5 marks
1. CONTEMPORARY HISTORY
Contemporary History of India provides information on the social, political and economic
history of free India. The book attempts to analyze the facts as well as gives maximum
information. Social issues like untouchability, gender equality, unemployment and other related
problems like poverty and overpopulation are discussed. Economic achievements in the form of
green, white and blue revolutions are analyzed.
The basic infrastructure development is examined. India's foreign policy and relation with China
and Pakistan is evaluated. The book also gives information on the achievements of
governments and leaders in the domestic fields. The author avoids loose sentences and has
adopted simple language. This scholarly writing will be informative not only to history students,
but also to others who are appearing for competitive examinations. It will be also informative
to general readers.
addition_new
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Contemporary history describes the period timeframe that is without any intervening time
closely connected to the present day and is a certain perspective of modern history. The term
"contemporary history" has been in use at least by the early 19th century.[1] In the widest
context of this use, contemporary history is that part of history still in living memory.
Based on human lifespan, contemporary history would extend for a period of approximately 80
years. Obviously, this concept shifts in absolute terms as the generations pass. In a narrower
sense, "contemporary history" may refer to the history remembered by most adults currently
living, extending to about a generation or roughly 30 years. From the perspective of the 2010s,
thus, contemporary history would include the period since the mid-to-late 20th century,
including the postwar period and the Cold War.
2.ALTERNATE HISTORY OR ALTERNATIVE HISTORY[ is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that
are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be
variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different
alternate history works may use tropes from any or all of these genres. It is sometimes
abbreviated AH.[2] Another occasionally used term for the genre is "allohistory" (literally "other
history").[3]
Since the 1950s, this type of fiction has to a large extent merged with science fictional tropes
involving cross-time travel between alternate histories or psychic awareness of the existence of
"our" universe by the people in another; or ordinary voyaging uptime (into the past) or
downtime (into the future) that results in history splitting into two or more time-lines. Crosstime, time-splitting and alternate history themes have become so closely interwoven that it is
impossible to discuss them fully apart from one another.
"Alternate History" looks at "what if" scenarios from some of history's most pivotal turning
points and presents a completely different version, sometimes based on science and fact, but
often based on conjecture. The exploration of how the world would look today if various
changes occurred and what these alternate worlds would be like forms the basis of this vast
subject matter.
In French, Italian, Spanish and German, alternate history novels are called uchronie. This
neologism is based on the prefix u- (as in the word utopia, a place that does not exist) and the
Greek for time, chronos. An uchronie, then, is defined as a time that does not exist, a "nontime." This term apparently also inspired the name of the alternate history book list,
uchronia.net.[4]
3. HISTORICAL REVISIONISM
Those historians who work within the existing establishment and who have a body of existing
work from which they claim authority, often have the most to gain by maintaining the status
quo. This can be called an accepted paradigm, which in some circles or societies takes the form
of a denunciative stance towards revisionism of any kind. However, the historian and
philosopher of science, Thomas Kuhn, pointed out that in contrast to the sciences, in which
there tends to be (except in times of paradigm shift) a single reigning paradigm, the social
sciences are characterized by a "tradition of claims, counterclaims, and debates over
fundamentals."[2] Historian David Williams describes the resistance to the advocates of a more
inclusive United States history that would include the roles of women, African Americans, and
the labor movement:
These and other scholarly voices called for a more comprehensive treatment of American
history, stressing that the mass of Americans, not simply the power elites, made history. Yet it
was mainly white males of the power elite who had the means to attend college, become
professional historians, and shape a view of history that served their own class, race, and
gender interests at the expense of those not so fortunate — and quite literally to paper over
aspects of history they found uncomfortable. “One is astonished in the study of history,” wrote
Du Bois in 1935, “at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed
over. ... The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history loses its value as an
incentive and an example; it paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not tell the
truth."[3]
After World War II “a new and more broadly based generation of scholars”, as the result of the
G.I. Bill, the nationwide expansion of state universities and community colleges, and the
feminist movement, civil rights movement, and American Indian Movement, expanded the
scope of American history.[4]
If there were a universally accepted view of history that never changed, there would be no
need to research it further. Many historians who write revisionist exposés are motivated by a
genuine desire to educate and to correct history. Many great discoveries have come as a result
of the research of men and women who have been curious enough to revisit certain historical
events and explore them again in depth from a new perspective. Historian Arthur M.
Schlesinger Jr., in contrasting the United States with the Soviet Union during the Cold War,
wrote:
But others, especially in the United States ... represent what American historians call
“revisionism” — that is a readiness to challenge official explanations. No one should be
surprised by this phenomenon. Every war in American history has been followed in due course
by skeptical reassessments of supposedly sacred assumptions ... for revisionism is an essential
part of the process by which history, through the posing of new problems and the investigation
of new possibilities, enlarges its perspectives and enriches its insights.[5]
Revisionist historians contest the mainstream or traditional view of historical events, they raise
views at odds with traditionalists, which must be freshly judged. Revisionist history is often
practiced by those who are in the minority, such as feminist historians, ethnic minority
historians, those working outside of mainstream academia in smaller and less known
universities, or the youngest scholars, essentially historians who have the most to gain and the
least to lose in challenging the status quo. In the friction between the mainstream of accepted
beliefs and the new perspectives of historical revisionism, received historical ideas are either
changed, solidified, or clarified. If over a period of time the revisionist ideas become the new
establishment status quo a paradigm shift is said to have occurred. Historian Forrest McDonald
is often critical of the turn that revisionism has taken but he nevertheless admits that the
turmoil of the 1960s in the United States changed the way history was written. He wrote:
The result, as far as the study of history was concerned, was an awakened interest in subjects
that historians had previously slighted. Indian history, black history, women’s history, family
history, and a host of specializations arose. These expanded horizons enriched our
understanding of the American past, but they also resulted in works of special pleading,
trivialization, and downright falsification.[6]
Historians, like all people, are inexorably influenced by the zeitgeist (the spirit of the times).
Historian C. Vann Woodward sees this as a positive influence. Speaking of the changes that
occurred after the end of World War II, he wrote:
These events have come with a concentration and violence for which the term "revolution" is
usually reserved. It is a revolution, or perhaps a set of revolutions for which we have not yet
found a name. My thesis is that these developments will and should raise new questions about
the past and affect our reading of large areas of history, and my belief is that future revisions
may be extensive enough to justify calling the coming age of historiography an age of
reinterpretation. The first illustration [the absence from United States’ history of external
threats due to its geographic isolation] happens to come mainly from American history, but this
should not obscure the broader scope of the revolution, which has no national limitations.[7]
Developments in other academic areas, and cultural and political fashions, all help to shape the
currently accepted model and outlines of history (the accepted historiographical paradigm). For
example, philosopher Karl Popper echoed Woodward’s sentiments regarding revisionism when
he noted that “each generation has its own troubles and problems, and therefore its own
interests and its own point of view” and:
It follows that each generation has a right to look upon and re-interpret history in its own way.
... After all, we study history because we are interested in it, and perhaps because we wish to
learn something about our problems. But history can serve neither of these two purpose if,
under the influence of an inapplicable idea of objectivity, we hesitate to present historical
problems from our point of view. And we should not think that our point of view, if consciously
and critically applied to the problem, will be inferior to that of a writer who naively believes ...
that he has reached a level of objectivity permitting him to present “the events of the past as
they actually did happen.”[8]
As time passes and these influences change so do most historians views on the explanation of
historical events. The old consensus may no longer be considered by most historians to explain
how and why certain events in the past occurred, and so the accepted model is revised to fit in
with the current agreed-upon version of events. For example, historian John Hope Franklin in
1986 described four specific stages in the historiography of African American that were based
on different consensus models.[9]
[edit] Revisionism vs. denial
Deborah Lipstadt (1993), Michael Shermer, and Alex Grobman (2000), authors of critical studies
of Holocaust denial, make a distinction between revisionism and denial. Revisionism, in their
view, entails a refinement of existing knowledge about a historical event, not a denial of the
event itself, a refinement that comes through the examination of new empirical evidence or a
reexamination or reinterpretation of existing evidence. Legitimate historical revisionism
acknowledges a 'certain body of irrefutable evidence' or a 'convergence of evidence' that
suggest that an event — like the black plague, American slavery, or the Holocaust — did
occur.[10] Denial, on the other hand, rejects the entire foundation of historical evidence...."[11]
Influences
Some of the influences on historians, which may change over time are:

Access to new data: Much historical data has been lost. Even archives have to make
decisions based on space and interest on what original material to obtain or keep. At
times documents are discovered or publicized that give new views of well established
events. Archived material may be sealed by Governments for many years, either to hide
political scandals, or to protect information vital for national security. When these
archives are opened, they can alter the historical perspective on an event. For example
with the released of the ULTRA archives in the 1970s under the British 30 years rule, a
lot of the Allied high command tactical decision making process was re-evaluated,
particularly the Battle of the Atlantic. The release of the ULTRA archives also forced a reevaluation of the history of the electronic computer.[12]

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

Developments in other fields of science: DNA analysis has had an impact in various
areas of history either confirming established historical theories or presenting new
evidence that undermines the current established historical explanation. Professor
Andrew Sherratt, a British prehistorian, was responsible for introducing the work of
anthropological writings on the consumption of currently legal and illegal drugs and how
to use these papers to explain certain aspects of prehistoric societies.[13] Carbon dating,
the examination of ice cores and tree rings, palynology, SEM analysis of early metal
samples, and measuring oxygen isotopes in bones, have all provided new data in the last
few decades with which to argue new hypotheses. Extracting ancient DNA allows
scientists to argue whether or not humans are partly descended from Neanderthals.
Language: For example as more sources in other languages become available historians
may review their theories in light of the new sources. The revision of the meaning of the
Dark Ages are an example of this.
Nationalism: For example when reading schoolbook history in Europe, it is possible to
read about an event from completely different perspectives. In the Battle of Waterloo
most British, French, Dutch and German schoolbooks slant the battle to emphasise the
importance of the contribution of their nations. Sometimes the name of an event is
used to convey political or a national perspective. For example the same conflict
between two English speaking countries is known by two different names, for example,
the "American War of Independence" and the "American Revolutionary War". As
perceptions of nationalism change so do those areas of history that are driven by such
ideas.
Culture: For example as regionalism has become more prominent in the UK some
historians have been suggesting that the English Civil War is too Anglo-centric and that
to understand the war, events that had previously been dismissed as on the periphery
should be given greater prominence; to emphasise this, revisionist historians have
suggested that the English Civil War becomes just one of a number of interlocking
conflicts known as Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Ideology: For example during the 1940s it became fashionable to see the English Civil
War from a Marxist school of thought. In the words of Christopher Hill, "the Civil War
was a class war." In the post World War II years the influence of Marxist interpretation
waned in British academia and by the 1970s this view came under attack by a new
school of revisionists and it has been largely overturned as a major mainstream
explanation of the middle 17th century conflict in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Historical causation: Issues of causation in history are often revised with new research:
for example by the middle of the twentieth century the status quo was to see the
French Revolution as the result of the triumphant rise of a new middle class. Research in
the 1960s prompted by revisionist historians like Alfred Cobban and Francois Furet
revealed the social situation as much more complex and the question of what caused
the Revolution is now a closely debated one.
20 MARKS
1.POST-1947 COMPEMPOARYHISTORY
See also: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s (decade), Modernity, Postmodernity,
Modernism, and Postmodernism
At the turn of the 19th to 20th century, the world saw a series of great conflagrations, World
War I and World War II. Near the end of the first great war, there were a series of Russian
Revolutions and a Russian Civil War. In between the great wars, the 1920s saw a great rise in
prosperity where progress and new technology took hold of the world, but this was soon ended
by the Great Depression. During this time, the League of Nations was formed to deal with
global issues, but failed to garner enough support by the leading powers and a series of crises
once again lead the world into another epoch of violence.
Notable events of this modern period of universal history include two World wars and the Cold
War, characterized by the dispute for world influence between the United States and the Soviet
Union.
The Cold War began in 1945 and lasted into 1989. The Space Age was concurrent with this time,
encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and
the cultural developments influenced by these events. Pax Americana is an appellation applied
to the historical concept of relative liberal peace in the Western world, resulting from the
preponderance of power enjoyed by the United States of America and, in its
contemporaneousness connotations, the peace established after the end of World War II in
1945.
The post-1945 world experienced the establishment and defense of democratic states.
Throughout post-1945 period, the Cold War was expressed through military coalitions,
espionage, weapons development, invasions, propaganda, and competitive technological
development. The Soviet Union created the Eastern Bloc of countries that it occupied, annexing
some as Soviet Socialist Republics and maintaining others as satellite states that would later
form the Warsaw Pact. The United States and various western European countries began a
containment policy of communism and forged alliances to this end, including NATO. The
conflict included defense spending, a conventional and nuclear arms race, and various proxy
wars; the two superpowers never fought one another directly.
The post-1989 World saw the abolishment of totalitarian regimes of the Cold War and the
abolishment of Cold War superpower client states. By the Democratizing Revolutions of Eastern
Europe in 1989 and the Cold War effectively ended by the Malta Summit on December 3, 1989.
The Soviet Union was dissolved on the last day of 1991. The "post-Cold War regimes"
established were democratic republics, not the oligarchic republics.
In South America, military regimes supported by the CIA, such as seen in the United States
intervention in Chile, give way..[citation needed] In Southeast Asia, developmental dictatorships were
overthrown by uprising of people.[citation needed]
[edit] Information age and computers
A Visualization of the various routes through a portion of the Internet. Partial map of the
Internet based in 2005.
The Information Age or Information Era, also commonly known as the Age of the Computer, is
an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer
information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or
impossible to find previously. The idea is heavily linked to the concept of a Digital Age or Digital
Revolution, and carries the ramifications of a shift from traditional industry that the Industrial
Revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based around the manipulation of
information. The period is generally said to have begun in the latter half of the 20th century,
though the particular date varies. The term began its use around the late 1980s and early
1990s, and has been used up to the present with the availability of the Internet.
During the late 1990s, both Internet directories and search engines were popular—Yahoo! and
Altavista (both founded 1995) were the respective industry leaders. By late 2001, the directory
model had begun to give way to search engines, tracking the rise of Google (founded 1998),
which had developed new approaches to relevancy ranking. Directory features, while still
commonly available, became after-thoughts to search engines. Database size, which had been a
significant marketing feature through the early 2000s (decade), was similarly displaced by
emphasis on relevancy ranking, the methods by which search engines attempt to sort the best
results first.
"Web 2.0" is characterized as facilitating communication, information sharing, interoperability,
User-centered design[5] and collaboration on the World Wide Web. It has led to the
development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and web applications.
Examples include social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and
folksonomies.
[edit] Development of Eastern powers
Country % Growth
China 11.90%[6]
India 10.2%[6]
For more details on this topic, see List of countries by GDP (real) growth rate.
While Asia has seen considerable economic development, China in particular has experienced
immense growth, moving toward the status of a regional power and billion-consumer market.
India, along with other developing non-western countries, is also growing rapidly, and has
begun integrating itself into the world economy.
After China joined the World Trade Organization, the standard of living in the country has
improved significantly as China saw the reappearance of the middle class. Wealth disparity
between East and the Western hinterlands continued to widen by the day, prompting
government programs to "develop the West", taking on such ambitious projects such as the
Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The burden of education was greater than ever. Rampant corruption
continued despite Premier Zhu's anti-corruption campaign that executed many officials.
By the beginning of 2009, about 300 million people in India – equivalent to the entire
population of the entire United States – have escaped extreme poverty.[7] The fruits of India's
economic liberalization policies reached their peak in 2007, with India recording its highest GDP
growth rate of 9%.[8] With this, India became the second fastest growing major economy in the
world, next only to China.[9] An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) report states that the average growth rate 7.5% will double the average income in a
decade, and more reforms would speed up the pace.[10]
The majority of the Next Eleven economies are Asian countries. A number of newly
industrialized countries have emerged from Asia, including China, India, Malaysia, the
Philippines and Thailand.
[edit] European Union and Russian Federation
In Europe, the European Union is a geo-political union founded upon numerous treaties and has
undergone expansions to include a majority of states in Europe. Its origins date back to the
post-World War II era, in particular the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community
in Paris 1951, following the "Schuman declaration", or the Treaties of Rome establishing the
European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. Both these
bodies are now part of the European Union, which was formed under that name in 1993.
In the Post-communist period, the Russian Federation became an independent country. Russia
was the largest of the fifteen republics that made up the Soviet Union, accounting for over 60%
of the GDP and over half of the Soviet population. Russians also dominated the Soviet military
and the Communist Party. Thus, Russia was widely accepted as the Soviet Union's successor
state in diplomatic affairs and it assumed the USSR's permanent membership and veto in the
UN Security Council; see Russia and the United Nations. Russia today shares many continuities
of political culture and social structure with its tsarist and Soviet past.
Concerning NATO–Russia relations, the NATO-Russia Council has been an official diplomatic
tool for handling security issues and joint projects between NATO and Russia, involving
"consensus-building, consultations, joint decisions and joint actions."[11][12] "Joint decisions and
actions", taken under NATO-Russia Council agreements, include fighting terrorism,[13][14]
military cooperation (joint military exercises[15] and personnel training[16]), cooperation on
Afghanistan, industrial cooperation, cooperation on defence interoperability, non-proliferation,
and other areas.[17] Because NATO and Russia have similar ambitions and mutual challenges,
the NATO-Russia Council is seen by both sides as effective at building diplomatic agreements
between all parties involved.
[edit] Late contemporary times : terrorism and warfare
Major political developments in the 2000s (decade) for the Western World and the Middle East
revolved around recent modern terrorism, the War on Terrorism, the Afghanistan War, and the
Iraq War.
The World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty.
The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the
United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four
commercial passenger jet airliners.[18][19] The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners
into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and
many others working in the buildings. Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying
nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon
in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near
Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew
attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward
Washington, D.C. Major terrorist events after the September 11, 2001 Attacks include the
Moscow Theatre Siege, the 2003 Istanbul bombings, the Madrid train bombings, the Beslan
school hostage crisis, the 2005 London bombings, the October 2005 New Delhi bombings, and
the 2008 Mumbai Hotel Siege.
The United States responded to the September 11, 2001 attacks by launching a "Global War on
Terrorism", invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, who had harbored al-Qaeda terrorists,
and enacting the Patriot Act. Many other countries also strengthened their anti-terrorism
legislation and expanded law enforcement powers. The 'Global War on Terrorism' is the
military, political, legal and ideological conflict against Islamic terrorism and Islamic militants
since the 2001 attacks.
U.S. Army troops in Kunar province
The War in Afghanistan began in late 2001 and was launched by the United States with the
United Kingdom, and NATO-led, UN authorized ISAF in response to the September 11 attacks.
The aim of the invasion was to find the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and other highranking al-Qaeda members and put them on trial, to destroy the whole organization of alQaeda, and to remove the Taliban regime which supported and gave safe harbor to al-Qaeda.
The Bush administration policy and the Bush Doctrine stated forces would not distinguish
between terrorist organizations and nations or governments that harbor them. Two military
operations in Afghanistan are fighting for control over the country. Operation Enduring
Freedom (OEF) is a United States combat operation involving some coalition partners and
currently operating primarily in the eastern and southern parts of the country along the
Pakistan border. The second operation is the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF),
which was established by the UN Security Council at the end of 2001 to secure Kabul and the
surrounding areas. NATO assumed control of ISAF in 2003.
The multinational infantry actions, with additional ground forces supplied by the Afghan
Northern Alliance, and aerial bombing campaign removed the Taliban from power, but Taliban
forces have since regained some strength.[20] The war has been less successful in achieving the
goal of restricting al-Qaeda's movement than anticipated.[21] Since 2006, Afghanistan has seen
threats to its stability from increased Taliban-led insurgent activity, record-high levels of illegal
drug production,[22][23] and a fragile government with limited control outside of Kabul.[24] At the
end of 2008, the war had been unsuccessful in capturing Osama bin Laden and tensions have
grown between the United States and Pakistan due to incidents of Taliban fighters crossing the
Pakistan border while being pursued by coalition troops.
U.S. soldiers take cover during a firefight with insurgents in the Al Doura section of Baghdad
March 7, 2007
The Second Gulf War began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force.[25] The
invasion of Iraq led to an occupation and the eventual capture of Saddam Hussein, who was
later executed by the Iraqi Government. Violence against coalition forces and among various
sectarian groups soon led to asymmetric warfare with the Iraqi insurgency, strife between
many Sunni and Shia Iraqi groups, and al-Qaeda operations in Iraq.[26][27] Member nations of the
Coalition withdrew their forces as public opinion favoring troop withdrawals increased and as
Iraqi forces began to take responsibility for security.[28][29] In late 2008, the U.S. and Iraqi
governments approved a Status of Forces Agreement effective through to the end of 2011.[30]
The Iraqi Parliament also ratified a Strategic Framework Agreement with the U.S.,[31][32] aimed
at ensuring international cooperation in constitutional rights, threat deterrence, education,[33]
energy development, and other areas.[34] In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced an
18-month withdrawal window for "combat forces".
The Obama administration has renamed the War on Terror as the "Overseas Contingency
Operation".[35] Its objectives are to protect US citizens and business interests worldwide, break
up terrorist cells in the US, and disrupt al-Qaeda and affiliated groups.[36][37] The administration
has re-focused US involvement in the conflict on the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, the
closing of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and the surge in Afghanistan. Starting with
information received in 2010, the location of Osama bin Laden was ascertained to be in a large
compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad.[38] On May 1,
2011, he was killed and the papers and computer drives and disks from the compound were
seized. In 2011 Europe, the former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladić, wanted for
genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, is arrested on May 26 in Serbia by the
Military Security Agency.
In 2011, the United States formally declared an end to the Iraq War.[39][40][41][42][43] The 2011
Libyan civil war saw the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi killed in Sirte, with National
Transitional Council forces taking control, and ending the war. Terrorist actions were
experienced in the 2011 Norway attacks, a bombing in the Regjeringskvartalet government
center in Oslo and a shooting at a political youth camp on the island of Utøya. Others turn away
from violent militant-ism with the Basque separatist organisation ETA declaring an end to its
43-year campaign of political violence.
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Main article: Israeli–Palestinian conflict
See also: History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Israel, West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict has been an ongoing dispute between Israelis and the
Palestinians.[44] It forms part of the wider Arab–Israeli conflict. The two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the
key parties to the conflict.
A two-state solution envisions two separate states in the Western portion of the historic region
of Palestine, one Jewish and another Arab to solve the conflict. According to the idea, the Arab
inhabitants would be given citizenship by the new Palestinian state; Palestinian refugees would
likely be offered such citizenship as well. Arab citizens of present-day Israel would likely have
the choice of staying with Israel, or becoming citizens of the new Palestine.
At present, a considerable majority of both Israelis and Palestinians, according to a number of
polls, prefer the two-state solution over any other solution as a means of resolving the
conflict.[45][46][47] Most Palestinians view the West Bank and Gaza Strip as constituting the area
of their future state, which is a view also accepted by most Israelis.[48] A handful of academics
advocate a one-state solution, whereby all of Israel, the Gaza Strip, and West Bank would
become a bi-national state with equal rights for all.[49][50]
There are significant areas of disagreement over the shape of any final agreement and also
regarding the level of credibility each side sees in the other in upholding basic commitments.
Within Israeli and Palestinian society, the conflict generates a wide variety of views and
opinions. This serves to highlight the deep divisions which exist not only between Israelis and
Palestinians, but also amongst themselves. In 2003, the Palestinian side was fractured by
conflict between the two major factions: Fatah, the traditionally dominant party, and its more
electoral challenger, Hamas. Hamas and Fatah, among other Palestinian groups, held 2010 talks
aimed at reconciling rival factions[51] for the first time in two years in February 2010. In March
2010, on the Doha Debates television show, representatives of Fatah and Hamas discussed the
future of the Palestinian leadership.[52] Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians
(2010-2011) began with Benjamin Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas, George J. Mitchell and Hillary
Clinton on September 2, 2010. Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National
Authority have been taking place since September 2010, between United States President
Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas and ended when Netanyahu refused to extend the freeze for settlements in
the West Bank.
Great Recession
Main article: Late-2000s (decade) recession
In the beginning of the 2000s (decade), there was a global rise in prices in commodities and
housing, marking an end to the commodities recession of 1980–2000. The US mortgage-backed
securities, which had risks that were hard to assess, were marketed around the world and a
broad based credit boom fed a global speculative bubble in real estate and equities. The
financial situation was also affected by a sharp increase in oil and food prices. The collapse of
the American housing bubble caused the values of securities tied to real estate pricing to
plummet thereafter, damaging financial institutions.[53][54] The late-2000s recession, a severe
economic recession which began in the United States in 2007,[55] was sparked by the outbreak
of a modern financial crisis.[56] The modern financial crisis was linked to earlier lending practices
by financial institutions and the trend of securitization of American real estate mortgages.[57]
The emergence of Sub-prime loan losses exposed other risky loans and over-inflated asset
prices.
World map showing GDP real growth rates for 2009.
The Great Recession[58][59] spread to much of the industrialized world,[60] and has caused a
pronounced deceleration of economic activity. The global recession occurred in an economic
environment characterized by various imbalances. This global recession has resulted in a sharp
drop in international trade, rising unemployment and slumping commodity prices. The
recession renewed interest in Keynesian economic ideas on how to combat recessionary
conditions. However, various industrial countries continued to undertake austerity policies to
cut deficits, reduced spending, as opposed to following Keynesian theories.
From late 2009 European sovereign debt crisis, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed
among investors concerning rising government debt levels across the globe together with a
wave of downgrading of government debt of certain European states. Concerns intensified
early 2010 and thereafter making it difficult or impossible for sovereigns to re-finance their
debts. On May 9, 2010, Europe's Finance Ministers approved a rescue package worth €750
billion aimed at ensuring financial stability across Europe. The European Financial Stability
Facility (EFSF) was a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to combat
the European sovereign debt crisis. In October 2011 eurozone leaders agreed on another
package of measures designed to prevent the collapse of member economies. The three most
affected countries, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, collectively account for six percent of
eurozone's gross domestic product (GDP).
Further information: Effects of the late-2000s (decade) recession
Arab Spring
Main article: Arab Spring
In the Middle East and North Africa, a series of protests and demonstrations calling for
democracy and freedom across the region started on December 18, 2010 and became known
as the Arab Spring. The protests, uprisings and revolutions brought about the overthrow of the
Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan governments and the resignation of Yemen's President. A major
uprising is ongoing in Syria. The period of political liberalization also affected countries that
were not strictly part of the Arab world.
2.CONTEMPORARY WORLD HISTORY
Present and future
Main articles: Third millennium, 21st century, 2010s, 2012, and July 3
See also: Future and Timeline of the near future
The world is currently in the third millennium. The 21st century is the current century of the
Christian Era or Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1,
2001 and will end December 31, 2100. The 2010s, or The Tens, decade runs from January 1,
2010, to December 31, 2019.
The present is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly,[61] not as a
recollection or a speculation. It is often represented as a hyperplane in space-time,[62] often
called now, although modern mathematical physics demonstrates that such a hyperplane can
not be defined uniquely for observers in relative motion (which negates the concept of absolute
time and space). The present may also be viewed as a duration (see specious present[63][64]).
The third millennium is the third period of one thousand years. As this millennium is currently
in progress, only its first decade, the 2000s (decade), can be the subject of the conventional
historian's attention. The remaining part of the 21st century and longer-term trends are
currently researched by futures studies, an approach that uses various models and several
methods (such as "forecasting" and "backcasting"). Ever since the invention of history, people
have searched for "lessons" that might be drawn from its study, on the principle that to
understand the past is potentially to control the future.[65] A famous quote by George
Santayana has it that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." [66]
Arnold J. Toynbee, in his monumental Study of History, sought regularities in the rise and fall of
civilizations.[67] In a more popular vein, Will and Ariel Durant devoted a 1968 book, The Lessons
of History, to a discussion of "events and comments that might illuminate present affairs, future
possibilities... and the conduct of states."[68] Discussions of history's lessons often tend to an
excessive focus on historic detail or, conversely, on sweeping historiographic generalizations.[69]
Future Studies takes as one of its important attributes (epistemological starting points) the ongoing effort to analyze alternative futures. This effort includes collecting quantitative and
qualitative data about the possibility, probability, and desirability of change. The plurality of the
term "futures" in futurology denotes the rich variety of alternative futures, including the subset
of preferable futures (normative futures), that can be studied.
Practitioners of the discipline previously concentrated on extrapolating present technological,
economic or social trends, or on attempting to predict future trends, but more recently they
have started to examine social systems and uncertainties and to build scenarios, question the
worldviews behind such scenarios via the causal layered analysis method (and others) create
preferred visions of the future, and use backcasting to derive alternative implementation
strategies. Apart from extrapolation and scenarios, many dozens of methods and techniques
are used in futures research.[70]
Socio-technological trends
At the end of the 20th century, the world was at a major crossroads. Throughout the century,
more technological advances had been made than in all of preceding history. Computers, the
Internet, and other modern technology radically altered daily lives. Increased globalization,
specifically Americanization, had occurred. While not necessarily a threat, it has caused antiWestern and anti-American feelings in parts of the world, especially the Middle East. The
English language has become a leading global language, with people who did not speak it
becoming increasingly disadvantaged.
A trend connecting economic and political events in North America, Asia, and the Middle East is
the rapidly increasing demand for fossil fuels, which, along with fewer new petroleum finds,
greater extraction costs (see peak oil), and political turmoil, saw the price of gas and oil soar
~500% between 2000 and 2005. In some places, especially in Europe, gas could be $5 a gallon,
depending on the currency. Less influential, but omnipresent, is the debate on Turkey's
participation in the European Union.
Challenges and problems
World distribution of wealth and population in 2000.
In the contemporary era, several issues are faced in the world.
First of all, wealth is concentrated among the G8 and Western industrialized nations, along with
several Asian nations and OPEC countries. The richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global
assets in the year 2000 and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world
total.[71] The bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth. [71]
Another study found that the richest 2% own more than half of global household assets.[72]
Despite this, the distribution has been changing quite rapidly in the direction of greater
concentration of wealth.[73] Nevertheless, powerful nations with large economies and wealthy
individuals can improve the rapidly evolving economies of the Third World. However,
developing countries face many challenges, including the scale of the task to be surmounted,
rapidly growing populations, and the need to protect the environment, and the cost that goes
along with facing such challenges.
Secondly, disease threatened to destabilize many regions of the world. New viruses such as
SARS, West Nile, and Bird Flu continued to spread quickly and easily. In poor nations, malaria
and other diseases affected the majority of the population. Millions were infected with HIV, the
virus which causes AIDS. The virus was becoming an epidemic in southern Africa. Even
problems with non-infectious diseases has been raised in the world – innovations in the
technology in the western world, by the 1900th spread of sedentary lifestyle where TV,
computers, fast food and elevator has caused obesity become a global challenge. This causes
challenges on the global economy since obesity is linked to a broad kind of diseases. This
problem has even been influenced previously famine parts of the world where obesity lives
beside poverty.
Terrorism, dictatorship, and the spread of nuclear weapons were also issues requiring
immediate attention. Dictators such as Kim Jong-un in North Korea continue to possess nuclear
weapons. The fear exist that not only are terrorists already attempting to get nuclear weapons,
but that they have already obtained them.
limate change
Main article: Climate change
For more details on this topic, see Effects of global warming.
Climate change and global warming reflects the notion of the modern climate. The changes of
climate over the past century, have been attributed of to various factors which have resulted in
a global warming. This warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's nearsurface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Some effects
on both the natural environment and human life are, at least in part, already being attributed
to global warming. A 2001 report by the IPCC suggests that glacier retreat, ice shelf disruption
such as that of the Larsen Ice Shelf, sea level rise, changes in rainfall patterns, and increased
intensity and frequency of extreme weather events are attributable in part to global
warming.[74] Other expected effects include water scarcity in some regions and increased
precipitation in others, changes in mountain snowpack, and adverse health effects from
warmer temperatures.[75]
It usually is impossible to connect specific weather events to human impact on the world.
Instead, such impact is expected to cause changes in the overall distribution and intensity of
weather events, such as changes to the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation. Broader
effects are expected to include glacial retreat, Arctic shrinkage, and worldwide sea level rise.
Other effects may include changes in crop yields, addition of new trade routes,[76] species
extinctions,[77] and changes in the range of disease vectors. Until 2009, the Arctic Northwest
Passage pack ice prevented regular marine shipping throughout most of the year in this area,
but climate change has reduced the pack ice, and this Arctic shrinkage made the waterways
more navigable.[78][79][80][81]
[edit] Contemporary technologies
Various emerging technologies, the recent developments and convergences in various fields of
technology, hold possible future impacts. Emerging technologies cover various cutting-edge
developments in the emergence and convergence of technology, including transportation,
information technology, biotechnology, robotics and applied mechanics, and material science.
Their status and possible effects involve controversy over the degree of social impact or the
viability of the technologies. Though, these represent new and significant developments within
a field; converging technologies represent previously distinct fields which are in some way
moving towards stronger inter-connection and similar goals.
After Space Shuttle Atlantis lands successfully at Kennedy Space Center after completing STS135, concluding the shuttle program, NASA announces in 2011 that its Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons.
The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity, the most elaborate Martian exploration vehicle to date,
is also launched that same year from the Kennedy Space Center.
3.Timeline of scientific discoveries
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as Many errors, particularly claims that medieval Islamic scientists were ahead of those of
the European renaissance. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions.
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(May 2010)
The timeline below shows the date of publication of possible major scientific theories and
discoveries, along with the discoverer. In many cases, the discoveries spanned several years.
3rd century BC
Eratosthenes: calculated the size of the earth and its distance to the sun and to the moon
2nd century BC
150s BC – Seleucus of Seleucia: discovery of tides being caused by the moon...
2nd century
150s Ptolemy: produced the geocentric model of the solar system.
9th century
Al-Kindi (Alkindus): refutation of the theory of the transmutation of metals
10th century
Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi (Rhazes): refutation of Aristotelian classical elements and Galenic
humorism; and discovery of measles and smallpox, and kerosene and distilled petroleum
Ibn Sahl: Snell's law of refraction
11th century
1021 – Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics
1020s – Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine
1054 – Various Early Astronomers: Observe supernova (modern designation SN 1054), later
correlated to the Crab Nebula.
Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī: beginning of Islamic astronomy and mechanics
12th century
1121 – Al-Khazini: variation of gravitation and gravitational potential energy at a distance; the
decrease of air density with altitude
Ibn Bajjah (Avempace): discovery of reaction (precursor to Newton's third law of motion)
Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi (Nathanel): relationship between force and acceleration
(a vague foreshadowing of a fundamental law of classical mechanics and a precursor to
Newton's second law of motion)
Averroes: relationship between force, work and kinetic energy
13th century
1220–1235 – Robert Grosseteste: rudimentals of the scientific method (see also: Roger Bacon)
1242 – Ibn al-Nafis: pulmonary circulation and circulatory system
Theodoric of Freiberg: correct explanation of rainbow phenomenon
William of Saint-Cloud: pioneering use of camera obscura to view solar eclipses[1]
14th century
Before 1327 – William of Ockham: Occam's Razor
Oxford Calculators: the mean speed theorem
Jean Buridan: theory of impetus
Nicole Oresme: discovery of the curvature of light through atmospheric refraction[2]
15th century
1494 - Luca Pacioli: first codification of the Double-entry bookkeeping system, which slowly
developed in previous centuries[3]
16th century
1543 – Copernicus: heliocentric model
1543 – Vesalius: pioneering research into human anatomy
1552 – Michael Servetus: early research in Europe into pulmonary circulation
1570s – Tycho Brahe: detailed astronomical observations
1600 – William Gilbert: Earth's magnetic field
17th century
1609 – Johannes Kepler: first two laws of planetary motion
1610 – Galileo Galilei: Sidereus Nuncius: telescopic observations
1614 – John Napier: use of logarithms for calculation[4]
1628 – William Harvey: Blood circulation
1643 – Evangelista Torricelli invents the mercury barometer
1662 – Robert Boyle: Boyle's law of ideal gas
1665 – Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society first peer reviewed scientific journal
published.
1668 – Francesco Redi: disproved idea of spontaneous generation
1669 – Nicholas Steno: Proposes that fossils are organic remains embedded in layers of
sediment, basis of stratigraphy
1669 – Jan Swammerdam: Species breed true
1675 – Leibniz, Newton: Infinitesimal calculus
1675 – Anton van Leeuwenhoek: Observes Microorganisms by Microscope
1676 – Ole Rømer: first measurement of the speed of light
1687 – Newton: Laws of motion, law of universal gravitation, basis for classical physics
18th century
1745 – Ewald Jürgen Georg von Kleist first capacitor, the Leyden jar
1750 – Joseph Black: describes latent heat
1751 – Benjamin Franklin: Lightning is electrical
1761 - Mikhail Lomonosov: discovery of the atmosphere of Venus
1771 – Charles Messier: Publishes catalogue of astronomical objects (Messier Objects) now
known to include galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae.
1778 – Antoine Lavoisier (and Joseph Priestley): discovery of oxygen leading to end of
Phlogiston theory
1781 – William Herschel announces discovery of Uranus, expanding the known boundaries of
the solar system for the first time in modern history
1785 – William Withering: publishes the first definitive account of the use of foxglove (digitalis)
for treating dropsy
1787 – Jacques Charles: Charles' law of ideal gas
1789 – Antoine Lavoisier: law of conservation of mass, basis for chemistry, and the beginning of
modern chemistry
1796 – Georges Cuvier: Establishes extinction as a fact
19th century
1800 – Alessandro Volta: discovers electrochemical series and invents the battery
1802 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck: teleological evolution
1805 – John Dalton: Atomic Theory in (Chemistry)
1824 – Carnot: described the Carnot cycle, the idealized heat engine
1827 – Georg Ohm: Ohm's law (Electricity)
1827 – Amedeo Avogadro: Avogadro's law (Gas laws)
1828 – Friedrich Wöhler synthesized urea, destroying vitalism
1830 - Nikolai Lobachevsky created Non-Euclidean geometry
1831 – Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction
1833 – Anselme Payen isolates first enzyme, diastase
1838 – Matthias Schleiden: all plants are made of cells
1838 – Friedrich Bessel: first successful measure of stellar parallax (to star 61 Cygni)
1842 – Christian Doppler: Doppler effect
1843 – James Prescott Joule: Law of Conservation of energy (First law of thermodynamics), also
1847 – Helmholtz, Conservation of energy
1846 – William Morton: discovery of anesthesia
1846 – Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest: discovery of Neptune
1848 – Lord Kelvin: absolute zero of biddy
1858 – Rudolf Virchow: cells can only arise from pre-existing cells
1859 – Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace: Theory of evolution by natural selection
1865 – Gregor Mendel: Mendel's laws of inheritance, basis for genetics
1865 – Rudolf Clausius: Definition of Entropy
1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev: Periodic table
1871 – Lord Rayleigh: Diffuse sky radiation (Rayleigh scattering) explains why sky appears blue
1873 – James Clerk Maxwell: Theory of electromagnetism
1875 – William Crookes invented the Crookes tube and studied cathode rays
1876 – Josiah Willard Gibbs founded chemical thermodynamics, the phase rule
1877 – Ludwig Boltzmann: Statistical definition of entropy
1887 – Albert Michelson and Edward Morley: lack of evidence for the aether
1895 – Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers x-rays
1896 – Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity
1897 – J.J. Thomson discovers the electron in cathode rays
1898 - J.J. Thomson proposed the Plum pudding model of an atom
1900 – Max Planck: Planck's law of black body radiation, basis for quantum theory
20th century
1905 – Albert Einstein: theory of special relativity, explanation of Brownian motion, and
photoelectric effect
1906 – Walther Nernst: Third law of thermodynamics
1909 – Fritz Haber: Haber Process and also the Oil drop experiment by Robert Andrews Millikan
to determine the charge on an electron
1911 – Ernest Rutherford: Atomic nucleus
1911 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes: Superconductivity
1912 – Alfred Wegener: Continental drift
1912 – Max von Laue : x-ray diffraction
1913 – Henry Moseley: defined atomic number
1913 – Niels Bohr: Model of the atom
1915 – Albert Einstein: theory of general relativity – also David Hilbert
1915 – Karl Schwarzschild: discovery of the Schwarzschild radius leading to the identification of
black holes
1918 – Emmy Noether: Noether's theorem – conditions under which the conservation laws are
valid
1920 – Arthur Eddington: Stellar nucleosynthesis
1924 – Wolfgang Pauli: quantum Pauli exclusion principle
1924 – Edwin Hubble: the discovery that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies
1925 – Erwin Schrödinger: Schrödinger equation (Quantum mechanics)
1927 – Werner Heisenberg: Uncertainty principle (Quantum mechanics)
1927 – Georges Lemaître: Theory of the Big Bang
1928 – Paul Dirac: Dirac equation (Quantum mechanics)
1929 – Edwin Hubble: Hubble's law of the expanding universe
1929 – Lars Onsager's reciprocal relations, a potential fourth law of thermodynamics
1934 – James Chadwick: Discovery of the neutron
1934 – Clive McCay: Calorie Restriction extends the maximum lifespan of another species
Calorie_restriction#Research_history
1938 – Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann: Nuclear fission
1943 – Oswald Avery proves that DNA is the genetic material of the chromosome
1947 – William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain invent the first transistor
1948 – Claude Elwood Shannon: 'A mathematical theory of communication' a seminal paper in
Information theory.
1948 – Richard Feynman, Julian Schwinger, Sin-Itiro Tomonaga and Freeman Dyson: Quantum
electrodynamics
1951 – George Otto Gey propagates first cancer cell line, HeLa
1952 – Jonas Salk: developed and tested first polio vaccine
1953 – Crick and Watson: helical structure of DNA, basis for molecular biology
1963 – Lawrence Morley, Fred Vine, and Drummond Matthews: Paleomagnetic stripes in ocean
crust as evidence of plate tectonics (Vine-Matthews-Morley hypothesis).
1964 – Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig: postulate quarks leading to the standard model
1964 – Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson: detection of CMBR providing experimental
evidence for the Big Bang
1965 – Leonard Hayflick: normal cells divide only a certain number of times: the Hayflick limit
1967 – Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish discover first pulsar
1984 – Kary Mullis invents the polymerase chain reaction, a key discovery in molecular biology.
Andrew Wiles proves Fermats Last Theorem
1986 – Karl Müller and Johannes Bednorz: Discovery of High-temperature superconductivity
1995 – Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz definitively observe the first extrasolar planet around a
main sequence star
1995 - Eric Cornell, Carl Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle attained the first Bose-Einstein
Condensate with atomic gases, so called fifth state of matter at extremely low temperature.
1997 – Roslin Institute: Dolly the sheep was cloned.
1997 – CDF and DØ experiments at Fermilab: Top quark.
1998 – Gerson Goldhaber and Saul Perlmutter observed that the expansion of the universe is
accelerating.
Future history
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This article is about the general concept. For Robert A. Heinlein's series of short stories and
novels, see Future History.
4. FUTURE HISTORY
A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors in the subgenre of
speculative fiction (or science fiction) to construct a common background for fiction.
Sometimes the author publishes a timeline of events in the history, while other times the
reader can reconstruct the order of the stories from information provided therein.
Background
The term appears to have been coined by John W. Campbell, Jr., the editor of Astounding
Science Fiction, in the February 1941 issue of that magazine, in reference to Robert A. Heinlein's
Future History. Neil R. Jones is generally credited as the first author to create a future history.[1]
A set of stories which share a backdrop but are not really concerned with the sequence of
history in their universe are rarely considered future histories. For example, neither Lois
McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga nor George R. R. Martin's 1970s short stories which share a
backdrop are generally considered future histories. Standalone stories which trace an arc of
history are rarely considered future histories. For example, Walter M. Miller Jr.'s A Canticle for
Leibowitz is not generally considered a future history.
Earlier, some works were published which constituted "future history" in a more literal sense —
i.e., stories or whole books purporting to be excerpts of a history book from the future and
which are written in the form of a history book — i.e., having no personal protagonists but
rather describing the development of nations and societies over decades and centuries.
Such works include:
Jack London's The Unparalleled Invasion (1914) describing a devastating war between an
alliance of Western nations and China in 1975, ending with a complete genocide of the Chinese.
It is described in a short footnote as "Excerpt from Walt Mervin's 'Certain Essays in History'".
André Maurois's The War against the Moon (1928), where a band of well-meaning conspirators
intend to avert a devastating world war by uniting humanity in hatred of a fictitious Lunar
enemy only to find that the moon is truly inhabited and that they had unwittingly set off the
first interplanetary war. This, too, is explicitly described as an excerpt from a future history
book.
The most ambitious of this sub-genre is H.G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1933), written
in the form of a history book published in the year 2106 and — in the manner of a real history
book — containing numerous footnotes and references to the works of (mostly fictitious)
prominent historians of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Notable future histories
Other notable future histories include:
W. Warren Wagar's A Short History of the Future original 1989 (revisions in 1992 and 1999)
Poul Anderson's two future histories: The Psychotechnic League and his later Technic History
(see Nicholas van Rijn, Dominic Flandry)
Frank Herbert's Dune universe
Larry Niven's Known Space series
Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium series
Paul Glover's Los Angeles: A History of the Future (1982)
E. E. Smith's Lensman novels, which while not intended as a predictive history have collectively
been called The History of Civilization.
Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men and its sequels
The Strugatsky brothers' Noon Universe ("Мир Полудня")
Cordwainer Smith's Instrumentality of Mankind
Neil R. Jones's Professor Jameson series (1931–1989)
H. Beam Piper's Terro-Human Future History
C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe
Paul J. McAuley's Four Hundred Billion Stars series (1988)
Isaac Asimov's Robots, Empire, and Foundation stories (the links between many of the stories
are a retcon)
Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet
Beginning with his Beloved Son, many of the science fiction novels of George Turner
Octavia Butler's Patternist series
Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun
James Blish's Cities in Flight
Clifford D. Simak's City stories
Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth novels
The Judge Dredd world, as created in the pages of British comic 2000 AD
Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish Cycle
Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence
Robert A. Heinlein's The Past Through Tomorrow
David Weber's Honorverse series
Stephenie Meyer's The Host
Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series
Lois Lowry's The Giver trilogy
Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games series
John Wyndham's The Outward Urge stories
Brian Stableford and David Langford's The Third Millennium: A History of the World AD 20003000
George Friedman's The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century
Transhuman Space
Orion's Arm (see links on this page)
Eight Worlds by John Varley might or might not count as a future history (see Eight
Worlds#Consistency
Andrey Livadny's The History of the Galaxy
Future history and alternate history
Unlike alternate history, where alternative outcomes are ascribed to past events, future history
postulates certain outcomes to events in the writer's present and future.
The essential difference is that the writer of alternate history is in possession of knowledge of
the actual outcome of a certain event, and that knowledge influences also the description of
the event's alternate outcome. The writer of future history does not have such knowledge, such
works being based on speculations and predictions current at the time of writing—which often
turn out to be wildly inaccurate.
For example, in 1933 H. G. Wells postulated in The Shape of Things to Come a Second World
War in which Nazi Germany and Poland are evenly matched militarily, fighting an indecisive war
over ten years; and Poul Anderson's early 1950s Psychotechnic League depicted a world
undergoing a devastating nuclear war in 1958, yet by the early 21st century managing not only
to rebuild the ruins on Earth but also engage in extensive space colonization of the Moon and
several planets. A writer possessing knowledge of the actual swift collapse of Poland in World
War II and the enormous actual costs of far less ambitious space programs in a far less
devastated world would have been unlikely to postulate such outcomes.[2] 2001: A Space
Odyssey was set in the future and featured developments in space travel and habitation which
have not occurred on the timescale postulated.
A problem with future history science fiction is that it will date and be overtaken by real
historical events, for instance H. Beam Piper's future history, which included a nuclear war in
1973, and much of the future history of Star Trek. There are several ways this is dealt with. Jerry
Pournelle's "CoDominium" future history assumed that the Cold War would end with the USA
and Soviet Union establishing a co-rule of the world, the CoDominium of the title, which would
last into the 22nd Century—rather than the Soviet Union collapsing in 1989.
One solution to the problem is when some authors set their stories in an indefinite future,
often in a society where the current calendar has been disrupted due to a societal collapse or
undergone some form of distortion due to the impact of technology. Related to the first, some
stories are set in the very remote future and only deal with the author's contemporary history
in a sketchy fashion, if at all (e.g. the original Foundation Trilogy by Asimov). Another related
case is where stories are set in the near future, but with an explicitly allohistorical past, as in
Ken MacLeod's Engines of Light series.
In other cases, such as the Star Trek universe, the merging of the fictional history and the
known history is done through extensive use of retroactive continuity. In yet other cases, such
as the Doctor Who television series and the fiction based on it, much use is made of secret
history, in which the events that take place are largely secret and not known to the general
public.
As with Heinlein, some authors simply write a detailed future history and accept the fact that
events will overtake it, making the sequence into a de facto alternate history.
Lastly, some writers formally transform their future histories into alternate history, once they
had been overtaken by events. For example, Poul Anderson started The Psychotechnic League
history in the early 1950s, assuming a nuclear war in 1958—then a future date. When it was
republished in the 1980s, a new foreword was added explaining how that history's timeline
diverged from ours and led to war.