“World War I shattered the dominance of Western Civilization. Although the West would endure, its empires would collapse over the next several generations.” In my view, this statement from the textbook implies that the first world war led to the destruction of Western empires and created several new states by encouraging independence movements in Western colonies. Besides, the statement implies that the diplomatic alliances made by the Western powers during World War One came back to haunt the West several years later (Eichenberg " Newman, 2010). Also, the statement indicates that the West or colonial powers managed to withstand some of the challenges, such as restrictions, faced by their colonial activities. However, the drastic political, economic, cultural, and social changes across Africa, Europe, and Asia that followed the events of World War One eventually led to the collapse of the Western empires several years later (Eichenberg " Newman, 2010).
For example, the radical political, economic, cultural, and social transformations that occurred in Europe, Asia, and Africa after World War I led to the collapse of the Russian empire, the Ottoman Empire, the German empire, and the Austria-Hungary empire. As a result, the old countries got abolished and new ones created following the formation of new boundaries (Eichenberg " Newman, 2010). The statement applies to my generation in the sense that the shattering of the Western Civilization's dominance and the collapse of Western empires led to the formation of the country I live in today. Besides, the collapse of the Western empires led to the establishment of various international organizations that are still relevant to my generation, such as the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN). The statement also applies to my generation by virtue of its connection to political transformations that led to the formation of electoral democracies that have remained relevant and valuable to the current generation.
References
Eichenberg, J., " Newman, J. (2010). Introduction: Aftershocks: Violence in Dissolving Empires after the First World War. Contemporary European History, 19(03), 183-194. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0960777310000111
