Mega-wars that shaped world history
&gt; WWII is the quintessential transformational war, not only because of the sweeping changes it brought to the global order but also because of the decades-long shadows it cast over the rest of the 20th century.<p>This is funny because my history professor used ww2 as the quintessential example of a non-transformational war. Nothing essential changed as a result of ww2. All those lives lost for essentially nothing. The power structure pre-ww2 ( US, Britain, Soviet Union ) was precisely the same post-ww2 ( US, Britain, Soviet Union ). The same people who ruled the world before ww2, ruled it after ww2 without any systematic change. There was no paradigm shift as a result of ww2. The international world order remained in place.<p>WW2 was the bloodiest war. It was the most destructive war. But it wasn&#x27;t transformational because the side trying to cause a transformation ( reshape world ) lost and they lost badly.