In the developing nations of the (two words), beginning in the 1960s, new seeds and fertilizers, engineered in part under the auspices of the philanthropic Rockefeller Foundation, increased productivity of land under wheat cultivation by up to five times.

As part of President Woodrow Wilson's goal of making the world "safe for democracy" he issued his famous " " (two words) that called for, among other things, "a free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims."

In an example of the approach of the 1919 Paris Peace Settlement toward former colonized areas, portions of the Ottoman Empire were temporarily to France for tutelage until they were considered ready for independence.

In addition to losing territory as a result of the 1919 peace settlement, Germany was ordered to pay heavy , although in practice not much was ever paid.

Some World War II technology had valuable by-products for civilian use; , which Britain developed to protect its island nation from Germany in the Battle of Britain, was valuable in commercial aviation.

Pablo Picasso attempted to show the brutality of modern war as evidenced in the Spanish Civil War by depicting the anguish resulting from the first aerial bombardment in his famous painting, .

The French author Albert Camus, perhaps the most influential voice in Europe of his era, wrote in 1940 that "there is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide."

The USSR suffered its "Vietnam" in when, in 1979, it sent troops to support a communist coup and fought on doggedly against opposition forces supported in part by the United States.

Russia opened its military records at the direction of Mikhail Gorbachev as part of his policy of , a move toward greater openess in Russian society.

Increasing technology and decreasing government regulation made possible as technologies, markets and nations were being brought together.