CBC Ideas Week: The Shock of the New—The Twentieth Century

Two world wars, the collapse of empires, the birth of new nations - the twentieth century was nothing less than a reset of the entire world order. After tremendous upheaval the political and social orders of the past were remade, replaced by new shapes and structures, new ideas that were supposed to be more equitable, more aspirational. The results are uneven, and our societies today are a work in progress. 

Five years in the twentieth century, five snapshots of great upheaval: Ideas explores the conflicting ideas that have shaped our world today. This CBC Ideas series, hosted by Nahlah Ayed, explores the remaking of social life, the civil rights movement, the AIDS crisis, new gender roles - and the corrupting effects of power.

The Year 1919: Dividing the Spoils

After WW1, the Western powers create new borders and carve out spheres of influence, Pan-Africanists fight for a new future, unrest in China foreshadows the future, the League of Nations is formed, and Kemal Atatürk launches a war of independence in Turkey.

Panelists:

Amitava Chowdhury is a historian and chair of the Department of History at Queens University. Much of his research is about global histories of diasporas within the British Empire, colonialism, identity and nationalism.

Renée Worringer is an associate professor of Islamic and Middle East History at the University of Guelph and the author of Ottomans Imagining Japan.

Oleksa Drachewych is an assistant professor of history at Western University, focusing on the history of international communism, transnational human and civil rights movements and transnational anti-imperialism.