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The Twentieth Century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000,...

The Twentieth Century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar, (2000 was the first century leap year since 1600). The Russian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved in the first half of the century, with all but the British Empire collapsing during the course of World War I. The inter-war years saw the Great Depression cause a massive disruption to the world economy. Shortly afterwards, World War II broke out, pitting the Allied powers (chiefly the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States) against the Axis powers (chiefly Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan, and Italy) which eventually resulted in a total victory for the Allies, but at the cost of over 60 million lives and complete devastation of countless nations. As means to prevent future world wars, the United Nations was formed, however disagreements between the two new superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, resulted in the Cold War, which dominated geopolitical life for 40 years. The Soviet Union broke up in 1991, resulting in the United States taking on sole superpower status,