The History of the Twentieth Century

In 1858, the British government took direct control over India. This was supposed to cure the injustices of Company administration, but life in India grew worse, not better.

India is one of the world's oldest nations. In the early 18th century, it was the world's largest economy. By the end of that century, it was entirely under the control of a foreign multinational corporation.

In the two years since the Armistice, virtually nothing had gone right in the United States. In 1920, voters chose the candidate who promised a return to normalcy.

By 1923, inflation was raging in Germany, and so was the right wing.

When reparations payments first came due in 1921, the German economy was in bad shape and the government resisted payment, while the German right opposed paying them at all.

Germany receives the Treaty of Versailles and is given the choice of accepting the treaty as it stands, or restarting the war.

Imposing an indemnity on the defeated enemy after a war was a longstanding practice. At the Paris Peace Conference, reparations were supposed to be something more just and civilized: a charge for losses to civilians during the German occupation of Belgium and France.

The new democratic German government believed they could get a generous peace deal from the Allies. They were wrong.

Germany finds itself at a crossroads after World War I, grappling with the shift from monarchy to republic. Conflicting ideologies stir chaos within the political landscape, leading to the rise of revolutionary movements and the Spartacist Uprising. Amidst the turmoil, the National Assembly establishes the Weimar Republic in hopes of stability while facing regional unrest. The legacies of military leaders Hindenburg and Ludendorff further complicate the new government's path forward as they reflect on a tumultuous past.

With the bloodshed seemingly unending, the Lloyd George government and the Irish Republic strike an agreement.