The age of total war -- The world revolution -- Into the economic abyss -- The fall of liberalism -- Against the common enemy -- The arts 1914-1945 -- End of empires -- Cold War -- Th egolden years -- The social revolution 1945-1990 -- Cultural revolution -- The third world -- R̀eal socialism' -- The crisis decades -- Third world and revolution -- End of socialism -- The avant-garde dies - the arts after 1950 -- Sorcerers and apprentices - the natural sciences -- Toward the millennium.