The century : a bird's eye view -- Part one : the age of catastrophe. The age of total war -- The world revolution -- Into the economic abyss -- The fall of liberalism -- Against the common enemy -- The arts, 1914-45 -- End of empires -- Part two : the golden age. Cold war -- The golden years -- The social revolution 1945-1990 -- Cultural revolution -- The third world -- "Real socialism" -- Part three : the landslide. The crisis decades -- Third world and revolution -- End of socialism -- The avant-garde dies : the art after 1950 -- Sorcerers and apprentices : the natural sciences -- Towards the millennium.