Periodization

The problem of dividing history into periods arises from the fact history isn't so clear cut and it's difficult to cut it up into nice little sections and trends slowly give way to one another, rather than changing over night. After all, the fall of Rome occurred over many years and can't really be pinpointed to one event, nor can the start of the dark ages or the beginning of the Renaissance. After all, no one living in the era we call the "Dark Ages," referred to it as such. While these labels are indeed useful and necessary to the study of history, it has certain limitations due to the fact that different parts of the world were very different for much of the world. For instance, the era we classify as the Dark Ages may have been such for the Occident, but for the Islamic middle east or Asia they were quiet progressive. Still, there are most certainly elements of truth in the dividing up of history into periods, and while it may be difficult to pinpoint the exact moment one period leads to the other, one can clearly see the difference between the renaissance and the dark ages and the classical periods.

Trying to use the same principles to periodize modern history is difficult, as it is still being made, but it is certainly a useful thought exercise. It is somewhat difficult to do this to modern history considering the breakneck speed of change in the last 2 centuries. Modernization has spread across humanity and although colonialism still exists in some forms, it has in the most direct sense ended and even the nature of the nation state and how they interact with one another has changed much since the 19th and early 20th century. The easiest "pivot points" to mark in most recent history would be the collapse of the Soviet Union and the attacks of 9/11. The fall of the Soviet Union marks the end of the Cold War, which arguably defined the structure of the post WWII world and international politics. This gave way to American unilateralism and the eroding of the old power blocs. This segways nicely into the attacks of 9/11, which arguably mark the slow demise of the "American Century" and the beginning of "No One's Century," in which the world has no penultimate power. It also marks the increased resistance of third world forces against first world domination. I would like to point out that it does not mark an increase of terrorism, as that is a tactic that has been a broad issue since the 19th century.