The Age of Catastrophe: Eric Hobsbawm and the Crisis of the Liberal Order

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Explaining History, Nick continues his exploration of Eric Hobsbawm’s seminal work, The Age of Extremes.

We focus on the first part of Hobsbawm's "historical triptych"—the Age of Catastrophe (1914–1945). Nick argues that this period was essentially a European Civil War, where the violent techniques of imperialism—gas, machine guns, and racial extermination—boomeranged back onto the continent itself.

From the collapse of the liberal order in 1914 to the rise of totalitarian regimes in the 1930s, we examine how the certainties of the 19th century were shattered. We also cr...