7. The rise and fall of Communism in Europe (1917-1990's)

Communism was a potent source of inspiration and justification, as well as military and financial support, for a great number of political uprisings from the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the conflicts in Southeast Asia late in the century. For most of the 1900's, political alliances and enmities all over the world were defined by it. Much of the world was polarized into its adherents and foes.

Communism greatly influenced intellectual life, providing a complex of variants and interpretations that inspired its many and disparate adherents to argue among themselves about what Communism really is or should be. The general collapse of Communist regimes and renunciation of Communist ideologies in the 1990's significantly changed the political, economic, and cultural landscape worldwide.

 

 

Ivan Soll is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His Top 10 list also focuses on large-scale, far-reaching developments. He sounds a note of caution based on rapid world population growth and technological development, referring to our "tendency to pollute, or otherwise destroy without using, the very resources we so desperately need."

1.

Advances in physical theory (early 1900's)

2. The development of nuclear energy (mid-1900's)
3. The rise of the Information Age (middle to late 1900's)
4.

The worldwide revolution in transportation (throughout the 1900's)

5. The development of antibiotics and other medical therapies (mid-1900's)
6. The development of genetics and molecular biology (mid-1900's)
7. The rise and fall of Communism in Europe (1917-1990's)
8. The explosion and concentration of the world's population (throughout the 1900's)
9. The depletion and pollution of the world's resources (middle to late 1900's)
10. The impact of globalization (middle to late 1900's)