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Snapshot Chart: World History – 1900-Present
North America
Latin America
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The United States became a
wealthy global power after
World War I and one of the
two global superpowers
following World War II. Its
foreign policy of
containment of global
communism during the Cold
War led the United States
to sponsor coups and proxy
wars throughout Latin
America and Southeast
Asia. The emergence of the
United States as the lone
superpower at the end of
the Cold War resulted in the
globalization of culture, a
more interconnected global
economy, and the spread of
democracy. It has also
caused new conflicts in
response to U.S.
domination.
The Great Depression
began in the United States
w/ the crash of the New
York stock market (Oct. 24,
1929) caused massive
unemployment,
homelessness, and
protectionist policies.
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s New Deal
program to stimulate and
revitalize the economy was
successful in mitigating
some of the effects of the
Depression though it took
the massive mobilization of
resources and industries in
World War II to fully push
the United States out of the
Depression. During the Cold
War, the United States
promoted the development
of its capitalist system on a
global scale through the
growth of its multinational
corporations (McDonald’s,
CNN, Coca-Cola, etc.). By
1994, the North American
Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) eliminated tariffs
among the United States,
Canada, & Mexico
governing the largest free
trade zone in the world.
Though the U.S.
Constitution provides
freedom of religion and has
established a separation b/t
church & state, Christianity
continues to be the most
popular religion in the
country.
Women’s rights were
expanded in post-WWII
Europe. Many more women
entered the workforce,
divorce was made more
accessible, & effective birth
control was made more
conveniently available w/
the introduction of the birth
control pill. Women’s rights
organizations such as NOW
(1966) continue to
campaign for women’s
rights. In the 1950s &
1960s, the United States
experienced a civil rights
movement that ended the
segregation of AfricanAmericans & increased
voting rights. Student
protests against U.S.
involvement in the Vietnam
War swept university
campuses in the 1960s &
1970s. Post Cold War the
two big issues confronting
American society are the
growing gap between the
richest and poorest
Americans & the gridlock
facing its partisan two-party
democratic system.
Multinational corporations
& technological
developments have played
a big role in spreading
American culture across the
globe. In fact, historians
and social scientists have
noted the Americanization
of global culture as the
forces of globalization make
the nations of the world
more interconnected. The
United States has also
taken the lead in efforts to
stem terrorism and nuclear
proliferation worldwide.
As the lone superpower in
the globe in the early 21st c.,
some historians & social
scientists argue that
America is indeed an
empire. They point to
factors such as the U.S.
wars in Iraq & Afghanistan,
its deployment of its armed
forces in bases around the
globe, and the success of its
multinational corporations
in spreading American
consumer culture around
the globe as evidence of
U.S. imperialism in the 21st
c.
From World War I through
World War II the sharp
social divides that existed
between rich and poor in
Latin America combined w/
foreign intervention &
economic control
contributed to the rise of
military dictatorships
throughout the region.
During the Cold War, the
development of communist
World War I & European
trade brought prosperity to
Latin America through their
export of commodities.
Latin American nations also
had to produce for
themselves the products
they could no longer import
from Europe during the war
(import substitution
industrialization). The Great
Depression ravaged Latin
Christianity, especially
Catholicism, has been a
major unifying force in Latin
American Society.
Throughout the 20th c.,
Latin American women
tended to retain their
traditional roles. Women
were not allowed to vote
until 1929, when Ecuador
became the 1st Latin
American nation to allow
women’s suffrage. By the
latter part of the 20th c.,
Latin American women
controlled small businesses
After the Mexican
Revolution, Mexican artists
such as Diego Rivera
painted murals on public
buildings depicting scenes
from the revolutions and
hope for social progress in
future. Latin American folk
culture includes strong
elements of native Indian &
African cultures. Also
popular is Liberation
Today, Latin America is a
geo-cultural region that
includes Mexico, all of
Central America, the
Caribbean, & the entire
continent of South America.
Sub-Saharan
Africa
Middle East/
North Africa
regimes led the United
States to sponsor coups and
proxy wars in Latin
America. Since the Cold
War, more Latin American
have been moving toward
democracy, though the
Communist Castro regime
remains in Cuba & socialist
states have been formed in
countries like Venezuela.
American economies as it
caused industrial nations to
curb imports prompting
military coups & takeovers.
During the Cold War,
Venezuela & Mexico
discovered oil and grew
prosperous exporting oil
(Venezuela became an
OPEC member). At the
beginning of the 21st c. ,
Latin American nations
were more heavily
industrialized than before.
African nations gained
political independence from
European colonial powers
b/t 1957-1991. The fight for
freedom and independence
became most violent in
areas w/ large populations
of white settlers unwilling
to relinquish privileges or
political control. During the
Cold War, some African
nations attempted to resist
aligning w/ either
superpower (USA or USSR)
unless they could benefit
from the superpower
economically or politically.
European colonialism in
Africa resulted in the
exploitation of labor,
creation of cash crop
systems, and extraction of
raw materials for the
benefit of the colonial
powers that have
prevented most African
nations from joining the
club of rich industrial
nations around the globe.
Africa is still rich in natural
resources (oil, rare metals
used in batteries for cell
phones, computers, &
hybrid cars) which draws
interest & investment from
rich industrial nations. 53
African nations (out of 55)
have joined the African
Union a political &
economic confederation
formed to protect African
interests.
The mandate system
divided German colonies &
the Ottoman Empire among
the victorious Allies of
World War I. Mandates
were to be administered
with the goal of their
The discovery of oil has
allowed for many nations,
especially the Persian Gulf
states, to gain wealth &
positions of power in global
politics. The Organization of
Petroleum Exporting
and were sometimes active
in politics, including
membership in legislatures.
Today, women hold the
presidency in two of Latin
America’s biggest nations –
Dilma Roussef (Brazil) &
Christina Fernandez de
Kirchner (Argentina). The
international drug trade has
also been a big social issue
in Latin American countries.
In some Latin American
countries including
Colombia & Mexico huge
international drug cartels
threaten government
stability. Finally, poverty
and a large gap b/t rich &
poor continues to plague
the region.
Theology, a belief that
emphasizes social justice
for victims of poverty and
oppressions.
The religions of Christianity
and Islam have significantly
transformed African
religious experience during
the 20th c. Large numbers of
Africans have converted to
these religions as the
continent has transformed
drastically in economic &
political ways.
In areas with large
populations of white
settlers, native Africans
faced rigid racial
discrimination (ex.
apartheid in South Africa).
Extreme poverty has caused
large scale migrations
forcing millions of rural
laborers to migrate to cities
to find work and thus
disrupting traditional family
units. Epidemic diseases
such as AIDS & malaria still
ravage the continent and
contribute to the high
mortality & low-life
expectancy rates across the
continent.
Soldiers returning from
World Wars I & II played a
key role in demanding
equality and an end to
colonization. European
schools created during the
colonial period produced a
Western-educated elite
that revealed the hypocrisy
of Western liberal ideas &
contributed to a new
African sense of
nationalism called PanAfricanism.
European colonial powers
created artificial political
boundaries in Africa w/ no
regard to the ethnic &
religious makeup of Africa.
As a result, decolonization
has resulted in unstable
government prone to
military coups, conflicts
over mineral resources, &
ethnic violence. In the early
21stc., however, much of
this unrest has been
replaced by peace &
stability.
Islam continues to
dominate the region with
the only exception being
the Jewish state of Israel.
The Middle East today is
still the center of the
Islamic World.
Despite the accumulation of
oil wealth, most Middle
Easterners are poor. Many
desperate and
disenchanted poor Muslims
in the region have turned to
militant or fundamentalism
Tension between the
ideologies of Zionism and
Arab nationalism remains a
constant soruce of conflict
in the Middle East today.
Despite gaining
independence in the 1950s,
and despite the rise of oil
wealth in the region, no
Middle Eastern nation has
become a major industrial
or geopolitical power.
Europe
Russia/
eventual independence, but
in fact experienced
recolonization & did not
become independent
nations until the 1950s.
Islamic terror groups that
emerged during the Cold
War & the post-Cold War
era have aimed much of
their anger at the State of
Israel and at the United
States, the lone superpower
wielding influence in the
Middle East.
Countries (OPEC) was
formed by the Persian Gulf
states in 1960 to promote
the collective interests of
oil producers, one of which
was the support of the
Palestinian Arabs in the
ongoing Arab-Israeli
conflict.
Islam and participated in
acts of terrorism to achieve
their objectives. The rights
of women still continue to
be suppressed. Though
tremendous variation exists
throughout the region,
most women still must veil
their faces, cover their
bodies, and are secluded in
public. Many are prohibited
to work jobs, go to school,
or drive.
Europe was the
battleground for both
World War I & II. World
War I resulted from the
intense nationalism &
aggressive militarism of
European imperial powers
in the decades before 1914.
World War II was fought to
stop the expansionist
objectives of totalitarian
regimes (Germany & Italy)
and an authoritarian Japan.
During the Cold War, the
continent of Europe was
divided by an “iron curtain”
into two sides – a USA
supported democratic West
& a USSR controlled
communist East – though
European nations sought to
ease tensions on both sides
of the iron curtain . Since
the end of the Cold War,
European nations have
sought greater unity as an
attempt to prevent
American global
dominance.
The Great Depression hit
European nations hard in
the 1930s. Most European
countries, except Britain &
France, became insular in
their attempts to protect
domestic industries thus
crippling global trade &
industry. The resulting
unemployment,
homelessness, & despair
were major factors in rise of
totalitarian regimes during
the 1930s. Western
European nations recovered
from the devastation of
World War II with the aid of
the USA’s Marshall Plan. In
1973, Great Britain joined
the European Economic
Community (EEC) which
was established to both to
ensure the economic
cooperation & growth, and
to counteract the powerful
economic influence of the
USA. By the turn of the 21st
c., most European nations
had come together to form
the European Union (EU) &
had adopted a common
currency, the Euro.
Christianity is clearly the
most widely practiced
religion in Europe.
However, Europeans have
become increasingly more
secular in the 20th and 21st
centuries. 21st c. Increased
immigration of Muslims
have led to European
governments to struggle
with the Muslim question –
how far should they go to
assimilate their Muslim
inhabitants?
Women’s rights were
expanded in post-WWII
Europe. Many more women
entered the workforce,
divorce was made more
accessible, & effective birth
control was made more
conveniently available w/
the introduction of the birth
control pill. During the
1960s, a youth counterculture movement emerged
that openly protested
traditional European values
and its outdated university
system. Wealth inequality
in Europe was lessened by
the emergence of the
welfare state after WWII as
most European
governments provided
universal health care &
“cradle to the grave”
security for their citizens.
Recently, immigration has
become a hotly contested
issue as immigrant
populations have grown so
rapidly that they are far
outpacing the native-born
European population. Many
European nations have
implemented regulations to
slow immigration.
In today’s world the global
culture has been dominated
by Western trends & styles.
English is the language of
commerce & the Internet.
The Western appreciation
for science has been a
hallmark of the global age.
The European Union has
been integral in efforts to
eliminate ethnic cleansing
and genocide, protect
human rights, curb nuclear
proliferation, and combat
terrorism across the globe.
European imperialism came
to an end during the 20th c.,
but not before Europeans
had exploited nearly every
corner of the globe.
Humiliating defeats in
World War I both at home
and abroad caused the
Russian Revolution (1917)
that brought an end to the
The USSR industrialized
rapidly in the decades
between the wars thanks to
Stalin’s Five Year Plans. The
USSR would go on to
Atheism became the official
state religion of the Soviet
Union & its satellites during
the communist era. Since
the fall of communism,
Women in the Soviet Union
gained greater rights and
opportunities before their
western counterparts.
During the Communist Era,
Soviet schools taught that
religion was a myth.
Western styles of art were
denounced as decadent.
Most Soviet art was
The fall of Communism in
1989 broke up the Soviet
Empire. Most Soviet
satellite states in Eastern
Europe – such as Poland,
Central Asia
East Asia
absolutist Romanov
dynasty and resulted in the
establishment of the
communist Soviet Union
(USSR). After World War II,
the USSR arose as a global
superpower. For more than
forty years they would
attempt to influence other
nations around the world to
adopt communism, bringing
them on the brink of war
w/ the United States, the
world’s other major
superpower. Communism in
the USSR would collapse in
1989 thanks to a number of
factors including Russia’s
failed invasion of
Afghanistan and the reform
program of Soviet premier
Mikhail Gorbachev.
construct an economic
system in which the state
controlled major industries,
allocated goods and fixed
prices. This system
stagnated the Soviet
economy, and those in its
many satellite states, and
made it nearly impossible
to compete with the
production in the capitalist
United States & its allies.
This factor greatly
contributed to the fall of
Communism & the end of
the Cold War. Since the fall
of communism, a policy of
shock therapy has been
implemented to develop
capitalism w/in the old
Soviet Empire and has
largely been a failure.
Islam & Christianity have
become the most widely
practiced religions.
women enjoyed the right to
divorce, educational
opportunities, and were
encouraged to work outside
the home. Soviet leaders
built system of welfare
services, including
protection for the sick & the
aged. As industrialization
spread through Eastern
Europe, more families
engaged in sports activities
and movie and television
viewing (although they
were strictly censored by
communist governments).
By the 1960s, cultural
exchanges w/ the West
gave Soviet citizens some
contact w/ Western media
and ways of life. An
emphasis on sports
programs made Soviet
athletes intense
competitors in the Olympic
Games.
propaganda meant to
glorify the Community
Party.
Hungary, Romania, &
Czechoslovakia – became
independent nations. In
1991, the Soviet Union
became the
Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS), a
loose federation of former
Soviet territories consisting
of Russian & 14 former
Soviet republics stretching
from Eastern Europe to
Central Asia. Out of the old
USSR, only Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, & Georgia
declined to join the CIS.
Despite many similarities in
culture and civilization,
Japan’s and China’s modern
history took completely
different paths; Japan
quickly rose to become a
modern industrial power,
whereas China experienced
foreign control &
revolution. The surrender of
Japan at the end of World
War II thrust China into a
civil war that had been
brewing for decades. With
greater popular support &
seized Japanese weapons,
the Communists
overpowered the
Guomindang. In 1949, Mao
announced the founding of
the Peoples’ Republic of
China.
The Cold War helped propel
Japan forward as a global
economic superpower. By
the 1990s, Japanese
keiretsu developed some of
the best manufactured
goods in the world,
allowing Japan to build a
huge trade surplus with
other nations around the
world. In the 1990s, an
overvalued housing and
stockmarket, corruption,
and overspeculation
brought weakened the
Japanese economy. South
Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong,
& Singapore (the “Asian
Tigers”) all experienced
rapid economic growth
after on the heels of the
Cold War by adopting the
Japanese model &
American purchase of
supplies.
Though Communist China is
officially atheist, the
Chinese people unofficially
practice a number of
religions such as
Confucianism, Daoism,
Buddhism, and a variety of
folk religions.
China’s Communist
government has struggled
to balance rapid economic
growth, population growth,
inequality, unemployment,
and large scale migrations
to the cities. However,
women have seen gains in
China in the 20th century.
The May Fourth Movement
(1919) outlawed
footbinding & gave women
wider educational & career
opportunities. Communist
China has furthered
women’s rights by allowing
them to to work outside the
home & bear arms in the
military.
Mao’s Great Cultural
Revolution (1966)
attempted to mobilize the
youth and rekindle
revolutionary spirit by
destroying old Chinese
traditions, but it led to
factionalism, violence,
incarcerations, and
executions. Under Deng,
the
Communist government
strictly censored the spread
of ideas and brutally
crushed political unrest, as
demonstrated in his
response to the Tiananmen
Square protests in 1989.
Since Deng’s death in 1997,
China has allowed greater
free expression but the
Chinese government still
strictly controls the flow of
ideas through censorship.
Since the Cold War, China
has successfully extended
its sphere of influence in
the region. It has annexed
Taiwan and expanded into
Central Asia as far as Tibet.
China’s recent claims to
several small islands in the
South China Sea has
ratcheted up tensions with
Japan, sparking nationalism
& belligerent rhetoric
amongst politicians in both
countries.
Mao’s Great Leap Forward
(1958) failed in tis attempt
Japan has become a more
open religious society since
the end of World War II as
exemplified by its U.S.influenced governments
abolition of Shintoism as
the state religion.
After World War II,
Japanese society was
influenced greatly by
American culture. It
experienced a rise in mass
consumerism, increased its
system of secondary
education, provided for
After the end of U.S.
occupation, the Japanese
government began
to make China an industrial
power by collectivizing
agriculture & village-level
industries. Mao’s successor
Deng Xiaoping
implemented numerous
economic reforms that
discontinued collective
farming , instituted some
market incentives, &
allowed foreign investment
from the West. Since
normalizing relations with
the United States in the
1990s & acceptance into
the WTO in 1990, China has
become an industrial &
economic juggernaut.
South Asia
Southeast Asia
woman suffrage, and
created a social security
system for the elderly.
Japanese work schedules
allowed for less time than
in Western societies, but
baseball became an
extremely popular leisure
time activity. Japanese
women continue to occupy
traditional homemaking
and childrearing roles.
asserting more control over
the lives of its citizens,
including controlling the
content of student
textbooks.
British colonial control of
India came to an end in
1947, as India was
partitioned into two states
– India & Pakistan. Despite
increased violence &
tension b/t these two
nations since the partition,
Indian independence served
as a model for other anticolonial movements around
the world. Today, India is
the world’s largest
democracy.
Though India initially
struggled to compete in
global economy in the
decades after
independence, India has
had one of the world’s
fastest growing economies
since the 1990s particular in
the technology, computer,
and film industries.
Religious sectarianism
enveloped the region since
independence as tensions
between Hindus & Muslims
have often erupted into
violence.
South Asia remains a
region of extreme linguistic,
cultural, & religious
diversity. Most of its
population remains poor,
made all the more glaring
considering the growing gap
between rich in poor in the
rapidly developing
economy of India. The
social barriers of caste have
weakened somewhat, yet
India has still struggled to
provide a path out of
poverty for its millions of
poor inhabitants.
Gandhi’s philosophy of
passive resistance, or civil
disobedience, gained
popular support in the
struggle against British rule.
Gandhi’s nonviolent
teachings, and his use of
methods such as massive
boycotts, strikes, partly
inspired the civil
disobedience of the U.S.
civil rights movement led by
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The annexation of Kashmir,
a resource-rich
predominantly Muslim
territory, by India led to
war with Pakistan postindependence. Kashmir is
still a source on continuing
tension today made all the
more dangerous by the fact
that both nations
successfully tested nuclear
weapons in 2008. In 1971,
Pakistan’s Bengali-speaking
allies in East Pakistan
seceded & formed the
independent nation of
Bangladesh.
Despite its defeat in World
War II, Japan served as an
inspiration to many in SE
Asia for the numerous,
albeit temporary, defeats it
inflicted on the British,
French, and Dutch.
Anticolonial movements
gained plenty of steam
after the war, leading to the
independence of the
Philippines (1946), Burma
and the Malay Federation
(1948), and Indonesia
(1949). However, many
anticolonial leaders,
attracted to communism,
found themselves caught in
Southeast Asian economies
based on rubber were badly
damaged by the decline of
the Western automobile
industry during the Great
Depression. By the 1930s,
Vietnam became one of the
world’s leading exporters of
rice to detriment of poor
rural Vietnamese families.
Since the 1980s,
Singapore’s
industrialization has
created factories that
produce textiles,
electronics, and refined oil,
while its port became the
4th largest in the world.
Islam continues to be the
dominant religion in SE
Asia, though Christianity
and Buddhism are popular
as well.
Much like East & South
Asia, SE Asian nations and
their governments have
struggled to balance rapid
economic growth,
population growth,
inequality, unemployment,
and large scale migrations
to the cities. Poverty
especially the growing gap
between rich and poor
continues to plague this
region. The past and
present exist side by side
throughout much of SE
Asia. For an increasing
number of SE Asians
housing, transportation,
The ideology of communism
had tremendous influence
on anticolonial leaders
during the Cold War as SE
Asian nations struggled to
gain independence. Today,
democratic reforms are
becoming more common.
Eleven countries are
generally referred to today
as Southeast Asia – Brunei,
Cambodia, East Timor,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, &
Vietnam. Indonesia is the
world’s 4th most populous
nation, behind China, India,
& the United States.
the Cold War conflicts of
the United States and the
Soviet Union. Long proxy
wars resulted in Indochina,
leading to establishment of
communism in the newly
independent of countries of
Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia
in the 1970s.
Oceania
Indonesia has exported
exotic woods, and the
Philippines has become a
popular location for the
outsourcing of U.S.
companies. To compete
with the larger and more
successful economies of
East & South Asia, ten SE
Asian nations formed a
trade alliance known as the
Association of South-East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) in
the 1990s.
even purchasing food are a
mixture of old and new.
Both Australia and New Zealand today are both self-governing, independent nations w/ well-established parliamentary democracies though they
still are part of the 53 nation British Commonwealth. Their political, economic, religious, social, and cultural makeup is very similar to that of
Western Europe. ANZAC troops from Australia-New Zealand fought on the side of the British in World War I, suffering a disastrous loss at the Battle
of Gallipoli. In World War II, Australia held off Japanese expansion into the South Pacific at the Battles of Coral Sea and Guadalcanal.