Eric Hobsbawm's Age Of Extremes
Age of Extremes
The Short Twentieth Century, 1914 - 1991
Eric Hobsbawm
The text I have chosen to analyse for this essay is Eric Hobsbawm 's historical epic "Age of Extremes - The Short Twentieth Century 1914 - 1991". The text, originally printed in 1994, seeks to present a thorough yet necessarily broad analysis and (importantly) explanation of the world (albeit with a more attention given to Europe) of the twentieth century, or more specifically, what Hobsbawm calls the "Short Twentieth Century". Hobsbawm, in an attempt to make sense of his short century, which began in 1914 with the outset of World War One and ends with the collapse of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics in 1991, breaks his work into three major periods. Firstly, The …show more content…
As the western world succumbs to the "Great Slump" (the Great Depression) and liberal democracy almost vanishes2, communism (comparatively) thrives, encompassing a large amount of nations and governments internationally by the end of World War Two. Hobsbawm also gives communism a credit for two key aspects of bringing about the close of the Age of Catastrophe and the beginning of the Golden Age; firstly, communism and capitalism (represented by the USSR and the USA) together defeated the fascist forces of Europe allowing World War Two to come to a close. Here, Europe is an important aspect of the history of the twentieth century, but compared to the interactions between capitalism and communism, almost seems like a backdrop to Hobsbawm 's more important doctrinal …show more content…
It gave way to what Hobsbawm called "The Landslide" which runs from around 1970 until the last years of the USSR and the collapse of Eastern European communism. Hobsbawm claims that this was brought about in the capitalist world by a even more fierce focus on profit making. This produced an ever widening gap between the diminishing creation of new jobs in a market place that was increasingly outsourcing work to other countries in a bid to cheapen labour costs. In the communist world, specifically that of Europe, the central powers of the regime were losing their grip on the constituent states of the USSR, many of which were now disenchanted with the idea of the Soviet system. It is in his relatively broad explanation of the fall of the USSR that Hobsbawm attacks the policies of the Soviets in regards to a poorly managed central economy and the atrocities committed against their own people, particularly under Stalin. Importantly, Hobsbawm does not believe the fault for the collapse of the USSR rests with Ronald Regan or the US but that it was a result of internal conflict in the context of
The Short Twentieth Century, 1914 - 1991
Eric Hobsbawm
The text I have chosen to analyse for this essay is Eric Hobsbawm 's historical epic "Age of Extremes - The Short Twentieth Century 1914 - 1991". The text, originally printed in 1994, seeks to present a thorough yet necessarily broad analysis and (importantly) explanation of the world (albeit with a more attention given to Europe) of the twentieth century, or more specifically, what Hobsbawm calls the "Short Twentieth Century". Hobsbawm, in an attempt to make sense of his short century, which began in 1914 with the outset of World War One and ends with the collapse of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics in 1991, breaks his work into three major periods. Firstly, The …show more content…
As the western world succumbs to the "Great Slump" (the Great Depression) and liberal democracy almost vanishes2, communism (comparatively) thrives, encompassing a large amount of nations and governments internationally by the end of World War Two. Hobsbawm also gives communism a credit for two key aspects of bringing about the close of the Age of Catastrophe and the beginning of the Golden Age; firstly, communism and capitalism (represented by the USSR and the USA) together defeated the fascist forces of Europe allowing World War Two to come to a close. Here, Europe is an important aspect of the history of the twentieth century, but compared to the interactions between capitalism and communism, almost seems like a backdrop to Hobsbawm 's more important doctrinal …show more content…
It gave way to what Hobsbawm called "The Landslide" which runs from around 1970 until the last years of the USSR and the collapse of Eastern European communism. Hobsbawm claims that this was brought about in the capitalist world by a even more fierce focus on profit making. This produced an ever widening gap between the diminishing creation of new jobs in a market place that was increasingly outsourcing work to other countries in a bid to cheapen labour costs. In the communist world, specifically that of Europe, the central powers of the regime were losing their grip on the constituent states of the USSR, many of which were now disenchanted with the idea of the Soviet system. It is in his relatively broad explanation of the fall of the USSR that Hobsbawm attacks the policies of the Soviets in regards to a poorly managed central economy and the atrocities committed against their own people, particularly under Stalin. Importantly, Hobsbawm does not believe the fault for the collapse of the USSR rests with Ronald Regan or the US but that it was a result of internal conflict in the context of