War in the Modern World

After the Second World War, the nature of war—not only where, but how it is fought—changed dramatically. In this inaugural episode, begin to explore the transformation of violent conflicts between major world powers by delving into a particularly recent example: America's 20-year war in Afghanistan.

From the “McDonald’s theory”—referring to when a country can economically support a network of McDonald’s restaurants—to a state’s nuclear capabilities, evaluate the factors that explain why wars between great powers look different nowadays, and explore what future conflicts could look like between the United States and two of its major adversaries.

New weapons are constantly being introduced in war. Discover how five contemporary technologies—the Kalashnikov assault rifle, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), guided missiles, drones, and cyber warfare—redefined the rules of battle in the modern era and leveled the playing field between world powers and insurgent groups.

Travel back in time to examine the series of events that followed World War II from the allied occupation of Germany to the Greek Civil War. See how the Soviet Union contended with insurgencies in the Baltic region and explore the beginnings of a new kind of global conflict between the United States and the USSR.

The future of Asia, occupied by various powers in the early 20th century, became murky after 1945. One thing was clear though: Few people wanted to see colonial occupiers reassert influence there. Here, zero in on conflicts in Indonesia, the Philippines, and India to see how geopolitics in the region transformed after the war.

As war raged on across the globe, China had to contend with a civil war between Mao Zedong’s Communists and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party. Explore the war from its colonial roots to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and discover how the USSR and the United States became involved in the bloody conflict.