n "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats, the forces at odds are the old world order and the new world order. Yeats wrote the poem in the aftermath of World War I, and he saw the war as a sign of the breakdown of the old European order that had been in place for centuries.
The first stanza describes a world that is falling apart, with things such as "anarchy" and "the center" being unable to hold. This represents the breakdown of the old world order. The second stanza introduces the "rough beast" that is "slouching towards Bethlehem to be born." This beast represents the new world order that is emerging, and it is described as being "twenty centuries of stony sleep" in the making.
The poem suggests that the new world order that is emerging will be very different from what has come before. It will be a time of chaos and violence, where the traditional values of the old world order will be replaced by something altogether more sinister. The poem ends with the line "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" which suggests that the new world order is inevitable and that it will have profound consequences for humanity.