(Redirected from Twentieth Century)
The 'twentieth century' of the
Common Era began on
January 1,
1901 and ended on
December 31,
2000, according to the
Gregorian calendar. Some historians consider the era from about 1914 to 1991 to be the
Short Twentieth Century.
General
The 20th century witnessed radical changes in almost every area of human activity. Accelerating scientific understanding, better communications, and faster transportation greatly transformed the world in those hundred years more than nearly any time in the past. It was a century that started with steam-powered ships and ended with the
space shuttle.
Horses and other pack animals, Western society's basic form of personal transportation for thousands of years, were replaced by
automobiles within the span of a few decades. The century also gave rise to humanity's first footsteps on the
Moon and
computer technology.
The period saw a remarkable shift in the way that vast numbers of people lived, as a result of technological, medical, social, ideological, and political innovation. Arguably more technological advances occurred in any ten-year period following
World War I than the sum total of new technological development in any century before the industrial revolution. Terms like
ideology,
world war,
genocide, and
nuclear war entered common usage and became an influence on everyone's lives.
War reached an unprecedented scale and sophistication; in the
Second World War (1939-1945) alone, approximately
57 million people died, mainly due to massive advances in weaponry. The trends of mechanization of goods and services and networks of global communication, which began in the
19th century, continued at an ever-increasing pace.
Scientific discoveries such as the
theory of relativity and
quantum physics radically changed the worldview of scientists, causing them to realize that the universe was much more complex than previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the
nineteenth century that the last few details of scientific knowledge were about to be filled in.
The massive arms race of the
Nineteenth Century finally culminated in a war which involved every powerful nation in the world -
The Great War. After more than four years of horrifying trench warfare, and 10 million dead,
Germany's imperial ambitions were finally thwarted, and her international status greatly reduced. The
Russian Empire was plunged into revolution during the conflict, and the
Austro-Hungarian, and
Ottoman empires were dismantled at the war's conclusion. The conflict saw the beginning of international
American involvement which would accelerate as that nation began to find itself in a position of extreme power. As the British Empire, its economy ruined by the war, began to shrink, a power vacuum began to develop. Fascism, a movement which grew out of post war angst, gained momentum in Italy, Germany and Spain in the 1920s and 1930s, finally culminating in the
Second World War, sparked off by a revitalized Germany's aggressive expansion at the expense of her neighbours. The largest and most devastating war ever fought,
World War II claimed the lives of 60 million people. The United States and the USSR emerged as the most powerful nations when the conflict ended in 1945, and subsequently began a new arms race, with new technologies such as
nuclear weapons and space age technology, in the
Cold War.
Wars and politics
★ After decades of struggle by the
women's suffrage movement, all western countries gave women the right to vote.
★ Rising
nationalism and increasing national awareness were among the causes of
World War I (1914–1918), the first of two wars to involve all the major world powers including
Germany,
France,
Italy,
Japan, the
United States and the
British Empire. World War I led to the creation of many new countries, especially in
Eastern Europe. Ironically, it was said by many to be the "war to end all wars".
★ A violent
civil war broke out in
Spain in 1936 when General
Francisco Franco rebelled against the
Second Spanish Republic. Many consider this war as a testing battleground for WWII as the
fascist armies bombed some Spanish territories.
★ The economic and political aftermath of World War I and the
Great Depression in the 1930s led to the rise of
fascism and
nazism in Europe, and subsequently to
World War II (1939–1945). This war also involved Asia and the Pacific, in the form of
Japanese aggression against
China and the United States. Civilians also suffered greatly in World War II, due to the aerial bombing of cities on both sides, and the German
genocide of the
Jews and others, known as
the Holocaust. In 1945, the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place.
★ During
World War I, in
Russia the Bolshevik putsch took over the
Russian Revolution of 1917, precipitating the founding of the
Soviet Union and rise of
communism. After the Soviet Union's involvement in World War II, communism became a major force in global politics, notably in Eastern
Europe,
China,
Indochina and
Cuba, where communist parties gained near-absolute power. This led to the
Cold War and
proxy wars with
the West, including wars in
Korea (1950–1953) and
Vietnam (1957–1975).
★ The
civil rights movement in the
USA and the movement against
apartheid in
South Africa successfully challenged racial segregation.
★ The two world wars led to efforts to increase international cooperation, notably through the founding of the
League of Nations after World War I, and its successor, the
United Nations, after World War II.
★ The creation of
Israel by the British, a
Jewish state in the
Middle East fueled many regional conflicts. These were also influenced by the vast
oil fields in many of the other countries of the mostly
Arab region.
★ The end of
colonialism led to the independence of many
African and
Asian countries. During the
Cold War, many of these aligned with the USA, the USSR, or China for defense.
★ The
revolutions of 1989 released Eastern and Central Europe from Soviet supremacy. Soon thereafter, the
Soviet Union,
Czechoslovakia, and
Yugoslavia dissolved, the latter violently over several years, into
successor states, many rife with
ethnic nationalism. This left the
United States as the world's only
superpower.
★ After a long period of civil wars and conflicts with European powers,
China's last imperial dynasty ended in 1912. The resulting republic was replaced, after yet another civil war, by a people's republic in 1949. At the end of the century, though still ruled by a communist party, China's economic system was well on its way to an almost complete transformation to capitalism.
★
European integration began in earnest in the 1950s, and eventually led to the
European Union, a political and economic union that comprised 15 countries at the end of the century.
Culture and entertainment
★ As the century begins,
Paris is the artistic capital of the world, where both French and foreign writers, composers and visual artists gather. By the end of the century, the focal point of culture had moved to the United States, especially
New York City and
Los Angeles.
★
Movies,
music and the
media had a major influence on
fashion and trends in all aspects of life. As many movies and music originate from the United States, American culture spread rapidly over the world.
★ After gaining political rights in the United States and much of
Europe in the first part of the century, and with the advent of new
birth control techniques women became more independent throughout the century.
★ In classical music, composition branched out into many completely new domains, including dodecaphony, aleatoric and chance music, and minimalism. Electronic musical instruments were developed as well, vastly broadening the scope of sounds available to composers and performers.
★
Rock and Roll and
Jazz styles of music are developed in the United States, and quickly become the dominant forms of popular music in America, and later, the world. Many other styles of music develop and spread as well, also branching off and influencing each other, including
Pop Music,
Alternative,
House or
Dance,
Soul,
Rap and
Hip-Hop.
★ The plastic arts developed new styles such as
expressionism,
cubism, and
surrealism.
★
Modern architecture evolved within Europe with a radical departure from the excess decoration of the
Victorian era — streamlined forms inspired by machines became more commonplace. Developments in building material technologies furthered this shift. European architects moved to the United States prior to World War II, where modern archiectural theory continued to blossom.
★ The
automobile provided vastly increased transportation capabilities for the average member of Western societies in the early to mid-century, spreading even further later on. City design throughout most of the West became focused on transport via car. The car became a leading symbol of modern society, with styles of car suited to and symbolic of particular lifestyles.
★
Sports became an important part of society, becoming an activity not only for the privileged. Watching sports, later also on
television, became a popular activity.
Disease and medicine
Medicine
★
Antibiotics drastically reduced mortality from bacterial diseases and their
prevalence.
★ A vaccine was developed for
polio, ending a worldwide epidemic.
★
X-rays became powerful diagnostic tool for wide spectrum of diseases, from bone fractures to cancer. In the 1960s,
computerized tomography was invented.
★ Another important diagnostics tool is
sonography.
★ Development of
vitamins virtually eliminated
scurvy and other vitamin-deficiency diseases.
★ New psychiatric drugs were developed. This includes
antipsychotics which are efficient in treating
hallucinations and
delusions, and
antidepressants for treating
depression.
★ Role of
tobacco smoking in developing
cancer and other diseases had been proved in 1950s (see
British Doctors Study).
★ New methods for
cancer treatment, namely
chemotherapy,
radiation therapy, and
immunotherapy, were developed. As a result, in many cases cancer can be completely healed.
★ New methods for
heart surgery were developed.
★
Cocaine and
heroin were found to be dangerous addictive drugs, and their wide usage had been outlawed.
★
Contraceptive drugs were developed, which reduced
population growth rates.
★ The development of medical
insulin in the 1920s helped raise the life expectancy of
diabetics three times of what it had been prior.
Diseases
★ An
influenza pandemic, the
Spanish Flu, killed 25 million between 1918 and 1919
★ 1977 marked the eradication of
smallpox following a global vacination campaign.
★
AIDS killed millions of people. AIDS treatments remain inaccessible to people living with HIV/AIDS in
developing countries, but even with the best available treatment, most patients eventually die from AIDS.
★ Because of increased
life span, the prevalence of
cancer and
old age diseases, including
Alzheimer's disease and
Parkinson's disease increased.
Natural resources and the environment
★ The widespread use of
petroleum in industry — both as a chemical precursor to
plastics and as a fuel for the
automobile and
airplane — led to the vital geopolitical importance of petroleum resources. The
Middle East, home to many of the world's oil deposits, became a center of geopolitical and military tension throughout the latter half of the century. (For example, oil was a factor in
Japan's decision to go to war against the
United States in 1941, and the oil cartel,
OPEC, used an oil embargo of sorts in the wake of the
Yom Kippur War in the 1970s).
★ A vast increase in
fossil fuel consumption, according to some, leads to depletion of natural resources,
global warming and both local and global
climate change. The problem is increased by, believed by many, world-wide
deforestation, also causing a loss of
biodiversity. The problem of a depletion of natural resources is decreased by advances in drilling technology which led to a net increase in the amount of fossil fuel that is readily obtainable at the end of the century, as compared with the amount considered obtainable at the beginning of the century.
See also
★
The 20th century in review
★
Survey of the twentieth century
★
Infectious disease in the 20th century
★
Death rates in the 20th century
★
Technology
★
Infant mortality
★
Life expectancy
★
Maternal death
★
List of battles 1901-2000
Decades and years
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