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19th Century
In the 19th century international relationships and alliances between countries were nothing new, however, they were constantly changing, countries becoming enemies and then forming alliances happened really often, it put some countries on an indecisive and neutral position. Some of the most important alliances were “the Dual Alliance” (between Germany and Austria-Hungary), “The Triple Alliance” (between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). -
World War I
(1914 - 1918) The First World War is one of the biggest international conflicts in the XX century, it divided the world into two sides: the “Entenete” or “Allied Powers” conformed by Britain, Russia, France, Italy, Romania, the United States, and each countries colonies; on the other hand, there were the “Central Powers” which were confirmed by Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, and each countries colonies. -
Fall of the Otoman Empire
The Ottoman empire was one of the largest empires in the history, before the World War I started the empire was already falling apart, since the starts of the 1600s this empire was beginning to lose its economic and military control in Europe. Between 1912 and 1913 the Ottoman Empire had already lost nearly all of its territories in Europe. After being defeated by the Central Powers in 1918, the Ottoman empire dissolved, becoming what nowadays we known as Turkey, other countries. -
Creation of the Soviet Union
After the Russian Revolution in 1917 when revolutionary Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian czar, Russia became a Union of socialist Republics, with its first leader being the Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. The rise of the Soviet Union also meant the rise and empowerment to a different political ideology, “Communism”, this will later bring conflict and tension inside some countries and in the entire world. -
World War II
(1939-1945) The Second World War is one of the biggest international conflicts of the XX century, the conflict began when the German (lead by Adolf Hitler) invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939, two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. The world was once again divided into two sides, the “Axis powers” which included Germany, Italy and Japan, and on the other side the “Allies” conformed by Great Britain, France, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China. -
Creation of the United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War had ended, it supported by 51 countries that committed to maintain international peace and security, as well, as develop friendly relations among nations and promote social progress. The united Nations was the replacement of the League of Nations (1919) which had similar objectives, but was destroyed when Second World War happened. -
Cold War
(1947-1991) A political and economic "war" between the Soviet Union and the United States. On this war, two different political positions were against each other, communism (the Soviet Union) against capitalism (the United States); although none of these countries had direct combat, they fight on other countries which had yet to decide which position to choose (ex. Vietnam and Korea). -
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Free Trade Agreements
Through the years there have been various types of agreements from economical, financial to political agreements between the countries. Some examples are The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades (GATT) was first worldwide multilateral trade agreement ushers in the post-war era of more open trade, it was made in 1947. However, this was later replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. -
Creation of the European Union
After the events of World War II, the European Union was formed to prevent similar political and/or military conflicts that have previously happened between the neighboring countries, in 1950 this Union started to take form with the six funding countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands. -
Berlin Wall
(1961-1989) The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided East German from West German, it was constructed to prevent people from East German from fleeing to the West. . The Great Wall was a representation of the “Cold War” and the “Iron Curtain”; when it fell it serve as the representation of a new era (hopefully a peaceful one) for not only Germany but for the wall. -
Brexit
Great Britain had been part of the European Union ever since it was originally foundation in the 1950’s, up until 2020 the European Union had 51 official members, one of them being Great Britain. However, since 2017 the has been a discussion in Great Britain to whether continue being part of the European Union or to leave it for good. Finally, almost at the end of 2019 Great Britain decided to leave the European Union and as of January 31st, 2020.
