Europe was the center of the world at the beginning of the twentieth century. All Europeans thought that their nation would continue to be the leader of the world. Europe's technological advances, economic resources, military might and political influence gave the country a sense of superiority that was unmatched by other regions of the world.
Before one can truly understand why the European Empire fell, it is necessary to discuss why the Europeans alone succeeded in achieving almost universal domination throughout the world in the decades before the First World War. The most apparent answer was in Europe's technological superiority. Of all the great world civilizations, only modern Europe had created a continuous progression of technical change. There is also another source of European self-confidence: a distinctive cultural tradition. Although the Germans, the French, the British, and the Russians were constantly in disagreement over the merits of their own cultural traditions, all agreed on one thing-the superiority of things European.
The result of this was a society that welcomed and rewarded innovation, that prided itself on growth, and that had beat all others in accumulating both military might and economic power. The only threat to Europe's superiority lay in its internal rivalries; Europe alone was strong enough to defeat Europe. Therefore, it seems that what actually led to Europe's centrality would be the same thing that would lead to its fall.
The thick fact that I chose to excavate is "The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling. Even though this poem can be interpreted many ways, there seems to be some basic ideas that Kipling is trying to portray. I think that the poem draws lines between the Old Regime and the Modern. "Take up the White man's burden" is a line that is repeated throughout the poem. I understood this as a reference to how Europeans drew sharp lines between their own culture and the rest of the world.
