How the World Was Made
The international order didn't fall from the sky — it was hammered together in specific rooms, after specific catastrophes, by people who'd just survived them. Westphalia invented sovereignty. The Second World War killed the old empires and built the UN. The Marshall Plan rebuilt Europe and bought its allegiance. The Soviet collapse rewired everything again. Follow the chain of crises that produced the world you live in, and you'll see why it's more fragile than it looks.
The system everyone calls “the rules-based international order” was built by the winners of the last catastrophe. Knowing which catastrophe — and which winners — tells you exactly where the cracks are.
9
Articles
128
Minutes
0
Words
The reading order
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Historical Events 11 minThe Treaty of WestphaliaThe 1648 peace that ended Europe's bloodiest religious war invented state sovereignty. Every nation on earth still operates within the system it created.
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Concepts 12 minSovereigntySince 1648, states claim supreme authority within their borders. Globalization and intervention now expose the widening gap between principle and reality.
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Historical Events 29 minWorld War IIThe deadliest conflict in history killed 70-85 million and built the world we live in. Every major alliance and institution of today traces to 1939-1945.
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Historical Events 14 minThe Marshall PlanThe Marshall Plan (1948–1952) channelled $13.3 billion into war-ravaged Europe, accelerating economic recovery, weakening communist parties in France and Italy, and laying the institutional foundations for Western integration.
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Historical Events 11 minDecolonizationBetween 1945 and 1975, European empires ruling most of the planet disintegrated, producing dozens of new nations with borders designed to fail.
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Concepts 13 minCollective SecurityCollective security — the principle that aggression against any state is aggression against all — has driven the design of international institutions from the League of Nations to the UN Security Council, but the gap between its ideals and the realities of great-power politics has rarely closed.
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Institutions 11 minUN Security CouncilFive nations wield vetoes that can block any action on war, sanctions, or peace. The Security Council's 1945 design locks in an outdated power map.
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Historical Events 11 minThe Fall of the Soviet UnionA nuclear superpower with the world's largest army ceased to exist overnight. The 1991 Soviet collapse reshaped global order and fueled Russian grievances.
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Concepts 16 minMultipolarityAmerican hegemony is fragmenting as China, Russia, and India assert independent power. Multipolarity promises autonomy but raises the risk of war.