?
7. Why was there no real "winners" of WW1, given the casualty numbers?
8. How responsible are the Big Three (Wilson, Lloyd George & Clemenceau) that WW1 wasn't "The War to end all Wars"?
1. What were the MAIN causes of WW1?
2. How did a European War become a World War?
3. What were the difficulties and dangers of living in Trenches during WW1?
4. How did the casualties compare between the Allies Powers and the Central Powers?
5. Why was there so much bloodshed in WW1 compared to other wars that had gone before it?
6. Why do you think WW1 was called "The War to end all Wars" in 1918?
7. Why was there no real "winners" of WW1, given the casualty numbers?
8. How responsible are the Big Three (Wilson, Lloyd George & Clemenceau) that WW1 wasn't "The War to end all Wars"?
Why was the first half of the twentieth century so violent?
Factor 1: End of Empire
Factor 2: The rise of nationalism
Factor 3: Weapon development
Timeline: Weapons technology
Throughout history, societies have put their best minds to work creating new weapons. Explore the history of war and weapons with our timeline of weapons technology. Please note, many of the technologies are difficult to attribute, and historical dates are often approximate.
Factor 3: Industrial and technological development
Factor 4: Total war
Is the world becoming less violent?
Podcast - Listen by clicking the file below
War And Violence On The Decline In Modern Times with Neal Conan, Steven Pinker and Joshua Goldstein
Despite news of terrorist bombings, U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and crackdowns in Syria, two recent books argue the world has never seen so little war and violence. Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Joshua Goldstein, author of Winning the War on War, discuss.
Despite news of terrorist bombings, U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and crackdowns in Syria, two recent books argue the world has never seen so little war and violence. Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Joshua Goldstein, author of Winning the War on War, discuss.
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ASSESSMENT: WHY WAS THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SO BLOODY?
Here is the Advice sheet, Rubric / Marking criteria for the essay question 'Why was the first half of the Twentieth Century so bloody?'
Remember that you can include arguments on any or all of the topics below:
- The 19th Century Industrial Revolution
- The MAIN causes of WW1
- The weapons of WW1 (1914-1918)
- The poor Peace Treaty of Versailles, June 1919
- The rise of Dictators (1922-1933)
- The weapons of WW2 (1939-1945)
- The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki (6th June + 9th June 1945)
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