A Lesson In History

I think years have become less exciting. What really do we have to look forward to? Alright, besides 2008. But really, it is a sad state of affairs when one can find nothing else to look forward to but the replacement of a current President.

In the previous Century we had the 21st Century to look forward to. Why? New beginnings? A new era? To party like its 1999?

The 20th Century saw the United States rise as a world leader.

World War I began with the assassination of Austrian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a group of extremists wishing independence from Austria-Hungry. The United States, while an ally (to the allies), held to it's isolationist policies and refrained from entering the war, we were forced to enter the war when Germany attempted to coax Mexico into allying with them.

World War II. Germany's invasion of Poland. The United States remained, militarily, ambivalent until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (Let me also add here that the United States President knew of the oppression of German, Polish and Austrian Jews under the Nazi regime and refused to assist due to "immigration concerns".)
(If you are interested in the specifics there, I highly recommend researching the "Kindertransport".)
The United States dominance in the war is pretty apparent, so I will not ramble on here.

The world lost roughly 15 million people in World War I.
In World War II that figure jumped to an estimated 62 million.

Next time you are at happy hour, ask your drinking buddies; "If you could stop one event in history, what would it be?"
--Most will say the Holocaust.

There are so very many events and periods throughout history which could have prevented the Holocaust; so many precede the first World War. However, too many focus on the event itself rather then look to the root cause.

So, at the beginning of this new period in history; what are the top news stories of the 21st Century?

War has taken on a new image. While assassinations and guerrilla warfare have always held their place in history, this has become the unabridged definition of 21st Century warfare.

So instead of adopting our defensive and isolationist roots we begin a war against a fallacious enemy, in which we have no chance of winning...

What will history write of us in 100 years?