Pivot Years. World War II in 20th-Century History

Abstract

Even though the crucial importance of World War II has never been called into doubt by historians, it has not featured as a focal point for the interpretation of the 20th century in recent narratives. In most cases, historians have located the war's historical meaning within the dualistic framework of ‘catastrophe’ and ‘reconstruction’. For all its obvious plausibility, however, this approach tends to isolate the war from the wider historical context. This article develops and discusses three perspectives that may serve to embed World War II within broader historical trends. It highlights the global dimensions of the war, examines contemporaneous interpretations that proved influential for decades after the war's conclusion – most notably, the notion of an ‘international civil war’ – and explores the causal and perceptual cohesiveness of the ‘age of world wars’ between 1911/14 and 1945/53. By pursuing these avenues, the essay makes several claims. It argues that World War II must be understood as part of longer-term developments originating in the late 19th century and reaching far into the second half of the 20th century; that the era of the world wars gave rise to a coherent space of experience forming the core of this extended trajectory; that there was no monolithic ‘interwar’ period, while the intellectual history of these decades reveals a smooth transition from world war to ‘Cold War’; and, finally, that World War II acted as a catalyst for far-reaching changes on a global scale.