The Rise and Fall of the West

By: Matt Buttsworth

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The Rise and Fall of the West is a thought provoking in depth article which considers what factors and events in world history led to the rise of the West and what factors are now leading to its decline. Specifically it deals with the rise of the West in terms of the catastrophic effect of the conquests of Genghis Khan on the other civilizations of Eurasia, and of military supremacy, the knowledge revolution and the industrial revolution as laying the basis of the Western domination of the world and the transformation of nations around the world in its image. While the causes of the decline of the West are seen in terms of the unaffordable cost of maintaining military supremacy and of fighting two world wars, the loss of economic competitiveness and the crisis in education, the loss of faith in the Progress Ethos and the economic rise of the nations of East Asia and India in ending the era of Western domination of the world. This leads to a more general consideration of what factors propel civilisations to global scientific, technological and economic leadership and what factors can destroy that supremacy which everyone interested in world history and the rise and fall of great powers should read. The Rise and Fall of the West is part of Polarshift.