Scholars Mind

The End of War, the End of History?

World War I was “the War to End All Wars”; 1989 was, per Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History”. The first meant achieving global peace; the second trumpeted the triumph of liberal democracy. The world isn’t there yet, in either case, but is it getting closer? Should one or both of these be our goals in the first place?

Key concepts

Teleology
The belief that history is heading somewhere — toward peace, or toward the best possible state. Hegel argued it. The appeal is that it gives events a direction; the danger is that it invites you to announce the arrival early.

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Every work — at a glance

  • The War to End All Wars — 1914–1918 (phrase)

    H. G. Wells's 1914 phrase for the First World War: a catastrophe so large it would make war itself unthinkable. Twenty-one years later the same continent started a bigger one.

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What to know

  1. 01
    Is the world getting closer? It depends on your ruler. Measured in centuries, war between great powers and the share of humanity living under autocracy both fell hard after 1945. Measured in the last two decades, Freedom House has recorded eighteen straight years of decline in global freedom, and battle deaths rose again after 2011.

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Across subjects

Shelley's 'Ozymandias' is the rebuttal, written in 1818. A traveller finds two stone legs in a desert and a shattered face, under the boast 'Look on my Works,

Theme connection

"Are We There Yet?"

Both declarations came from serious people with serious arguments, and both were followed almost at once by the thing they said was finished. Were they wrong, or early? One side calls universal peace and freedom the noblest goals we have. The other says crowning any system 'the end' is what blinds you.

Practice — a sample

LITEach item below was a confident public claim that an era of conflict had ended EXCEPT —

  • A Fukuyama, 1989
  • B The 1918 armistice
  • C Kellogg–Briand, 1928
  • D Ozymandias, 1818
  • E Versailles, 1919

Sign in to answer and see why each option is right or wrong.

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