Can you identify 2 historical events of the 20th centuiry whcih
intersected and resulted inan event greater than either of the
original tweo events?

Hi, thanks for the question. Obviously, this in one of many answers to
it. I would argue that the Manhattan Project and the development of
nuclear weapons sparked the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the
United states, which then led to the Vietnam War, which, arguably, is
of greater significance and magnitude than the other two events.


1) The Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project
National Atomic Museum
http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/manhattanproject.cfm

"In 1939, the Nazis were rumored to be developing an atomic bomb. The
United States initiated its own program under the Army Corps of
Engineers in June 1942. America needed to build an atomic weapon
before Germany or Japan did."


2) The Cold War:

Manhattan Project indirectly led to the Cold War;

Nuclear Files
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hicoldwar/index.html
"Some would argue that the Cold War began even before World War II
ended. Already the United States and USSR were in the midst of carving
up the former Axis territories when the first atomic bombs were tested
in New Mexico, then used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thus, the Nuclear
Age and the nuclear arms race that fueled the Cold War began together.
Calls by scientists and diplomats for international control and
monitoring of nuclear weapons went unheeded. The Soviets developed
their own atomic and hydrogen bombs shortly after the US."

Nuclear Files
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/1940s.html
"On October 24, 1945, the United Nations Charter entered into force
and the new international organization was founded. Yet the good
intentions of this new peacekeeping organization were threatened by
the onset of the Cold War. At the first meeting of the Atomic Energy
Commission, the U.S. delegate proposed a plan to internationalize
control of atomic energy. The plan was rejected by the Soviet Union,
which tested its first nuclear weapons in 1949, ending the U.S.
monopoly.

By 1947 the Cold War was playing a major role in U.S. foreign policy.
The National Security Act created the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), and the Truman Dctrine proclaimed that the U.S. would assist
any country threatened by Communist aggression."

How the Cold War worked
Noam Chomsky
"Similarly, the US dismissed possibilities for peaceful resolution of
the Cold War conflict, which would have left the "political threat"
intact. In his history of nuclear weapons, McGeorge Bundy writes that
he is "aware of no serious contemporary proposal...that ballistic
missiles should somehow be banned by agreement before they were ever
deployed," even though these were the only potential military threat
to the US. It was always the "political" threat of so-called
"Communism" that was the primary concern."


3) Vietnam War:

The Vietnam War stemmed from the Cold War;

CNN
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/11/
"It was a conflict that devastated one nation and divided another.
Vietnam brought a new dimension to the Cold War -- and forced the
United States to rethink its goals in the superpower rivalry."

Nuclear Files
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hicoldwar/

"The effects of the Cold War spread throughout the globe like the
radiation clouds from the atmospheric nuclear tests in the 1940's,
1950's and 1960's. The ideologies on both sides included a vision of
world dominance. In addition, the US military/industrial complex's
"Domino Theory"- the fear that if one country turned Communist it
would lead to their neighbors to following suit and to increased
regional instability- led to many military conflicts, including the
Vietnam War, funded and aided by both Superpowers."

Houghton Mifflin
http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_089400_vietnamwar.htm

"The initial reasons for U.S. involvement in Vietnam seemed logical
and compelling to American leaders. Following its success in World War
II, the United States faced the future with a sense of moral rectitude
and material confidence. From Washington's perspective, the principal
threat to U.S. security and world peace was monolithic, dictatorial
communism emanating from the Soviet Union. Any communist anywhere, at
home or abroad, was, by definition, an enemy of the United States.
Drawing an analogy with the unsuccessful appeasement of fascist
dictators before World War II, the Truman administration believed that
any sign of communist aggression must be met quickly and forcefully by
the United States and its allies. This reactive policy was known as
containment."

"The American conception of Vietnam as a cold war battleground largely
ignored the struggle for social justice and national sovereignty
occurring within the country. American attention focused primarily on
Europe and on Asia beyond Vietnam. Aid to France in Indochina was a
quid pro quo for French cooperation with America's plans for the
defense of Europe through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
After China became a communist state in 1949, the stability of Japan
became of paramount importance to Washington, and Japanese development
required access to the markets and raw materials of Southeast Asia.
The outbreak of war in Korea in 1950 served primarily to confirm
Washington's belief that communist aggression posed a great danger to
Asia. And subsequent charges that Truman had "lost" China and had
settled for a stalemate in Korea caused succeeding presidents to fear
the domestic political consequences if they "lost" Vietnam. This
apprehension, an overestimation of American power, and an
underestimation of Vietnamese communist strength locked all
administrations from 1950 through the 1960s into a firm anticommunist
stand in Vietnam."

Consequences of the Vietnam War;

About 5.4 million people died in the war
http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/casualty.html
and
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=5096 (from
alexander-ga's answer to a question on deaths in Vietnam)

There were also many social, cultural and political impacts;

Houghton Mifflin
http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_089400_vietnamwar.htm

"The rhetoric of U.S. leaders after World War II about the superiority
of American values, the dangers of appeasement, and the challenge of
godless communism recognized no limit to U.S. ability to meet the test
of global leadership. In reality, neither the United States nor any
other nation had the power to guarantee alone the freedom and security
of peoples of the world. The Vietnam War taught Americans a humbling
lesson about the limits of power.

The domestic consequences of the war were equally profound. From
Truman through Nixon, the war demonstrated the increasing dominance of
the presidency within the federal government. Congress essentially
defaulted to the "imperial presidency" in the conduct of foreign
affairs. Vietnam also destroyed credibility within the American
political process. The public came to distrust its leaders, and many
officials distrusted the public. In May 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen
killed four Kent State University students during a protest over U.S.
troops invading Cambodia. Many Americans were outraged while others
defended the Ohio authorities. As this tragic example reveals, the war
rent the fabric of trust that traditionally clothed the American
polity. Vietnam figured prominently in inflation, unfulfilled Great
Society programs, and the generation gap. The Vietnam War brought an
end to the domestic consensus that had sustained U.S. cold war
policies since World War II and that had formed the basis for the
federal government's authority since the sweeping expansion of that
authority under Franklin D. Roosevelt."

Additional Links:

About.com
Timeline of major events in the 20th century
http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa110900a.htm?PM=ss11_history1900s

The Manhattan Project; Description
University of Texas
http://www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/manhattan/project.html

Harvard Project on Cold War Studies
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/

Vietnam War Bibliography
http://people.clemson.edu/~eemoise/bibliography.html

Studying the Vietnam War Online
http://www.refstar.com/vietnam/online_study.html

Google Search Terms Used
"manhattan project" and "cold war"
"cold war" and "vietnam war"

I hope this helps. I guess it is debatable whether Vietnam is a larger
event then the other two, from a Soviet perspective the Cold war is
likely a more significant event and from a Japanese or German
perspective, the Manhattan Project had greater import. However,
(partially from a biased U.S. perspective) the fact that these two
events contributed to a major "hot war", where millions of lives were
lost, seems to confirm my analysis. Let me know if you need any
clarification of my response.

Thanks again,
Anthony (adiloren-ga)

---

Clarification of Answer by adiloren-ga on 25 May 2004 11:32 PDT

Nice rai130-ga- the invention of barbed wire definitely changed ground
combat and led to innovation of tank technology that changed the
dynamics of war.

WW1 intersected with the Bolshevik Revolution and resulted in WW2.

WW2 gave rise to the invention of the rocket fueled engine and travel
at speeds beyond imagination, which in turn eventually led to man
landing on the moon.

Your Honour

May I respectfully challenge my Learned Friend (Tutuzdad)'s comment ...

WW2 'gave rise to' etc. is NOT the same as INTERSECTED.

My case rests!

I agree with Probonopublico. One thing leading to another is not the
same thing as two things intersecting one another. The answer by
adiloren doesn't seem to involve intersection of events.

I realize that the wording of my answer may make it vulnerable to
tutuzdad-ga's criticism regarding the distinction between "leading to"
and "intersecting". However, I would argues that post WWII, the U.S.
and USSR were the primary geo-political powers and a cold war of sorts
(or at least poltical conflict) was inevitable. The development of
nuclear weapons, stemming from the Manhattan Project, made this
situaion all the more volatile and culminated in part with the Vietnam
War and other interventionist actions by both states, including the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Thus, the development of nuclear
weapons "intersected" with an already brewing political and
ideological conflict between the US and the Soviet Union and fueled
it.

Vietnam a greater Historical Event than WW1 and WW2?

I don't think so!

Possibly in the eyes of those generations in the USA for whom it was a
truly significant event but certainly not in the eyes of the World in
general.

And, in any event, the Bolshevik Revolution gave rise to the Communist
threat which pervaded the world for some 70 years.

This is my perspective from the UK.

Probonopublico-ga,
I didn't say that the Vietnam War was more significant than World War
I or World War II. I think the Bolshevik answer was interesting and
valid as well. I said that it could be argued that the Vietnam war was
of greater significance than the Manhattan Project or the Cold War,
taken as isolated and independent historical events.

If you will note for the record, adiloren-ga, in the comments above
(specifically your own), tutuzdad (me) did not offer any criticism and
therefore your percieved vulnerability to "criticism regarding the
distinction between "leading to" and "intersecting" did not originate
with me at all.

tutuzdad

Sorry tutuzdad, my mistake, I meant to refer to probonopublico-ga's
criticism. (it had been a long day)
Good discussion thus far on this one though!

Let me help ...

The question is;

'Can you identify two historical events of the 20th century which
intersected and resulted in an event greater than either of the
original two events?'

So, the obvious starting point is to identify the GREATEST historical
event of the 20th Century which is unquestionably: WW2 ... Agreed?

OK, so now we backtrack to identify the two historical events that
INTERSECTED and RESULTED in WW2 ... Agreed?

Well, one was obviously WW1 ... Agreed?

And the other one was the Bolshevik Revolution ... Agreed?

Good, I am so glad that we all now agree.

Probonopublico-ga, there is obviously more than one answer to this
question, I'm not denying that your's is valid one.

Although, I think that World War II (in some form) likely would still
have happened even absent the Bolshevik Revolution. It would have
likely ended differently, but I think there is an argument to be made
that it would have happened independent of that event. The political
and ecomomic instability in Europe after World War I, coupled with the
rise of facism in Japan and Germany were the most obvious causes. It
is true that the Russians attempted to create a coalition against the
fascist regimes. But they were largely unsuccesful until after Germany
and Japan became aggresively expansionist - expansion that would have
likely occured regardless of Russia's attempts to check their power.

With respect, Adiloren, it is totally irrelevant what you think 'would still
have happened' or 'would have likely occured' ...  

The GREATEST historical event of the 20th Century was unquestionably WW2.

Believe me.

How about the invention of barbed wire (1870 ish) and the unification
of Germany (1870) which eventually led to the horrors of WW1... on to
WW2... and so on until finally, and of far greater importance, my dog
was born last year.

My humble apologies, rai130-ga, nobody told me about your dog.

Let me be the first to congratulate you!

What is it ... a Neopolitan Mastiff?

Daisy (my dog) would like to be associated with these Good Wishes.

Nice rai130-ga- the invention of barbed wire definitely changed ground
combat and led to innovation of tank technology that changed the
dynamics of war.

Hey, Adiloren, Come on ...

It was the Machine Gun that inspired Tank Technology ... 

Remember Gatling and Maxim?

Barbed Wire ... That only scratched the surface.

Wars are won by Aggressors, not by mere Defenders.

We are talking about intersection here, not just one instance... my
bet is on barbed wire AND unification of Germany under Bismark...
anyhow, one's brain is not quite up to working out every significant
(and insignificant) event in history and conjecturing the consequences
of their happening in an altered fashion. Also, I agree with
probono... in the eyes of an objective non-American, Vietnam is but a
sidenote in history compared to the millions of deaths and vast
changes in world politics caused by the two world wars... Vietnam only
now resonates with those immediantly involved... whilst arguably 9/11,
Iraq etc are a result of Western guilt (creation of Israel) regarding
the little corporal from Braunau am Inn's behaviour. Of course, it
really all comes down to Homer fiddling about with his toaster when
bored...

Hi, Rai130

Sorry but ... You are WRONG!

Please re-read the Question: 

'Can you identify 2 historical events of the 20th Century which
intersected and resulted in an event greater than either of the
original two events?'

Neither Bismark's Unification of Germany nor the Invention of Barbed
Wire occurred in the 20th Century.

Agreed?

Thats true... same mistake I have always made in exams... but still,
its the though that counts (or is this one of Charles Clarke's
new-fangled examinations?)