Political Climate Of 19th Century And Nationalism History Essay

Political Climate Of 19th Century And Nationalism History Essay 1. Introduction In this unit I shall introduce you the various aspects of Indian National Movement during its earlier phase. Resistance to British rule had always been there, but it was in 1857 that large sections of Indian people in various regions made a combined effort to overthrow the British. That is why it is often termed as the first war of independence. Due to certain weaknesses the uprising was crushed by the British, but as far as the struggle was concerned there was no going back. This inspired a new kind of struggle. The intelligentsia, which earlier believed in the benevolence of British rule, now came forward to expose its brutality. Political associations were formed and the Indian National Congress played a vital role in directing the freedom struggle. The main focus of this unit is the role of moderates and militant nationalists and the efforts made during the Swadeshi Movement to involve the masses into the freedom struggle. This was also a period of cultural renaissance as far as the Indian society is concerned. Many social and religious reformers took up the battle against the social and religious evils that existed in our society. This contributed immensely towards the making of a new India. 2. Pre-Gandhi Era 2.1. The First War of Independence In 1857, there occurred a revolt, popularly known as the Indias First War of Independence, where millions of soldiers, artisans and peasants made a combined effort to overthrow foreign rule. The Revolt was, however, a no sudden occurrence. It was the culmination of nearly a century-old discontent with the British policies and imperialist exploitation. The British conquered India and colonized its economy and society through a prolonged process. This process led to continuous resistance by the people through a series of civil rebellions led by deposed rulers, impoverished zamindars and poligars (landed military magnates in South India) and ex-officials of the conquered Indian states. The mass base of these rebellions came from the ruined peasants and artisans and demobilized soldiers. Starting with the Sanyasi rebellion and Chuar uprising in Bengal and Bihar in the 1760s, there was hardly a year without armed opposition or a decade without a major armed rebellion in one part of the co untry or the other. From 1763 to 1856 there were more than 40 major rebellions apart from hundreds of minor ones. Though massive in their totality, these rebellions were, however, wholly local in character and effects and were isolated from each other. 2.1.1. Causes The Revolts of 1857 started on 10 May when the Companys Indian soldiers (sepoys) at Meerut rebelled, killed their European officers, marched to Delhi, entered the Red Fort and proclaimed the aged and powerless Bahadur Shah 11 (who still bore the prestigious name of the Mughals) as the Emperor of India. The Companys sepoys had many grievances against their employers, ranging from declining material and other service conditions to religious interference and racial arrogance. But basically they reflected the general discontent with British rule. They were after all a part of Indian society and they were peasants in uniform. The hopes, desires, despair and discontent of other sections of Indian society were reflected in them. The sepoys rebellion was a product of the accumulated grievances of the Indian people. The most important underlying cause of the Revolt was the disruption of the traditional Indian economy and its subordination to British economy and the intense economic exploitation of the country. Above all, the colonial policy of intensifying land revenue demand led to a large number of peasants losing their land to revenue farmers, traders and moneylenders. Destruction of traditional handicrafts ruined and impoverished millions of artisans. The economic decline of peasantry a nd artisans was reflected in 12 major and numerous minor famines from 1770 to 1857. 2.1.2. Extent and intensity The Revolt of 1857 swept Northern India like a hurricane. Nearly half of East India Companys Indian soldiers rebelled. Everywhere in Northern India, the soldiers rebellion was followed by popular revolts of the civilian population. According to one estimate, of the total number of about 1,50,000 men who died fighting the English in Avadh, over 1,00,000 were civilians. The Revolt soon embraced a wide area engulfing Avadh, Rohilkhand, the Duab, the Bundelkhand, Central India, large parts of Bihar, and East Punjab. There were uprising in Rajasthan at Nasirabad, Nimach and Kota. Even in Kolhapur the sepoys rose in arms. In many of the princely states of these regions, the rulers remained loyal to the British but the soldiers and people joined the rebels or refused to fight against them. 2.1.3. Defeat In the end, British imperialism, at the height of its power the world over, succeeded in ruthlessly suppressing the Revolt. The reasons were many. Despite its wide reach, the Revolt could not embrace the entire country or all sections of Indian society. Bengal, South India and large parts of Punjab remained outside its reach since these areas had already exhausted themselves through prolonged rebellions and struggle against the British. Most rulers of Indian states and the big zamindars remained loyal to the foreign rulers. Thus, Scindhia of Gwalior, Holkar of Indore, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Rajput rulers of Jodhpur and many other Rajputana states, the Nawab of Bhopal, the rulers of Patiala and Kashmir, the Ranas of Nepal, and many other rulers and chieftains gave active support to the British in suppressing the Revolt. In general, merchants and moneylenders either supported the British or refused to help the rebels. The modem educated Indians also did not support the Revolt. The leaders of the Revolt fought with courage, but could neither coordinate their struggle nor evolve a unified high command. Instead, they indulged in constant petty quarrels. The rebels were short of modern weapons and often had to fight with primitive weapons such as swords and spikes. They were very poorly organized. The sepoys were brave but at times there was lack of discipline which affected their military efficiency. 2.2. Early Phase of Nationalism The defeat of the Revolt of 1857 made it clear that uprisings based on old outlooks and social forces could not defeat modern imperialism. For that, new social forces, new ideologies, a modern political movement based on an understanding of modern imperialism and capable of mobilizing the masses for nationwide political activity were needed. Such a movement was initiated during the second half of the 19th century by modern nationalist intelligentsia. The new movement had a much narrower social base, but was inspired by new political ideas, new intellectual perception of reality and new social, economic and political objectives. It also represented new forces and forms of struggle, new leading classes and new techniques of political organization. Many factors were responsible for the rise of this powerful movement. 2.2.1. Role of the Intellectuals Initially, this process was grasped only by the modern Indian intellectuals. Paradoxically, during this first half of the 19th century, they had adopted a very supportive approach towards colonial rule for the following reasons: They had believed that the restructuring of Indian society could occur under British rule because Britain was the most advanced country of the time. They hoped that the British would help India get rid of its past backwardness. The intellectuals, attracted by modem industry and the prospects of modern economic development, hoped that, Britain would industrialize India and introduce modern capitalism. They believed that Britain, guided by the doctrine of democracy, civil liberties, and sovereignty of the people, would introduce modern science and technology and modern knowledge in India, leading to the cultural and social regeneration of its people. 2.2.2. Role of Colonial state The open reactionary character of Lyttons Viceroyalty from 1876 to 1880 quickened the pace of Indian nationalism. The list of some of the reactionary methods adopted by Lytton is: The Arms Act of 1878 disarmed the entire Indian people at one stroke. The Vernacular Press Act of 1878 sought to suppress the growing Indian criticism of British rule. The reduction of the maximum age for sitting in the Indian Civil Service Examination from 21 years to 19 further reduced the chances of Indians entering the Civil Service. The holding of a lavish imperial Durbar (in 1877) at a time when millions of Indians were dying of famine and waging a costly war against Afghanistan at the cost of the Indian economy. The removal of import duties on British textile imports threatened the existence of the newly rising Indian textile industry. 2.2.3. Emergence of the Indian National Congress The time was now ripe for the formation of an all-lndia organization which could organize and coordinate the political activities of Indians all over the country against foreign rule and exploitation. Various attempts were made in this direction for several years. Surendra Nath Banerjee took the lead by forming the Indian Association. The idea finally got a concrete shape when a large group of political workers such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Justice M.G. Ranade, K.T. Telang and Badruddin Tyabji cooperated with A. O. Hume, a retired English Civil servant, in holding the first session of the Indian National Congress at Bombay in December 1885. The struggle for Indias independence was thus launched, though on a rather small scale. 2.3. Moderate and Militant Nationalists The most important contribution of the early nationalists, known as Moderate nationalists, was their economic critique of imperialism and their persistent agitation on economic questions. They analyzed all the three forms of colonial economic exploitation, i.e. exploitation through trade, industry and finance. They clearly grasped that the essence of British colonialism lay in the subordination of the Indian economy to the British economy. They vehemently opposed the British attempt to develop in India the basic characteristics of a colonial economy, viz. the transformation of India into a supplier of raw materials, a market for British manufacturers and a field of investment for foreign capital. 2.3.1. Moderates Aims and Methods The early nationalists constantly agitated for democratic civil rights, a free press, and a democratic and non-racialist administration. In fact, it was during this period and as a result of political work by the nationalists that democratic ideas began to take root among the Indian people in general, and the intelligentsia in particular. The Moderates also agitated for the spread of modern education, science and technology. In the political field, they demanded reforms that would lead to a greater share for Indians in the administration and legislative machinery. The weakness of the early nationalists lay in the narrow social base of the movement. The movement did not, as yet, have a wide appeal. It did not penetrate down to the masses. The Moderates political work was confined to the urban educated middle classes. Their programme and policies, however, were not confined to the interests of the middle classes. They took up the causes of all sections of the Indian people and represented the interests of the emerging Indian nation against colonial domination. 2.3.2. Militants Aims and Methods The beginning of the 20th century witnessed the development of the Indian National Movement to a new, higher stage under a new militant nationalist leadership. This was in part the fruition of the earlier nationalist agitation, and in part the consequence of the reassertion of imperialism at the end of the 19th century. The symbol of the new imperial assertion, of despotism and efficiency, was Lord Curzon the Viceroy since 1899. Political Indians now despaired of getting political concessions from the rulers through political argument and methods of polite agitation. Indians must, they realized, depend on themselves and take recourse to mass politics and mass agitation around the goal of independence from Britain. The social and economic conditions of the country also pointed in the same direction: Economic decay and stagnation. The fruits of colonial underdevelopment were beginning to surface by the end of the 19th century. Symbolic in this respect were the famines that devastated the country from 1897 to 1900 that killed millions. Several international events at this time contributed to the growth of militant nationalism. The defeat of the Italian army by the Ethiopians in 1896 and Russia by Japan in 1905 exploded the myth of European superiority. Similar was the impact of the revolutionary movements in Ireland, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and China: a united people, who were willing to make sacrifices, were surely capable of overthrowing foreign despotic rule even if it appeared powerful on the surface. 2.4. Swadeshi Movement Thus, conditions were ready for the national movement to advance to a higher stage. The spark was provided when the movement announced its decision to partition the province of Bengal on 20th July 1905. The decision, as the Government claimed, was allegedly based on administrative grounds. But the people of Bengal saw it as an effort to divide the nationalistically inclined Bengali people and thus stem the rising tide of militant nationalism in Bengal and India. Political agitation was inaugurated by a general hartal and a day of fasting on 16th October in Calcutta. Huge crowds paraded the streets of Calcutta and a mammoth meeting of 50,000 was held in the evening. Entire Bengal, from cities to villages, was reverberating with meetings, processions and demonstrations. Soon a new form of political action was added. All foreign goods were to he boycotted and Swadeshi or Indian-made goods alone were to he used. In many places public burnings of foreign cloth were organized and shops selling foreign cloth were picketed. The new leadership also gave a call for passive resistance to the authorities. This was to take the form of non-cooperation with the Government by boycotting schools and colleges, the courts, and government services. This part of the programme could not, however, be put into practice on a significant scale. The new leadership also raised the slogan of independence from foreign rule. One result was that Dadabhai Naoroji declared in his presidential address to the Congress in December 1906 that the goal of the Congress was self-government or Swaraj. 3. Ingression of Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose The third and the last phase of the national movement began in 1919 when the era of popular mass movements was initiated. During the First World War, the Allies Britain, France and the U.S.A. had declared that the World War was being fought in defence of democracy and the right of nations to self-determination. But after their victory they showed little willingness to end the colonial rule. The Indians had not only cooperated with the war effort but had considerably suffered also. They hoped of getting due returns. But they were very soon disenchanted. While the British Government made a half-hearted attempt at constitutional reform, it also made it clear that it had no intention to part with political power. A new leader named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, took command. The new leader kept in mind the basic weakness of the previous leadership and sought to remove them. He had evolved a new form of struggle called non-cooperation and a new technique of struggle Satyagraha, which would not remain a mere programme but were capable of being put into practice. He had already put them to test in South Africa while fighting for the rights of immigrant Indians. Gandhi also took up to the cause of peasants in Champaran (Bihar) and the working class in Ahmedabad (Gujarat). This was also a period of rising prices and epidemics in various parts of the country. In many regions the peasants had been subjected to extortions in the name of war effort. Gandhi responded to the growing anger and militancy of the Indian people after the end of the World War and created the organization and techniques that would give the movement a mass base. 3.1. Official Response Throughout the war, the Government had carried on repression of militant nationalists. It now decided to acquire further powers to meet the nationalist challenge. In March 1919 it passed the Rowlatt Act (the Indians called it Black Act) which authorised the Government to imprison any person without trial. The Indian sentiment was outraged. In February 1919, Gandhi started a Satyagraha Sabha whose members were committed to disobeying the Act and thus to court arrest. Thus, Gandhi took the first step towards making the national movement a movement of mass political action, rather than a mere agitation. Simultaneously, he urged the Congress to increasingly rely on the peasants and artisans. Symbolic of the new emphasis was to be the use of Khadi or hand-spun, hand-woven cloth. 3.2. Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Gandhi and the National Congress decided in September 1920 to launch a non-violent, non-cooperation movement and continue it till the Punjab and Khilafat wrongs were removed and Swaraj established. Gandhi gave the slogan Swaraj in a year. The people were asked to boycott government affiliated schools and colleges, law courts and legislatures and foreign cloth and to surrender officially conferred titles and honors. Later the programme extended to include resignation from government service and mass civil disobedience including the non-payment of taxes. National schools and colleges were to be set up. People were asked to practice hand-spinning and produce khadi, to give up untouchability and promote and maintain Hindu-Muslim unity. Provincial Congress Committees were now to be organised on a linguistic basis. The Congress organization was to reach down to the village level and its membership fee was to be reduced to 4 annas (25 paise of today) per year to enable the rural and urban p oor to become members. This first mass movement assumed unprecedented proportions during 1920-22. Lakhs of students left schools and colleges. Hundreds of lawyers gave up their practice. Majority of voters refused to participate in elections to the legislatures. The boycott of foreign cloth became a mass movement, with thousands of bonfires of foreign cloth lighting the Indian sky. Picketing of shops selling foreign cloth and of liquor shops was also very successful. In many regions the factory workers and peasants were at the forefront. Gandhi was, however, not satisfied. On 4th February 1922 an event occurred called as the Chauri Chaura incident when a Congress procession of 3,000 peasants was fired upon by the police and in retaliation the angry crowd burnt the police station causing the death of 22 policemen. Gandhi took a very serious view of the incident. Feeling that the people were not yet properly trained in non-violence, he called off the entire movement on February 1922. 4. Entry of Subhas Chandra Bose in Indian Politics During the final phase of Indias struggle for independence, Subhash Chandra Bose has made an outstanding contribution. He believed in the ideology of militant patriotism. He was the spearhead of the revolutionary freedom struggle in India. When Subhash Chandra Bose came in India, he joined Congress on the behest of Gandhiji. He met Gandhiji and Nehru and told them about his ideas of patriotism. Subhash Chandra Bose believed that only military power could wipe out the British rule from India. Both Gandhiji and Nehru were against the militant politics of Netaji. But he was so popular which led him to the position of the President of Congress. After quitting from congress due to some political reasons, Bose asked the masses to change the face of the Civil Disobedience movement in to an armed struggle, exploiting the adversity of the British in the world war. He was jailed in 1927 due to his aggressive patriotism and was considered as the number one enemy. He commenced fast unto death on November 29, 1940 for his release from the prison. Later he escaped from jail and went overseas to meet Hitler, Romain Rolland, Ribbentrop and other members of the Nazi hierarchy and asked them for support against the British. He got the help of the Japanese C-in-C Terauchi in the struggle to liberate India. He formed Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) in 1941 and set up Provisional Government of Free India in exile. He gave a speech on July 9, 1943 which was attended by 60,000 people. His great words Give me blood, I will give you freedom is still remembered. So many people were inspired and many came to join the INA. He also had a definite plan for reconstruction of India after the independence. Bose and his men started war against the British with the support of the Japanese army. But World War II was on its peak and Japan had to call back its troops. The INA was defeated by the British and Bose escaped to Japan. On his way he disappeared and believed to have died in a plane crash and his whereabouts are still unknown.

Gatsby Automobile Essay Essay

There are many different themes, images, and symbols in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby that render great importance to the development of the story. One particular image and symbol seen throughout Fitzgerald’s novel that acts as a major contributor to the plot is the automobile. The image of the automobile can be seen in relation with any of the characters in the novel who involve themselves in with driving an automobile or even simply talking about an automobile. Two characters in the novel that Fitzgerald uses to portray the images and symbols of the automobile are Tom Buchannan and Jay Gatsby. These two automobile owners are created into the strongest conductors of Fitzgerald’s imagery and symbolism throughout the novel. The automobile can be seen as representing a few different types of images and symbols. A possible symbol of the automobile may stand for the respective automobile owner’s status in society. Almost all automobiles in the nineteen-twenties were black and just about as plain as could be. These black automobiles were owned by all those who could just barely afford an automobile, to those who were average, middle class people, to the extremely wealthy who could easily afford three or four automobiles. What makes this piece of history so important is the fact that Fitzgerald gives both Tom and Gatsby brightly colored automobiles. The personalities of these two characters effortlessly magnifies the showiness and in Gatsby’s case, gaudiness. Gatsby’s absolutely obnoxious Rolls Royce is â€Å"a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of windshields that mirrored a dozen suns. † No one in the nineteen-twenties had such an untasteful looking automobile that Gatsby. One obvious and straightforward possible explanation for Gatsby’s hideous automobile is that he wants to show off his wealth, status, and â€Å"success† in his many trades. Another not so obvious reason for this hideous yellow automobile could be an image produced by Fitzgerald to try to illustrate Gatsby’s need to reach out and grasp Daisy’s attention. Unfortunately, because Gatsby was formerly a much lower class man, living on a farm out west with his family, his wealth and riches cannot buy him any class or style. A very similar situation can be seen with Tom Buchannan and his automobiles. He too, is very showy and flashy in his actions to show the world his possessions. Tom, like Gatsby, has an unusual colored car. This blue automobile is a symbol of wealth, status, and riches, just like Gatsby, but it can represent another image. Every single time Tom heads over to Wilson’s Garage for some gas or to see Myrtle, Wilson asks Tom about purchasing his old automobile. Tom plainly and seemingly without thinking puts the topic off to the side as if it wasn’t important and he didn’t want to talk about it. Sadly for Wilson, the automobile in a sense symbolizes Myrtle. Tom pushes the car aside as if it didn’t matter much at all to him, just like he uses Myrtle and makes all those empty promises to her about trying to divorce Daisy and being together forever. The images and symbols throughout The Great Gatsby create many dimensions to such a superb plot and character development. These amazing images set up by Fitzgerald give the novel a complete feel of full development. Fitzgerald ties in all the different elements of the story by using the one simple entity of the automobile.

Plato Essay - 2382 Words

Today many people regard Plato as the first genuine political philosopher and Aristotle as the first political scientist. They were both great thinkers in regards to, in part with Socrates, being the foundation of the great western philosophers. Plato and Aristotle each had ideas in how to proceed with improving the society in which they were part of during their existence. It is necessary therefore to analyze their different theoretical approaches regarding their philosophical perspectives, such as ethics and psychology. This paper however will mainly concentrate on Aristotle’s views on friendship and how it impacts today’s society. The main objective in Plato’s philosophy is a creation of a perfect society. He constructs a foundation†¦show more content†¦He felt that Plato’s view of a strict overhaul of society in general wasn’t necessary. He believed that society was at its optimum and you can only improve upon the existing one. Plato’s perfect society would consist of three basic groups, which are Guardians (Gold), Auxiliaries (Silver), and the Artisan (Bronze). The highest of these classes are the gold people, which consist of rulers and non-rulers. Those that are rulers are society’s decision amp; policy makers and non-rulers occupy levels of civil servants. The fundamental prerequisite to becoming a genuine philosopher is to have knowledge of forms, thus enabling you to know the truth. Plato’s theory of the forms is partly logical and part metaphysical. Armed with the truth, he believed that philosophical ruler will always make the right decision, and rule with total wisdom, justice and virtue. The rulers, he felt, wouldn’t posses any money or property, they would be free of desires, excesses, and vices. The Auxiliaries (Silver) are people of strength, courage, and military capacity; they occupy a small sector of society. All auxiliaries would be subjected to a series of tests , which will check their powers of resistance to self-interest, pleasure and other temptations. The last level, Artisan (Bronze), are the workers which might be composed of farmers and artist, essentially non-skilled workers. They would produce all the consumable and non-consumable goods deemed necessary for consumption and the continuedShow MoreRelatedPlato And Plato s Republic1119 Words   |  5 PagesThe ancient Greek Philosopher Plato had an interest in finding the ideal government. In Plato’s Republic, he discusses his ideas and views of how this ideal government would function. He believed that people are born into 3 different classes, with different responsibilities (Plato 415a). Only people in the â€Å"golden† class were fit to rule. The most effective of these rulers would be philosophers, as they have knowledge of the good of the whole (Plato 473d). This system seems too perfect for me. 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But, considering all what Plato has done, what is most peculiar about him is his condemnation of poets and sophists. Plato is in a constant fight to see that the way of true philosophy replaces these false arts. But even much more interesting is that Plato goes even further, and condemns the use of rhetoric, the art of persuasion, as a whole. He not only does this adamantlyRead MoreEssay on Plato1158 Words   |  5 PagesPlato: The Life of Plato Plato was born around 427 BC, in Athens Greece to rich and politically involved family. Platos parents spared no expense in educating him; he was taught at the finest schools. He was taught by Socrates and defended Socrates when he was on trial. Plato traveled to Italy and may have even visited Egypt before founding The Academy. Plato also visited Sicily and instructed a young king there before returning to The Academy to teach for twenty years before his death in 347Read MorePlato Vs Aristotle Vs Plato1814 Words   |  8 PagesPlato and Aristotle had a considerable amount of differences in ideology given that Aristotle was Plato’s student for roughly two decades. Plato, a student of Socrates, opposed the idea of average citizens to participate in politics because he believed that political practice was skill or â€Å"technÄ“ that can only be achieved by a few people. He believed that â€Å"kings must be those among them who have proved best both in philosophy and where war is concerned.† (Republic, 491) and that these â€Å"philosopher

The Growth of American Government from the End of...

In the past, the nation’s government took the â€Å"laissez-faire† approach to dealing with the economy and/or free market affairs. The government intervened as little as possible, asserting the belief felt that if left alone, economic problems would be resolved without government interference. However, this approach was not guaranteed, and at times, the government had to put aside the â€Å"laissez-faire† approach of the past. The government had no other choice but to intervene in these instances to return balance to the economy and protect its citizens it served. The government changed both its approach and its size through programs initiated by the Industrial Revolution, New Deal programs during and following the Great Depression, and World†¦show more content†¦Its purpose was to address the problem of the railroad monopolies by setting guidelines on how they were to conduct business: by charging just and reasonable rates for shipping and passeng ers, banning discounts and rebates, illegalizing price discrimination against small markets, and most importantly, it established a five member panel to investigate and hold the railroad executives accountable for breaking the laws of the act.3 During the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, the railroads themselves created a large market for the steel and iron industries.4 The steel and oil industries were booming and corruption was rampant. Andrew Carnegie had cornered the market in the steel industry and John D. Rockefeller had cornered the oil market. 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Roosevelt s New Deal Essay1268 Words   |  6 PagesThanks to the economic growth during WWII, America finally concluded the Great Depression. The federal government rose out of the war as a powerful economic player, being able to control the economy through consumption and spending. Just about every industry in America was saved by World War II. The war’s quick technological and scientific changes kept continuing and concentrated trends began during the depression and gave hope for further innovation in the U.S. Likewise, the increases in individualRead MoreBone, Ambria . English 11 B. April 17, 2017. The United1272 Words   |  6 Pagesother; the Cold War was separated into three groups (Jerylin Watson). The nation’s economy is a very difficult balancing act. Cold War confrontations nearly always conducted through surrogates or economic pressure (David Painter). T his is what happened when the tensions of the Cold War affected the United States and the world (Robert H. Dugger). 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The Tenth Amendment states, â€Å"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.† It essentially says that any power that is not given to the federal government is given to th e people or the states. What is Federalism? Federalism is when moreRead MoreThe War I And World War II1930 Words   |  8 PagesSUMMARY OF WARS Humanity was forever changed after the wars of the 20th century. World War I and World War II are known for the millions of military and civilian lives they took away. Horrific words such as concentration camps, slave labor and genocide are linked to the wars. They are also credited to causing nations to rapidly come up and develop brilliant new inventions, warfare tactics and revolutionary ideas that are still playing intricate roles in modern day societies. Both of these wars were accredited