20th century

The twentieth century of the began on,  and ended on , , according to the. Some historians consider the era from about 1914 to 1991 to be the.

General
The 20th century witnessed radical changes in almost every area of human actions. Scientific discoveries such as the and  radically changed the worldview of scientists, causing them to realize that the universe was much more complex than previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the  that the last few details of scientific knowledge were about to be filled in.Accelerating scientific understanding, better communications, and faster transportation greatly transformed the world in those hundred years more than nearly any time in the past. It was a century that started with steam-powered ships and ended with the. and other pack animals, Western society's basic form of personal transportation for thousands of years, were replaced by within the span of a few decades. The century also gave rise to humanity's first footsteps on the and.

The wars prompted nations such as the United States of America and the Soviet Union to gain power and also gave them the ability to pursuade other nations to do their biddings.The conflict saw the beginning of international involvement which would accelerate as that nation began to find itself in a position of extreme power. The period 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 ten-year period following than the sum total of new technological development in any century before the industrial revolution. Terms like, , , and entered common usage and became an influence on everyone's lives. reached an unprecedented scale and sophistication; in the alone, approximately  died, mainly due to massive advances in weaponry. The trends of mechanization of goods and services and networks of global communication, which began in the, continued at an ever-increasing pace.As the , its economy ruined by the war, began to shrink, a power vacuum began to develop. , a movement which grew out of post war, gained momentum in , Germany and in the  and , finally culminating in the , sparked off by a revitalized Germany's aggressive expansion at the expense of her neighbours. The largest and most devastating war ever fought, claimed the lives of 60 million people. The and the  emerged as the most powerful nations when the conflict ended in 1945, and subsequently began a new arms race, with new technologies such as  and space age technology, in the .The massive arms race of the  finally culminated in a war which involved every powerful nation in the world -. After more than four years of horrifying trench warfare, and 10 million dead, 's imperial ambitions were finally thwarted, and her international status greatly reduced. The was plunged into revolution during the conflict, and the, and  empires were dismantled at the war's conclusion

Wars and politics

 * After decades of struggle by the movement, all western countries gave women the right to vote.
 * Rising and increasing national awareness were among the many causes of  (1914–1918), the first of two wars to involve all the major world powers including, , , , the  and the British Empire. World War I led to the creation of many new countries, especially in . Ironically, it was said by many  to be the "war to end all wars".
 * A violent broke out in  in 1936 when General  rebelled against the . Many consider this war as a testing battleground for WWII as the  armies bombed some Spanish territories.
 * The economic and political aftermath of World War I and the in the 1930s led to the rise of fascism and  in Europe, and subsequently to  (1939–1945). This war also involved Asia and the Pacific, in the form of ese aggression against  and the United States. Civilians also suffered greatly in World War II, due to the aerial bombing of cities on both sides, and the German  of the s and others, known as . In 1945, the  took place.
 * During, in the Bolshevik putsch took over the , precipitating the founding of the  and rise of . After the Soviet Union's involvement in World War II, communism became a major force in global politics, notably in Eastern , ,  and , where communist parties gained near-absolute power. This led to the  and s with , including wars in  (1950–1953) and  (1957–1975).
 * The in the  and the movement against  in  successfully challenged racial segregation.
 * The two world wars led to efforts to increase international cooperation, notably through the founding of the after World War I, and its successor, the, after World War II.
 * The creation of by the British, a ish state in the  fueled many regional conflicts. These were also influenced by the vast  fields in many of the other countries of the mostly  region.
 * The end of led to the independence of many n and n countries. During the, many of these aligned with the USA, the USSR, or China for defense.
 * The released Eastern and Central Europe from Soviet supremacy. Soon thereafter, the, , and  dissolved, the latter violently over several years, into s, many rife with . This left the  as the world's only.
 * After a long period of civil wars and conflicts with European powers, 's last imperial dynasty ended in 1912. The resulting republic was replaced, after yet another civil war, by a people's republic in 1949. At the end of the century, though still ruled by a communist party, China's economic system was well on its way to an almost complete transformation to capitalism.
 * began in earnest in the 1950s, and eventually led to the, a political and economic union that comprised 15 countries at the end of the century.

Culture and entertainment

 * As the century begins, 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 culture had moved to the United States, especially  and.
 * , and the  had a major influence on  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 in the first part of the century, and with the advent of new  techniques women became more independent throughout the century.
 * In classical music, composition branched out into many completely new domains, including dodecaphony, aleatoric and chance music, and minimalism. Electronic musical instruments were developed as well, vastly broadening the scope of sounds available to composers and performers.
 * and styles of music are developed in the United States, and quickly become the dominant forms of popular music in America, and later, the world. Many other styles of music develop and spread as well, also branching off and influencing each other, including, , ,  or , ,  and.
 * The plastic arts developed new styles such as, , and.
 * evolved within Europe with a radical departure from the excess decoration of the &mdash; streamlined forms inspired by machines became more commonplace.  Developments in building material technologies furthered this shift.  European architects moved to the United States prior to World War II, where modern archiectural theory continued to blossom.
 * The 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.
 * s became an important part of society, becoming an activity not only for the privileged. Watching sports, later also on, became a popular activity.

Medicine

 * -,,  became a powerful tool for testing new medicines.
 * drastically reduced mortality from and their.
 * A was developed for, ending a worldwide .  Effective vaccines were also developed for a number of other serious infectious , including , , , , , , , and.
 * A successful application of and  led to the eradication of the   in humans.
 * s became powerful diagnostic tool for wide spectrum of diseases, from bone fractures to . In the,  was invented.  Other important diagnostics tools developed were  and.
 * Development of virtually eliminated  and other vitamin-deficiency diseases.
 * New psychiatric drugs were developed. This includes s which are efficient in treating  and, and  for treating.
 * The role of in the causation of  and other diseases was proven during the  (see ).
 * New methods for cancer treatment, including, , and , were developed. As a result, cancer could often be or placed in.
 * The development of and  made  safe and widely available.
 * The and development of  and  made  a clinical reality.
 * As research on all aspects of and s exploded, dozens of sleep disorders were defined.
 * New methods for were developed.
 * and were found to be dangerous addictive drugs, and their wide usage had been outlawed.
 * drugs were developed, which reduced growth rates.
 * The development of medical during the  helped raise the life expectancy of  to three times of what it had been earlier.
 * The elucidation of the and  of  initiated the development of  and the mapping of the.

Diseases

 * An pandemic, the, killed 25 million between 1918 and 1919
 * A new disease,, arose in  and subsequently killed millions of people throughout the world. AIDS treatments remained inaccessible to people living with HIV/AIDS in , but even with the best available treatment, most patients eventually died from complications of the disease.
 * Because of increased, the of cancer, , , and other diseases of the  increased.

Natural resources and the environment



 * The widespread use of in industry &mdash; both as a chemical precursor to s and as a fuel for the  and  &mdash; led to the vital geopolitical importance of petroleum resources. The, 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 's decision to go to war against the  in 1941, and the oil cartel, , used an oil embargo of sorts in the wake of the  in the 1970s).


 * A vast increase in consumption, caused, according to some,  and other forms of, , local and  , and an   of.


 * Studies showed that, and other   were accumulating in the environment and within the bodies of humans and other animals.


 * Many believed that and world-wide, which additionally caused a loss of , further diminished the.