The events of the 20th century include many important events that occurred throughout the 20th century, which began on 1 January 1901, and ended on 31 December 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar.
Video 20th-century events
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In Europe, the British Empire reaches the peak of its power. Germany and Italy, emerging as a unitary state in the second half of the 19th century, grew in power, challenging traditional British and French hegemony. With nationalism with full force today, European powers compete with one another for land, military power and economic power. On the first day of the century, January 1, 1901, the British colonies of New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia, united to become Australians.
Asia and Africa are still largely under the control of their European conquerors. The main exceptions are China and Japan. The Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905 was the first major example of European power which was defeated by the so-called inferior nation. The war itself strengthened Japanese militarism and was upgraded using economic backwardness, and contributed to the Russian Revolution of 1905, a dress rehearsal for its conclusive in 1917.
Already in the 19th century, the United States has become an influential actor in world politics. It has made its presence known on the world stage by challenging Spain in the Spanish-American War, getting the colonies of Puerto Rico and the Philippines as a protectorate. Now, with the growing immigration and resolution of the problem of national unity through the bloody American Civil War, America emerges as an industrial force as well, rivaling England, Germany and France.
With the increasing competition between European powers and the rise of Japan and the United States, the stage is set for a major upheaval in world affairs.
The Wright brothers discovered an airplane in 1903.
World War I
From 1914 to 1918, the First World War, and consequently, caused major changes in the balance of world power, destroying or altering some of the most powerful kingdoms.
"The war will end all wars ": World War I (1914-1918)
The First World War (or only World War I), termed the "Great War" by contemporaries, began in 1914 and ended in 1918. It was ignited by the Assassination in Sarajevo from the heir to the throne of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand, by Gavrilo The head of the organization "Bosnia Young," the Bosnian Serb liberation movement. Tied up by Slavic nationalism to help the tiny Serbian state, the Russians came to help the Serbs when they were attacked. Interwoven alliances, an increasing arms race, and old hatred dragged Europe into war. The Allies, originally known as "The Triple Entente", consisted of the United Kingdom, France and Russia. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, and then the Ottoman Empire, known as "The Central Powers".
In 1917, Russia ended hostilities against the Central Bloc after the fall of the Tsar. The Bolsheviks negotiated the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany, though it was very detrimental to Russia. Under the agreement, the Russian Bolsheviks handed the Baltic states to Germany, and the Kars Oblast province in the southern Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire. He also recognized the independence of Ukraine. Although Germany shifted the great power from the east to the western front after signing the treaty, it could not stop the Allied face, especially with the entry of American troops in 1918.
The war itself is also an opportunity for combatant countries to showcase their military strength and technological ingenuity. Germany introduced machine guns, U-Boats, and lethal gases. English people first use tanks. Both sides have the opportunity to test their new aircraft to see if they can be used in battle. It is widely believed that the war will be short. Unfortunately, because the trench warfare is the best form of defense, progress on both sides is very slow, and comes at a terrible cost in life.
When the war finally ended in 1918, the results would set the stage for the next twenty years. First and foremost, the Germans were forced to sign the Versailles Treaty, forcing them to make exorbitant payments to repair the damage caused during the War. Many Germans feel this reparation is unfair because they do not really "lose" in war or they feel that they are causing war (see Stab-in-the-back legend). Germany was never occupied by Allied forces, but had to accept the liberal democratic government imposed by the winners after the release of Kaiser Wilhelm.
Most of the European maps are redrawn by the winners based on the theory that future wars can be prevented if all ethnic groups have their own "homeland". New countries like Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were created from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire to accommodate the nationalist aspirations of these groups. An international body called the League of Nations was formed to mediate disputes and prevent future wars, although its effectiveness is severely limited by, inter alia, aversion and inability to act.
Russian Revolution and Communism
The Russian Revolution of 1917 (ending with the overthrow of the Tsarist regime and the brutal execution of His Excellency Emperor Nicholas II and his family) sparked a wave of communist revolutions across Europe, prompting many to believe that the socialist world revolution can be realized in the near future. However, the European revolution was defeated, Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, and within a few years, Joseph Stalin transferred Leon Trotsky as the de facto leader of the Soviet Union. The idea of ​​a world revolution is no longer at the forefront, as Stalin concentrates on "socialism in one country" and embarks on a daring plan of collectivization and industrialization. The majority of socialists and even many communists became disillusioned with Stalin's autocratic government, its cleansing and killing of "its enemies," as well as the news of the famine that he wore on his own people.
Communism was strengthened as a force in Western democracy when the global economy fell in 1929 in what is known as the Great Depression. Many see this as the first stage of the end of the capitalist system and are attracted to Communism as a solution to the economic crisis, especially since the economic development of the Soviet Union in the 1930s was strong, unaffected by the crisis of the capitalist world.
Between the war
Economic depression
After World War I, the global economy remained strong throughout the 1920s. The war has provided a stimulus for industry and for general economic activity. There are many warning signs foretelling the fall of the global economic system in 1929 that was not generally understood by the current political leadership. The response to the crisis often makes the situation worse, as millions of people watch their savings become worthless and the idea of ​​a steady job with reasonable income fades away.
Many seek answers in alternative ideologies such as communism and fascism. They believe that the capitalist economic system collapses, and that new ideas are needed to meet the crisis. The initial response to the crisis is based on the assumption that the free market will improve itself. However, this is very little to fix the crisis or to alleviate the suffering of many ordinary people. Thus, the idea that the existing system can be reformed by government intervention in the economy, rather than by continuing the laissez-faire approach, becomes prominent as a solution to the crisis. Democratic governments take the responsibility to provide needed services in the community, and to reduce poverty. Thus was born the welfare state. These two political-economic principles, trust in government and welfare state intervention, as opposed to trust in free markets and private institutions, will determine many political battles over the remainder of the century.
Emergence of dictatorship
Fascism first appeared in Italy with the rise of power of Benito Mussolini in 1922. Ideology was supported by most of the upper classes as a powerful challenge to the threat of communism.
When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, a new variant of fascism called Nazism took over Germany and ended a German experiment with democracy. The Nazi Party in Germany is dedicated to restoring the honor and prestige of Germany, the unification of German-speaking society, and the annexation of Central and Eastern Europe as a subordinate state, with Slavic citizens acting as slave laborers to serve German economic interests. There is also a strong appeal to the purity of the mythical race (the idea that Germany is Herrenvolk or "the main race"), and malignant anti-Semitism promoting the Jewish idea as humane ( Untermensch >) and only deserve to be destroyed.
Many people in Western Europe and the United States welcomed Hitler's rise with relief or indifference. They can not see anything wrong with a strong German ready to face the communist threat in the east. Anti-Semitism during the Great Depression extended because many felt guilty to blame the Jews for causing the economic downturn.
Hitler began his plans, annexed Austria at Anschluss, or Austria's reunification to Germany, in 1938. He then negotiated the annexation of Sudetenland, a German-speaking Czech-German mountain range at the Munich Conference. Britain is keen to avoid war and believe in Hitler's assurances to protect Czech state security. Hitler annexed the rest of the Czech nation shortly afterward, showing that he had ulterior motives.
Fascism is not the only form of dictatorship that arose in the postwar period. Almost all new democracies in Eastern European countries collapsed and were replaced by authoritarian regimes. Spain also became a dictatorship under the leadership of General Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War. The totalitarian state seeks to achieve complete control over their subject as well as their total loyalty. They hold the state above the individual, and are often responsible for some of the worst acts in history, such as Adolf Hitler's Holocaust conducted against European Jews, or Stalin's Great Purge carried out in the Soviet Union in the 1930s.
Global war: World War II (1939-1945 )
The war in Europe
This section provides an overview of conversations about World War II in Europe. See the main article for a more complete discussion.
Soon after events in Czechoslovakia, Britain and France issued a guarantee of protection to Poland, which seemed to be next on Hitler's list. World War II officially began on September 1, 1939. On that date, Hitler released his Blitzkrieg, or the lightning war, against Poland. Britain and France, which surprised Hitler, immediately declared war on Germany, but the aid they sent to Poland was meaningless. At the same time, Poland was attacked from the East by the Soviet Union, acting in a secret alliance with Nazi Germany. After just a few weeks, Polish troops were overwhelmed, and his government fled into exile in London (see Polish government in exile).
In the start of World War II, Germany has unleashed a new type of warfare, characterized by a very moving force and the use of mass aircraft. The German strategy concentrated on the devotion of the Wehrmacht, or the German army, for the use of a tank group, called the panzer division, and the mobile infantry group, in concert with endless attacks of air. The siege is also a major part of the strategy. This change destroys any hope that the Second World War will be fought in the trenches as the first.
When Hitler's forces conquered Poland, the Soviet Union, under the Secretary-General Joseph Stalin, exercised territory under the secret passage of the non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany known as the Nazi-Soviet Pact. This agreement gave Stalin the freedom to take the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as Eastern Poland, all of which would remain in Soviet hands after the war. Stalin also launched an attack on Finland, which he hoped could be reduced to a little more than the Soviet puppet state, but the Red Army faced a fierce resistance of Finland in what was known as the Winter War and managed to gain only a limited area of ​​Finland. This action would then cause Finland to ally with Germany when its attack on the Soviet Union occurred in 1941.
After the defeat of Poland, the period known as the False War occurred during the winter of 1939-1940. All this changed on May 10, 1940, when Germany launched a massive offensive against the Low Countries (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg), most likely to overcome the Maginot Defense Line on the French-German border. It witnessed the tremendous downfall of Eben Emael, a Belgian castle thought to be impenetrable and guarded by 600 Belgians, with a force of only 88 German paratroopers. The worst of this is that the Belgian King of Belgium surrendered to Germany on 28 May without warning his allies, exposing the entire Allied forces to the German panzer group. After the conquest of the Low Countries, Hitler occupied Denmark and Norway, beginning on April 9, 1940. Norway was strategically important because of its sea lanes supplying the important Swedish ore to the Nazi war machine. Norway survived for several crucial weeks, but Denmark surrendered after just four days.
With the disaster in the Low Countries, France, which is considered at that time to have the best troops in the world, lasted only four weeks, with Paris occupied on 14 June. Three days later, Marshal Philippe Pace surrendered to Germany. The disaster in France also caused one of the greatest mysteries of war, and Hitler's first major mistake, Dunkirk, in which one-third of the millions of trapped British and French soldiers were evacuated not only by British warships, but every boat that soldiers could find, including fishing rafts. Hitler refused to "bet" his panzet on an action in Dunkirk, listened to Air Minister Hermann GÃÆ'¶ring's suggestion and allowed the Luftwaffe, or the German Air Force, to handle the work. The irony of this is that the fleeing people will form the core of the army that will invade the coast of Normandy in 1944. Hitler does not occupy all of France, but about three quarters, including all Atlantic beaches, allow Marshal PÃÆ'Ã… © tain to remain as dictator from an area known as Vichy France. However, members of the fleeing French Army formed around General Charles de Gaulle to create the Free French army, which would continue to fight Hitler in lieu of an independent France. At this time, Italy, under Benito Mussolini, declared war on the Allies on June 10, thinking that the war was almost over, but he managed to occupy only a few hundred meters from the French territory. Throughout the war, the Italians would be more of a burden to the Nazis than profit, and would spend their precious time in Greece.
Hitler now turned his eyes on Great Britain, which stands alone against it. He ordered his generals to plan for an invasion, code named Operation Sea Lion, and ordered the Luftwaffe to launch a massive air war against the British islands, which came to be known as the Battle of Britain. Britain initially suffered continuous losses but eventually succeeded in changing the air war against Germany, which dropped 2,698 German planes during the summer of 1940 to only 915 Air Force losses (RAF). The main turning point came as Germany halted a successful attack on the British aircraft factory and radar command and coordination station and switched to a civilian bombing known as a terror bombing using a distinctive "bomb" sound created by the German dive bomber, Stuka. The transition took place after a small British bombing force attacked Berlin. Hitler was angry. However, his decision to shift the focus of the attack allowed the UK to rebuild the RAF and eventually forced Germany to delay the Sea Lion indefinitely.
The importance of the Battle of Britain was that it marked Hitler's first defeat, but his overall impact was overshadowed by his fault in the east. Secondly, it marks the emergence of radar as a major weapon in modern air warfare. With radar, squadrons of combatants could be quickly gathered to respond to incoming bombers trying to bomb civilian targets. It also allows identification of types and guesses on the number of incoming enemy aircraft, as well as friendly aircraft tracking.
Hitler, shocked by his defeat of the English sky, now turned his gaze eastward to the Soviet Union. Despite having signed a non-aggression deal with Stalin, Hitler hated communism and wished to destroy him in his homeland. He originally planned to launch an offensive in the early spring of 1941 to avoid the devastating Russian winter. However, a pro-ally coup in the almost equal defeat of Yugoslavia and Mussolini in the Greek invasion of the Albanian occupation prompted Hitler to launch a personal campaign of revenge in Yugoslavia and occupy Greece at the same time. The Greeks would have a fierce grudge; the attack caused a crucial few weeks delay from the USSR invasion.
On June 22, 1941, Hitler attacked Stalin with the largest army ever in the world. More than three million people and their weapons were used against the Soviet Union. Stalin had been warned about the attack, either by other countries or by his own intelligence network, but he refused to believe it. Therefore, the Soviet army was largely unprepared and suffered a tremendous setback in the early part of the war, despite Stalin's order to attack back Germany. Throughout 1941, German forces, divided into 3 army groups (Group A, Army B Group, and Group C Army), occupied the current territories of Ukraine and Belarus, besieged Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), and advanced into 15 miles from Moscow. At this critical moment, the Soviet people stopped Germany
Here marks Hitler's third major blunder. He can win the war in the Soviet Union except for several reasons. One, he tried to catch too much too soon; he wanted the German army to advance to the Urals, which is an area of ​​a million square miles (2,600,000 km²) of territory, when he may have to concentrate on taking Moscow and thus pushing the wedge into the heart of the Soviet Union. Second, he disregarded Napoleon Bonaparte's similar experience nearly one hundred and fifty years earlier in his attempt to conquer Russia. Nonetheless, Stalin is not in a good position. About two-fifths of the Soviet industrial power were in the hands of Germany. Also, the Germans were initially seen by many as liberators who fought the communists. Stalin was also not a very capable general, and like Hitler, at first trying to fight as a military strategist. However, Hitler managed to change all his profits to himself, and lost the only hope left for Germany: capture the Caucasus and take control of North Africa and the oil-rich Middle East.
Mussolini has launched an attack in North Africa from the controlled Libya of Italy to the British-controlled Egypt. However, England destroys Italy and is on the verge of taking Libya. Hitler decided to help by sending several thousand troops, the Luftwaffe division, and first-class General Erwin Rommel. Rommel managed to use his little power to repeatedly destroy the enormous British troops and to reclaim the port city of Tobruk and advance to Egypt. However, Hitler, who was involved in the invasion of the Soviet Union, refused to send Rommel any more troops. If he had, Rommel might have seized the Middle East, where the friendly Poros regimes had roots in Iraq and Persia (present-day Iran). Here, Rommel could bypass the main Soviet supply routes through Persia, and help take the Caucasus, almost neutralize British effectiveness in war and potentially seal the fate of the Soviet Union. However, Hitler made a mistake again, dumping the last remnants of Germany's advantage on the impending attack in 1942.
After the winter, Hitler launched a new attack in the spring of 1942, with the aim of capturing the oil-rich Caucacus and the town of Stalingrad. However, he repeatedly diverts his troops to where they are not needed. The attack was stalled, and the entire Sixth Army, considered the best German army, was trapped in Stalingrad. Hitler now refuses to let the 6th Army rupture. He insisted that the German army would impose its path. Hermann GÃÆ'¶ring also assured Hitler that the Luftwaffe could supply the 6th Army adequately, when in fact it provided only a small portion of the ammunition needed. and rations. Finally, the hungry 6th Army surrendered, giving a devastating blow to Germany. In the end, the defeat at Stalingrad was a turning point for the war in the east.
Meanwhile, Japan has attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. This disaster strikes forcing America into war. Hitler did not have to declare war on the United States, and maintain its neutrality in Europe, but he did not. Both he and Mussolini declared war only days after the attack. At that time, most German generals, preoccupied with war in the Soviet Union, were not even aware of America's presence. That's a very important mistake.
Throughout the rest of 1942 and 1943, the Soviets began to gain ground against Germany. The Kursk tank battle is one example. However, by this time, Rommel was forced to leave North Africa after the defeat by Montgomery at El Alamein, and the Wehrmacht had suffered a serious victim that could not replace him. Hitler also emphasized a "hold at all costs" policy that prohibits the release of any land. He followed the "last fight for the last" policy which was totally ineffective. In early 1944, Hitler lost all initiative in the Soviet Union, and fought even to keep the current turned against him.
From 1942 to 1944, the United States and Britain acted only limited to European theaters, much to the dismay of Stalin. They expelled Germany in Africa, attacked Morocco and Algeria on November 8, 1942. Then, on July 10, 1943, the Allies attacked Sicily, in preparation for progress through Italy, the "soft belly" of Poros, as Winston Churchill called it. On September 9, the Italian invasion began. In the winter of 1943, half of southern Italy was in the hands of the Allies. The Italians, most of whom did not really support the war, had turned against Mussolini. In July, he has been stripped of power and captured, though Italy pretends to continue to support Axis. On 8 September, the Italians formally surrendered, but most of Italy was not in the hands of the Allies controlled by German troops and those loyal to Mussolini (Mussolini had been liberated by the German paratroopers) the new Italian Social Republic, which in reality consisted of the shrink zone of the German Controls. Germany offered a persistent resistance, but on 4 June 1944, Rome had fallen.
The battle of the Atlantic lasted from 1942 to 1944. Germany hopes to break the vital supply line between Britain and America, drowning tons of voyage with U Boats, German submarines. However, the development of destroyers and aircraft with longer patrol range is effective against U-boat threats. In 1944, Germany lost the battle.
On June 6, 1944, the Western Allies finally launched a long-awaited attack on Stalin's "Stalin Europe". Offensive Operation, which is called the Operation Code, starts the morning hours of June 6th. That day, known as Hari-H, was marked by bad weather. Rommel, who is now in charge of defending France from possible Allied attacks, thinks the Allies will not attack during stormy weather, and are on holiday in Germany. In addition, Germany expects an attack, but at Calais natural harbor and not the Normandy coast; errors that seal the success of the operation. They did not know about Allies' artificial harbors, and the Allied cultivation suggested Calais as the landing site.
At this time, the war was getting darker for Germany. On July 20, 1944, a group of conspiring German officers tried to kill Hitler. The bomb they used wounded him, but the second bomb was not used, and the table protects Hitler with luck. The conspirators were still able to launch a coup, but only the occupied Paris chief acted, arresting the SS and Gestapo troops in the city. German propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, deployed Nazi troops, and saved the day for Hitler.
In France, the Allies took Normandy and finally Paris on 25 August. In the east, the Soviets had advanced almost to the former Polish-Soviet border. At this time, Hitler introduced V-weapons, V-1 flying bombs and, later, V-2, the first rocket used in modern warfare. V-1 is often intercepted by air pilots, but the V-2 is very fast and carries a large payload. However, these advances come too late in the war to have a noticeable effect. Germany is also on the brink of introducing a number of frightening new weapons, including sophisticated jet aircraft, which are too fast for ordinary propeller aircraft, and submarine repairs that will allow Germany to fight back effectively in the Atlantic. All of this came too late to save Hitler. Although the September invasion of the Netherlands failed, the Allies made steady progress. In the winter of 1944, Hitler risked everything in one of the last bets in the West, known as the Battle of the Bulge, which, despite initial progress, was a failure, because the introduction of new Allied tanks and the low number of troops among the Germans prevented any concrete action taken.
In early February 1945, three Allied leaders Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin met in Yalta, who had just been freed in Crimea in the Soviet Union at the Yalta Conference. Here, they agreed on a plan to divide post-war Europe. Most of the east went to Stalin, who agreed to allow free elections in Eastern Europe, which he never did. The West goes to England, France and the US. Post-war Germany will be divided between the four, as well as Berlin. Here the Cold War region is set. The new European borders, stripped of some of the oldest eldest families, were made by three people in Yalta.
In early 1945, Hitler was on his last rope. The Soviets launched a devastating attack from Poland to Germany and Eastern Europe, intending to take Berlin. Germany collapsed in the West, allowing the Allies to spread throughout Germany. However, the Supreme Allied Commander, American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, refused a strike for Berlin, and instead became obsessed with reports of possible guerrilla activity in southern Germany, which was in fact only in the propaganda of Joseph Goebbels. On 25 April, the Soviets had besieged Berlin. Hitler remained in town in a bunker under the Chancellery's garden. On April 30, he committed suicide, after a ritual wedding with his longtime lover Eva Braun. Germany survived another 7 days under Admiral Doenitz, their new leader, but Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7, 1945, ending the war in Europe (see V-E Day).
The rivalry that began during the war, combined with a sense of strength in a winning power, laid the foundations of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War.
War in the Pacific
There was a war in the Pacific
The Holocaust
The Holocaust (which roughly means "great fire") was a systematic and systematic killing of millions of Jews and other minorities during World War II by the Nazi regime in Germany. Several different views exist as to whether it is meant to occur from the beginning of the war, or if plans for it arise later. Regardless, the persecution of Jews extended long before the war even began, as in Kristallnacht (literally "Crystal Night", Night of Broken Glass). The Nazis used very effective propaganda to evoke anti-Semitic feelings in ordinary German.
After the conquest of Poland, the Third Reich, who had previously deported the Jews and other "unwanted people", was suddenly within the borders of the greatest concentration of Jews in the world. The solution was to gather Jews and place them in a Nazi concentration camp or in a ghetto, besieging parts of the city where the Jews were forced to live in miserable conditions, often with tens of thousands of starving to death, and corpses rotting in the street -Street. It's horrible because it sounds, they are the lucky ones. After the Soviet invasion, the SS-armed killer squads known as Einsatzgruppen systematically gathered Jews and killed one million Jews in the country. Because barbaric and inhuman like this seems, it is too slow and inefficient by Nazi standards.
In 1942, the top leadership met at Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin, and began planning more efficient ways to slaughter Jews. The Nazis created a system of extermination camps throughout Poland, and began to gather Jews from the Soviet Union, and from the Ghetto. Not only were Jews shot or gassed to death in mass, but they were forced to provide forced labor and they were used in terrible medical experiments (see Human Experiments in Nazi Germany). From the widespread criticism of the Nazi medical experiment, the Nuremberg Medical Code of Ethics was created.
The Nazis enjoyed a sadistic pleasure at the death camp; entrance to the worst camp, Auschwitz, declared "Arbeit Macht Frei" - "Work Sets You Free". In the end, six million Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies, and political prisoners were killed in various ways, especially in death camps. An additional seven million Soviet and other Soviet allied warlords were killed in camps and places of detention.
There is some controversy over whether ordinary Germans know about the Holocaust. It seems that many Germans know about concentration camps; things like that are clearly displayed in magazines and newspapers. In many places, Jews must travel through towns and villages on their way to work as slaves in the German industry. After all, Allied soldiers reported that the smell of the camp was carried for miles. A small number of people deny the Holocaust occurs completely, although this claim has been routinely discredited by mainstream historians.
Nuclear period begins
During the 1930s, innovations in physics made it clear that it was possible to develop nuclear weapons with extraordinary powers using nuclear reactions. When World War II broke out, scientists and advisers among the Allies feared that Nazi Germany might have tried to develop its own atomic weapons, and the United States and Britain raised their efforts in what is known as the Manhattan Project to defeat them. therefore. In Los Alamos' secret laboratory in New Mexico, scientist Robert Oppenheimer leads the world's top scientist team to develop the first nuclear weapon, first tested on the Trinity site in July 1945. However, Germany had surrendered in May 1945. It was well known that the bomb program German atoms are not very successful.
The Allied team produced two nuclear weapons for use in the war, powered by uranium-235 and the other by plutonium as a perishable material, named "Little Boy" and "Fat Man". These were dropped in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 respectively. This, in combination with the Soviet entrance into war, convinced the Japanese to surrender unconditionally. These two weapons remain the only two nuclear weapons ever used against other countries in the war.
Nuclear weapons bring an entirely new and frightening possibility for warfare: nuclear disaster. While the United States initially held a monopoly on nuclear weapons production, the Soviet Union, with the help of espionage, managed to blow up its first weapon (nicknamed "Joe-1" by the West) in August 1949. After the war between the two, which had worsened, destroyed. Immediately both are locked in a massive buildup of nuclear weapons. The United States began a collision program to develop the first hydrogen bomb in 1950, and detonated its first thermonuclear weapon in 1952. The new weapon itself was more than 400 times stronger than the weapons used against Japan. The Soviet Union detonated a primitive thermonuclear weapon in 1953 and a complete weapon in 1955.
Conflict continues to increase, with major superpowers developing long-range missiles (such as the ICBM) and nuclear strategies that ensure that any use of nuclear weapons will be suicidal for the attacking State (Insolvency Insolvency). The creation of an early warning system placed control of these weapons into the hands of newly created computers, and they served as a tense background during the Cold War.
Since the 1940s there have been concerns about rising proliferation of nuclear weapons to new countries, seen as instability in international relations, spurring regional arms races, and generally increasing the likelihood of some form of nuclear war. Eventually, seven countries will openly develop nuclear weapons, and still maintain stock today: the United States, the Soviet Union (and later Russia will inherit it), Britain, France, China, India and Pakistan. South Africa developed six rough weapons in the 1980s (which were later dismantled), and Israel was almost certainly developing nuclear weapons even though it never justified or denied them. The establishment of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in 1968 was an attempt to limit the proliferation, but a number of countries developed nuclear weapons since it was signed (and many did not sign it), and several other countries, including Libya, Iran and North Korea, were suspected of having weapons programs nuclear secret.
Post-war world
After World War II, the majority of the industrial world was destroyed by air strikes, sea bombings, and protracted land campaigns. The United States is an exception to this; except Pearl Harbor and some minor incidents, the US has not suffered any attacks on its territory. The United States and the Soviet Union, which, despite the destruction of its most populous region, were rebuilt quickly, finding themselves as the dominant superpowers in the world.
Much of Western Europe was rebuilt after the war with the help of the Marshall Plan. Germany, the head of the firebrand, was placed under joint military occupation by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Berlin, although in Soviet-controlled territory, was also divided between the four powers. The occupation of Berlin will continue until 1990. Japan is also placed under the US occupation, which will last five years, until 1949. Strangely, these two Axis powers, despite military occupation, soon rise to become second (Japan) and third (West Germany). ) the world's most powerful economy.
After the end of the war, the famous allies demanded many German officials for war crimes and other offenses in the Nuremberg Trials. Although Adolf Hitler has committed suicide, many of his cronies, including Hermann GÃÆ'¶ring, were convicted. Lesser-known trials of other Axis officials also took place, including the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal.
The failure of the League of Nations to prevent World War II essentially discredited the organization, and it was dissolved. The new effort for world peace began with the establishment of the United Nations on October 24, 1945, in San Francisco. Today, almost all countries are members, but despite much success, the organization's success in achieving the objectives of world peace is dubious. The organization has never been given sufficient power to overcome the conflicting interests and priorities of its member states.
End of empire: decolonization
Almost all the major countries involved in World War II began to leave their colonies abroad soon after the conflict. In Africa, nationalists like Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana lead their respective countries for independence from foreign governments. The tactics used by revolutionaries range from nonviolent forms of protest to armed uprising, depending on the state involved. The United States granted independence to the Philippines, its principal Pacific ownership. The strength of Europe also began to withdraw from their treasures in Africa and Asia. The French were forced out of Indochina and, later, Algeria.
The Cold War (1947-1991)
War with proxy
Two wars and melee war in the 1950s became the focus of capitalist versus communist struggle. The first war was the Korean War, fighting between North Korea backed by North Korea and South Korea supported by the United States. The invasion of North Korea to South Korea led to the intervention of the United Nations. General Douglas MacArthur led troops from the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and other countries in disgusting the Northern invasion. However, the war reached a dead end after Chinese intervention prompted British troops to return, and the Armistice ended hostilities, leaving the two Koreans divided and tense for the rest of the century.
The second war, the Vietnam War, was probably the second most visible war of the 20th century, after World War II. After the French withdrawal from his former colony, Vietnam was partitioned into two parts, such as Korea. The battle between North and South eventually rose to a regional war. The United States provided assistance to South Vietnam, but was not directly involved until the Resolution of the Gulf of Tonkin, which was responded in reaction to the North Vietnamese invasion of American destroyers, brought the United States into war as a warring party. War was originally seen as a battle to contain communism (see arrest, Truman Doctrine, and Domino Theory), but, as more Americans are conceptualized and news about events such as Offensive Offensive attacks and My Lai leaked massacres, American sentiment turned against war. US President Richard Nixon was chosen in part on the claim of a "secret plan" to stop the war. This Nixon doctrine involves a gradual withdrawal of American troops; The South Vietnamese unit should replace them, supported by American air power. Unfortunately, the plan became chaotic, and the war spilled over into neighboring Cambodia while the South Vietnamese troops were pushed further. Finally, the US and North Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Treaty, ending US involvement in the war. With the threat of US retaliation gone, North Korea began to violate a ceasefire and attack the South with full military power. Saigon was arrested on April 30, 1975, and Vietnam united under Communist rule a year later, effectively ending one of the most unpopular wars of all time.
The Cuban Missile Crisis illustrates how close to the brink of nuclear war the world came during the Cold War. Cuba, under the socialist government of Fidel Castro, had close ties with the Soviet Union. This is clearly disquieting to the United States, given the closeness of Cuba. When the Lockheed U-2 spy plane crossing the island revealed that Soviet missile launchers were being installed, US President John F. Kennedy instituted a sea blockade and publicly faced the Soviet Union. After a tense week, the Soviet Union retreated and ordered the launchers removed, not wanting to risk sparking a new world war.
Space race
With high Cold War tensions, the Soviet Union and the United States brought their rivalry to the stars in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik by the Soviets. A "space race" between the two powers was followed. Although the Soviet Union achieved several important milestones, such as the first ship on the Moon (Luna 2) and the first man in space (Yuri Gagarin), the US allegedly succeeded eventually with Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, culminating in the Apollo 11 manned Landing at month. Five manned landings followed (Apollo 13 was forced to abort his mission). However, despite its success, the US space program can not match many of the major achievements of Soviet space programs, such as unmanned space crawling and images and video transfers from other planets, to the beginning of the 21st century.
In addition, the two countries launched many probes into space, such as Venera 7 and Voyager 2.
In the next few decades, space became a more friendly place. Ordinary manned space flight is possible with American spaceships, which are the first reusable spacecraft to be used successfully. Mir and Skylab make it possible for long human residence in outer space. In the 1990s, work on the International Space Station began, and by the end of this century, while still incomplete, it continued to be used by astronauts from the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan and Canada.
The end of the Cold War
In the 1980s, the Soviet Union weakened. The Sino-Soviet split has removed the most powerful allies of the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China. The arms race with the US drains state funds, and is further weakened by internal, ethnic and political pressure. Mikhail Gorbachev, his last leader, attempted to reform the country with the glasnost and perestroika, but the formation of Solidarity, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the destruction of several Soviet republics, such as Lithuania, slick of the events that culminated in a coup to overthrow Gorbachev, which was organized by the Communist Party's hardliners. Boris Yeltsin, the president of Russia, organized the mass opposition, and the coup failed. On December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved into its constituent republics, putting the finish line under the exhausted Cold War.
Information and communication technology
The creation of transistors revolutionized the development of computers. The first computer, a space-sized electro-mechanical device built to decode cryptography during World War II, quickly became at least 20 times smaller using transistors. The computer becomes reprogrammable rather than a fixed-purpose device. The discovery of a programming language means that computer operators can concentrate on solving problems at a high level, without having to think in terms of individual instructions to the computer itself. Creating an operating system also greatly improves programming productivity. Building on this, computer pioneers can now realize what they imagine. The graphical user interface, driven by a computer mouse makes it easy to harness the power of a computer. Storage for computer programs evolves from hollow cards and paper tapes into magnetic tapes, floppy disks and hard disks. Memory core and memory bubbles fall into random access memory.
The discovery of word processors, spreadsheets, and databases greatly increases office productivity over old paper, typewriter, and file cabling methods. The economic benefits afforded to businesses lead to economic efficiency in the computer itself. Cost-effective CPUs led to thousands of industrial and home-made computer designs, many of which became successful; booming home computer led by Apple II, ZX80 and Commodore PET.
IBM, trying to embrace the microcomputer revolution, designed the IBM Personal Computer (PC). Crucially, IBM developed PCs from third-party components available on the open market. The only obstacle for other companies that duplicate system architecture is proprietary BIOS software. Other companies, starting with Compaq, reverse engineered BIOS and released PC-compatible computers that soon became the dominant architecture. Microsoft, which produces the operating system for PCs, is riding this wave of popularity to become the world's leading software company.
The 1980s marked the Information Age. The advent of computer applications and data processing makes "fine" valuable information like physical commodities. This brings new concerns over intellectual property issues. The US government created a patented algorithm, forming the basis of software patents. The controversy over this software and proprietary led Richard Stallman to create the Free Software Foundation and start the GNU Project.
Computers are also a usable entertainment platform. Computer games were first developed by software programmers who used their creativity on major university systems, but this effort became commercially successful in arcade games like Pong and Space Invaders . Once the home computer market is established, the young programmers in their bedroom become the core of the youthful game industry. To take advantage of technological advances, game consoles are created. Like arcade systems, these machines have specialized hardware designed to perform game-oriented operations (such as sprites and scrolling parallaxes) in preference for general purpose computing tasks.
Computer networks appear in two major styles; local area networks, connect computers at work or school to each other, and wide area networks, which connect local area network together. Initially, computers rely on telephone networks to connect with each other, growing a sub-culture Bulletin Board. However, the DARPA project to create a bomb-resistant computer network led to the creation of the Internet, the networking network. The core of this network is the strong TCP/IP network protocol. Thanks to Al Gore's efforts, the Internet grew beyond his military role when universities and commercial businesses were allowed to connect their networks there. The main thrust for this is electronic mail, a form of communication that is much faster and convenient than conventional mail and memo distribution, and File Transfer Protocol (FTP). However, the Internet remains unknown to the general public, accustomed to Bulletin Board and services like Compuserve and America Online. This changed when Tim Berners-Lee designed a simpler form of Vannevar Bush hypertext, which he named the World Wide Web. "Web" suddenly turns the Internet into a printing press beyond the geographic boundaries of the physical states; it's called "cyberspace". Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can write pages in simple HTML format and publish their thoughts to the world.
The great success of the Web also encourages the commercial use of the Internet. Convenient home shopping has been an element of "future vision" since the development of the phone, but now the race is to provide a comfortable and interactive consumerism. Trading companies through a website is known as "dot com", due to the "com" suffix of a commercial Internet address.
The world at the end of this century
By the end of this century, more technological advances have been made than all previous history. Communication and information technology, transportation technology, and medical advances have radically changed daily life. Europe seems to be on a sustainable peace for the first time in recorded history. People from the Indian subcontinent, one-sixth of the world's population by the end of this century, have achieved indigenous independence for the first time in centuries. China, an ancient nation composed of a fifth of the world's population, was finally opened to the world in a new and powerful synthesis of the west and east, creating a new state after the complete destruction of the old cultural order. With the end of colonialism and the Cold War, nearly a billion people in Africa were left with newly independent nations, partly cut from the fabric intact, standing after centuries of foreign domination.
The world is experiencing a period of great second globalization; the first, which began in the 18th century, was stopped by World War I. Because the US is in an almost unchallenged position of dominance, the main part of the process is Americanization. This has caused anti-Western and anti-American feelings in the world, especially the Middle East. The influence of China and India has also increased, since the world's largest population, long marginalized by the West and by their own rulers, is rapidly integrating with the world economy.
However, some problems faced the world. The gap between rich and poor countries continues to widen. Some people say that this problem can not be fixed, that there is a certain amount of wealth set and can only be shared by many people. Others say that powerful countries with big economies do not do enough to help boost the fast-growing Third World economy. However, developing countries face many challenges, including the scale of tasks to be overcome, the rapidly growing population, and the need to protect the environment and the costs that go with it.
Terrorism, dictatorship and the spread of nuclear weapons are other concerns. The world is still undermined by small-scale wars and other violent conflicts, fueled by competition over resources and ethnic conflict. Silly people like Kim Jong-il from North Korea continue to lead their country towards nuclear weapons development.
Illness threatens to disrupt many regions of the world. New viruses such as SARS and West Nile continue to spread. In poor countries, malaria and other diseases affect the majority of the population. Millions of people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The virus became an epidemic in southern Africa.
Perhaps most importantly, it is speculated that in the long term, environmental problems threaten the survival of the planet. The most serious problem is global warming, which is predicted to often flood coastal areas, due to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels. This prompted many countries to negotiate and sign the Kyoto agreement, which sets the mandatory limits for carbon dioxide emissions.
The celebrations of the late twentieth and early twentieth centuries are on New Year's Day, 2000.
Maps 20th-century events
See also
- Infectious disease in the 20th century
- The rate of death in the 20th century
- List of battles 1901-2000
- The discovery of the 20th century
- 20th century art
- List of 20th century religious leaders
- Modernism
- Modern art
References
Source
- UNESCO (2008-02-28). "The twentieth century". Humanitarian History . VII . Routledge. p.Ã, 600. ISBNÃ, 978-0-415-09311-8.
External links
- 20th Century Research Project
- Bowing towards Utopia: The History of Twenty-Second Century
- TIME Archives The greatest writers of the 20th century
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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