(19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries)
The
twentieth century comprises the years
1901 to
2000 inclusive.
Colloquially, this is often conflated with the
nineteen hundreds, which is the century comprising the years
1900 to
1999.
The twentieth century was remarkable due to the technological, medical, social, ideological, and international innovations, and due to the rise of war, genocide, and democide on an unprecedented scale. The trends of mechanization of goods & services and networks of global communication which were begun in the 19th century continued at an ever increasing pace in the 20th.
Virtually every aspect of life in virtually every human society changed in some fundamental way during the twentieth century.
- Wars and Politics
- Rising nationalism and increasing national awareness were among the causes of World War I, the first of two wars to involve all the major world powers including Germany, France, Italy, the United States and the British Commonwealth. World War I led to the creation of many new countries, especially in Eastern Europe.
- The economic and political aftermath of World War I led to the rise of Fascism and Nazism in Europe, and shortly to World War II. This war also involved Asia and the Pacific, in the form of Japanese aggression against China and the United States. While the First World War mainly cost lives among soldiers, civilians suffered greatly in the Second -- from the bombing of cities on both sides, and in the unprecedented German genocide of the Jews and others, known as the Holocaust.
- Unhappiness in Russia led to the rise of Communism and the Russian Revolution. After the Soviet Union's involvement in World War II, Communism became a major force in global politics, spreading all over the world: notably, to Eastern Europe, China, Indochina and Cuba. This led to the Cold War with the western world, led by the United States.
- The "fall of Communism" in the late 1980s left the United States as the world's only superpower. It also led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia into successor states, many rife with ethnic nationalism.
- Through the League of Nations and, after World War II, the United Nations, international cooperation increased. Other efforts included the formation of the European Union, leading to a common currency in much of Western Europe, the euro.
- 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.
- Five overall worst atrocities of the 20th century (also see [1] (http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/misc/misery.html)):
- World War II and regime of Adolf Hitler (1937-1945), over 50 million dead, including two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe (6 million).
- Regime of Mao Tse-Tung and Chinese famine (1949-1976), over 48 million dead.
- Regime of Joseph Stalin (1924-1953), over 20 million dead.
- World War I (1914-1918), over 15 million dead.
- Russian Civil War (1918-1921), over 8.5 million dead.
- Culture and Entertainment
- 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, women became more independent throughout the century.
- Modern art developed new styles such as expressionism, cubism, and surrealism.
- 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.
- Most critically acclaimed films:
- Longest running television programs:
- 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.
- A vast increase in fossil fuel consumption leads to depletion of natural resources, while air pollution possibly leads to global warming and the ozone hole. The problem is increased by 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.
- Africa
- Gnassingbe Eyadema[?], Togo
- Felix Houphouet-Boigny[?], Côte d'Ivoire
- Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia
- Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya
- Idi Amin, Uganda
- Nelson Mandela, South Africa
- Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe
- Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt
- Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana
- Julius Nyerere[?], Tanzania
- Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Libya
- Cecil Rhodes, South Africa
- Haile Selassie, Ethiopia
- Leopold Sedar Senghor[?], Senegal
- Sekou Toure[?], Guinea
- Americas
- Theodore Roosevelt, USA
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, USA
- Dwight Eisenhower, USA
- John F. Kennedy, USA
- Richard Nixon, USA
- Ronald Reagan, USA
- Bill Clinton, USA
- Pierre Trudeau, Canada
- Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Cuba
- Fidel Castro, Cuba
- Juan Perón, Argentina
- Salvador Allende, Chile
- Augusto Pinochet, Chile
- Emiliano Zápata, Mexico
- Pancho Villa, Mexico
- Vincente Fox, Mexico
- Europe
- Neville Chamberlain, United Kingdom
- Winston Churchill, United Kingdom
- Margaret Thatcher, United Kingdom
- Charles de Gaulle, France
- Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, Austria-Hungary
- Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany
- Adolf Hitler, Germany
- Benito Mussolini, Italy
- Francisco Franco, Spain
- Jozef Pilsudski, Poland
- Josip Broz 'Tito', Yugoslavia
- Milan Kuean[?], Slovenia
- Olof Palme, Sweden
- Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania
- Lech Walesa, Poland
Note: years before or after the twentieth century are in italics.