As the Modern World entered the 20th century, it inherited six major superpowers from the 19th century - Britain, France, Germany, Russia (all European), Japan and USA. A fierce competition for colonies, mutual rivalries, distrust of one another, ambition to dominate the world, and massive accumulation of arms and weapons by each power were some of the other features that manifested themselves as the world entered the 20th century.

In particular it was the fear of Germany's expansionist ambitions that worried the other superpowers. The result was the First World War (1914-191 8) in which Britain, France, Russia, Japan and later USA joined hands to take on Germany and its allies. It was the biggest and the most destructive war in the entire history of mankind till then.

After a tense period of 20 years the same powers were involved in yet another war, called the Second World War which was even more brutal than the first.

Between the two wars many crucial developments took place that had some implications for the domination profile of the world in the 20th century.

The Modern World has thus traveled from being multi-polar to bi-polar to eventually unipolar. As of now we live in a world that is dominated by a single superpower, the United States of America. It is also called the hyper power.