Ideologies in the 20th Century: How Did Ideologies Shape Global Conflict?
- Ideologies in the 20th century worked a bit like rival apps that cannot run on the same device.
- Once a country downloaded one, it often clashed with any country running the opposite one: which is basically the story of 20th-century conflict.
1. Humanism: putting people, not supernatural authority, at the centre
Definition
Humanism
Humanism is an intellectual and cultural movement that emphasizes the value, dignity, and potential of human beings. It focuses on human reason, creativity, and achievements rather than divine or supernatural authority.
- Humanism is the belief that humans should make decisions using reason, ethics, and empathy rather than fear or divine command.
- Challenges religious or authoritarian control.
- Pushes for dignity, equality and human rights.
Example
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is basically humanism turned into law.
- Post-war trials like the Nuremberg Trials were justified using humanist ideas about universal rights.
- Twentieth-century campaigns for gender equality, civil rights, and secular governance built heavily on humanist thinking.
2. Existentialism: meaning in a world that feels meaningless
Definition
Existentialism
Existentialism is a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual freedom, personal responsibility, and the search for meaning in a world that has no inherent purpose. It argues that people must create their own values and identity through their choices and actions.
- Existentialism took off because two world wars left people wondering what the point of anything was.
- Says you create your own purpose.
- Rejects blind obedience to tradition or authority.
- Encouraged people to think, act and live authentically.
Example
- Jean-Paul Sartre refused to support authoritarian regimes and believed individuals must choose freely.
- Simone de Beauvoir used existentialism to argue that women were shaped by society, not biology (“One is not born, but becomes, a woman”).
- Existentialist ideas show up in Cold War literature, like Camus' The Plague, which explores moral choice in crisis.
3. Feminism: movements for women’s political, economic, and social equality
- Feminism isn’t just one movement; it’s waves of activism demanding change.
Example
- Suffrage victories:
- New Zealand (1893), US (1920), UK (1918/1928), France (1944).
- Women’s suffrage activism:
- Emmeline Pankhurst leading militant actions in Britain.
- Emily Davison dying at the 1913 Epsom Derby.
- Global examples:
- Hoda Shaarawi in Egypt founded the Egyptian Feminist Union (1923).
- Mao's China (“Women hold up half the sky”) expanded legal rights after 1949.
- International Women’s Day (1910) born from socialist feminism.
- Third-wave feminism in the 1990s pushed for intersectionality, reproductive rights, and workplace equality.
4. Communism: a classless society run by workers
- Marx argued that capitalism is built on exploitation and will eventually be overthrown.
Example
- Russian Revolution (1917) → Bolshevik rule, later Stalin’s dictatorship.
- Chinese Communist Revolution (1949) → Mao’s rule, the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution.
- Cold War conflicts shaped by communism:
- Korea (1950–53),
- Vietnam,
- Afghanistan (Soviet invasion 1979).
- Cuban Revolution (1959) brought communism to the Western Hemisphere.
5. Fascism: extreme nationalism + a dictator + militarism
- Fascism comes from the idea that society should be unified under one strong leader, with total loyalty and no tolerance for opposition.
Example
- Mussolini’s Italy (1922) - Blackshirts, suppression of opposition, imperial ambitions.
- Spanish Civil War (1936–39) - Franco’s nationalist military dictatorship supported by Italy and Germany.
- Fascist governments admired force, order and war, influencing WWII aggression.
6. Nazism: fascism fused with racial ideology
- Nazism is fascism that obsessively fixates on race, purity, and expansion.
Example
- Mein Kampf (1925) outlines Hitler’s goals: Aryan supremacy, Lebensraum, destroying “enemies” like Jews and communists.
- Nazi Germany (1933–45): single-party state, Gestapo, propaganda, militarisation.
- Holocaust: genocide of six million Jews plus millions of others.
- WWII sparked by Nazi expansion into Poland and Eastern Europe.
7. Democratic Socialism: equality through democracy, not revolution
- This ideology tries to soften capitalism’s harsh edges with welfare and social justice, without abolishing democracy or private property.
Example
- Sweden and Denmark creating welfare states with universal healthcare, education, and worker protections.
- Post-war Britain (1945) under Clement Attlee → National Health Service, nationalisation of key industries.
- Modern Germany and Scandinavia balancing market economies with strong social support systems.
8. Social Darwinism: “survival of the fittest,” misapplied to society
- This is what happens when people misuse biology to justify inequality or violence.
Example
- Eugenics movements (USA, Canada, Sweden, Japan) promoted forced sterilisation of the poor or disabled.
- Used to justify European imperialism, claiming colonised peoples were “less evolved.”
- Nazi racial laws directly built on Social Darwinist thinking.
- Francis Galton’s ideas on selective breeding became the basis for global eugenics policies.
Why did these ideologies cause conflict?
- Because they demanded completely different worlds:
- Fascism vs Liberal Democracy → WWII
- Communism vs Capitalism → Cold War
- Nazism vs Everyone → genocide + total war
- Nationalism vs Empires → Irish War of Independence, Indian independence, Balkan conflicts
- Feminism vs Patriarchy → suffrage battles, workplace reform, global women’s rights movements
- When ideologies collide, wars, revolutions, and social upheavals usually follow.
Self review
- How did communism shape Cold War conflicts like Korea and Vietnam?
- Why did fascist ideas about strength and obedience push Europe into WWII?
- How did feminist movements in places like Britain, Egypt and China reshape societies?
- Why did existentialism resonate so much in the post-war era?
- Which ideology had the most destructive impact on the 20th century: Nazism, fascism, or Social Darwinism?
