Most Significant Historical Event

Paper Summary:

The paper selects WWII as the most significant event since 1500 A.D. based on the sheer number of human lives actually affected, its lasting effects on future generations, and the likelihood that other events of the same kind would have resulted in similar changes had it never transpired. The paper shows how World War II fits these criteria and therefore was, undoubtedly, the most significant event in all of recorded human history.

Outline:
Introduction - Criteria for Defining the Most Significant Historical Event
World War II as the Most Significant Single Event in Recorded History

From the Paper:

"In considering the various candidates for the most significant event in human history, several pivotal conflict and transitions stand out. Among them: the Renaissance, which ushered in the Age of Discovery and Exploration, the French Revolution, which pioneered concepts like religious tolerance, self determination, and inclusion of the masses of the less fortunate into political life; the Industrial Revolution, which introduced the technological achievements that were to make modern life possible for much of the world's population; the American Revolution, which established what was eventually to become one of the world's greatest and most influential powers and shapers of the modern world; the American Civil War, which eliminated the institution of human slavery in the New World; the two world wars of the twentieth century, which shaped the direction of future geopolitics more than any other events in history, and the Cold War that followed, which may have taken the place of a war with the potential to destroy much of the world shaped by all the other historical events in a matter of hours."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Miller, D.L., Commager, H.S. (2002) The Story of World War II. New York: Touchstone
• Nevins, J., Commager, H.S. (1992) A Pocket History of the United States.New York: Pocket Books

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