從1914年到1991年的“短暫的二十世紀”，歷經第一次世界大戰、第二次世界大戰和冷戰，包括了納粹德國和蘇聯的崛起和衰落。這些災難性的事件宣示了歐洲殖民帝國的終結，並吹響了廣泛的非殖民化的號角。1989年至1991年蘇聯的解體使美國成為世界唯一超級大國，引發了鐵幕的崩潰、德國統一和現仍進行中的歐洲一體化進程的加快。
The "short twentieth century", from 1914 to 1991, sees World War I, World War II and the Cold War, including the rise and fall of Nazi Germany and of the Soviet Union. These disastrous events spell the end of the European Colonial empires and initiated widespread decolonization. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 to 1991 leaves the United States as the world's single superpower and triggers the fall of the Iron Curtain, the reunification of Germany and an accelerated process of a European integration that is ongoing.