Global Conflict c. 1900 to the present

During the first half of the twentieth century the world was shaken by global wars and economic depression. The First and Second World Wars were total wars, conflicts wherein governments coopted all of the resources of the government, much of the economy, particularly manufacturing, the workforce, natural resources, and colonial territories to wage war. Old land-based empires collapsed and fragmented, while imperialism continued. The early twentieth century also witnessed the rise of totalitarianism — communism and fascism — wherein the one-party state/government becomes a total institutions controlling most aspects of politics, economics, and society, with major limitations on civil rights. The results of this expansion of state power and world war were massive military and civilian casualties, genocide, massive systems of prison camps, and loss of freedoms.