From the dawn of history, men have been fighting wars with other men. As the civilization advanced the weapons of war became more dangerous (sword, bow and arrow - gun powder, rifle, artillery - tanks, planes, chemical weapons - finally nuclear weapons and missiles); and casualties mounted. Now WMDs can destroy entire human race. Man is not the strongest animal physically, but his brain gives more strength to man enabling him to rule the world. Thus the strongest animal in the world is man. Unlike other animals, man kills his own kind. Tiger does not kill tigers. Dogs do not kill dogs. Cows do not kill cows. Thus the strongest and most dangerous enemy of man is man himself. This fact together with the development of WMDs pose a definite threat and probability that human race is doomed to commit suicide. Such an important problem deserves serious and deep attention of all human beings. This is the objective of this book, written during 25 years of research.

Industrial Revolution started in the second half of eighteenth century in England. It increased man's capacity to produce and become wealthy. Hence, England became wealthy and strong. In nineteenth century, Industrial Revolution spread to Western Europe, the U.S. and Japan. With it, nationalism grew in these countries. Asia, Africa and Australia were conquered by these industrialized countries. Little England became the mightiest nation in the world after the defeat of Napoleon in the first quarter of 19th century, as Industrial Revolution started first in England. This supremacy was only for a short period. In the later part of 19th century, the U.S. and Germany in Europe overtook England in production and became challengers to British supremacy. Asia was humiliated even though Asia had been the dominant continent earlier. Japan in Asia also rose and succeeded in defeating Russia, a mighty European power in the first decade of twentieth century. This gladdened the hearts of the people of Asia, who were groaning under the European heels. Demand for freedom and independence from colonial rule grew. Nationalism became the dominant force in the entire world.

The growth of industrialization not only made the industrial nations richer and more powerful, it encouraged colonization, search for markets and raw materials needed for their industries. There was a competition for acquiring colonies leading to conflicts and wars. The new nations in the field were "have-nots". They were opposed by the first comers in the field like England. England had been fighting with France and Russia in the 19th century. England's foreign policy was (a) "balance of power" to prevent the rise of any country in Europe who would dominate Europe and (b) to keep its navy equal to any combination of two other strongest naval powers so that it could rule the waves and protect its world wide Empire. Seeing the rise of Germany in Europe, which had defeated France, by the end of 19th century, England made alliances with France in 1904 and with Russia in 1907, to oppose hegemony over Europe of rising power of Germany. The U.S. was also opposed to the domination of Europe by one power, which could threaten the U.S. Hence, the U.S. and England made a secret pact against Germany, according to Kaiser, in 1897.

The result of this power rivalry was the World War I (1914-1918). It caused great devastation. England succeeded in preventing German hegemony over Europe. The three big consequences of WW I were:

Though the Germans were defeated in the World War I, the vigorous German people rose again quickly. In two decades, they rose to challenge Europe. The result was England with France declared war on Germany in September 1939 and the World War II in Europe started. In the East Asia, Japan had become a great expansionist power. It attacked China in July 1937. Hence from the world point of view, World War II, started in July 1937, as the wars in east and west coalesced with Japanese attack on the U.S. on December 7,1941.

World War II resulted in the rise of two super powers - the U.S. and the Soviet Union - in the world. The World War devastated Europe and large parts of Asia; and the colonial powers became too enervated to rule over their colonial empires. The U.S. was a latecomer in the colonial game. It had developed a new method of imperialism (neo-imperialism) in Latin America with Monroe Doctrine in the 19th century. This was invisible empire, where the victims looked politically free but were under American domination and colonial exploitation. At the end of 19th century, it declared the policy of "Open Door" which meant that the markets in other countries of the world should not be closed to American commerce. As European colonial empires collapsed after World War II, the U.S. moved in with its "Open Door" policy and expanding its invisible empire.

In the big power rivalry, the U.S. played the cleverest game. It entered both World Wars, when others warring nations were exhausted. This made it possible for the U.S. to win both World Wars with very little loss of American lives. Moreover, it made money by selling arms to other nations and its industries expanded, while the industries of warring nations were ruined. The common belief is that the U.S. had to enter (a) World War I, as Germany had sunk passenger ship Lusitania, which was carrying American citizens and (b) WW II, as Japanese had made a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Both are wrong, as the truth is different. Lusitania was not only a luxury liner, it was warship also and carried contraband war material. It was an auxiliary of British Navy. Churchill and Wilson had intrigued to lure German submarines to sink it. For World War II, President Roosevelt had cornered Japan so that Japan had faced only two choices in 1941 - surrender and disgorge territory won in China or attack the U.S. and fight a war, as Roosevelt wanted Japan to fire the first shot to make American people angry and willing to fight to save the homeland. Roosevelt and his advisors knew that Japan was going to attack Pearl Harbor.

The British leaders started World War II to save the British Empire, but the British had become so weak at war end that they could not continue their raj in India in the old way. Hence, they decided to partition India before leaving so that they would still control "the life and progress" of India by their control of Pakistan. Even though Indians wanted a united India, they could not succeed in their aim. The final result was based on the balance of armed strength (i.e. army and navy) of two opponents, proving Mao's dictum - "the political power comes from the barrel of a gun." Blaming Jinnah or Congress leaders for partition is wrong. Jinnah had no gun. Hence, he had little to do with partition. If not Jinnah, the British would have found some one else. Many Muslim leaders were only too willing to do what the British wanted. It was really the English gun cleverly hidden behind Jinnah by the intriguing English.

Despite the intrigues of England and the U.S. in the post World War II era, two new powers arose- India and China with more than a billion people each. Never in previous history, any empire had a billion people. Hence, both India and China will become world powers of first rank in the 21st century after they complete industrialization and modernization. Then the world history will be greatly influenced by them. American dream and attempt at world hegemony will fail.

After World War II end, Soviet Union was the only power, which could challenge the U.S. in military conflict. Introduction of nuclear weapons meant that in case of nuclear war between the two super powers, there could be no victor, as the world would be destroyed. Hence, the U.S. decided to fight a cold war to eliminate Soviet Union as super power, so that the U.S. would fulfill its plan of extending its invisible empire all over the world. The U.S. had extended its invisible empire all over Americas from Canada to Chile earlier. Its "Manifest Destiny" had declared "right of might".

Economic strength is one of the important components of power of a nation in the modern world. In economic strength, the U.S. was much stronger than the Soviet Union. Hence, the U.S. strategy to fight the cold war was to take advantage of the relatively weaker economy of Soviet Union. This worked. The cost of arms race proved too much for the Soviet Union and it collapsed in 1990.

In the post WW II period, man had learnt other methods of fighting against nuclear-armed nations and defeating their dreams of subjugation. The best example is brave Vietnam. Islam is also rising from its slumber to challenge American hegemony. It is possible in near future that entire Asia will unitedly frustrate American attempts at subjugation.

Twentieth Century will remain in history as one of the most important because of astounding advances made in science and technology. If man developed weapons capable of suicide of human race, medical science developed to save lives and to cure many diseases, so that human population has increased very much. Life has been made more comfortable with electricity, transport and communication. With the development of air travel, distances are no barrier and world has shrunk. The explosion of information technology has made knowledge available to everyone. Man can see on TV any important event in any part of the world immediately. It is becoming one world breaking international borders. People can see the diversity of human culture in the entire world. Man is learning that human race is one in the world. Unless human race commits suicide, it is possible that 22nd century man may realize that nationalism has been only one stage of development of human civilization and internationalism may develop making it possible for one government for entire world to emerge.

Many claimed that the World War II would end all wars. This claim has been belied by post war history. Despite the terrible destruction and loss of human lives, man's propensity for war did not diminish. In the post World War period in Asia alone, more than 12 million men died in wars, not to speak of destruction of property, wounded and displaced. Wars took many new forms. Today might is right and the jungle law prevails in the world. The study of history of 20th century, which has seen two most destructive wars in human history, shows wars are for money and to some extent power. Some have suggested that if man gave up selfishness, peace will reign and wars vanish. This is not correct. Selfishness is one important characteristic of human nature and is necessary for life itself. The problem of permanent elimination of wars is extremely complex and difficult. The solution lies in harmonization of self-interests of nations and peoples, and development of society's structures on this principle. The socio-economic and political structures of human society must be in harmony with nature. This subject is dealt at the end of the book.