Modern history, also referred to modern period or the modern era, is the historical time
line after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early
modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial
Revolution.
The modern era began approximately in the 16th century. Many major events caused Europe
to change around the start of the 16th century, starting with the Fall of Constantinople in
1453, the fall of Muslim Spain and the discovery of the Americas in 1492, and Martin
Luther's Protestant Reformation in 1517. In England the modern period is often dated to the
start of the Tudor period with the victory of Henry VII over Richard III at the Battle of
Bosworth in 1485.[5][6] Early modern European history is usually seen to span from the start
of the 15th century, through the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and
18th centuries, until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.
Terminology and usage
Pre-Modern
In the Pre-Modern era, many people's sense of self and purpose was often expressed via a
faith in some form of deity, be that in a single god or in many gods.[7] Pre-modern cultures
have not been thought of creating a sense of distinct individuality, though. Religious officials,
who often held positions of power, were the spiritual intermediaries to the common person. It
was only through these intermediaries that the general masses had access to the divine.
Tradition was sacred to ancient cultures and was unchanging and the social order of
ceremony and morals in a culture could be strictly enforced.
Modern
In contrast to the pre-modern era, Western civilization made a gradual transition from
premodernity to modernity when scientific methods were developed which led many to
believe that the use of science would lead to all knowledge, thus throwing back the shroud of
myth under which pre-modern peoples lived. New information about the world was
discovered via empirical observation, versus the historic use of reason and innate knowledge.
The term "modern" was coined shortly before 1585 to describe the beginning of a new era.[4]
The European Renaissance (about 1420–1630) is an important transition period beginning
between the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, which started in Italy.
The term "Early Modern" was introduced in the English language in the 1930s. to distinguish
the time between what we call Middle Ages and time of the late Enlightenment (1800) (when
the meaning of the term Modern Ages was developing its contemporary form). It is important
to note that these terms stem from European History. In usage in other parts of the world,
such as in Asia, and in Muslim countries, the terms are applied in a very different way, but
often in the context with their contact with European culture in the Age of Discoveries.
contemporary
Contemporary" is applied to more recent events because it means "belonging to the same
period" and "current."
Modern era
Significant developments
The modern period has been a period of significant development in the fields of science,
politics, warfare, and technology. It has also been an age of discovery and globalization.
During this time, the European powers and later their colonies, began a political, economic,
and cultural colonization of the rest of the world.
By the late 19th and 20th centuries, modernist art, politics, science and culture has come to
dominate not only Western Europe and North America, but almost every civilized area on the
globe, including movements thought of as opposed to the west and globalization. The modern
era is closely associated with the development of individualism, capitalism, urbanization and
a belief in the possibilities of technological and political progress.
The brutal wars and other problems of this era, many of which come from the effects of rapid
change, and the connected loss of strength of traditional religious and ethical norms, have led
to many reactions against modern development. Optimism and belief in constant progress has
been most recently criticized by postmodernism while the dominance of Western Europe and
Anglo-America over other continents has been criticized by postcolonial theory.
Modern as post-medieval
One common conception of modernity is the condition of Western history since the mid-15th
century, or roughly the European development of movable type and the printing press. In this
context the "modern" society is said to develop over many periods, and to be influenced by
important events that represent breaks in the continuity.
Early modern period
Main article: Early modern period
The modern era includes the early period, sometimes called the early modern period, which
lasted from c. 1500 to around c. 1800 (most often 1815). Particular facets of early modernity
include:




The Renaissance
The Reformation and Counter Reformation.
The Age of Discovery
Rise of capitalism
Important events in the early modern period include:


The invention of the printing press
The English Civil War
Modern Age characteristics
The concept of the modern world
as distinct from an ancient or
medieval world rests on a sense
that the modern world is not just
another era in history, but rather
the result of a new type of
change. This is usually conceived
of as progress driven by
deliberate human efforts to better
their situation.
Advances in all areas of human
activity—politics, industry,
society, economics, commerce,
transport, communication,
mechanization, automation,
science, medicine, technology,
and culture—appear to have
transformed an Old World into
the Modern or New World. In
each case, the identification of
the old Revolutionary change can
be used to demarcate the old and
old-fashioned from the modern.
Portions of the Modern world
altered its relationship with the
Biblical value system, revalued
the monarchical government
system, and abolished the feudal
economic system, with new
democratic and liberal ideas in
the areas of politics, science,
psychology, sociology, and
economics.
This combination of epoch events totally changed thinking and thought in the early modern
period, and so their dates serve as well as any to separate the old from the new modes.
Particular ways to categorize early modernity include:




The Age of Reason
The Enlightenment
the Romantic era
the Victorian era
As an Age of Revolutions dawned, beginning with those revolts in America and France,
political changes were then pushed forward in other countries partly as a result of upheavals
of the Napoleonic Wars and their impact on thought and thinking, from concepts from
nationalism to organizing armies.
The early period ended in a time of political and economic change as a result of
mechanization in society, the American Revolution, the first French Revolution; other factors
included the redrawing of the map of Europe by the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna[35]
and the peace established by Second Treaty of Paris which ended the Napoleonic Wars.[36]
Late modern period
As a result of the Industrial Revolution and the earlier political revolutions, the worldviews of
Modernism emerged. The industrialization of many nations was initiated with the
industrialization of Britain. Particular facets of the late modernity period include:







Increasing role of science and technology
Mass literacy and proliferation of mass media
Spread of social movements
Institution of representative democracy
Individualism
Industrialization
Urbanization
Other important events in the development of the Late modern period include:



The Revolutions of 1848
The Russian Revolution
The First World War and the Second World War
Our most recent era—Modern Times—begins with the end of these revolutions in the 19th
century,[37] and includes the World Wars era[38] (encompassing World War I and World War
II) and the emergence of socialist countries that lead to the Cold War. The contemporary era
follows shortly afterward with the explosion of research and increase of knowledge known as
the Information Age in the latter 20th and the early 21st century. Today's Postmodern era is
seen in widespread Digitality.[39]
Early modern period
Waldseemüller map with joint sheets, 1507
Historians consider the early modern period to be approximately between 1500 and 1800. It
follows the Late Middle Ages period and is marked by the first European colonies, the rise of
strong centralized governments, and the beginnings of recognizable nation-states that are the
direct antecedents of today's states.
In Africa and the Ottoman Empire, the Muslim expansion took place in North and East
Africa. In West Africa, various native nations existed. The Indian Empires and civilizations
of Southeast Asia were a vital link in the spice trade. On the Indian subcontinent, the Great
Mughal Empire existed. The archipelagic empires, the Sultanate of Malacca and later the
Sultanate of Johor, controlled the southern areas.
Concerning the Asia, various Chinese dynasties and Japanese shogunates controlled the
Asian sphere. In Japan, the Edo period from 1600 to 1868 is also sometimes referred to as the
early modern period. And in Korea, from the rising of Joseon Dynasty to the enthronement of
King Gojong is referred to as the early modern period. In the Americas, Native Americans
had built a large and varied civilization, including the Aztec Empire and alliance, the Inca
civilization, the Mayan Empire and cities, and the Chibcha Confederation. In the west, the
European kingdoms and movements were in a movement of reformation and expansion.
Russia reached the Pacific coast in 1647 and consolidated its control over the Russian Far
East in the 19th century.
Later religious trends of the period saw the end of the expansion of Muslims and the Muslim
world. Christians and Christendom saw the end of the Crusades and end of religious unity
under the Roman Catholic Church. It was during this time that the Inquisitions and Protestant
reformations took place.
World Colonization of 1492 (Early Modern World), 1550, 1660 (Age of Enlightenment),
1754 (Age of Revolution), 1822 (Industrial revolution), 1885 (European Hegemony), 1914
(World War I era), 1938 (World War II era), 1959 (Cold War era), 1974 (Recent history), and
2008 (Contemporary era).
During the early modern period, an age of discovery and trade was undertaken by the
European nations. European powers went on a colonial expansion and took possession
throughout the world. There was a conquest of the Americas and exploitation of its resources.
Various European powers set up colonies in North America and Latin America.
Toward the end of the early period, Europe was dominated by the evolving system of
mercantile capitalism in its trade and the New Economy. European states and politics had the
characteristic of Absolutism. The French power and English revolutions dominated the
political scene. There eventually evolved an international balance of power that held sway a
great conflagration until years later.
The end date of the early modern period is usually associated with the Industrial Revolution,
which began in Britain in about 1750. Another significant date is 1789, the beginning of the
French Revolution, which drastically transformed the state of European politics and ushered
in the Prince Edward Era and modern Europe.
[edit] Eastern foundations
Main articles: Qing Dynasty, Mughal Empire, Maratha Empire, and Tokugawa shogunate
In China, urbanization increased as the population grew and as the division of labor grew
more complex. Large urban centers, such as Nanjing and Beijing, also contributed to the
growth of private industry. In particular, small-scale industries grew up, often specializing in
paper, silk, cotton, and porcelain goods. For the most part, however, relatively small urban
centers with markets proliferated around the country. Town markets mainly traded food, with
some necessary manufactures such as pins or oil. Despite the xenophobia and intellectual
introspection characteristic of the increasingly popular new school of neo-Confucianism,
China under the early Ming Dynasty was not isolated. Foreign trade and other contacts with
the outside world, particularly Japan, increased considerably. Chinese merchants explored all
of the Indian Ocean, reaching East Africa with the voyages of Zheng He.
The Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) was founded after the defeat of the Ming, the last Han
Chinese dynasty, by the Manchus. The Manchus were formerly known as the Jurchen. When
Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant rebels in 1644, the last Ming Emperor
Chongzhen committed suicide. The Manchu then allied with Ming Dynasty general Wu
Sangui and seized control of Beijing, which became the new capital of the Qing dynasty. The
Manchus adopted the Confucian norms of traditional Chinese government in their rule of
China proper.
In Japan following the Sengoku Period of "warring states", central government had been
largely reestablished by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the AzuchiMomoyama period. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, central authority fell to Tokugawa
Ieyasu who completed this process and received the title of shogun in 1603. In order to
become shogun, one traditionally was a descendant of the ancient Minamoto clan.
Society in the Japanese "Tokugawa period", unlike the shogunates before it, was supposedly
based on the strict class hierarchy originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The
daimyo, or lords, were at the top, followed by the warrior-caste of samurai, with the farmers,
artisans, and traders ranking below. In some parts of the country, particularly smaller regions,
daimyo and samurai were more or less identical, since daimyo might be trained as samurai,
and samurai might act as local lords. Otherwise, the largely inflexible nature of this social
stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at
fixed amounts which did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value. As a
result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners were worth less and less over
time. This often led to numerous confrontations between noble but impoverished samurai and
well-to-do peasants, ranging from simple local disturbances to much bigger rebellions. None,
however, proved compelling enough to seriously challenge the established order until the
arrival of foreign powers.
On the Indian subcontinent, the Mughal Empire ruled most of India in the early 18th
century.[40] The "classic period" ended with the death and defeat of Emperor Aurangzeb in
1707 by the rising Hindu Maratha Empire,[41] although the dynasty continued for another 150
years. During this period, the Empire was marked by a highly centralized administration
connecting the different regions. All the significant monuments of the Mughals, their most
visible legacy, date to this period which was characterised by the expansion of Persian
cultural influence in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic, and architectural
results. The Maratha Empire was located in the south west of present-day India and expanded
greatly under the rule of the Peshwas, the prime ministers of the Maratha empire. In 1761, the
Maratha army lost the Third Battle of Panipat which halted imperial expansion and the
empire was then divided into a confederacy of Maratha states.
[edit] Western transformations
[edit] Tsardom of Russia
Main article: Tsardom of Russia
Russia experienced territorial growth through the 17th century, which was the age of
Cossacks. Cossacks were warriors organized into military communities, resembling pirates
and pioneers of the New World. In 1648, the peasants of Ukraine joined the Zaporozhian
Cossacks in rebellion against Poland-Lithuania during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, because of
the social and religious oppression they suffered under Polish rule. In 1654 the Ukrainian
leader, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, offered to place Ukraine under the protection of the Russian
Tsar, Aleksey I. Aleksey's acceptance of this offer led to another Russo-Polish War (1654–
1667). Finally, Ukraine was split along the river Dnieper, leaving the western part (or Rightbank Ukraine) under Polish rule and eastern part (Left-bank Ukraine and Kiev) under
Russian. Later, in 1670–71 the Don Cossacks led by Stenka Razin initiated a major uprising
in the Volga region, but the Tsar's troops were successful in defeating the rebels. In the east,
the rapid Russian exploration and colonisation of the huge territories of Siberia was led
mostly by Cossacks hunting for valuable furs and ivory. Russian explorers pushed eastward
primarily along the Siberian river routes, and by the mid-17th century there were Russian
settlements in the Eastern Siberia, on the Chukchi Peninsula, along the Amur River, and on
the Pacific coast. In 1648 the Bering Strait between Asia and North America was passed for
the first time by Fedot Popov and Semyon Dezhnyov.
[edit] Reason and Enlightenment
Further information: Great Divergence
Traditionally, the European intellectual transformation of and after the Renaissance bridged
the Middle Ages and the Modern era. The Age of Reason in the Western world is generally
regarded as being the start of modern philosophy,[42] and a departure from the medieval
approach, especially Scholasticism. Early 17th century philosophy is often called the Age of
Rationalism and is considered to succeed Renaissance philosophy and precede the Age of
Enlightenment, but some consider it as the earliest part of the Enlightenment era in
philosophy, extending that era to two centuries. The 18th century saw the beginning of
secularization in Europe, rising to notability in the wake of the French Revolution.
The Age of Enlightenment is a time in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the
18th century in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for
authority. Developing more or less simultaneously in many parts of Europe and America.
Developing during the Enlightenment era, Renaissance humanism was an intellectual
movement spread across Europe. The basic training of the humanist was to speak well and
write (typically, in the form of a letter). The term umanista comes from the latter part of the
15th century. The people were associated with the studia humanitatis, a novel curriculum that
was competing with the quadrivium and scholastic logic.[43]
Renaissance humanism took a close study of the Latin and Greek classical texts, and was
antagonistic to the values of scholasticism with its emphasis on the accumulated
commentaries; and humanists were involved in the sciences, philosophies, arts and poetry of
classical antiquity. They self-consciously imitated classical Latin and deprecated the use of
medieval Latin. By analogy with the perceived decline of Latin, they applied the principle of
ad fontes, or back to the sources, across broad areas of learning.
The quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns was a literary and artistic quarrel that heated up
in the early 1690s and shook the Académie française. It opposed two sides, the Ancients
(Anciens) who constrain choice of subjects to those drawn from the literature of Antiquity
and the Moderns (Modernes), who supported the merits of the authors of the century of Louis
XIV. Fontenelle quickly followed with his Digression sur les anciens et les modernes (1688),
in which he took the Modern side, pressing the argument that modern scholarship allowed
modern man to surpass the ancients in knowledge.
[edit] Scientific Revolution
Main article: Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution was a period when European ideas in classical physics, astronomy,
biology, human anatomy, chemistry, and other classical sciences were rejected and led to
doctrines supplanting those that had prevailed from Ancient Greece to the Middle Ages
which would lead to a transition to modern science. This period saw a fundamental
transformation in scientific ideas across physics, astronomy, and biology, in institutions
supporting scientific investigation, and in the more widely held picture of the universe.
Individuals started to question all manners of things and it was this questioning that led to the
Scientific Revolution, which in turn formed the foundations of contemporary sciences and the
establishment of several modern scientific fields.
See also: History of electromagnetism and Science in the Age of Enlightenment
[edit] American wars and revolution
The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts in North America that represented the
actions there that accompanied the European dynastic wars. In Quebec, the wars are generally
referred to as the Intercolonial Wars. While some conflicts involved Spanish and Dutch
forces, all pitted Great Britain, its colonies and American Indian allies on one side and
France, its colonies and Indian allies on the other.
The expanding French and British colonies were contending for control of the western, or
interior, territories. Whenever the European countries went to war, there were actions within
and by these colonies although the dates of the conflict did not necessarily exactly coincide
with those of the larger conflicts.
John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of
drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress in
Philadelphia
Beginning in the Age of Revolution, the American Revolution and the ensuing political
upheaval during the last half of the 18th century saw the Thirteen Colonies of North America
overthrow the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and then reject the British
monarchy itself to become the sovereign United States of America. In this period the colonies
first rejected the authority of the Parliament to govern them without representation, and
formed self-governing independent states. The Second Continental Congress then joined
together against the British to defend that self-governance in the armed conflict from 1775 to
1783 known as the American Revolutionary War (also called American War of
Independence).
The American Revolution begun with fighting at Lexington and Concord. On July 4, 1776,
they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from
Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. In June 1776, Benjamin Franklin
was appointed a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of
Independence. Although he was temporarily disabled by gout and unable to attend most
meetings of the Committee, Franklin made several small changes to the draft sent to him by
Thomas Jefferson.
The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first
successful colonial war of independence. While the states had already rejected the
governance of Parliament, through the Declaration the new United States now rejected the
legitimacy of the monarchy to demand allegiance. The war raged for seven years, with
effective American victory, followed by formal British abandonment of any claims to the
United States with the Treaty of Paris.
North America 1797
The Philadelphia Convention set up the current United States; the United States Constitution
ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a limited central
government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing
many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.
[edit] The French Revolutions
Main article: French Revolution
Toward the middle and latter stages of the Age of Revolution, the French political and social
revolutions and radical change saw the French governmental structure, previously an absolute
monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy transform, change to
forms based on Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights. The first
revolution led to government by the National Assembly, the second by the Legislative
Assembly, and the third by the Directory.
The changes were accompanied by violent turmoil which included the trial and execution of
the king, vast bloodshed and repression during the Reign of Terror, and warfare involving
every other major European power. Subsequent events that can be traced to the Revolution
include the Napoleonic Wars, two separate restorations of the monarchy, and two additional
revolutions as modern France took shape. In the following century, France would be
governed at one point or another as a republic, constitutional monarchy, and two different
empires.
[edit] National and Legislative Assembly
Main articles: National Assembly (French Revolution) and Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly, which existed from June 17 to July 9
of 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent
Assembly.
The Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from October 1, 1791 to September
1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the
periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.
[edit] The Directory and Napoleonic Era
Main articles: French Directory and Napoleonic Era
The Executive Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France
following the Convention and preceding the Consulate. The period of this regime (2
November 1795 until 10 November 1799), commonly known as the Directory (or Directoire)
era, constitutes the second to last stage of the French Revolution. Napoleon, before seizing
the title of Emperor, was elected as First Consul of the Consulate of France.
The Napoleonic Era was centered around the campaigns of the French Emperor and General
Napoleon Bonaparte. Born on Corsica as the French invaded, and dying suspiciously on the
tiny British Island of St. Helena, this brilliant commander, controlled a French Empire that, at
its height, ruled a large portion of Europe directly from Paris, while many of his friends and
family ruled countries such as Spain, Poland, several parts of Italy and many other Kingdoms
Republics and dependancies. The Napoleonic Era changed the face of Europe forever, and
old Empires and Kingdoms fell apart as a result of the mighty and "Glorious" surge of
Republicanism.
[edit] Italian unification
Italian unification was the political and social movement that annexed different states of the
Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century. There is a lack of consensus
on the exact dates for the beginning and the end of this period, but many scholars agree that
the process began with the end of Napoleonic rule and the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and
approximately ended with the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, though the last città irredente
did not join the Kingdom of Italy until after World War I.
[edit] Eastern colonization
The development of New Imperialism saw the conquest of nearly all eastern hemisphere
territories by colonial powers. The commercial colonization of India commenced in 1757,
after the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab of Bengal surrendered his dominions to the
British East India Company,[44] in 1765, when the Company was granted the diwani, or the
right to collect revenue, in Bengal and Bihar,[45] or in 1772, when the Company established a
capital in Calcutta, appointed its first Governor-General, Warren Hastings, and became
directly involved in governance.[46]
The Maratha states, following the Anglo-Maratha wars, eventually lost to the British East
India Company in 1818. The rule lasted until 1858, when, after the Indian rebellion of 1857
and consequent of the Government of India Act 1858, the British government assumed the
task of directly administering India in the new British Raj. In 1819 Stamford Raffles
established Singapore as a key trading post for Britain in their rivalry with the Dutch.
However, their rivalry cooled in 1824 when an Anglo-Dutch treaty demarcated their
respective interests in Southeast Asia. From the 1850s onwards, the pace of colonization
shifted to a significantly higher gear.
The Dutch East India Company (1800) and British East India Company (1858) were
dissolved by their respective governments, who took over the direct administration of the
colonies. Only Thailand was spared the experience of foreign rule, although, Thailand itself
was also greatly affected by the power politics of the Western powers. Colonial rule had a
profound effect on Southeast Asia. While the colonial powers profited much from the
region's vast resources and large market, colonial rule did develop the region to a varying
extent.[47]
[edit] Decolonization of the Americas
Main articles: Decolonization of the Americas and Spanish American wars of independence
The decolonization of the Americas was the process by which the countries in the Americas
gained their independence from European rule. Decolonization began with a series of
revolutions in the late 18th and early-to-mid-19th centuries. The Spanish American wars of
independence were the numerous wars against Spanish rule in Spanish America that took
place during the early 19th century, from 1808 until 1829, directly related to the Napoleonic
French invasion of Spain. The conflict started with short-lived governing juntas established in
Chuquisaca and Quito opposing the composition of the Supreme Central Junta of Seville.
Decolonization of the Americas

Countries in the Americas by date of independence. Note that the United States did
not complete its continental territorial expansion until 1867

Development of Spanish American Independence

Map of territories that became independent during those wars (blue).
When the Central Junta fell to the French, numerous new Juntas appeared all across the
Americas, eventually resulting in a chain of newly independent countries stretching from
Argentina and Chile in the south, to Mexico in the north. After the death of the king
Ferdinand VII, in 1833, only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule, until the
Spanish–American War in 1898. Unlike the Spanish, the Portuguese did not divide their
colonial territory in America. The captaincies they created were subdued to a centralized
administration in Salvador (later relocated to Rio de Janeiro) which reported directly to the
Portuguese Crown until its independence in 1822, becoming the Empire of Brazil.
See also: Latin American wars of independence and Timeline of the Spanish American wars
of independence
[edit] Modern Age
Late modern period
[edit] Industrial revolutions
Main articles: Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution
A Watt steam engine. The development of the steam engine started the Industrial Revolution
in Great Britain.[48] The steam engine was created to pump water from coal mines, enabling
them to be deepened beyond groundwater levels.
The date of the Industrial Revolution is not exact. Eric Hobsbawm held that it 'broke out' in
the 1780s and was not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s,[49] while T.S. Ashton held that it
occurred roughly between 1760 and 1830 (in effect the reigns of George III, The Regency,
and George IV).[50] The great changes of centuries before the 19th were more connected with
ideas, religion or military conquest, and technological advance had only made small changes
in the material wealth of ordinary people.
The first Industrial Revolution merged into the Second Industrial Revolution around 1850,
when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of
steam-powered ships and railways, and later in the 19th century with the internal combustion
engine and electric power generation. The Second Industrial Revolution was a phase of the
Industrial Revolution; sometimes labeled as the separate Technical Revolution. From a
technological and a social point of view there is no clean break between the two. Major
innovations during the period occurred in the chemical, electrical, petroleum, and steel
industries. Specific advancements included the introduction of oil fired steam turbine and
internal combustion driven steel ships, the development of the airplane, the practical
commercialization of the automobile, mass production of consumer goods, the perfection of
canning, mechanical refrigeration and other food preservation techniques, and the invention
of the telephone.
[edit] Industrialization
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change whereby a human group is
transformed from a pre-industrial society into an industrial one. It is a subdivision of a more
general modernization process, where social change and economic development are closely
related with technological innovation, particularly with the development of large-scale energy
and metallurgy production. It is the extensive organization of an economy for the purpose of
manufacturing. Industrialization also introduces a form of philosophical change, where
people obtain a different attitude towards their perception of nature.
[edit] Revolution in manufacture and power
An economy based on manual labour was replaced by one dominated by industry and the
manufacture of machinery. It began with the mechanization of the textile industries and the
development of iron-making techniques, and trade expansion was enabled by the introduction
of canals, improved roads, and then railways.
The introduction of steam power (fuelled primarily by coal) and powered machinery (mainly
in textile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity.[51] The
development of all-metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated
the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries.
The modern petroleum industry started in 1846 with the discovery of the process of refining
kerosene from coal by Nova Scotian Abraham Pineo Gesner. Ignacy Łukasiewicz improved
Gesner's method to develop a means of refining kerosene from the more readily available
"rock oil" ("petr-oleum") seeps in 1852 and the first rock oil mine was built in Bóbrka, near
Krosno in Galicia in the following year. In 1854, Benjamin Silliman, a science professor at
Yale University in New Haven, was the first to fractionate petroleum by distillation. These
discoveries rapidly spread around the world.
[edit] Notable engineers
Engineering achievements of the revolution ranged from electrification to developments in
materials science. The advancements made a great contribution to the quality of life. In the
first revolution, Lewis Paul was the original inventor of roller spinning, the basis of the water
frame for spinning cotton in a cotton mill. Matthew Boulton and James Watt's improvements
to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in
both the Kingdom of Great Britain and the world.
Nikola Tesla sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston
Street, New York.
In the latter part of the second revolution, Thomas Alva Edison developed many devices that
greatly influenced life around the world and is often credited with the creation of the first
industrial research laboratory. In 1882, Edison switched on the world's first large-scale
electrical supply network that provided 110 volts direct current to fifty-nine customers in
lower Manhattan. Also toward the end of the second industrial revolution, Nikola Tesla made
many contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries.
[edit] Social effects and classes
The Industrial Revolutions were major technological, socioeconomic, and cultural changes in
late 18th and early 19th centuries that began in Britain and spread throughout the world. The
effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century,
eventually affecting the majority of the world. The impact of this change on society was
enormous and is often compared to the Neolithic revolution, when mankind developed
agriculture and gave up its nomadic lifestyle.[52] It has been argued that GDP per capita was
much more stable and progressed at a much slower rate until the industrial revolution and the
emergence of the modern capitalist economy, and that it has since increased rapidly in
capitalist countries.[53]
[edit] Mid-19th century European revolts
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations or the
Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout the European continent.
Described as a revolutionary wave, the period of unrest began in France and then, further
propelled by the French Revolution of 1848, soon spread to the rest of Europe.[54][55]
Although most of the revolutions were quickly put down, there was a significant amount of
violence in many areas, with tens of thousands of people tortured and killed. While the
immediate political effects of the revolutions were reversed, the long-term reverberations of
the events were far-reaching.
[edit] Industrial age reformism
Industrial age reform movements began the gradual change of society rather with episodes of
rapid fundamental changes. The reformists' ideas were often grounded in liberalism, although
they also possessed aspects of utopian, socialist or religious concepts. The Radical movement
campaigned for electoral reform, a reform of the Poor Laws, free trade, educational reform,
postal reform, prison reform, and public sanitation.
Following the Enlightenment's ideas, the reformers looked to the Scientific Revolution and
industrial progress to solve the social problems which arose with the Industrial Revolution.
Newton's natural philosophy combined a mathematics of axiomatic proof with the mechanics
of physical observation, yielding a coherent system of verifiable predictions and replacing a
previous reliance on revelation and inspired truth. Applied to public life, this approach
yielded several successful campaigns for changes in social policy.
[edit] Imperial Russia
Main article: Russian Empire
Under Peter I (the Great), Russia was proclaimed an Empire in 1721 and became recognized
as a world power. Ruling from 1682 to 1725, Peter defeated Sweden in the Great Northern
War, forcing it to cede West Karelia and Ingria (two regions lost by Russia in the Time of
Troubles),[56] as well as Estland and Livland, securing Russia's access to the sea and sea
trade.[57] On the Baltic Sea Peter founded a new capital called Saint Petersburg, later known
as Russia's Window to Europe. Peter the Great's reforms brought considerable Western
European cultural influences to Russia. Catherine II (the Great), who ruled in 1762–96,
extended Russian political control over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and
incorporated most of its territories into Russia during the Partitions of Poland, pushing the
Russian frontier westward into Central Europe. In the south, after successful Russo-Turkish
Wars against the Ottoman Empire, Catherine advanced Russia's boundary to the Black Sea,
defeating the Crimean khanate.
[edit] European Hegemony and the 19th century
"The World's Sovereigns", 1889.
Main article: 19th century
Historians sometimes define the 19th century historical era stretching from 1815 (the
Congress of Vienna) to 1914 (the outbreak of the First World War); alternatively, Eric
Hobsbawm defined the "Long Nineteenth Century" as spanning the years 1789 to 1914.
During this time, the fall of the Spanish Armada enabled the rise of the British Empire.
[edit] Imperialism and empires
Main article: Imperialism
In the 1800's and early 1900's, once great and powerful Empires such as Spain, Ottoman
Turkey, the Mughal Empire, and the Kingdom of Portugal began to break a part. Spain,
which was at one time unrivaled in Europe, had been declining for a long time when it was
crippled by Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion. Sensing the time was right, Spain's vast colonies
in South America began a series of rebellions that ended with almost all of the Spanish
territories gaining their independance.
The once mighty Ottoman Empire was wracked with a series of revolutions, resulting with
the Ottoman's only holding a small region that surrounded the capital, Istanbul.
The Mughal empire, which was descended from the Mongol Khanate, was bested by the
upcoming Maratha Confederacy. All was going well for the Confederacy until the British
took an interest in the riches of India and the British ended up ruling not just the boundaries
of Modern India, but also Pakistan, Burma, Nepal, Bangladesh and some Southern Regions
of Afghanistan.
The King of Portugal's vast territory of Brazil reformed into the independant Empire of
Brazil.
With the defeat of Napoleonic France, Britain became undoubtedly the most powerful
country in the world, and by the end of the First World War controlled a Quarter of the
world's population and a third of its surface. However, the power of the British Empire did
not end on land, since it had the greatest navy on the planet.
Electricity, steel, and petroleum enabled Germany to become a great international power that
raced to create empires of its own.
The Meiji Restoration was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political
and social structure that was taking a firm hold at the beginning of the Meiji Era which
coincided the opening of Japan by the arrival of the Black Ships of Commodore Matthew
Perry and made Imperial Japan a great power.
Russia and Qing Dynasty China failed to keep pace with the other world powers which led to
massive social unrest in both empires. The Qing Dynasty's military power weakened during
the 19th century, and faced with international pressure, massive rebellions and defeats in
wars, the dynasty declined after the mid-19th century.
European powers controlled parts of Oceania, with French New Caledonia from 1853 and
French Polynesia from 1889; the Germans established colonies in New Guinea in 1884, and
Samoa in 1900.
The United States expanded into the Pacific with Hawaii becoming a U.S. territory from
1898.
Disagreements between the US, Germany and UK over Samoa led to the Tripartite
Convention of 1899.
See also: Chronology of colonialism
[edit] British Victorian era
Main articles: British Empire and Victorian era
National flag of the United Kingdom.
The Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June
1837 to January 1901. This was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits
gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home,
allowed a large, educated middle class to develop. Some scholars would extend the beginning
of the period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political games that have come to
be associated with the Victorians—back five years to the passage of the Reform Act 1832.
The British Empire in 1897, marked in the traditional colour for imperial British dominions
on maps
In Britain's "imperial century",[58] victory over Napoleon left Britain without any serious
international rival, other than Russia in central Asia. Unchallenged at sea, Britain adopted the
role of global policeman, a state of affairs later known as the Pax Britannica, and a foreign
policy of "splendid isolation". Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies,
Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies
of many nominally independent countries, such as China, Argentina and Siam, which has
been generally characterized as "informal empire".[59] Of note during this time was the
Anglo-Zulu War, which was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Empire.
British imperial strength was underpinned by the steamship and the telegraph, new
technologies invented in the second half of the 19th century, allowing it to control and defend
the Empire. By 1902, the British Empire was linked together by a network of telegraph
cables, the so-called All Red Line. Growing until 1922, around 13,000,000 square miles
(34,000,000 km2) of territory and roughly 458 million people were added to the British
Empire.[60][61] The British established colonies in Australia in 1788, New Zealand in 1840 and
Fiji in 1872, with much of Oceania becoming part of the British Empire.
[edit] French governments and conflicts
The Bourbon Restoration followed the ousting of Napoleon I of France in 1814. The Allies
restored the Bourbon Dynasty to the French throne. The ensuing period is called the
Restoration, following French usage, and is characterized by a sharp conservative reaction
and the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic Church as a power in French politics. The
July Monarchy was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King LouisPhilippe starting with the July Revolution (or Three Glorious Days) of 1830 and ending with
the Revolution of 1848. The Second Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of
Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in
France.
Napoleon III and Bismarck after the Battle of Sedan
The Franco-Prussian War was a conflict between France and Prussia, while Prussia was
backed up by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South
German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria. The complete Prussian and German
victory brought about the final unification of Germany under King Wilhelm I of Prussia. It
also marked the downfall of Napoleon III and the end of the Second French Empire, which
was replaced by the Third Republic. As part of the settlement, almost all of the territory of
Alsace-Lorraine was taken by Prussia to become a part of Germany, which it would retain
until the end of World War I.
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France between the end of the
Second French Empire following the defeat of Louis-Napoléon in the Franco-Prussian war in
1870 and the Vichy Regime after the invasion of France by the German Third Reich in 1940.
The Third Republic endured seventy years, making it the most long-lasting regime in France
since the collapse of the Ancien Régime in the French Revolution of 1789.
[edit] Slavery and abolition
Slavery was greatly reduced around the world in the 19th century. Following a successful
slave revolt in Haiti, Britain forced the Barbary pirates to halt their practice of kidnapping
and enslaving Europeans, banned slavery throughout its domain, and charged its navy with
ending the global slave trade. Slavery was then abolished in Russia, America, and Brazil (see
Abolitionism).
[edit] African colonization
Following the abolition of the slave trade, and propelled by economic exploitation, the
Scramble for Africa was initiated formally at the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1884–
1885. All the major European powers laid claim to the areas of Africa where they could
exhibit a sphere of influence over the area. These claims did not have to have any substantial
land holdings or treaties to be legitimate. The French gained major ground in West Africa,
the British in East Africa, and the Portuguese and Spanish at various points throughout the
continent, while King Leopold was able to retain his personal fiefdom, Congo.
[edit] Meiji Japan
Around the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, the Meiji era was a marked by
the reign of the Meiji Emperor. During this time, Japan started its modernization and rose to
world power status. This era name means "Enlightened Rule". It was not until the beginning
of the Meiji Era that the Japanese government began taking modernization seriously. Japan
expanded its military production base by opening arsenals in various locations. The hyobusho
(war office) was replaced with a War Department and a Naval Department. The samurai class
suffered great disappointment the following years.
Laws were instituted that required every able-bodied male Japanese citizen, regardless of
class, to serve a mandatory term of three years with the first reserves and two additional years
with the second reserves. This action, the deathblow for the samurai warriors and their
daimyo feudal lords, initially met resistance from both the peasant and warrior alike. The
peasant class interpreted the term for military service, ketsu-eki (blood tax) literally, and
attempted to avoid service by any means necessary. The Japanese government began
modelling their ground forces after the French military. The French government contributed
greatly to the training of Japanese officers. Many were employed at the military academy in
Kyoto, and many more still were feverishly translating French field manuals for use in the
Japanese ranks.
After the death of the Meiji Emperor, the Taishō Emperor took the throne, thus beginning the
Taishō period. A key foreign observer of the remarkable and rapid changes in Japanese
society in this period was Ernest Mason Satow.
[edit] United States egress
Main article: History of the United States (1865–1918)
[edit] Antebellum expansion
The Antebellum Age was the period of increasing sectionalism that led up to the American
Civil War. The Antebellum Age was a time of great transition because of the industrial
revolution in America. It also was a time of growth in slavery in the American South. In a
sense, the Antebellum Period is often considered to have begun with the Kansas-Nebraska
Act of 1854, though it is sometimes stipulated to extend back as early as 1812.
American westward expansion is idealized in Emanuel Leutze's famous painting Westward
the Course of Empire Takes its Way (1861).
"Manifest Destiny" was the territorial expansion of the United States from 1812 to 1860.
Manifest Destiny incorporated the belief that the United States was destined, even divinely
ordained, to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the
Pacific Ocean. This era, from the end of the War of 1812 to the beginning of the American
Civil War, has been called the "Age of Manifest Destiny." During this time, the United States
expanded to the Pacific Ocean—"from sea to shining sea"—largely defining the borders of
the contiguous United States as they are today.
See also: American Old West and Territorial changes of the United States
[edit] US Civil War and Reconstruction
Main articles: American Civil War and Reconstruction era of the United States
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern
slave states declared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of
America (the Confederacy). Led by Jefferson Davis, they fought against the U.S. federal
government (the Union), which was supported by all the free states and the five border slave
states in the north.
Northern leaders agreed that victory would require more than the end of fighting. It had to
encompass the two strategies: secession had to be totally repudiated and all forms of slavery
had to be eliminated. They disagreed sharply on the military tactics and political tactics for
these goals. They also disagreed on the degree of federal control, that should be imposed on
the South and the process by which Southern states should be reintegrated into the Union.
The Reconstruction Era in United States history existed in the post-Civil War era in the entire
United States between 1865 and 1877.
[edit] The Gilded Age and legacy
Main article: Gilded Age
During the Gilded Age, there was substantial growth in population in the United States and
extravagant displays of wealth and excess of America's upper-class during the post-Civil War
and post-Reconstruction era, in the late 19th century. The wealth polarization derived
primarily from industrial and population expansion. The businessmen of the Second
Industrial Revolution created industrial towns and cities in the Northeast with new factories,
and contributed to the creation of an ethnically diverse industrial working class which
produced the wealth owned by rising super-rich industrialists and financiers called the
"robber barons". An example is the company of John D. Rockefeller, who was an important
figure in shaping the new oil industry. Using highly effective tactics and aggressive practices,
later widely criticized, Standard Oil absorbed or destroyed most of its competition.
The creation of a modern industrial economy took place. With the creation of a transportation
and communication infrastructure, the corporation became the dominant form of business
organization and a managerial revolution transformed business operations. In 1890, Congress
passed the Sherman Antitrust Act—the source of all American anti-monopoly laws. The law
forbade every contract, scheme, deal, or conspiracy to restrain trade, though the phrase
"restraint of trade" remained subjective. By the beginning of the 20th century, per capita
income and industrial production in the United States exceeded that of any other country
except Britain. Long hours and hazardous working conditions led many workers to attempt to
form labor unions despite strong opposition from industrialists and the courts. But the courts
did protect the marketplace, declaring the Standard Oil group to be an "unreasonable"
monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1911. It ordered Standard to break up into 34
independent companies with different boards of directors.[62]
[edit] Transitions and Enlightenment negation
Around the start of the 20th century, Enlightenment philosophy was challenged in various
quarters. After the use of classical physics since the end of the scientific revolution, modern
physics arose with the advent of quantum physics;[63] substituting mathematics studies for
experimental studies and examining equations to build a theoretical structure.[64][65] The old
quantum theory was a collection of results which predate modern quantum mechanics, but
were never complete or self-consistent.[66] The collection of heuristic prescriptions for
quantum mechanics were the first corrections to classical mechanics.[66][67] In addition, the
various number of aether theories in classical physics which supposed a "fifth element", such
as the Luminiferous aether,[68] was nullified by the Michelson-Morley experiment in an
attempt to detect the motion of earth through the aether. In biology, Darwinism gained
acceptance and exposed adaptation in the theory of natural selection. The fields of geology,
astronomy and psychology also made strides and gained new insights. In medicine, there
were advances of medical theory and treatments.
Xinhai Revolution in Shanghai; Chen Qimei organized Shanghainese civilians to start the
uprising and was successful. The picture above is Nanjing Road after the uprising, hung with
the Five Races Under One Union Flags then used by the revolutionaries.
Another philosophical trend was Chinese philosophy began to integrate concepts of Western
philosophy, as steps toward modernization. By the time of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911,
there were many calls, such as the May Fourth Movement, to completely abolish the old
imperial institutions and practices of China. There have been attempts to incorporate
democracy, republicanism, and industrialism into Chinese philosophy, notably by Sun YatSen (Sūn yì xiān, in one Mandarin form of the name) at the beginning of the 20th century.
Mao Zedong (Máo zé dōng) added Marxism-Leninism thought. When the Communist Party
of China took over power, previous schools of thought, excepting notably Legalism, were
denounced as backward, and later even purged during the Cultural Revolution.
Developed from earlier secular traditions, modern Humanism ethical philosophies affirm the
dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by
appealing to universal human qualities, particularly rationality, without resorting to the
supernatural or alleged divine authority from religious texts.[69][70] For liberal humanists such
as Rousseau or Kant, the universal law of reason guided the way towards total emancipation
from any kind of tyranny. These ideas were challenged. The young Karl Marx criticized the
project of political emancipation (embodied in the form of human rights), asserting it to be
symptomatic of the very dehumanization it is supposed to oppose. For Friedrich Nietzsche,
humanism was nothing more than a secular version of theism. In his Genealogy of Morals, he
argues that human rights exist as a means for the weak to collectively constrain the strong.
On this view, such rights do not facilitate emancipation of life, but rather deny it. In the 20th
century, the notion that human beings are rationally autonomous was challenged by the
concept that humans were driven by unconscious irrational desires.
[edit] Notable persons
Sigmund Freud is renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational
energy of human life, as well as his therapeutic techniques, including the use of free
association, his theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship, and the interpretation of
dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires.
Albert Einstein is known for his theories of special relativity and general relativity. He also
made important contributions to statistical mechanics, especially his mathematical treatment
of Brownian motion, his resolution of the paradox of specific heats, and his connection of
fluctuations and dissipation. Despite his reservations about its interpretation, Einstein also
made contributions to quantum mechanics and, indirectly, quantum field theory, primarily
through his theoretical studies of the photon.
[edit] Social Darwinism
At the end of the 19th century, Social Darwinism was promoted and included the various
ideologies based on a concept that competition among all individuals, groups, nations, or
ideas was a "natural" framework for social evolution in human societies. In this view,
society's advancement is dependent on the "survival of the fittest", the term was in fact coined
by Herbert Spencer and referred to in "The Gospel of Wealth" theory written by Andrew
Carnegie.
[edit] Marxist society
The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx summarized his approach to history and politics in the opening line of the first
chapter of The Communist Manifesto (1848). He wrote:
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.[71]
The Manifesto went through a number of editions from 1872 to 1890; notable new prefaces
were written by Marx and Engels for the 1872 German edition, the 1882 Russian edition, the
1883 German edition, and the 1888 English edition. In general, Marxism identified five (and
one transitional) successive stages of development in Western Europe.[72]
1. Primitive Communism: as seen in cooperative tribal societies.
2. Slave Society: which develops when the tribe becomes a city-state. Aristocracy is
born.
3. Feudalism: aristocracy is the ruling class. Merchants develop into capitalists.
4. Capitalism: capitalists are the ruling class, who create and employ the true working
class.
5. Dictatorship of the proletariat: workers gain class consciousness, overthrow the
capitalists and take control over the state.
6. Communism: a classless and stateless society.
[edit] European decline and the 20th century
Main article: 20th century
Major political developments saw the former British Empire lose most of its remaining
political power over commonwealth countries.[73] The Trans-Siberian Railway, crossing Asia
by train, was complete by 1916. Other events include the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, two
world wars, and the Cold War.
[edit] Australian Constitution
In 1901, the Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British selfgoverning colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria
and Western Australia formed one nation. They kept the systems of government that they had
developed as separate colonies but also would have a federal government that was
responsible for matters concerning the whole nation. When the Constitution of Australia
came into force, the colonies collectively became states of the Commonwealth of Australia.
[edit] Eastern warlords
The last days of the Qing Dynasty were marked by civil unrest and foreign invasions.
Responding to these civil failures and discontent, the Qing Imperial Court did attempt to
reform the government in various ways, such as the decision to draft a constitution in 1906,
the establishment of provincial legislatures in 1909, and the preparation for a national
parliament in 1910. However, many of these measures were opposed by the conservatives of
the Qing Court, and many reformers were either imprisoned or executed outright. The
failures of the Imperial Court to enact such reforming measures of political liberalization and
modernization caused the reformists to steer toward the road of revolution.
In 1912, the Republic of China was established and was inaugurated in Nanjing as the first
Provisional President. But power in Beijing already had passed to Yuan Shikai, who had
effective control of the Beiyang Army, the most powerful military force in China at the time.
To prevent civil war and possible foreign intervention from undermining the infant republic,
leaders agreed to Army's demand that China be united under a Beijing government. On
March 10, in Beijing, Shikai was sworn in as the second Provisional President of the
Republic of China.
After the early 20th century revolutions, shifting alliances of China's regional warlords fought
for control of the Beijing government. Despite the fact that various warlords gained control of
the government in Beijing during the warlord era, this did not constitute a new era of control
or governance, because other warlords did not acknowledge the transitory governments in
this period and were a law unto themselves. These military-dominated governments were
collectively known as the Beiyang government. The warlord era ended around 1927.[74]
[edit] World Wars era
See also: Timeline of modern history, Timeline of World War I, and Timeline of World War II
[edit] Start of the 20th century
Begun at the Battle of Port Arthur, the Russo-Japanese War established the Empire of Japan
as a world power. The Russians were in constant pursuit of a warm water port on the Pacific
Ocean, for their navy as well as for maritime trade. The Manchurian Campaign of the
Russian Empire was fought against the Japanese over Manchuria and Korea. The major
theatres of operations were Southern Manchuria, specifically the area around the Liaodong
Peninsula and Mukden, and the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea. The resulting
campaigns, in which the fledgling Japanese military consistently attained victory over the
Russian forces arrayed against them, were unexpected by world observers. These victories, as
time transpired, would dramatically transform the distribution of power in East Asia,
resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage. The embarrassing
string of defeats increased Russian popular dissatisfaction with the inefficient and corrupt
Tsarist government.
The Russian Revolution of 1905 was a wave of mass political unrest through vast areas of the
Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected.
It included terrorism, worker strikes, peasant unrests, and military mutinies. It led to the
establishment of the limited constitutional monarchy, the establishment of State Duma of the
Russian Empire, the multi-party system and Russian Constitution of 1906.
In China, the Qing Dynasty was overthrown following the Xinhai Revolution. The Xinhai
Revolution began with the Wuchang Uprising on October 10, 1911 and ended with the
abdication of Emperor Puyi on February 12, 1912. The primary parties to the conflict were
the Imperial forces of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), and the revolutionary forces of the
Chinese Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui).
[edit] Edwardian Britain
The Edwardian era in the United Kingdom is the period spanning the reign of King Edward
VII up to the end of the First World War, including the years surrounding the sinking of the
RMS Titanic. In the early years of the period, the Second Boer War in South Africa split the
country into anti- and pro-war factions. The imperial policies of the Conservatives eventually
proved unpopular and in the general election of 1906 the Liberals won a huge landslide. The
Liberal government was unable to proceed with all of its radical programme without the
support of the House of Lords, which was largely Conservative. Conflict between the two
Houses of Parliament over the People's Budget led to a reduction in the power of the peers in
1910. The general election in January that year returned a hung parliament with the balance
of power held by Labour and Irish Nationalist members.
[edit] World War I
Main article: World War I
The causes of World War I included many factors, including the conflicts and antagonisms of
the four decades leading up to the war. The Triple Entente was the name given to the loose
alignment between the United Kingdom, France, and Russia after the signing of the AngloRussian Entente in 1907. The alignment of the three powers, supplemented by various
agreements with Japan, the United States, and Spain, constituted a powerful counterweight to
the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, the third having concluded an
additional secret agreement with France effectively nullifying her Alliance commitments.
Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism played major roles in the conflict. The
immediate origins of the war lay in the decisions taken by statesmen and generals during the
July crisis of 1914, the spark (or casus belli) for which was the assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
However, the crisis did not exist in a void; it came after a long series of diplomatic clashes
between the Great Powers over European and colonial issues in the decade prior to 1914
which had left tensions high. The diplomatic clashes can be traced to changes in the balance
of power in Europe since 1870. An example is the Baghdad Railway which was planned to
connect the Ottoman Empire cities of Konya and Baghdad with a line through modern-day
Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The railway became a source of international disputes during the
years immediately preceding World War I. Although it has been argued that they were
resolved in 1914 before the war began, it has also been argued that the railroad was a cause of
the First World War.[75] Fundamentally the war was sparked by tensions over territory in the
Balkans. Austria-Hungary competed with Serbia and Russia for territory and influence in the
region and they pulled the rest of the great powers into the conflict through their various
alliances and treaties. The Balkan Wars were two wars in South-eastern Europe in 1912–1913
in the course of which the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, and Serbia) first
captured Ottoman-held remaining part of Thessaly, Macedonia, Epirus, Albania and most of
Thrace and then fell out over the division of the spoils, with incorporation of Romania this
time.
Various periods of World War I; 1914.07.28 (Tsar Nicholas II of Russia orders a partial
mobilization against Austria-Hungary), 1914.08.01 (Germany declares war on Russia),
1914.08.03 (Germany declares war on Russia's ally France), 1914.08.04 (Britain declares war
on Germany), 1914.12 (British and German Christmas truce), 1915.12 (French and German
Christmas truce), 1916.12 (Battle of Magdhaba), 1917.12 (British troops take Jerusalem from
the Ottoman Empire), and 1918.11.11 (World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice
agreement with the Allies).
Allies and Central Powers in the First World War
Allied powers and areas
Central powers and colonies or occupied territory
Neutral countries
The First World War began in 1914 and lasted to the final Armistice in 1918. The Allied
Powers, led by the British Empire, France, Russia until March 1918, Japan and the United
States after 1917, defeated the Central Powers, led by the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian
Empire and the Ottoman Empire. The war caused the disintegration of four empires—the
Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian ones—as well as radical change in the
European and Middle Eastern maps. The Allied powers before 1917 are sometimes referred
to as the Triple Entente, and the Central Powers are sometimes referred to as the Triple
Alliance.
Much of the fighting in World War I took place along the Western Front, within a system of
opposing manned trenches and fortifications (separated by a "No man's land") running from
the North Sea to the border of Switzerland. On the Eastern Front, the vast eastern plains and
limited rail network prevented a trench warfare stalemate from developing, although the scale
of the conflict was just as large. Hostilities also occurred on and under the sea and—for the
first time—from the air. More than 9 million soldiers died on the various battlefields, and
nearly that many more in the participating countries' home fronts on account of food
shortages and genocide committed under the cover of various civil wars and internal
conflicts. Notably, more people died of the worldwide influenza outbreak at the end of the
war and shortly after than died in the hostilities. The unsanitary conditions engendered by the
war, severe overcrowding in barracks, wartime propaganda interfering with public health
warnings, and migration of so many soldiers around the world helped the outbreak become a
pandemic.[76]
Ultimately, World War I created a decisive break with the old world order that had emerged
after the Napoleonic Wars, which was modified by the mid-19th century's nationalistic
revolutions. The results of World War I would be important factors in the development of
World War II approximately 20 years later. More immediate to the time, the partitioning of
the Ottoman Empire was a political event that redrew the political boundaries of the Middle
East. The huge conglomeration of territories and peoples formerly ruled by the Sultan of the
Ottoman Empire was divided into several new nations.[77] The partitioning brought the
creation of the modern Arab world and the Republic of Turkey. The League of Nations
granted France mandates over Syria and Lebanon and granted the United Kingdom mandates
over Mesopotamia and Palestine (which was later divided into two regions: Palestine and
Transjordan). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became parts of what
are today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
[edit] Revolutions and war
Main articles: Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War
National flag of the Soviet Union.
The Russian Revolution is the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the
Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. Following the abdication of
Nicholas II of Russia, the Russian Provisional Government was established. In October 1917,
a red faction revolution occurred in which the Red Guard, armed groups of workers and
deserting soldiers directed by the Bolshevik Party, seized control of Saint Petersburg (then
known as Petrograd) and began an immediate armed takeover of cities and villages
throughout the former Russian Empire.
Another action in 1917 that is of note was the armistice signed between Russia and the
Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk.[78] As a condition for peace, the treaty by the Central Powers
conceded huge portions of the former Russian Empire to Imperial Germany and the Ottoman
Empire, greatly upsetting nationalists and conservatives. The Bolsheviks made peace with the
German Empire and the Central Powers, as they had promised the Russian people prior to the
Revolution. Vladimir Lenin's decision has been attributed to his sponsorship by the foreign
office of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, offered by the latter in hopes that with a revolution,
Russia would withdraw from World War I. This suspicion was bolstered by the German
Foreign Ministry's sponsorship of Lenin's return to Petrograd. The Western Allies expressed
their dismay at the Bolsheviks, upset at:
1. the withdrawal of Russia from the war effort,
2. worried about a possible Russo-German alliance, and
3. galvanized by the prospect of the Bolsheviks making good their threats to assume no
responsibility for, and so default on, Imperial Russia's massive foreign loans.[79]
In addition, there was a concern, shared by many Central Powers as well, that the socialist
revolutionary ideas would spread to the West. Hence, many of these countries expressed their
support for the Whites, including the provision of troops and supplies. Winston Churchill
declared that Bolshevism must be "strangled in its cradle".[80]
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire
after the Russian provisional government collapsed and the Soviets under the domination of
the Bolshevik party assumed power, first in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and then in other
places. In the wake of the October Revolution, the old Russian Imperial Army had been
demobilized; the volunteer-based Red Guard was the Bolsheviks' main military force,
augmented by an armed military component of the Cheka, the Bolshevik state security
apparatus. There was an instituted mandatory conscription of the rural peasantry into the Red
Army.[81] Opposition of rural Russians to Red Army conscription units was overcome by
taking hostages and shooting them when necessary in order to force compliance.[82] Former
Tsarist officers were utilized as "military specialists" (voenspetsy),[83] sometimes taking their
families hostage in order to ensure loyalty.[84] At the start of the war, three-fourths of the Red
Army officer corps was composed of former Tsarist officers.[84] By its end, 83% of all Red
Army divisional and corps commanders were ex-Tsarist soldiers.[85]
The principal fighting occurred between the Bolshevik Red Army and the forces of the White
Army. Many foreign armies warred against the Red Army, notably the Allied Forces, yet
many volunteer foreigners fought in both sides of the Russian Civil War. Other nationalist
and regional political groups also participated in the war, including the Ukrainian nationalist
Green Army, the Ukrainian anarchist Black Army and Black Guards, and warlords such as
Ungern von Sternberg. The most intense fighting took place from 1918 to 1920. Major
military operations ended on 25 October 1922 when the Red Army occupied Vladivostok,
previously held by the Provisional Priamur Government. The last enclave of the White Forces
was the Ayano-Maysky District on the Pacific coast. The majority of the fighting ended in
1920 with the defeat of General Pyotr Wrangel in the Crimea, but a notable resistance in
certain areas continued until 1923 (e.g., Kronstadt Uprising, Tambov Rebellion, Basmachi
Revolt, and the final resistance of the White movement in the Far East).
In 1917, China declared war on Germany in the hope of recovering its lost province, then
under Japanese control. The New Culture Movement occupied the period from 1917 to 1923.
Chinese representatives refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles, due to intense pressure from
the student protesters and public opinion alike.
The May Fourth Movement helped to rekindle the then-fading cause of republican revolution.
In 1917 Sun Yat-sen had become commander-in-chief of a rival military government in
Guangzhou in collaboration with southern warlords. Sun efforts to obtain aid from the
Western democracies were ignored, however, and in 1920 he turned to the Soviet Union,
which had recently achieved its own revolution. The Soviets sought to befriend the Chinese
revolutionists by offering scathing attacks on Western imperialism. But for political
expediency, the Soviet leadership initiated a dual policy of support for both Sun and the
newly established Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The flag of the Kuomintang, one canton of the flag of the Republic of China.
The policy of working with the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek had been recommended by
the Dutch Communist Henk Sneevliet, chosen in 1923 to be the Comintern representative in
China due to his revolutionary experience in the Dutch Indies, where he had a major role in
founding the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI) - and who felt that the Chinese party was too
small and weak to undertake a major effort on its own (see Henk Sneevliet's work for the
Comintern).
In early 1927, the Kuomintang-CCP rivalry led to a split in the revolutionary ranks. The CCP
and the left wing of the Kuomintang had decided to move the seat of the Nationalist
government from Guangzhou to Wuhan. But Chiang Kai-shek, whose Northern Expedition
was proving successful, set his forces to destroying the Shanghai CCP apparatus and
established an anti-Communist government at Nanjing in April 1927 - bloody events.
[edit] The 1920s and the Depression
Main articles: Interwar period, Roaring Twenties, and Great Depression
The interwar period was the period between the end of the First World War and the beginning
of the Second World War. This period was marked by turmoil in much of the world, as
Europe struggled to recover from the devastation of the First World War.
In North America, especially the first half of this period, people experienced considerable
prosperity in the Roaring Twenties. The social and societal upheaval known as the Roaring
Twenties began in North America and spread to Europe in the aftermath of World War I. The
Roaring Twenties, often called "The Jazz Age", saw an exposition of social, artistic, and
cultural dynamism. 'Normalcy' returned to politics, jazz music blossomed, the flapper
redefined modern womanhood, Art Deco peaked. The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was
marked by a general feeling of discontinuity associated with modernity, a break with
traditions. Everything seemed to be feasible through modern technology. New technologies,
especially automobiles, movies and radio proliferated 'modernity' to a large part of the
population. The 1920s saw the general favor of practicality, in architecture as well as in daily
life. The 1920s was further distinguished by several inventions and discoveries, extensive
industrial growth and the rise in consumer demand and aspirations, and significant changes in
lifestyle.
Europe between 1920 and 1938.
Europe spent these years rebuilding and coming to terms with the vast human cost of the
conflict. The economy of the United States became increasingly intertwined with that of
Europe. In Germany, the Weimar Republic gave way to episodes of political and economic
turmoil, which culminated with the German hyperinflation of 1923 and the failed Beer Hall
Putsch of that same year. When Germany could no longer afford war payments, Wall Street
invested heavily in European debts to keep the European economy afloat as a large consumer
market for American mass produced goods. By the middle of the decade, economic
development soared in Europe, and the Roaring Twenties broke out in Germany, Britain and
France, the second half of the decade becoming known as the "Golden Twenties". In France
and francophone Canada, they were also called the "années folles" ("Crazy Years").[86]
Worldwide prosperity changed dramatically with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 served to punctuate the end of the previous era, as The Great
Depression set in. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn starting in
most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different
countries.[87] It was the largest and most important economic depression in the 20th century,
and is used in the 21st century as an example of how far the world's economy can fall.[88]
The depression had devastating effects in virtually every country, rich or poor. International
trade plunged by half to two-thirds, as did personal income, tax revenue, prices and profits.
Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry.
Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming and rural areas suffered as crop
prices fell by roughly 60 percent.[89][90][91] Facing plummeting demand with few alternate
sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries suffered the most.
The Great Depression ended at different times in different countries with the effect lasting
into the next era.[92] America's Great Depression ended in 1941 with America's entry into
World War II.[93] The majority of countries set up relief programs, and most underwent some
sort of political upheaval, pushing them to the left or right. In some world states, the
desperate citizens turned toward nationalist demagogues—the most infamous being Adolf
Hitler—setting the stage for the next era of war. The convulsion brought on by the worldwide
depression resulted in the rise of Nazism. In Asia, Japan became an ever more assertive
power, especially with regards to China.
[edit] Nanjing period
Main article: Nanjing decade
With help from Germany, Chinese industry and military was improved just prior to the war
against Japan.
The "Nanjing Decade" of 1928-37 was one of consolidation and accomplishment under the
leadership of the Nationalists, with a mixed but generally positive record in the economy,
social progress, development of democracy, and cultural creativity. Some of the harsh aspects
of foreign concessions and privileges in China were moderated through diplomacy.
See also: Sino-German cooperation, National Resources Commission, and Chinese Civil War
[edit] The League and crises
The interwar period was also marked by a radical change in the international order, away
from the balance of power that had dominated pre–World War I Europe. One main institution
that was meant to bring stability was the League of Nations, which was created after the First
World War with the intention of maintaining world security and peace and encouraging
economic growth between member countries. The League was undermined by the bellicosity
of Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, the Soviet Union, and Mussolini's Italy, and by the nonparticipation of the United States, leading many to question its effectiveness and legitimacy.
A series of international crises strained the League to its limits, the earliest being the invasion
of Manchuria by Japan and the Abyssinian crisis of 1935/36 in which Italy invaded
Abyssinia, one of the only free African nations at that time. The League tried to enforce
economic sanctions upon Italy, but to no avail. The incident highlighted French and British
weakness, exemplified by their reluctance to alienate Italy and lose her as their ally. The
limited actions taken by the Western powers pushed Mussolini's Italy towards alliance with
Hitler's Germany anyway. The Abyssinian war showed Hitler how weak the League was and
encouraged the remilitarization of the Rhineland in flagrant disregard of the Treaty of
Versailles. This was the first in a series of provocative acts culminating in the invasion of
Poland in September 1939 and the beginning of the Second World War.
Few Chinese had any illusions about Japanese designs on China. Hungry for raw materials
and pressed by a growing population, Japan initiated the seizure of Manchuria in September
1931 and established ex-Qing emperor Puyi as head of the puppet state of Manchukuo in
1932. During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the loss of Manchuria, and its vast
potential for industrial development and war industries, was a blow to the Kuomintang
economy. The League of Nations, established at the end of World War I, was unable to act in
the face of the Japanese defiance. After 1940, conflicts between the Kuomintang and
Communists became more frequent in the areas not under Japanese control. The Communists
expanded their influence wherever opportunities presented themselves through mass
organizations, administrative reforms, and the land- and tax-reform measures favoring the
peasants—while the Kuomintang attempted to neutralize the spread of Communist influence.
[edit] Tripartite Pact
The Second Sino-Japanese War had seen tensions rise between Imperial Japan and the United
States; events such as the Panay incident and the Nanking Massacre turned American public
opinion against Japan. With the occupation of French Indochina in the years of 1940–41, and
with the continuing war in China, the United States placed embargoes on Japan of strategic
materials such as scrap metal and oil, which were vitally needed for the war effort. The
Japanese were faced with the option of either withdrawing from China and losing face or
seizing and securing new sources of raw materials in the resource-rich, European-controlled
colonies of South East Asia—specifically British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies (modernday Indonesia). In 1940, Imperial Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy.
[edit] World War II
Main article: World War II
The Second World War was a global military conflict that took place in 1939–1945. It was
the largest and deadliest war in history, culminating in the Holocaust and ending with the
dropping of the atom bomb.
National flag of the Third Reich (Nazi Germany).
Even though Japan had been fighting in China since 1937, the conventional view is that the
war began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, the Drang nach
Osten. Within two days the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, even
though the fighting was confined to Poland. Pursuant to a then-secret provision of its nonaggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union joined with Germany on September
17, 1939, to conquer Poland and to divide Eastern Europe.
The Allies were initially made up of Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada,
New Zealand, South Africa, as well as British Commonwealth countries which were
controlled directly by the UK, such as the Indian Empire. All of these countries declared war
on Germany in September 1939.
Following the lull in fighting, known as the "Phoney War", Germany invaded western Europe
in May 1940. Six weeks later, France, in the mean time attacked by Italy as well, surrendered
to Germany, which then tried unsuccessfully to conquer Britain. On September 27, Germany,
Italy, and Japan signed a mutual defense agreement, the Tripartite Pact, and were known as
the Axis Powers.
Nine months later, on June 22, 1941, Germany launched a massive invasion of the Soviet
Union, which promptly joined the Allies. Germany was now engaged in fighting a war on
two fronts. This proved to be a mistake by Germany - Germany had not successfully carried
out the invasion of Britain and the war turned against the Axis.
Ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, bringing it too into
the war on the Allied side. China also joined the Allies, as eventually did most of the rest of
the world. China was in turmoil at the time, and attacked Japanese armies through guerillatype warfare. By the beginning of 1942, the major combatants were aligned as follows: the
British Commonwealth, the United States, and the Soviet Union were fighting Germany and
Italy; and the British Commonwealth, China, and the United States were fighting Japan. From
then through August 1945, battles raged across all of Europe, in the North Atlantic Ocean,
across North Africa, throughout Southeast Asia, throughout China, across the Pacific Ocean
and in the air over Japan.
Italy surrendered in September 1943 and split in a northern Germany-occupied puppet state
and in an Allies-friendly state in the South; Germany surrendered in May 1945. Following
the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered, marking the end of the
war on September 2, 1945.
It is possible that around 62 million people died in the war; estimates vary greatly. About
60% of all casualties were civilians, who died as a result of disease, starvation, genocide (in
particular, the Holocaust), and aerial bombing. The former Soviet Union and China suffered
the most casualties. Estimates place deaths in the Soviet Union at around 23 million, while
China suffered about 10 million. No country lost a greater portion of its population than
Poland: approximately 5.6 million, or 16%, of its pre-war population of 34.8 million died.
The Holocaust (which roughly means "burnt whole") was the deliberate and systematic
murder of millions of Jews and other "unwanted" during World War II by the Nazi regime in
Germany. Several differing views exist regarding whether it was intended to occur from the
war's beginning, or if the plans for it came about later. Regardless, persecution of Jews
extended well before the war even started, such as in the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken
Glass). The Nazis used propaganda to great effect to stir up anti-Semitic feelings within
ordinary Germans.
After World War II, Europe was informally split into Western and Soviet spheres of
influence. Western Europe later aligned as North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and
Eastern Europe as the Warsaw Pact. There was a shift in power from Western Europe and the
British Empire to the two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. These
two rivals would later face off in the Cold War. In Asia, the defeat of Japan led to its
democratization. China's civil war continued through and after the war, resulting eventually
in the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The former colonies of the European
powers began their road to independence.
[edit] Post-1945 world
The Earth seen from Apollo 17. The second half of the 20th century saw an increase of
interest in both space exploration and the environmental movement.
The mid-20th century is distinguished from most of human history in that its most significant
changes were directly or indirectly economic and technological in nature. Economic
development was the force behind vast changes in everyday life, to a degree which was
unprecedented in human history.
Over the course of the 20th century, the world's per-capita gross domestic product grew by a
factor of five,[94] much more than all earlier centuries combined (including the 19th with its
Industrial Revolution). Many economists make the case that this understates the magnitude of
growth, as many of the goods and services consumed at the end of the 20th century, such as
improved medicine (causing world life expectancy to increase by more than two decades) and
communications technologies, were not available at any price at its beginning. However, the
gulf between the world's rich and poor grew wider,[95] and the majority of the global
population remained in the poor side of the divide.[96]
Still, advancing technology and medicine has had a great impact even in the Global South.
Large-scale industry and more centralized media made brutal dictatorships possible on an
unprecedented scale in the middle of the century, leading to wars that were also
unprecedented. However, the increased communications contributed to democratization.
Technological developments included the development of airplanes and space exploration,
nuclear technology, advancement in genetics, and the dawning of the Information Age.
[edit] American Peace
Main article: Pax Americana
National flag of the United States.
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 starting around the start of the 20th century. Although the term finds its primary
utility in the latter half of the 20th century, it has been used in various places and eras. Its
modern connotations concern the peace established after the end of World War II in 1945.
For more details on this topic, see American Century.
[edit] Cold War era
Main article: Cold War
The Cold War began in the mid-1940s and lasted into the early 1990s. Throughout this
period, the conflict was expressed through military coalitions, espionage, weapons
development, invasions, propaganda, and competitive technological development. The
conflict included costly defense spending, a massive conventional and nuclear arms race, and
numerous proxy wars; the two superpowers never fought one another directly.
Borders of NATO (blue) and Warsaw Pact (red) states during the Cold war era.
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 policy of
"containment" of communism and forged myriad alliances to this end, including NATO.
Several of these western countries also coordinated efforts regarding the rebuilding of
western Europe, including western Germany, which the Soviets opposed. In other regions of
the world, such as Latin America and Southeast Asia, the Soviet Union fostered communist
revolutionary movements, which the United States and many of its allies opposed and, in
some cases, attempted to "roll back". Many countries were prompted to align themselves with
the nations that would later form either NATO or the Warsaw Pact, though other movements
would also emerge.
The Cold War saw periods of both heightened tension and relative calm. International crises
arose, such as the Berlin Blockade (1948–1949), the Korean War (1950–1953), the Berlin
Crisis of 1961, the Vietnam War (1959–1975), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Soviet
war in Afghanistan (1979–1989) and NATO exercises in November 1983. There were also
periods of reduced tension as both sides sought détente. Direct military attacks on adversaries
were deterred by the potential for mutual assured destruction using deliverable nuclear
weapons. In the Cold War era, the Generation of Love and the rise of computers changed
society in very different, complex ways, including higher social and local mobility.
European trade blocs as of the late
1980s. EEC member states are marked
in blue, EFTA – green, and Comecon –
red.
East and West in 1980, as defined by the Cold War.
The Cold War had divided Europe politically into
East and West, with the Iron Curtain splitting
Central Europe.
The Cold War drew to a close in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The United States under
President Ronald Reagan increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressure on the Soviet
Union, which was already suffering from severe economic stagnation. In the second half of
the 1980s, newly appointed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the perestroika and
glasnost reforms. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, leaving the United States as the
dominant military power, though Russia retained much of the massive Soviet nuclear arsenal.
[edit] Latin America polarization
In Latin America in the 1970s, leftists acquired a significant political influence which
prompted the right-wing, ecclesiastical authorities and a large portion of the individual
country's upper class to support coup d'états to avoid what they perceived as a communist
threat. This was further fueled by Cuban and United States intervention which led to a
political polarization. Most South American countries were in some periods ruled by military
dictatorships that were supported by the United States of America. Around the 1970s, the
regimes of the Southern Cone collaborated in Operation Condor killing many leftist
dissidents, including some urban guerrillas.[97] However, by the early 1990s all countries had
restored their democracies.
[edit] Space Age
This high-resolution image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field includes galaxies of various ages,
sizes, shapes, and colors. The smallest, reddest galaxies, are some of the most distant galaxies
to have been imaged by an optical telescope
The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space
exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events. The
Space Age began with the development of several technologies that culminated with the
launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union. This was the world's first artificial satellite, orbiting
the Earth in 98.1 minutes and weighing in at 83 kg. The launch of Sputnik 1 ushered a new
era of political, scientific and technological achievements that became known as the Space
Age. The Space Age was characterized by rapid development of new technology in a close
race mostly between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Space Age reached its peak
with the Apollo program which captured the imagination of much of the world's population.
The landing of Apollo 11 was an event watched by over 500 million people around the world
and is widely recognized as one of the defining moments of the 20th century. Since then and
with the end of the space race due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, public attention has
largely moved to other areas.
[edit] Contemporary era
Main article: Contemporary history
In the Contemporary era, there were various socio-technological trends, among the
challenges and problems the modern world faces is climate change. Regarding the 21st
century and the late modern world, the Information age and computers were forefront in use,
not completely ubiquitous but often present in daily life. The development of Eastern powers
was of note, with China and India becoming more powerful. In the Eurasian theater, the
European Union and Russian Federation were two forces recently developed. A concern for
Western world, if not the whole world, was the late modern form of terrorism and the warfare
that has resulted from the contemporary terrorist acts.
[edit] Modern history education and schools
The humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition, using methods
that are primarily analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical
approaches of the natural and social sciences. Although many of the subjects of modern
history coincide with that of standard history, the subject is taught independently by various
systems of education in the world.
[edit] British education
Students can choose the subject at university. The material covered includes from the mid18th century, to analysis of the present day. Virtually all colleges and sixth forms that do
teach modern history do it alongside standard history; very few teach the subject exclusively.
[edit] Universities
At the University of Oxford 'Modern History' has a somewhat different meaning. The
contrast is not with the Middle Ages but with Antiquity. The earliest period that can be
studied in the Final Honour School of Modern History begins in 285.[98]
[edit] See also
This "see also" section may contain an excessive number of suggestions. Please
ensure that only the most relevant suggestions are given and that they are not red
links, and consider integrating suggestions into the article itself. (May 2012)
Religious
Irreligion, Atheism, Ancestor worship, Muslims and the Muslim world, Christians and
Christendom, Huguenots, Puritans, Church Missionary Society, Robert College,
Pietist, London Missionary Society, Society of Jesus (Jesuits), European wars of
religion
People and groups
Andreas Karlstadt, Anne Boleyn, Menocchio, Descartes, Goethe, Voltaire,
Nostradamus, Isaac Newton, Fugger, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Boers,
Congress of Berlin, Lenin, Yamagata Aritomo, Tojo Hideki, Balkan League, Tutsi,
William Paley, British Whig Party and the Radical Whigs, US Whig Party, John
Stuart Mill, John Partridge, Sir Frederick Pollock, William Ashley, American
Historical Association, John Adams, Andrew Jackson and Jacksonian Democracy,
United States Republican party, Joseph Galloway, Frederick Jackson Turner,
American Anti-Slavery Society, A. P. Herbert, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Institute
of Contemporary History[disambiguation needed]
Companies and businesses
Laissez-faire, Marconi Company, Electric Vehicle Company, Henry Ford and the
Ford Motor Company, AT&T Corporation, Bechtel, Asahi Shimbun, Daily Mail
Areas and histories
List of World Map changes, Duchy of Warsaw, Bohemia, Cape Colony, Transvaal,
History of the Netherlands, History of Iran, History of Korea, History of Manchuria,
History of Vladivostok, History of Pakistan, History of Saudi Arabia, History of
Kuwait, History of Cambodia, Kansas-Nebraska Act, History of New York City,
Moabit, Levittown
Culture and society
Iconoclasm, Le Corbusier, Apsley House, Yosano Akiko, Romanticist, Television and
Cable television, History of modern literature, Symbolist, The Beatles, Rodgers and
Hammerstein, I Love Lucy, Mass Observation
Legal
letter of credence, prisoner of war, laws of war, exequatur, extradition, right of
asylum, jus soli, jus sanguinis, exterritoriality
Other
Modernity, Postmodernity, Romanticism, Free silver, political consciousness,
Sophisms, Fire of London, Tower of London, utilitarian, Uitlanders, Pan-Slavism,
Sinn Féin, UNESCO, Women's suffrage, The Nobel and the Peace Prize, Origin of
Species, human evolution, Social evolution, Bakelite, Transistors, Infidelity,
Penicillin, Ethanol, Gasoline, Fuel Cell, Automobile, personal computers, mobile
phone, Falklands War
Modernism Framework
Premodernity, Modernism, Postmodernism
Western Philosophy
Classicism, Modernity, Postmodernity
[edit] Further reading
21st century sources
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Boyd, Andrew, Joshua Comenetz. An atlas of world affairs. Routledge, 2007. ISBN
0-415-39169-5
Black, Edwin. Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted
the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2006.
Briggs, Asa, and Peter Burke. A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the
Internet. Cambridge: Polity, 2002.
Barzun, Jacques. From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life :
1500 to the Present. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.
20th century sources
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Burke, Peter. A Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot.
Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2000.
CBS News. People of the century. Simon and Schuster, 1999. ISBN 0-684-87093-2
Wang, Ke-wen. Modern China: an encyclopedia of history, culture, and nationalism.
Taylor & Francis, 1998. ISBN 0-8153-0720-9
Huffman, James L. Modern Japan: an encyclopedia of history, culture, and
nationalism. Taylor & Francis, 1998. ISBN 0-8153-2525-8
Schlesinger, Arthur M. New Viewpoints in American History. New York: Macmillan,
1922.
Bakeless, John Edwin. The Economic Causes of Modern War; A Study of the Period:
1878-1918. New York: Printed for the Department of political science of Williams
college, by Moffat, Yard and Co, 1921
Day, Clive. A History of Commerce. New York [etc.]: Longmans, Green, and Co,
1921.
Moore, Edward Caldwell. The Spread of Christianity in the Modern World. Chicago,
Ill: University of Chicago Press, 1919.
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Muir, Ramsay. The Expansion of Europe; The Culmination of Modern History.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917.
Palat, Madhavan K., Social Identities in Revolutionary Russia, ed. (Macmillan,
Palgrave, UK, and St Martin’s Press, New York, 2001).
Palat, Madhavan K., History of Civilizations of Central Asia, ed. , vol. 6, Towards the
Contemporary Period: From The Mid-Nineteenth Century To The End Of The
Twentieth Century, UNESCO, Paris 2005.
Robinson, James Harvey, and Charles Austin Beard. Readings in Modern European
History; A Collection of Extracts from the Sources Chosen with the Purpose of
Illustrating Some of the Chief Phases of Development of Europe During the Last Two
Hundred Years. Boston: Ginn & Co, 1908.
McCarthy, Michael J. F. The Coming Power; A Contemporary History of the Far
East, 1898-1905. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1905.
Kidd, Benjamin. Principles of Western Civilisation. London: Macmillan and Co.,
Limited, 1902.
Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, Adolphus William Ward, G. W.
Prothero, Stanley Mordaunt Leathes, and E. A. Benians. The Cambridge Modern
History. New York: Macmillan Co, 1902