World Since 1945, The

The world since 1945 has witnessed fundamental changes in the direction of recent history, notably the increasing influence of the West, particularly the USA, in a variety of spheres, the emergence of the USSR as a superpower and its subsequent collapse, the end of colonial empire in Asia and Africa, and the escalation of wars and other conflicts in the Third World which have claimed at least 30 million lives. In this brilliantly incisive survey T. E. Vadney examines the key events - in Afghanistan, Algeria, China, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Yugoslavia and elsewhere - without ever neglecting the underlying global trends. He explores the rapid changes in the Middle East, the crises and end of apartheid in southern Africa and the aims of American foreign policy. He concludes with a revised epilogue in which he examines the direction of post-1945 history as the world enters the twenty-first century.