| [Edit]
The 20th century started on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar. A common belief is that it started in 1900 and ended in 1999. Some historians consider the era from about 1914 to 1992 to be the Short Twentieth Century.
The twentieth century was a period of radical departure in the way almost every human activity had been done in the past. Accelerating scientific understanding, better communications, faster transportation transformed the world in those hundred years more than any time in the past. It was a century that started with steam powered ships as the most sophisticated means of transport, and ended with the space shuttle. Horses, and other pack animals, Western humanity's basic form of personal transportation for thousands of years were replaced by automobiles within the span of a few decades.
The twentieth century saw a remarkable shift in the way that vast numbers of people lived, as a result of technological, medical, social, ideological, and political innovation. Arguably more technological advances occurred in any 10 year period following World War I than the sum total of new technological development in any previous century. Terms like ideology, world war, genocide, and nuclear war entered common usage and became an influence on the lives of everyday people. War reached an unprecedented scale and level of sophistication; in the Second World War (1939-1945) alone, approximately 57 million people died, mainly due to massive improvements in weaponry. The trends of mechanization of goods and services and networks of global communication, which were begun in the 19th century, continued at an ever-increasing pace in the 20th. In spite of the terror and chaos, the 20th century saw many attempts at world peace.
Virtually every aspect of life in virtually every human society changed in some fundamental way or another during the twentieth century and for the first time, any individual could influence the course of history no matter their background. Arguably, the 20th century re-shaped the face of the planet in more ways than any previous century.
Scientific discoveries such as relativity and quantum physics radically changed the worldview of scientists, causing them to realize that the universe was much more complex than they had previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the preceding century that the last few details of knowledge were about to be filled in.
For a more coherent overview of the historical events of the century, see The 20th century in review.
The 20th century has sometimes been called, both within and outside the United States, the American Century, though this is a controversial term.
top
Science and Technology
|
The assembly line and mass production of motor vehicles and other goods allowed manufacturers to produce more and cheaper products. This allowed the automobile to become the most important means of transportation.
Mass media technologies such as film, radio, and television allow the communication of political messages and entertainment with unprecedented impact
Mass availability of the telephone and later, the computer, especially through the Internet, provides people with new opportunities for near-instantaneous communication
|
top
Wars and politics
|
After decades of fight of the Women's suffrage movement, the right to vote for women is introduced in all western countries.
A violent war broke up in Spain in 1936 when General Francisco Franco rebelled against the Second Spanish Republic. Almost 1,000,000 people died. Many consider this war as a testing battleground for WWII as the Nazi armies bombed some Spanish territories.
The end of colonialism led to the independence of many African and Asian countries. During the Cold War, many of these aligned with the USA, the USSR, or China for defense.
The creation of Israel, a Jewish state in a mostly Arab region of the world, fueled many conflicts in the region, which were also influenced by the vast oil fields in many of the Arab countries.
|
top
Culture and entertainment
As the century begins, Paris is the artistic capital of the world, where both French and foreign writers, composers and visual artists gather. By the end of the century, the focal point of global culture had moved to the United States, especially New York City and Los Angeles.
Movies, music and the media had a major influence on fashion and trends in all aspects of life. As many movies and music originate from the United States, American culture spread rapidly over the world.
After gaining political rights in the United States and much of Europe in the first part of the century, and with the advent of new birth control techniques women became more independent throughout the century.
Rock and Roll and Jazz styles of music are developed in the United States, and quickly become the dominant forms of popular music in America, and later, the world.
The automobile provided vastly increased transportation capabilities for the average member of Western societies in the early to mid-century, spreading even further later on. City design throughout most of the West became focused on transport via car. The car became a leading symbol of modern society, with styles of car suited to and symbolic of particular lifestyles.
Sports became an important part of society, becoming an activity not only for the privileged. Watching sports, later also on television, became a popular activity.
top
Medicine
Development of vitamins virtually eliminated scurvy and other vitamin-deficiency diseases.
New psychiatric drugs were developed. This includes antipsychotics which are efficient in treating hallucinations and delusions, and antidepressants for treating depression. However, some of these drugs have serious side effects, and they usually cannot heal a psychiatric disease, only treat it.
Cocaine and heroin were found to be dangerous addictive drugs, and their wide usage had been outlawed.
top
Diseases
AIDS killed millions of people. AIDS treatments remain inaccessible to people living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries, but even with the best available treatment, most patients eventually die from AIDS.
top
Natural resources and the environment
|
The widespread use of petroleum in industry -- both as a chemical precursor to plastics and as a fuel for the automobile and airplane -- led to the vital geopolitical importance of petroleum resources. The Middle East, home to many of the world's oil deposits, became a center of geopolitical and military tension throughout the latter half of the century. (For example, oil was a factor in Japan's decision to go to war against the United States in 1941, and the oil cartel, OPEC, used an oil embargo of sorts in the wake of the Yom Kippur War in the 1970s).
A vast increase in fossil fuel consumption leads to depletion of natural resources, possibly global warming and possibly both local and global climate change. The problem is increased by, believed by many, world-wide deforestation, also causing a loss of biodiversity. The problem of a depletion of natural resources is decreased by advances in drilling technology which led to a net increase in the amount of fossil fuel that is readily obtainable at the end of the century, as compared with the amount considered obtainable at the beginning of the century.
|
top
See also
top
Decades and years
mi:Rautau 20
|
|
