The waging of total war in the global conflicts of the twentieth century has militarized civilian life ever since, in countless ways. New media such as posters, radio, and cinema extended governments’ ability to propagandize their wars. State control of the economy and direction of cultural affairs, the idea of citizens as part of the “home front” in military efforts, and endless sacrifice in the name of national defense are accepted aspects of modern life. Industrial production and technical prowess are seen as better measures of national strength than the size or training of the army. From this point forward, no conflict, no matter how small, has excluded civilians from being targets. Thus terrorism, the deliberate use of violence in social settings for political purposes, has become the norm for many non-state actors on the global stage.
Finally, the armed mobilization of the world and near-destruction of European state power from 1914 to 1945 led to a wave of national liberation struggles against imperial control in order to assert national self-determination, racial dignity, and ideological superiority. Slowly but surely, and often violently, the European-dominated world order that began roughly 400 years earlier was coming to its close.