The end of the Cold War did not bring peace from "summary" of The War of the World by Niall Ferguson
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 did not, as many had hoped, bring an end to conflict and violence around the world. In fact, the end of the Cold War ushered in a new era of uncertainty, characterized by ethnic strife, civil wars, and terrorism. The break-up of the Soviet Union itself was far from peaceful, with conflicts erupting in various regions as former Soviet republics sought independence. The Baltic states, for example, achieved independence relatively peacefully, but others, such as Georgia and Tajikistan, descended into bloody civil wars. Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, the end of the Cold War led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the outbreak of brutal ethnic conflicts in the Balkans. The wars in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo resulted in widespread atrocities, including ethnic cleansing and genocide. In Africa, the end of the Cold War did not bring an end to violent conflict. Instead, the continent saw a rise in civil wars, many of which were fueled by ethnic rivalries and competition for scarce resources. The Rwandan genocide in 1994, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed in a matter of weeks, was a stark reminder of the brutality that can result from ethnic tensions. In the Middle East, the end of the Cold War did not bring peace either. The region was already a hotbed of conflict, with long-standing rivalries and unresolved disputes. The Gulf War in 1990-91 was just one example of the violence that continued to plague the region even after the end of the superpower rivalry. In short, the end of the Cold War did not bring about the peaceful world that many had hoped for. Instead, it ushered in a new era of uncertainty and conflict, marked by ethnic strife, civil wars, and terrorism. The roots of these conflicts were deep and complex, and the end of the superpower rivalry did little to resolve them. Peace remained elusive, and the world continued to grapple with the legacy of the wars of the 20th century.
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