"2020: A Pivotal Year?" addresses the impacts of the COVID-19 disruption on global politics and provides assessments of the ripple effects felt throughout Europe and Asia. The book brings together several key essays written during 2020 and in early 2021 from our websites, Second Line of Defense and Defense.info, which focus on geopolitical change and defense modernization. Authors based in Europe, the United States, and Australia have all contributed to this timely and unique assessment. The first section of the book provides a unique look at the impact of COVID-19 on the Western societies, with Professor Kenneth Maxwell focus on the United Kingdom and Pierre Tran on France. We continue our discussion by looking at a wide range of geopolitical dynamics, and more specifically on Europe and Australia. We have brought together a number of our essays on historical developments of interest, spearheaded by the outstanding work of Professor Kenneth Maxwell. We conclude by taking a look forward into 2021.