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Millennium: 2nd millennium
Centuries: 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
Categories: Births – Deaths
Establishments – Disestablishments
For other uses, see 20th century (disambiguation). A millennium (pl millennia) is a period of Time equal to one thousand Years (from Latin la mille, thousand and la annum The second millennium is a period of time that commenced on January 1, 1001, and ended on December 31, 2000. A century (from the Latin centum, meaning one hundred is One hundred consecutive Years Centuries are numbered ordinally (e The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The 21st century is the current century of the Christian Era or Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. See also List of centuries, History This is a list of Decades in history including links to corresponding articles with more information about them The 1910s decade ran from January 1 1910 through December 31 1919 The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949 Events and trends The 1940s was a period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s which also leads the period to be The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999
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 Earth seen from Apollo 17. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 The second half of the 20th century saw an increase of interest in both space exploration and the environmental movement. History First orbital flights The first successful orbital launch was of the Soviet unmanned Sputnik The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green movements is a diverse scientific social and Political movement for

The twentieth century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used Calendar in the world today [1] The 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 ten-year period following World War I than the sum total of new technological development in any century before the industrial revolution. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the Terms like ideology, world war, genocide, and nuclear war entered common usage. An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics A world war is a War affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group

The period witnessed radical changes in many areas of human endeavors. Scientific discoveries, such as the theory of relativity and quantum physics, drastically changed the world-view 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 19th century that the last few details of scientific knowledge were about to be filled in. This page is about the scientific concept of relativity for philosophical or sociological theories about relativity see Relativism. Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Accelerating scientific understanding, more efficient communications, and faster transportation transformed the world in those hundred years more rapidly and widely than at any time in the past. It was a century that started with steam-powered ships and ended with the space shuttle. NASA 's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System ( STS) is the Spacecraft currently used by the United States Horses and other pack animals, Western society's basic form of personal transportation for thousands of years, were replaced by automobiles within the span of a few decades. The horse ( Equus caballus) is a hoofed ( Ungulate) Mammal, one of eight living species of the family Equidae. These developments were made possible by the large-scale exploitation of petroleum resources, which offered great amounts of energy in an easily portable and storable liquid form, but also caused widespread concerns about pollution and our long-term impact on the environment. Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability disorder harm or discomfort to the physical systems or living organisms they are in Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Humanity explored outer space for the first time, even taking their first footsteps on the Moon. Outer space, often simply called space, comprises the relatively empty regions of the Universe outside the escape velocities of Celestial bodies.

Mass media, telecommunications, and information technology (especially the Internet) put the world's knowledge at the disposal of nearly anyone in most industrialized societies. "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks Many peoples's view of the world changed significantly as they became much more aware of the suffering and struggles of others and, as such, became increasingly concerned with human rights. Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled In the latter half of the century especially, mankind became aware of the vast scale on which it had affected the planet, and took steps to minimize its damage of the planet's fragile ecosystems. An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( Advancements in medical technology also improved the welfare of many people on the planet; life expectancy increased dramatically from the mid-30s to the mid-60s worldwide during the century. Medical technology refers to the diagnostic or therapeutic application of Science and Technology to improve the management of Health conditions The healthiest countries had life expectancies of over 80 years by the turn of the millennium. Rapid technological advancements, however, also allowed warfare to reach an unprecedented scale; World War II alone killed over 60 million people, while nuclear weaponry gave mankind the means to destroy itself in a very short amount of time. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. The world also became more culturally homogenized than ever with developments in transportation and communications technology, popular music and other influences of Western culture, international corporations, and what was arguably a true global economy by the end of the century. Homogenization (or homogenisation) is a term used in many fields such as Chemistry, Agricultural science, Food technology, Sociology Popular music is Music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more The rising Technology has allowed our environment to be characterized as a global one

Contents

Summary

The massive arms race of the 19th century culminated in a war which involved many powerful nations: World War I (1914–1918). The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All This war drastically changed the way war was fought, as new inventions such as machine guns, tanks, chemical weapons, and grenades created stalemates on the battlefield and millions of troops were killed with little progress made on either side. For other uses of the phrase see Machine Gun (disambiguation. A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of Chemical substances to kill injure or incapacitate an enemy. After more than four years of trench warfare in western Europe, and 20 million dead, those powers who had formed the Triple Entente (France, Britain, and Russia, later replaced by the United States and joined by Italy) emerged victorious over the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire). Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static The Triple Entente (" entente " — French for "agreement" was the name given to the loose alignment of the United Kingdom, the This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish In addition to annexing much of the colonial possessions of the vanquished states, the Triple Entente exacted punitive restitution payments from their former foes, plunging Germany in particular into economic depression. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Russian Empire was plunged into revolution during the conflict and transitioned into the first ever communist state, and the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were dismantled at the war's conclusion. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish World War I brought about the end of the royal and imperial ages of Europe (although some portion of the British Empire remained until the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China) and established the United States as a major world military power.

At the start of the period, Britain was arguably the world's most powerful nation. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927 However, its economy was ruined by World War I, and its empire began to shrink, producing a growing power vacuum in Europe. The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. Fascism, a movement which grew out of post-war angst and accelerated by the Great Depression of the 1930s, gained momentum in Italy, Germany and Spain in the 1920s and 1930s, culminating in World War II (1939–1945), sparked off by Nazi Germany's aggressive expansion at the expense of its neighbours. Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology Angst is a German word for Fear or Anxiety. ( Anguish is its almost entirely synonymous Latinate equivalent Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Meanwhile, Japan had rapidly industrialized and transformed itself into a technologically-advanced industrial power. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Its military expansion into eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean helped to bring the United States into World War II. The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions Germany was defeated by the Soviet Union in the east and by the D-Day invasion of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Free France from the west. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 D-Day may also refer to Decimal Day in the United Kingdom. D-Day is a term often used in Military parlance to denote The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The Free French Forces (Forces Françaises Libres FFL) were French fighters in World War II who decided to continue fighting against Axis forces The war ended with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Japan later became a U. S. ally with a powerful economy based on consumer goods and trade. Germany was divided between the western powers and the Soviet Union; all areas recaptured by the Soviet Union (East Germany and eastward) were essentially transitioned into Soviet puppet states under communist rule. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state A puppet state is a State that is nominally independent but in reality under the control of another power Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based Meanwhile, western Europe was influenced by the American Marshall Plan and made a quick economic recovery, becoming major allies of the United States under capitalist economies and relatively democratic governments. The Marshall Plan (from its enactment officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where

World War II left about 60 million people dead. When the conflict ended in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as very powerful nations. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Allies during the war, they soon became hostile to one other as the competing ideologies of capitalism and communism occupied Europe, divided by the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based The " Iron Curtain " was the symbolic ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end The Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer was a physical barrier separating West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic (GDR ( East Germany) including The military alliances headed by these nations (NATO in North America and western Europe; the Warsaw Pact in eastern Europe) were prepared to wage total war with each other throughout the Cold War (1947–1991). The North Atlantic Treaty The Warsaw Pact (see Nomenclature) was an organization of Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the The period was marked by a new arms race, and nuclear weapons, the most devastating ones yet to have been developed, were produced in the tens of thousands, sufficient to end most life on the planet had they ever been used. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. This is believed by some historians to have staved off an inevitable war between the two, as neither could win if their full nuclear arsenals were unleashed upon each other. This was known as mutually assured destruction (MAD). Mutual assured destruction ( MAD; sometimes written as mutually assured destruction) is a Doctrine of military Strategy in which a full-scale Although the Soviet Union and the United States never directly entered conflict with each other, several proxy wars, such as the Korean War (1950–1953) and the Vietnam War (1957–1975), were waged to contain the spread of communism. A proxy war is the war that results when two powers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes with major hostilities lasting from June 25 1950 until the The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

After World War II, most of the European-colonized world in Africa and Asia gained independence in a process of decolonization. Decolonization refers to the undoing of Colonialism, the establishment of governance or authority through the creation of settlements by another country or jurisdiction This, and the drain of the two world wars, caused Europe to lose much of its long-held power. Meanwhile, the wars helped the United States to exert a strong influence over many world affairs. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the American culture spread around the world with the advent of Hollywood, Broadway, rock and roll, pop music, fast food, big-box stores, and the hip-hop lifestyle. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African Pop music as a genre features a noticeable rhythmic element catchy melodies and hooks, a mainstream style and conventional structure Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly Big-box store is a term that refers to a style of physically large Chain store, and by extension to the company behind the store Hip hop is a cultural movement which developed in New York City in the 1970s primarily among African Americans and Latinos. After the Soviet Union collapsed under internal pressure in 1991, a ripple effect led to the dismantling of communist states across eastern Europe and their rocky transitions into market economies. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar.

After World War II, the United Nations was established as an international forum in which the world's nations could get together and discuss issues diplomatically. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security It has enacted laws on conducting warfare, environmental protection, international sovereignty, and human rights, among other things. Peacekeeping forces consisting of troops provided by various countries, in concert with various United Nations and other aid agencies, has helped to relieve famine, disease, and poverty, and to contain local wars and conflicts. Europe slowly united, politically and economically, into what eventually became the European Union, which consisted of 15 European countries by the end of the century. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in

Perhaps the first major policy of the United Nations was the creation of Israel, a country created as a homeland for the Jewish population. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ This infuriated some Muslims who had inhabited the area for over a thousand years. A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Some surrounding Arab countries quickly declared war on Israel, sparking a conflict which became one of the most volatile global conflicts of the latter half of the century. The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding Behind nearly unilateral support from the United States and other Western nations, Israel waged several wars with its Arab neighbors in 1948, 1958, 1967, 1973, and 1982. The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, (أزمة السويس - العدوان الثلاثي Crise du canal de Suez מבצע קדש Kadesh Background Suez Crisis aftermath The Suez Crisis of 1956 represented a military defeat but a political victory for Egypt The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War (מלחמת יום הכיפורים transliterated: Milkhemet Yom HaKipurim or מלחמת יום The 1982 Lebanon War (מלחמת לבנון Milhemet Levanon) (الإجتياح Al-Ijtīāḥ, "the invasion" called by Israel the Operation Peace Anger over the Israeli capture of Palestinian lands during the Six-Day War of 1967 led to a wave of attacks by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), during the 1970s. Background Suez Crisis aftermath The Suez Crisis of 1956 represented a military defeat but a political victory for Egypt Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. The Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO) (منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية or Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Filastiniyyah) is a political and paramilitary Negotiations during the late 1980s and 1990s led to the PLO transitioning officially to a political organization; however, other Palestinian groups continued attacks against Israel. A derailing of the peace process during the late 1990s led to a resumption of attacks around the turn of the millennium. The political situation in the Middle East was further complicated as questions arose over the influence of Islam on the governments of many Middle Eastern countries; perceived human rights violations by many of these countries; the possession of vast petroleum and natural gas reserves in the Persian Gulf region; and the Soviet war in Afghanistan that fueled such rogue Islamic groups as Al-Qaeda that would change the political landscape in the following century. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit Natural gas is a Gaseous Fossil fuel consisting primarily of Methane but including significant quantities of Ethane, Propane, The Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region is an extension of the The Soviet war in Afghanistan, also known as the Soviet-Afghan War or just the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, was a nine-year conflict involving Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The The 21st century is the current century of the Christian Era or Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar.

In approximately the last third of the century, concern about humankind's impact on the Earth's environment caused environmentalism to become a major citizen movement. See also Natural environment The '''biophysical''' environment is the symbiosis between the physical environment and the Biological Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and Social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. In many countries, especially in Europe, the movement was channeled into politics partly through Green parties, though awareness of the problem permeated societies. A Green party' or ecologist party is a formally organized Political party based on the principles of Green politics. By the end of the century, some progress had been made in cleaning up the environment in first-world countries, though pollution continued apace, and environmental problems in newly industrializing countries, such as India and China, had grown rapidly. The term " first world " refers to countries that are capitalist, which are technologically advanced and whose India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Increasing awareness and pessimism over global warming began in the 1980s, sparking one of the most heated social and political debates by the turn of the century. Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989.

Medical science and the Green Revolution in agriculture enabled the world's population to grow from about 1. Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the The Green Revolution refers to the transformation of Agriculture that began in 1945 at the request of the Mexican government to establish an agricultural research station to The world population is the total number of living Humans on Earth at a given time 65 billion to about 6 billion. This rapid population increase quickly became a major concern and directly caused or contributed to several global issues, including pressure on finite natural resources, conflict, poverty, major environmental issues, and severe overcrowding in some areas.

The nature of change

Due to continuing industrialization and expanding trade, many significant changes of the 20th century were, directly or indirectly, economic and technological in nature. Inventions such as the light bulb, the automobile, and the telephone in the late 1800s, followed by supertankers, airliners, motorways, radio, television, antibiotics, frozen food, computers and microcomputers, the internet, and mobile telephones affected the quality of life for great numbers. The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is a source of electric Light that works by Incandescence, (a general Basic principle A traditional landline telephone system also known as "plain old telephone service" (POTS, commonly handles both signaling and audio information History The technology of oil transportation has evolved alongside the oil industry An airliner is a large Fixed-wing aircraft with the primary function of transporting paying passengers Motorway is a term for both a type of Road and a classification or designation Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic In modern usage an antibiotic is a Chemotherapeutic agent with activity against Microorganisms such as Bacteria, fungi or Protozoa Frozen food is food preserved by the process of Freezing. Freezing food is a common method of Food preservation which slows both food decay and by A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. microcomputer is a Computer with a Microprocessor as its Central processing unit. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks Quality of life is the degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people Economic development was the force behind vast changes in everyday life, to a degree which was unprecedented in human history. Still, the gulf between the world's rich and poor grew much wider than it had ever been in the past. While increasing industrialization and world trade had helped great numbers out of at least abject poverty by the century's end, the poorer half of the world population — three billion people — lived on the purchasing power of two U. S. dollars or less per day. [2]

Developments in brief

Wars and politics

Warfare in the early 20th Century (1914–1918)Clockwise from top: front line Trenches, a British Mark I Tank crossing a trench, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the battle of the Dardanelles, a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes.
Warfare in the early 20th Century (1914–1918)
Clockwise from top: front line Trenches, a British Mark I Tank crossing a trench, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the battle of the Dardanelles, a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. A front line is a line of confrontation in an Armed conflict, most commonly a War. Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927 The British Mark I was the world's first combat Tank, entering service in the middle of World War I, born of the need to break the domination of trenches and The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) A battleship is a large heavily armored Warship with a main battery consisting of the largest Calibre of Guns Battleships were Technical characteristics HMS Irresistible was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 11 April 1898 and launched on 15 December 1898 in a very incomplete state A naval mine is a self-contained Explosive device placed in water to destroy Ships or Submarines Unlike Depth charges mines are deposited The naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign of the First World War were mainly carried out by the Royal Navy with substantial support from the French The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled. A gas mask is a Mask worn over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne Pollutants and Toxic materials The Albatros DIII was a Biplane Fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service A biplane is a Fixed-wing aircraft with two main Wings The first powered heavier-than-air Aircraft, the Wright brothers' Wright Flyer

Culture and entertainment

Trumpeter Miles Davis, one of the century's most influential jazz musicians.
Trumpeter Miles Davis, one of the century's most influential jazz musicians. Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26 1926 &ndash September 28 1991 was an American Jazz Trumpeter, Bandleader, and Composer. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States
I and the Village by Marc Chagall, a modern painter.
I and the Village by Marc Chagall, a modern painter. Marc Chagall (מאַרק שאַגאַל&lrm Belarusian: Мойша Захаравіч Шагалаў Mojša Zaharavič Šagałaŭ; Russian: Марк

Medicine

Notable diseases

Energy, natural resources and the environment

Oil field in California, 1938 The first modern oil well was drilled in 1848 by Russian engineer F.N. Semyonov, on the Apsheron Peninsula north-east of Baku.
Oil field in California, 1938 The first modern oil well was drilled in 1848 by Russian engineer F. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Year 1848 ( MDCCCXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap N. Semyonov, on the Apsheron Peninsula north-east of Baku. This article is about the peninsula For the rayon of Azerbaijan see Absheron (Rayon. Baku (Bakı sometimes known as Baqy, Baky, Baki or Bakü, is the capital the largest city and the largest port of Azerbaijan

Science and technology

Major events

The world at the beginning of the century

In Europe, the British Empire achieved the height of its power. The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. Germany and Italy, which came into existence as unified nations at the end of the 19th century, grew in power, challenging the traditional hegemony of Britain and France. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927 This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. With nationalism in full force at this time, the European powers competed with each other for land, military strength and economic power. The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation

Asia and Africa were for the most part still under control of their European colonizers. The major exceptions were China and Japan. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The Russo-Japanese War in 1905 was the first major instance of a European power being defeated by a so-called inferior nation. The Russo-Japanese War (日露戦争 Romaji: Nichi-Ro Sensō Русско-японская война Russko-Yaponskaya Voyna;, 10 February 1904 – 5 September The war itself strengthened Japanese militarism and enhanced Japan's rise to the status of a world power. Militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or Power in international relations is defined in several different ways Tsarist Russia, on the other hand, did not handle the defeat well. The war exposed the country's military weakness and increasing economic backwardness, and contributed to the Russian Revolution of 1905, the dress rehearsal for the conclusive one in 1917. See also Russian Revolution (1917 The 1905 Russian Revolution also known as the Failed Russian Revolution of 1905 was an empire-wide struggle of See also Russian Revolution (1905 The Russian Revolution of 1916 refers to a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events surrounding them

Already in the 19th century, the United States had become an influential actor in world politics. It had made its presence known on the world stage by challenging Spain in the Spanish-American War, gaining the colonies of Cuba and the Philippines as protectorates. The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP In International law, a protectorate is a autonomous territory that is "protected" by a stronger state or entity hense the protector which engages to protect Now, with growth in immigration and a resolution of the national unity issue through the bloody American Civil War, America was emerging as an industrial power as well, rivaling Britain, Germany, and France. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South

With increasing rivalry among the European powers, and the rise of Japan and the United States, the stage was set for a major upheaval in world affairs.

"The war to end all wars": World War I (1914–1918)

Main article: World War I

The First World War, termed "The Great War" by contemporaries, started in 1914 and ended in 1918. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All It was ignited by the Assassination in Sarajevo of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's heir to the throne, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand, by Gavrilo Princip of the Serbian nationalist organization "Black Hand". Franz Ferdinand ( December 18, 1863 &ndash June 28, 1914) was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Prince Imperial of Gavrilo Princip ( Cyrillic: Гаврило Принцип gaʋ'rilɔ 'prinʦip ( &ndash) was a Bosnian Serb and proclaimed himself to be a Yugoslav Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country Black Hand ( Serbian: Црна рука / Crna Ruka) officially Unification or Death ( Serbian: Уједињење или смрт Ujedinjenje Bound by Slavic nationalism to help the small Serbian state, the Russians came to the aid of the Serbs when they were attacked. Interwoven alliances, an increasing arms race, and old hatreds dragged Europe into war. The Allies, known initially as "The Triple Entente", comprised the British Empire, Russia and France, as well as Italy and the United States later in the war. The Triple Entente (" entente " — French for "agreement" was the name given to the loose alignment of the United Kingdom, the On the other side, Germany, along with Austria-Hungary , Bulgaria and later the Ottoman Empire, were known as "The Central Powers". The state of Bulgaria (България transliterated bg-Latn ''Balgaria'' The country preserves the traditions (in ethnic name language and alphabet of the First Bulgarian The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish The Central Powers ( German: "Mittelmächte" Hungarian: "Központi hatalmak" Turkish: "İttifak

In 1917, Russia ended hostile actions against the Central Powers after the fall of the Tsar. The Bolsheviks negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, although it was at huge cost to Russia. Not to be confused with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (February 9 1918, a similar treaty involving Ukraine and the Central Powers. Although Germany shifted huge forces from the eastern to the western front after signing the treaty, it couldn't stop the Allied advance, especially with the entrance of American troops in 1918.

The war itself was also a chance for the combatant nations to show off their military strength and technological ingenuity. The Germans introduced the machine gun and deadly gases. For other uses of the phrase see Machine Gun (disambiguation. The British first used the tank. A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical Both sides had a chance to test out their new aircraft to see if they could be used in warfare. It was widely believed that the war would be short. Unfortunately, since trench warfare was the best form of defense, advances on both sides were very slow, and came at a terrible cost in lives. Trench warfare is a form of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static

When the war was finally over in 1918, the results would set the stage for the next twenty years. First and foremost, the Germans were forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, forcing them to make exorbitant payments to repair damages caused during the War. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. Many Germans felt these reparations were unfair because they did not actually "lose" the war nor did they feel they caused the war (see Stab-in-the-back legend). The stab-in-the-back legend ( German:, literally "Dagger stab legend" refers to a social Myth theory popular in Germany in the period after Germany was never occupied by Allied troops, yet it had to accept a liberal democratic government imposed on it by the victors after the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm.

Much of the map of Europe was redrawn by the victors based upon the theory that future wars could be prevented if all ethnic groups had their own "homeland". New states like Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were created out of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire to accommodate the nationalist aspirations of these groups. See also Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia ( Serbo-Croatian Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. An international body called the League of Nations was formed to mediate disputes and prevent future wars, although its effectiveness was severely limited by, among other things, its reluctance and inability to act. The League of Nations was an International organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920

The Russian Revolution and communism

Main article: Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution of 1917 sparked a wave of communist revolutions across Europe, prompting many to believe that a socialist world revolution could be realized in the near future. See also Russian Revolution (1905 The Russian Revolution of 1916 refers to a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events surrounding them A communist revolution is a Proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace Capitalism with Communism, typically Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution This is about the concept of world revolution in Marxist theory However, the European revolutions were defeated, Lenin died in 1924, and within a few years Joseph Stalin displaced Leon Trotsky as the de facto leader of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Leon Trotsky ( Russian:, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lyev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The idea of worldwide revolution was no longer in the forefront, as Stalin concentrated on "socialism in one country" and embarked on a bold plan of collectivization and industrialization. Socialism in One Country was a thesis developed by Nikolai Bukharin in 1925 and adopted as state policy by Joseph Stalin. The majority of socialists and even many communists became disillusioned with Stalin's autocratic rule, his purges and the assassination of his "enemies", as well as the news of famines he imposed on his own people. A famine is a widespread shortage of food that may apply to any Faunal species which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional Malnutrition, Starvation

Communism was strengthened as a force in Western democracies when the global economy crashed in 1929 in what became known as the Great Depression. Many people saw this as the first stage of the end of the capitalist system and were attracted to Communism as a solution to the economic crisis, especially as the Soviet Union's economic development in the 1930s was strong, unaffected by the capitalist world's crisis.

Between the wars

Main article: Interwar period

Economic depression

Main article: Great Depression

After World War I, the global economy remained strong through the 1920s. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The war had provided a stimulus for industry and for economic activity in general. There were many warning signs foretelling the collapse of the global economic system in 1929 that were generally not understood by the political leadership of the time. The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the ’29 Crash, the Crash of 1929, the Great Crash of 1929, the Great Crash of October 1929 An economic system is a System that involves the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services between The responses to the crisis often made the situation worse, as millions of people watched their savings become next to worthless and the idea of a steady job with a reasonable income fading away.

Many sought answers in alternative ideologies such as communism and fascism. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology They believed that the capitalist economic system was collapsing, and that new ideas were required to meet the crisis. The early responses to the crisis were based upon the assumption that the free market would correct itself. This, however, did very little to correct the crisis or to alleviate the suffering of many ordinary people. Thus, the idea that the existing system could be reformed by government intervention in the economy rather than by continuing the laissez-faire approach became prominent as a solution to the crisis. Laissez-faire ( pronunciation: French,; English,) is a French phrase literally meaning Let do (“allow to do” Democratic governments assumed the responsibility to provide needed services in society and alleviate poverty. Thus was born the welfare state. This article refers specifically to the Welfare state of the United Kingdom. These two politico-economic principles, the belief in government intervention and the welfare state, as opposed to the belief in the free market and private institutions, would define many political battles for the rest of the century.

The rise of dictatorship

Main articles: Fascism, Totalitarianism, and Dictatorship

Fascism first appeared in Italy with the rise to power of Benito Mussolini in 1922. Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe Political systems where a State regulates nearly every aspect of public and private A dictatorship is usually defined as an autocratic Form of government in which the Government is ruled by a Dictator. The ideology was supported by a large proportion of the upper classes as a strong challenge to the threat of communism. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based

When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, a new variant of fascism called Nazism took over Germany and ended the German experiment with democracy. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German The National Socialist party in Germany was dedicated to the restoration of German honor and prestige, the unification of German-speaking peoples, and the annexation of Central and Eastern Europe as vassal states, with the Slavic population to act as slave labor to serve German economic interests. The, officially National Socialist German Workers' Party, ( abbreviated NSDAP) was a Political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945 There was also a strong appeal to a mythical racial purity (the idea that Germans were the Herrenvolk or the "master race"), and a vicious anti-semitism which promoted the idea of Jews as subhuman (Untermensch) and worthy only of extermination. Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility PLEASE TAKE NOTE************

Many people in Western Europe and the United States greeted the rise of Hitler with relief or indifference. They could see nothing wrong with a strong Germany ready to take on the communist menace to the east. Anti-semitism during the Great Depression was widespread as many were content to blame the Jews for causing the economic downturn.

Hitler began to put his plan in motion, annexing Austria in the Anschluss, or reunification of Austria to Germany, in 1938. The ( German: "link-up" also known as the, was the 1938 Annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi He then negotiated the annexation of the Sudetenland, a German speaking mountainous area of Czechoslovakia, in the Munich Conference. Sudetenland ( Czech and Polish: Sudety) is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the western regions of Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Munich Agreement (Mnichovská dohoda Mníchovská dohoda Münchner Abkommen Accords de Munich was an agreement regarding the Sudetenland, which were areas along borders The British were eager to avoid war and believed Hitler's assurance to protect the security of the Czech state. Hitler annexed the rest of the Czech state shortly afterwards. It could no longer be argued that Hitler was solely interested in unifying the German people.

Fascism was not the only form of dictatorship to rise in the post-war period. Almost all of the new democracies in the nations of Eastern Europe collapsed and were replaced by authoritarian regimes. Authoritarianism describes a Form of government characterized by an emphasis on the Authority of the State in a republic or union Spain also became a dictatorship under the leadership of General Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (born December 4, 1892 in Ferrol, died November 20, 1975 in Madrid The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of Totalitarian states attempted to achieve total control over their subjects as well as their total loyalty. They held the state above the individual, and were often responsible for some of the worst acts in history, such as the Holocaust Adolf Hitler perpetrated on Ashkenazi Jews, or the Great Purge Stalin perpetrated on the Russians later in the century. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim ( Hebrew: אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים, ˌaʃkəˈnazim sing Great Purge (Большая чистка transliterated Bolshaya chistka) was a series of campaigns of Political repression and Persecution The Russian people (Русские— Russkie) are an East Slavic Ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries

Global war: World War II (1939–1945)

Main article: World War II

The war in Europe

Nazi massacre in Kerch, 1942. The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war, about half of all World War II casualties.
Nazi massacre in Kerch, 1942. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Kerch (Керч Керчь Keriç Old East Slavic: Кърчевъ Ancient Greek: Pantikapaion) is a city (2001 pop 157000 on the Kerch Peninsula The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war, about half of all World War II casualties. [5]
Main article: European Theater of World War II

This section provides a conversational overview of World War II in Europe. The European Theatre of Operations ( ETO) was an area of heavy fighting across Europe during World War II, from Nazi Germany's Invasion of Poland See main article for a fuller discussion.


Soon after the events in Czechoslovakia, Britain and France issued assurances of protection to Poland, which seemed to be next on Hitler's list. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland World War II officially began on 1 September 1939. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. On that date, Hitler unleashed his Blitzkrieg, or lightning war, against Poland. Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial Britain and France, much to Hitler's surprise, immediately declared war upon Germany, but the help they could afford Poland was negligible. After only a few weeks, the Polish forces were overwhelmed, and its government fled to exile in London (see Polish government in Exile). The Government of the Polish Republic in Exile was the government of Poland after the country had been occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union during September–October

In starting World War II, the Germans had unleashed a new type of warfare, characterized by highly mobile forces and the use of massed aircraft. The German strategy concentrated upon the devotion of the Wehrmacht, or German army, to the use of tank groups, called panzer divisions, and groups of mobile infantry, in concert with relentless attacks from the air. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 A panzer, pronunced, is a German Tank, especially in the context of World War II. Encirclement was also a major part of the strategy. This change smashed any expectations that the Second World War would be fought in the trenches like the first.

As Hitler's forces conquered Poland, the Soviet Union, under General Secretary Joseph Stalin, was acting out guarantees of territory under a secret part of a nonaggression pact between the USSR and Germany known as the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party See also Non-aggression Pact (band A non-aggression pact is an international Treaty between two or more states agreeing to avoid war This treaty gave Stalin free rein to take the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as Eastern Poland, all of which would remain in Soviet possession after the war. Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region Latvia ( Latvija officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the Stalin also launched an attack on Finland, which he hoped to reduce to little more than a Soviet puppet state, but the Red Army met staunch Finnish resistance in what became known as the Winter War, and succeeded in gaining only limited territory from the Finns. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya The Winter War (Talvisota Советско-финляндская война - official Зимняя война - unofficial Vinterkriget began when the This action would later cause the Finns to ally with Germany when its attack on the Soviet Union came in 1941.

After the defeat of Poland, a period known as the Phony War ensued during the winter of 1939–1940. The Phoney War, also called the Twilight War by Winston Churchill, der Sitzkrieg in German ("the sitting war" a All of this changed on 10 May 1940, when the Germans launched a massive attack on the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), most probably to surmount the Maginot Line of defenses on the Franco-German border. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by The Maginot Line (IPA, Ligne Maginot named after French Minister of Defense André Maginot, was a line of concrete Fortifications tank obstacles artillery This witnessed the incredible fall of Eben Emael, a Belgian fort considered impregnable and guarded by 600 Belgians, to a force of only 88 German paratroopers. Eben-Emael was a Belgian fortress between Liège and Maastricht, near the Albert Canal, defending the Belgian-German border Paratroopers are Soldiers trained in Parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force. The worst of this was that King Léopold III of Belgium surrendered to the Germans on 28 May without warning his allies, exposing the entire flank of the Allied forces to German panzer groups. Leopold III (born as Léopold Philippe Charles Albert Meinrad Hubertus Marie Miguel (French or Leopold Filips Karel Albert Meinrad Hubertus Maria Miguel Events 585 BC - A Solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Following the conquest of the Low Countries, Hitler occupied Denmark and Norway, beginning on 9 April 1940. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Events 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans) Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Norway was strategically important because of its sea routes which supplied crucial Swedish ore to the Nazi war machine. An ore is a volume of rock containing components or Minerals in a mode of occurrence that renders it valuable for mining Norway held on for a few crucial weeks, but Denmark surrendered after only four days.

With the disaster in the Low Countries, France, considered at the time to have had the finest army in world, lasted only four weeks, with Paris being occupied on 14 June. Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Three days later, Marshal Philippe Pétain surrendered to the Germans. Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951 generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain ( Maréchal Pétain) The debacle in France also led to one of the war's greatest mysteries, and Hitler's first great blunder, Dunkirk, where a third of a million trapped British and French soldiers were evacuated by not only British war boats, but every boat the army could find, including fishing rafts. The Battle of Dunkirk was the defense and evacuation of the British and Allied forces that had been separated from the main body of the French defenses by the German advance Hitler refused to "risk" his panzers on action at Dunkirk, listening to the advice of Air Minister Hermann Göring and allowing the Luftwaffe, or German Air Force, to handle the job. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. The irony of this was that the escaped men would form the core of the army that was to invade the beaches of Normandy in 1944. Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. Hitler did not occupy all of France, but about three-quarters, including all of the Atlantic coast, allowing Marshal Pétain to remain as dictator of an area known as Vichy France. Vichy France, or the Vichy regime are the common terms used to describe the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944 However, members of the escaped French Army formed around General Charles de Gaulle to create the Free French forces, which would continue to battle Hitler in the stead of an independent France. Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( ( 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French General and statesman who led the Free French The Free French Forces (Forces Françaises Libres FFL) were French fighters in World War II who decided to continue fighting against Axis forces At this moment, Mussolini declared war on the Allies on 10 June, thinking that the war was almost over, but he managed only to occupy a few hundred yards of French territory. Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem Throughout the war, the Italians would be more of a burden to the Nazis than a boon, and would later cost them precious time in Greece.

Hitler now turned his eyes on Great Britain, which stood alone against him. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands He ordered his generals to draw up plans for an invasion, code named Operation Sea Lion, and ordered the Luftwaffe to launch a massive air war against the British isles, which would come to be known as the Battle of Britain. Operation Sealion (Unternehmen Seelöwe was Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom during World War II, beginning in 1940 The Battle of Britain (German ''Luftschlacht um England'' is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the German Luftwaffe during the summer and The British at first suffered steady losses, but eventually managed to turn the air war against Germany, taking down 2,698 German planes throughout the summer of 1940 to only 915 Royal Air Force (RAF) losses. The key turning point came when the Germans discontinued successful attacks against British airplane factories and radar command and coordination stations and turned to civilian bombing known as terror bombing using the distinctive "bomb" sound created by the German dive-bomber, the Stuka. A civilian under International humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her Country 's Armed forces. Terror bombing is a strategy of deliberately bombing and/or Strafing civilian targets in order to break the Morale of the enemy make its civilian population panic The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Stu rz' ka' mpfflugzeug, " Dive bomber " was a two-seat (pilot and rear gunner The switch came after a small British bombing force had attacked Berlin. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Hitler was infuriated. However, his decision to switch the attacks' focus allowed the British to rebuild the RAF and eventually force the Germans to indefinitely postpone Sea Lion.

The importance of the Battle of Britain is that it marked the beginning of Hitler's defeat. Secondly, it marked the advent of radar as a major weapon in modern air war. Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range altitude direction or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as Aircraft, ships With radar, squadrons of fighters could be quickly assembled to respond to incoming bombers attempting to bomb civilian targets. It also allowed the identification of the type and a guess at the number of incoming enemy aircraft, as well as tracking of friendly airplanes.

Hitler, taken aback by his defeat over the skies of Britain, now turned his gaze eastward to the Soviet Union. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Despite having signed the non-aggression pact with Stalin, Hitler despised communism and wished to destroy it in the land of its birth. He originally planned to launch the attack in early spring of 1941 to avoid the disastrous Russian winter. However, a pro-allied coup in Yugoslavia and Mussolini's almost utter defeat in his invasion of Greece from occupied Albania prompted Hitler to launch a personal campaign of revenge in Yugoslavia and to occupy Greece at the same time. See also Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia ( Serbo-Croatian Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. The Greeks would have a bitter revenge of sorts; the attack caused a delay of several crucial weeks of the invasion of Russia.

On 22 June 1941, Hitler attacked Stalin with the largest army the world has ever seen. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Over three million men and their weapons were put into service against the Soviet Union. Stalin had been warned about the attack, both by other countries and by his own intelligence network, but he had refused to believe it. Therefore, the Russian army was largely unprepared and suffered incredible setbacks in the early part of the war, despite Stalin's orders to counterattack the Germans. Throughout 1941, German forces, divided into 3 army groups (Army Group A, Army Group B, and Army Group C), occupied the Eastern Europe states of Ukraine and Belarus, laid siege to Leningrad (present day Saint Petersburg), and advanced to within 15 miles of Moscow. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of At this critical moment, the Russian winter, which began early that year, stalled the German Wehrmacht to a halt at the gates of Moscow. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 Stalin had planned to evacuate the city, and had already moved important government functions, but decided to stay and rally the city. Recently arrived troops from the east under the command of military genius Marshal Georgi Zhukov counterattacked the Germans and drove them from Moscow. The German army then dug in for the winter.

Here marks the third great blunder of Hitler's. He could have won the war in the USSR except for a few reasons. One, he started the war too late to avoid the Russian winter. Second, he tried to capture too much too fast; he wanted the German army to advance all the way to the Urals, which amounted to one million square miles (2,600,000 km²) of territory, when he probably should have concentrated on taking Moscow and thereby driving a wedge into heart of the Soviet Union. Riphean redirects here For the time period see Riphean stage The Ural Mountains (Ура́льские го́ры Uralskiye Third, he ignored the similar experiences of Napoleon Bonaparte nearly one hundred and fifty years earlier in his attempt to conquer Russia. Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. Despite this, Stalin was not in a good position. Roughly two-fifths of the USSR's industrial might was in German hands. Also, the Germans were at first seen by many as liberators fighting the communists. Stalin was also not a very able general, and like Hitler, at first tried to fight the war as a military strategist. However, Hitler managed to turn all of his advantages against himself, and lost the only remaining hope for Germany: seizing the Caucasus and taking control of North Africa and the oil-rich Middle East. The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East.

Mussolini had launched an offensive in North Africa from Italian-controlled Libya into British-controlled Egypt. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab However, the British smashed the Italians and were on the verge of taking Libya. Hitler decided to help by sending in a few thousand troops, a Luftwaffe division, and the first-rate general Erwin Rommel. Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ( 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) (also known as the " Desert Fox " Wüstenfuchs Rommel managed to use his small force to repeatedly smash massively superior British forces and to recapture the port city of Tobruk and advance into Egypt. Tobruk or Tubruq (طبرق also transliterated as Tóbruch, Tobruch, Ţubruq, Tobruck) is a Town, Seaport This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. However, Hitler, embroiled in his invasion of the Soviet Union, refused to send Rommel any more troops. If he had, Rommel might have been able to seize the Middle East, where Axis-friendly regimes had taken root in Iraq and Persia (present-day Iran). The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. Here, Rommel could have cut the major supply route of the Soviets through Persia, and helped take the Caucasus, virtually neutralizing Britain's effectiveness in the war and potentially sealing the fate of the USSR. However, Hitler blundered again, throwing away the last vestiges of the German advantage on his coming offensive in 1942.

After the winter, Hitler launched a fresh offensive in the spring of 1942, with the aim of capturing the oil-rich Caucacus and the city of Stalingrad. However, he repeatedly switched his troops to where they were not needed. The offensive bogged down, and the entire 6th Army, considered the best of German troops, was trapped in Stalingrad. The 6th Army was a German Field army which saw action in World War I and World War II. Hitler now refused to let 6th Army break out. He insisted that the German army would force its way in. Hermann Goering also assured Hitler that the Luftwaffe could supply the 6th Army adequately, when it could in reality only supply a minute fraction of the needed ammunition and rations. Ammunition, often referred to as ammo, is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which Rationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services Eventually, the starved 6th Army surrendered, dealing a severe blow to the Germans. In the end, the defeat at Stalingrad was the turning point for the war in the east.

Meanwhile, the Japanese had attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on 7 December 1941. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Pearl Harbor is a Harbor on the Island of O{{okina}}ahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This disastrous attack forced the Americans into the war. Hitler need not have declared war on the United States, and kept its continued neutrality in Europe, but he did not. Both he and Mussolini declared war only a few days after the attack. At the time, most German generals, preoccupied with war in Russia, did not even notice America's entrance. It was to be a crucial blunder.

Throughout the rest of 1942 and 1943, the Soviets began to gain ground against the Germans. The tank battle of Kursk is one example. History KurskOld2jpg|thumb|200px|Pre-1917 view of Kursk]] Archaeology indicates that the site of Kursk was settled in the fifth or fourth century B However, by this time, Rommel had been forced to abandon North Africa after a defeat by Montgomery at El Alamein, and the Wehrmacht had encountered serious casualties that it could not replace. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, (məntˈgʌmərɪ əv ˈæləmeɪn El Alamein (or Al Alamayn) ( العلمين is a town in northern Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea coast in Matruh Governorate. Hitler also insisted on a "hold at all costs" policy which forbade relinquishing any ground. He followed a "fight to the last man" policy that was completely ineffective. By the beginning of 1944, Hitler had lost all initiative in Russia, and was struggling even to hold back the tide turning against him.

From 1942 to 1944, the United States and Britain acted in only a limited manner in the European theater, much to the chagrin of Stalin. They drove out the Germans in Africa, invading Morocco and Algeria on 8 November 1942. Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa Algeria ( ar [[Arabic]] الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir ælʤæˈzæːʔir Amazigh: ⴷⵥⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer) officially the People's Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Then, on 10 July 1943, the Allies invaded Sicily, in preparation for an advance through Italy, the "soft underbelly" of the Axis, as Winston Churchill called it. Events 48 BC - Battle of Dyrrhachium, Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia. Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Sicily ( Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia) is an autonomous region of Italy. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 On 9 September, the invasion of Italy began. Events 1000 - Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. 1379 - Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian By the winter of 1943, the southern half of Italy was in Allied hands. The Italians, most of whom did not really support the war, had already turned against Mussolini. In July, he had been stripped of power and taken prisoner, though the Italians feigned continued support of the Axis. On 8 September, the Italians formally surrendered, but most of Italy not in Allied hands was controlled by German troops and those loyal to Mussolini's (Mussolini had been freed by German paratroopers) new Italian Social Republic, which in reality consisted of the shrinking zone of German control. Events 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz The Italian Social Republic ( Italian: Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI) was a Puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the The Germans offered staunch resistance, but by 4 June 1944, Rome had fallen. Events 781 BC - The first historic Solar eclipse is recorded in China. Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2

The Second Battle of the Atlantic took place from 1942 to 1944. The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous Military campaign of World War II, (though some say it was a series of naval Military campaigns The Germans hoped to sever the vital supply lines between Britain and America, sinking many tons of shipping with U-boats, German submarines. U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers However, the development of the destroyer and aircraft with a longer patrol range were effective at countering the U-boat threat. In naval terminology a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance Warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, Convoy By 1944, the Germans had lost the battle.

On 6 June 1944, the Western Allies finally launched the long awaited assault on "Fortress Europe" so wanted by Stalin. Events 1508 - Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The offensive, codenamed Operation Overlord, began the early morning hours of 6 June. Operation Overlord was the code name for the invasion of northwest Europe during World War II by Allied forces Events 1508 - Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year The day, known as D-day, was marked by foul weather. D-Day may also refer to Decimal Day in the United Kingdom. D-Day is a term often used in Military parlance to denote Rommel, who was now in charge of defending France against possible Allied attack, thought the Allies would not attack during the stormy weather, and was on holiday in Germany. Besides this, the Germans were expecting an attack, but at the natural harbor of Calais and not the beaches of Normandy; a blunder that sealed the operation's success. Calais (kaˈlɛ in English often kæˈleɪ traditional English pronunciation /ˈkælɨs/ Kales is a town in northern France. Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. They did not know about the Allies' artificial harbours, and clues planted by the Allies suggested Calais as the landing site. A Mulberry harbour was a type of temporary Harbour developed in World War II to offload cargo on the beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy.

By this time, the war was looking ever darker for Germany. On 20 July 1944, a group of conspiring German officers attempted to assassinate Hitler. Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The bomb they used did injure him, but the second was not used, and a table shielded Hitler in a stroke of luck. The plotters still could have launched a coup, but only the head of occupied Paris acted, arresting SS and Gestapo forces in the city. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the The ( contraction of ge heime Sta ats' po' lizei: "Secret State Police" was the official Secret police of Nazi Germany The German propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, rallied the Nazis, and saved the day for Hitler. Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public

In France, the Allies took Normandy and finally Paris on 25 August. Events 1248 - The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III the In the east, the Russians had advanced almost to the former Polish-Russian border. At this time, Hitler introduced the V-weapons, the V-1 and, later, the V-2, the first rockets used in modern warfare. Vergeltungswaffe ( German for "retaliatory weapon" "reprisal weapon" or "vengeance weapon" was a term assigned during World War II by the Nazis The Fieseler Fi 103, better known as V-1 (German Vergeltungswaffe 1 was an early Cruise missile used during World War Two See also Vergeltungswaffe The V-2 rocket ( Vergeltungswaffe 2 was the first Ballistic missile and first man-made object to achieve The V-1 was often intercepted by air pilots, but the V-2 was extremely fast and carried a large payload. However, this advance came too late in the war to have any real effect. The Germans were also on the verge on introducing a number of terrifying new weapons, including advanced jet aircraft, which were too fast for ordinary propeller aircraft, and submarine improvements which would allow the Germans to again fight effectively in the Atlantic. All this came too late to save Hitler. Although a September invasion of The Netherlands failed, the Allies made steady advances. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands In the winter of 1944, Hitler put everything into one last desperate gamble in the West, known as the Battle of the Bulge, which, despite an initial advance, was a failure, because the introduction of new Allied tanks and low troop numbers among the Germans prevented any real action being taken. The Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945 was a major German offensive launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains

In early February 1945, the three Allied leaders, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, met at newly liberated Yalta in the Crimea in the Soviet Union in the Yalta Conference. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Yalta (Ялта Yalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea. Crimea (kraɪˈmiːə or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Крим Автономна Республіка Крим Avtonomna Respublika Krym; Крым The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and Codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February Here, they agreed upon 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 went to Britain, France, and the U. S. Post-war Germany would be split between the four, as would Berlin. Here the territory of the Cold War was set. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the The boundaries of a new Europe, stripped of some of its oldest ruling families, were drawn up by the three men at Yalta.

At the beginning of 1945, Hitler was on his last strings. The Russians launched a devastating attack from Poland, where they had liberated Warsaw, into Germany and Eastern Europe, intending to take Berlin. The Germans collapsed in the West, allowing the Allies to fan out across Germany. However, the Supreme Allied Commander, American general Dwight D. Eisenhower, refused to strike for Berlin, and instead became obsessed with reports of possible guerrilla activity in southern Germany, which in reality existed only in the propaganda of Joseph Goebbels. Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general By 25 April, the Russians had besieged Berlin. Events 1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar. Hitler remained in the city in a bunker under the Chancellery garden. On 30 April, he committed suicide, after a ritual wedding with his long time mistress Eva Braun. Events 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule Eva Anna Paula Braun, died Eva Anna Paula Hitler ( 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was the longtime companion of The Germans held out another 7 days under Admiral Doenitz, their new leader, but the Germans surrendered unconditionally on 7 May 1945, ending the war in Europe (see V-E Day). Events 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Victory in Europe Day ( V-E Day or VE Day) was May 7 and May 8, 1945, the dates when the World War II Allies

Rivalries that had begun during the war, combined with the sense of strength in the victorious powers, laid the foundations of the Iron Curtain and of the Cold War. The " Iron Curtain " was the symbolic ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end

The war in the Pacific

Main article: Pacific Theater of Operations

The Holocaust

Main article: Holocaust

The Holocaust (which roughly means "great fire") was the deliberate, systematic, and horrific murder of millions of Jews and other minorities during World War II by the Nazi regime in Germany. The Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO was the World War II military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it a geographic scope The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as 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). Kristallnacht ( literally "Crystal night" or the Night of Broken Glass was a Pogrom in Nazi Germany on November 9–10 1938 The Nazis used propaganda to great effect to stir up anti-Semitic feelings within ordinary Germans.

After the conquest of Poland, the Third Reich, which had previously deported Jews and other "undesirables", suddenly had within its borders the largest concentration of Jews in the world. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers The solution was to round up Jews and place them in concentration camps or in ghettos, cordoned off sections of cities where Jews were forced to live in deplorable conditions, often with tens of thousands starving to death, and the bodies decaying in the streets. Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial A ghetto is described as a "portion of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social legal or economic pressure As appalling as this sounds, they were the lucky ones. After the invasion of the Soviet Union, armed killing squads of SS men known as Einsatzgruppen systematically rounded up Jews and murdered an estimated one million Jews within the country. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the Einsatzgruppen ( German: "task forces" "intervention groups" were Paramilitary groups formed by Heinrich Himmler and As barbaric and inhuman as this seems, it was too slow and inefficient by Nazi standards.

In 1942, the top leadership met in Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin, and began to plan a more efficient way to slaughter the Jews. The Wannsee is both a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany, and a linked pair of Lakes adjoining The Nazis created a system of extermination camps throughout Poland, and began rounding up Jews from the Soviet Union, and from the Ghettos. Extermination camps were two types of facilities that Nazi Germany built during World War II for the systematic killing of millions of people in what has become Not only were Jews shot or gassed to death en masse, but they were forced to provide slave labor and they were used in horrific medical experiments (see Human experimentation in Nazi Germany). Nazi human experimentation was a series of controversial medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners by the German Nazi regime in its Concentration Out of the widespread condemnation of the Nazis' medical experiments, the Nuremberg Code of medical ethics was devised. The Nuremberg Code is a set of Research ethics principles for Human experimentation set as a result of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials at the end of the

Slave laborers at the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Slave laborers at the Buchenwald concentration camp. Buchenwald concentration camp (German Konzentrationslager or 'KZ' Buchenwald) was a Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg (Etter Mountain near

The Nazis took a sadistic pleasure in the death camps; the entrance to the worst camp, Auschwitz, stated "Arbeit Macht Frei" — "Work Makes Free". "Auschwitz" redirects here For the town see Oświęcim Auschwitz-Birkenau () was the largest of Nazi Germany In the end, seven million Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies and political prisoners were killed by various means, mainly in the death camps. Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. Jehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenialist Christian denomination The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins An additional seven million Soviet and other Allied prisoners of war died in camps and holding areas.

There is some controversy over whether ordinary Germans knew about the Holocaust. It appears that many Germans knew about the concentration camps; such things were prominently displayed in magazines and newspapers. In many places, Jews had to walk past towns and villages on their way to work as slaves in German industry. In any case, Allied soldiers reported that the smell of the camps carried for miles. A very small number of people deny the Holocaust occurred entirely, though these claims have been routinely discredited by mainstream historians. Holocaust denial is the claim that the Genocide of Jews during World War II —usually referred to as The Holocaust —did not occur in the

The Nuclear Age begins

The first nuclear explosion, named "Trinity", was detonated July 16, 1945.
The first nuclear explosion, named "Trinity", was detonated July 16, 1945. A nuclear explosion occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from an intentionally high-speed Nuclear reaction. Trinity was the first test of technology for a Nuclear weapon.
Main article: History of nuclear weapons

During the 1930s, innovations in physics made it apparent that it could be possible to develop nuclear weapons of incredible power using nuclear reactions. The history of nuclear weapons chronicles the development of Nuclear weapons. Physics (Greek Physis - φύσις in everyday terms is the Science of Matter and its motion. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. In Nuclear physics, a nuclear reaction is the process in which two nuclei or nuclear particles collide to produce products different from the initial particles When World War II broke out, scientists and advisors among the Allies feared that Nazi Germany may have been trying to develop its own atomic weapons, and the United States and the United Kingdom pooled their efforts in what became known as the Manhattan Project to beat them to it. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb At the secret Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico, scientist Robert Oppenheimer led a team of the world's top scientists to develop the first nuclear weapons, the first of which was tested at the Trinity site in July 1945. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL (previously known at various times as Site Y, Los Alamos Laboratory, and Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory) is a New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. Trinity was the first test of technology for a Nuclear weapon. However, Germany had surrendered in May 1945, and it had been discovered that the German atomic bomb program had not been very close to success. The German nuclear energy project in Nazi Germany was informally known as the Uranverein (Uranium Club and it began in April 1939 just months

The Allied team produced two nuclear weapons for use in the war, one powered by uranium-235 and the other by plutonium as fissionable material, named "Little Boy" and "Fat Man". Uranium-235 is an isotope of uranium that differs from the element's other common isotope Uranium-238, by its ability to cause a rapidly expanding fission Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing Free neutrons and other smaller nuclei which may Little Boy was the Codename of the Atomic bomb, developed via the "Manhattan Project" which was dropped on Hiroshima, on August 6 1945 by the "Fat Man" is the codename for the Atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9 These were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The Japanese city of ( is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest of Japan 's ( is the Capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. This, in combination with the Soviet entrance in the war, convinced the Japanese to surrender unconditionally. These two weapons remain the only two nuclear weapons ever used against other countries in war.

Nuclear weapons brought an entirely new and terrifying possibility to warfare: a nuclear holocaust. While at first the United States held a monopoly on the production of nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union, with some assistance from espionage, managed to detonate its first weapon (dubbed "Joe-1" by the West) in August 1949. The RDS-1 (РДС-1 also Joe-1, was the USSR's first Nuclear weapon test, named in reference to Joseph Stalin. The post-war relations between the two, which had already been deteriorating, began to rapidly disintegrate. Soon the two were locked in a massive stockpiling of nuclear weapons. The United States began a crash-program to develop the first hydrogen bomb in 1950, and detonated its first thermonuclear weapon in 1952. The Teller–Ulam design is a Nuclear weapon design which is used in Megaton -range Thermonuclear weapons and is more colloquially referred to as "the In Physics and Nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple- like charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus This new weapon was alone over 400 times as powerful as the weapons used against Japan. The Soviet Union detonated a primitive thermonuclear weapon in 1953 and a full-fledged one in 1955.

Nuclear missiles and computerized launch systems increased the range and scope of possible nuclear war.
Nuclear missiles and computerized launch systems increased the range and scope of possible nuclear war.

The conflict continued to escalate, with the major superpowers developing long-range missiles (such as the ICBM) and a nuclear strategy which guaranteed that any use of the nuclear weapons would be suicide for the attacking nation (Mutually Assured Destruction). Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of Nuclear weapons As a sub-branch of Military Mutual assured destruction ( MAD; sometimes written as mutually assured destruction) is a Doctrine of military Strategy in which a full-scale The creation of early warning systems put the control of these weapons into the hands of newly created computers, and they served as a tense backdrop throughout the Cold War. The United States Air Force Ballistic Missile Early Warning System ( BMEWS) was the first operational Ballistic missile detection Radar. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the

Since the 1940s there were concerns about the rising proliferation of nuclear weapons to new countries, which was seen as being destabilizing to international relations, spurring regional arms races, and generally increasing the likelihood of some form of nuclear war. Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of Nuclear weapons, fissile material and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations The term arms race, in its original usage describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy Eventually, seven nations would overtly develop nuclear weapons, and still maintain stockpiles today: the United States, the Soviet Union (and later Russia would inherit these), the United Kingdom, France, China, India, and Pakistan. The Federal government of the United States is known to have possessed three types of Weapons of mass destruction: Nuclear weapons chemical weapons Russia possesses the largest stockpile of Weapons of mass destruction in the world Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The United Kingdom is one of the five official nuclear weapon states under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has an independent nuclear deterrent France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or The People's Republic of China is estimated by the US Government to have an arsenal of about 150 Nuclear weapons as of 1999, which matches India is believed to possess an arsenal of Nuclear weapons and maintains intermediate-range Ballistic missiles to deliver them The Islamic Republic of Pakistan began focusing on nuclear development in January 1972 under the leadership of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali South Africa developed six crude weapons in the 1980s (which it later dismantled), and Israel almost certainly developed nuclear weapons though it never confirmed nor denied it. During the 1970s and 1980s South Africa pursued research into nuclear, biological, and Chemical weapons Six nuclear weapons were assembled. Israel is widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal (an estimated 100 to 200 of Nuclear weapons and maintains intercontinental-range Ballistic missiles to deliver The creation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in 1968 was an attempt to curtail such proliferation, but a number of countries developed nuclear weapons since it was signed (and many did not sign it), and a number of other countries, including Libya, Iran, and North Korea, were suspected of having clandestine nuclear weapons programs. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ( NPT or NNPT) is a Treaty to limit the spread Iran is not known to possess Weapons of mass destruction, and has signed treaties repudiating possession of them including the Biological Weapons North Korea claims to possess Nuclear weapons and the CIA asserts that it has a substantial arsenal of Chemical weapons.

The post-war world

Following World War II, the majority of the industrialized world lay in ruins as a result of aerial bombings, naval bombardment, and protracted land campaigns. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The United States was a notable exception to this; barring Pearl Harbor and some minor incidents, the U. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Pearl Harbor is a Harbor on the Island of O{{okina}}ahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. S. had suffered no attacks upon its territory. The United States and the Soviet Union, which, despite the devastation of its most populated areas, rebuilt quickly, found themselves the world's two dominant superpowers. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale

Much of Western Europe was rebuilt after the war with assistance from the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan (from its enactment officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger Germany, chief instigator of the war, was placed under joint military occupation by the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Belligerent military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Berlin, although in Soviet-controlled territory, was also divided between the four powers. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Occupation of Berlin would continue until 1990. Japan was also placed under U. S. occupation, that would last five years, until 1949. Oddly, these two Axis powers, despite military occupation, soon rose to become the second (Japan) and third (West Germany) most powerful economies in the world. The Axis powers also known as the Axis alliance Axis nations Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those Countries

Following the end of the war, the Allies famously prosecuted numerous German officials for war crimes and other offenses in the Nuremberg Trials. In general allies are people groups or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war" including but not limited to "murder the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after Although Adolf Hitler had committed suicide, many of his cronies, including Hermann Göring, were convicted. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Less well-known trials of other Axis officials also occurred, including the Tokyo War Crime Trial. The Axis powers also known as the Axis alliance Axis nations Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those Countries Japanese war crimes occurred during the period of Japanese imperialism.

The failure of the League of Nations to prevent World War II essentially discredited the organization, and it was dissolved. The League of Nations was an International organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920 A new attempt at world peace was begun with the founding of the United Nations on 24 October 1945 in San Francisco. World peace is an ideal of freedom, Peace, and Happiness among and within all nations The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security Events 69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus the commander of the Danube armies loyal to Vespasian, defeat Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Today, nearly all countries are members, but despite its many successes, the organization's success at achieving its goal of world peace is dubious. The organization was never given enough power to overcome the conflicting interests and priorities of its member nations.

The end of empires: decolonization

Main articles: Decolonization and New Imperialism

Almost all of the major nations that were involved in World War II began shedding their overseas colonies soon after the conflict. Decolonization refers to the undoing of Colonialism, the establishment of governance or authority through the creation of settlements by another country or jurisdiction New Imperialism refers to the colonial expansion adopted by Europe 's powers and later Japan and the United States, during the 19th This article is about a type of political territory For other uses see Colony (disambiguation. In Africa, nationalists such as Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana led their respective nations to independence from foreign rule. Jomo Kenyatta ( October 20, 1894 &ndash August 22, 1978) served as the first Prime Minister (1963&ndash1964 and President The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north Somalia to the northeast Tanzania to the south The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast to the west Burkina Faso to the north Togo to the The tactics employed by the revolutionaries ranged from non-violent forms of protest to armed rebellions, depending on the nation involved. Nonviolence is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of physical Violence. The United States granted independence to the Philippines, its major Pacific possession. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP European powers also began withdrawing from their possessions in Africa and Asia. France was forced out of both Indochina and, later, Algeria. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. First French interventions See also France-Vietnam relations France-Vietnam relations started as early as the 17th century with the mission of the Jesuit Algeria ( ar [[Arabic]] الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir ælʤæˈzæːʔir Amazigh: ⴷⵥⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer) officially the People's

Mutually assured destruction: the Cold War (1947–1991)

Main article: Cold War

This section should be added, and the following (War by proxy) merged into it. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the

War by proxy

Main articles: Korean War, Vietnam War, and Cuban Missile Crisis

Two wars and a near-war in the 1950s became the foci for capitalist versus communist struggle. The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes with major hostilities lasting from June 25 1950 until the The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba during the Cold War. The first war was the Korean War, fought between People's Republic of China-backed North Korea and mainly United States-backed South Korea. The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes with major hostilities lasting from June 25 1950 until the Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, The United States of America —commonly referred to as the South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː North Korea's invasion of South Korea led to United Nations intervention. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security General Douglas MacArthur led troops from the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and other countries in repulsing the Northern invasion. General MacArthur redirects here for other meanings see General MacArthur (disambiguation. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands However, the war reached a stalemate after Chinese intervention pushed U. N. forces back, and a cease-fire ended hostilities, leaving the two Koreas divided and tense for the rest of the century. A ceasefire (or truce) is a temporary stoppage of a War or any Armed conflict, where each side of the conflict agrees

The second war, the Vietnam War, was perhaps the second most visible war of the 20th century, after World War II. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including After the French withdrawal from its former colony, Vietnam became partitioned into two halves, much like Korea. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Fighting between North and South eventually escalated into a regional war. The United States provided aid to South Vietnam, but was not directly involved until the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, passed in reaction to a supposed North Vietnamese attack upon American destroyers, brought the U. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (officially the Southeast Asia Resolution Public Law 88-408 was addressed by Lyndon B In naval terminology a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance Warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, Convoy S. into the war as a belligerent. The war was initially viewed as a fight to contain communism (see containment, Truman Doctrine, and Domino Theory), but, as more Americans were drafted and news of events such as the Tet Offensive and My Lai massacre leaked out, American sentiment turned against the war. Containment refers to a Foreign policy of the United States in the early years of the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine was a proclamation by US President Harry S The domino theory was a Foreign policy theory promoted by the government of the United States, that speculated that if one land in a region came under the influence Conscription (also known as the draft, the call-up or national service) is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by some established authority The Tet Offensive was a military campaign conducted between 30 January and 23 September 1968, by forces of the Vietcong, or National Front for The My Lai Massacre ( approximately) (thảm sát Mỹ Lai was the Mass murder of 347 to 504 unarmed citizens of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam almost U.S. President Richard Nixon was elected partially on claims of a "secret plan" to stop the war. The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by This Nixon Doctrine involved a gradual pullout of American forces; South Vietnamese units were supposed to replace them, backed up by American air power. The Nixon Doctrine (also known as the Guam Doctrine) was put forth in a press conference in Guam on July 25, 1969 by Richard Nixon Unfortunately, the plan went awry, and the war spilled into neighboring Cambodia while South Vietnamese forces were pushed further back. The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East Eventually, the U. S. and North Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Accords, ending U. The Paris Peace Accords (or Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam) were signed on January 27, 1973 by the governments of the S. involvement in the war. With the threat of U. S. retaliation gone, the North proceeded to violate the ceasefire and invaded the South with full military force. Saigon was captured on 30 April 1975, and Vietnam was unified under Communist rule a year later, effectively bringing an end to one of the most unpopular wars of all time. Events 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

The Cuban Missile Crisis illustrates just how close to the brink of nuclear war the world came during the Cold War. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba during the Cold War. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the Cuba, under Fidel Castro's socialist government, had formed close ties with the Soviet Union. The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13 1926 is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from December 1959 to December 1976 and then president until Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 This was obviously disquieting to the United States, given Cuba's proximity. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the When Lockheed U-2 spy plane flights over the island revealed that Soviet missile launchers were being installed, U.S. President John F. Kennedy instituted a naval blockade and publicly confronted the Soviet Union. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of A blockade is any effort to prevent supplies Troops information or aid from reaching an opposing force After a tense week, the Soviet Union backed down and ordered the launchers removed, not wanting to risk igniting a new world war.

The space race

In 1969, humans first set foot on the Moon.
In 1969, humans first set foot on the Moon. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus
Main article: Space Race

With Cold War tensions running high, the Soviet Union and United States took their rivalry to the stars in 1957 with the Soviet launch of Sputnik. The Space Race was a competition of space exploration between the Soviet Union and the United States, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975 Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A "space race" between the two powers followed. Although the USSR reached several important milestones, such as the first craft on the Moon (Luna 2) and the first human in space (Yuri Gagarin), the U. Luna 2 (E-1A series was the second of the Soviet Union's Luna program spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon. S. eventually pulled ahead with its Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, which culminated in Apollo 11's manned landing on the moon. Team The Gemini program was managed by the Manned Spacecraft Center Houston Texas under direction of the Office of Manned Space Flight NASA Headquarters Washington Five more manned landings followed (Apollo 13 was forced to abort its mission). In addition, both countries launched numerous probes into space, such as the Venera 7 and Voyager 2. The Venera 7 (Венера-7 was a Soviet Spacecraft part of the Venera series of probes to Venus. Voyager 2 is an unmanned Interplanetary Spacecraft launched on August 20, 1977.

In later decades, space became a somewhat friendlier place. Regular manned space flights were made possible with the American space shuttle, which was the first reusable spacecraft to be successfully used. NASA 's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System ( STS) is the Spacecraft currently used by the United States Mir and Skylab enabled prolonged human habitation in space. Mir (Мир which can mean both Peace and World, and was the name given to peasant communes in pre-revolutionary Russia was a Soviet (and Skylab was the first Space station the United States launched into orbit and the second space station ever visited by a human crew In the 1990s, work on the International Space Station began, and by the end of the century, while still incomplete, it was in continual use by astronauts from the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, and Canada.

The end of the Cold War

In 1989, the Berlin Wall separating West and East Berlin fell.
In 1989, the Berlin Wall separating West and East Berlin fell. The Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer was a physical barrier separating West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic (GDR ( East Germany) including Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany.
Main article: Cold War (1985-1991)

By the 1980s, the Soviet Union was weakening. The Cold War period of 1985 to 1991 began with the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet leader and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The Sino-Soviet split had removed the USSR's most powerful ally, the People's Republic of China. The Sino-Soviet split was a gradual divergence of diplomatic ties between the People's Republic of China (PRC and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Its arms race with the U. The term arms race, in its original usage describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy S. was draining the country of funds, and further weakened by internal pressures, ethnic and political. Mikhail Gorbachev, its last leader, attempted to reform the country with glasnost and perestroika, but the formation of Solidarity, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the breaking-off of several Soviet republics, such as Lithuania, started a slippery slope of events that culminated in a coup to overthrow Gorbachev, organized by Communist Party hard-liners. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician (Гла́сность)is literally defined as publicity and sometimes figuratively interpreted as "tipping a vase to let someone see into the vase but not the bottom of the vase" (Перестройка) is the Russian term (now used in English for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev The Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer was a physical barrier separating West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic (GDR ( East Germany) including Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia, organized mass opposition, and the coup failed. Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin () (1 February 1931 23 April 2007 was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999 Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending On 26 December 1991, the Soviet Union was officially disbanded into its constituent republics, thus putting a final line under the already exhausted Cold War. Events 1481 - Battle of Westbrook - Holland defeats troops of Utrecht. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the

Information and communications technology

Main articles: Computer, History of computing hardware, and Internet

The creation of the transistor revolutionized the development of the computer. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. The history of computer hardware encompasses the hardware, its architecture, and its impact on software. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks In Electronics, a transistor is a Semiconductor device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. The first computers, room-sized electro-mechanical devices built to break cryptographical codes during World War II, quickly became at least 20 times smaller using transistors. Cryptography (or cryptology; from Greek grc κρυπτός kryptos, "hidden secret" and grc γράφω gráphō, "I write" Computers became reprogrammable rather than fixed-purpose devices. The invention of programming languages meant computer operators could concentrate on problem solving at a high-level, without having to think in terms of the individual instructions to the computer itself. A programming language is an Artificial language that can be used to write programs which control the behavior of a machine particularly a Computer. The creation of operating systems also vastly improved programming productivity. An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination Building on this, computer pioneers could now realize what they had envisioned. The graphical user interface, piloted by a computer mouse made it simple to harness the power of the computer. In Computing, a mouse (plural mice, mouse devices, or mouses) Storage for computer programs progressed from punch cards and paper tape to magnetic tape, floppy disks and hard disks. Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to Computer components devices and recording media that retain digital Punched tape or paper tape is a largely obsolete form of Data storage, consisting of a long strip of paper in which holes are punched to store data Magnetic tape is a medium for Magnetic recording generally consisting of a thin magnetizable coating on a long and narrow strip of Plastic. A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased A hard disk drive ( HDD) commonly referred to as a hard drive, hard disk, or fixed disk drive, is a Non-volatile storage device Core memory and bubble memory fell to random access memory. Magnetic core memory, or ferrite-core memory, is an early form of Random access Computer memory. Prehistory twistor memory Bubble memory is largely the brainchild of a single person Andrew Bobeck.

The invention of the word processor, spreadsheet and database greatly improved office productivity over the old paper, typewriter and filing cabinet methods. A spreadsheet is a Computer application that simulates a paper worksheet A Computer Database is a structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer system An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an Organization with specific duties attached A typewriter is a mechanical or Electromechanical device with a set of "keys" that when pressed cause characters to be printed on a medium The economic advantage given to businesses led to economic efficiencies in computers themselves. Cost-effective CPUs led to thousands of industrial and home-brew computer designs, many of which became successful; a home-computer boom was led by the Apple II, the ZX80 and the Commodore PET. The Sinclair ZX80 was a Home computer brought to market in 1980 by Sinclair Research of Cambridge England The PET ( P ersonal E lectronic T ransactor) was a home -/ Personal computer produced by Commodore starting in 1977

The first model of the IBM PC, the personal computer whose successors and clones would fill the world.
The first model of the IBM PC, the personal computer whose successors and clones would fill the world. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated

IBM, seeking to embrace the microcomputer revolution, devised its IBM Personal Computer (PC). International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology microcomputer is a Computer with a Microprocessor as its Central processing unit. Crucially, IBM developed the PC from third-party components that were available on the open market. The only impediment to another company duplicating the system's architecture was the proprietary BIOS software. In Computing, the BIOS (ˈbaɪoʊs Other companies, starting with Compaq, reverse engineered the BIOS and released PC compatible computers that soon became the dominant architecture. Compaq Computer Corporation was an American Personal computer company founded in 1982 and is now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard. Reverse engineering (RE is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device object or system through analysis of its structure function and operation IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Microsoft, which produced the PC's operating system, rode this wave of popularity to become the world's leading software company. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer

The 1980s heralded the Information Age. Information Age is a term that has been used to refer to the present era The rise of computer applications and data processing made ethereal "information" as valuable as physical commodities. This brought about new concerns surrounding intellectual property issues. Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names The U.S. Government made algorithms patentable, forming the basis of software patents. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an Software patent does not have a universally accepted definition The controversy over these and proprietary software led Richard Stallman to create the Free Software Foundation and begin the GNU Project. Proprietary software is Computer software on which the producer has set restrictions on use private modification copying, or republishing. Richard Matthew Stallman (born March 16 1953 often abbreviated " rms " is an American software freedom activist The Free Software Foundation ( FSF) is a Non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the Free software movement GNU ( pronounced) is a computer Operating system composed entirely of Free software.

Computers also became a usable platform for entertainment. Computer games were first developed by software programmers exercising their creativity on large systems at universities, but these efforts became commercially successful in arcade games such as Pong and Space Invaders. A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in businesses such as Restaurants Pubs Video arcades and Family Entertainment Pong is a first generation Video game released originally as a Coin -operated Arcade game by Atari Inc is an arcade Video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978 Once the home computer market was established, young programmers in their bedrooms became the core of a youthful games industry. In order to take advantage of advancing technology, games consoles were created. Like arcade systems, these machines had custom hardware designed to do game-oriented operations (such as sprites and parallax scrolling) in preference to general purpose computing tasks. In Computer graphics, a sprite (also known by other names see Synonyms below is a two-dimensional/three-dimensional Image or Animation that Parallax scrolling is a special Scrolling technique in Computer graphics, seen first in the 1982 Arcade game Moon Patrol

Computer networks appeared in two main styles; the local area network, linking computers in an office or school to each other, and the wide area network, linking the local area networks together. A computer network is a group of interconnected Computers. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics Wide Area Network ( WAN) is a Computer network that covers a broad area (i Initially, computers depended on the telephone networks to link to each other, spawning the Bulletin Board sub-culture. The public switched telephone network ( PSTN) is the network of the world's public circuit-switched Telephone networks in much the same way that the A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a Computer system running software that allows users to connect and login to However, a DARPA project to create bomb-proof computer networks led to the creation of the Internet, a network of networks. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new Technology The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks The core of this network was the robust TCP/IP network protocol. The Internet Protocol Suite (commonly TCP/IP) is the set of Communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks In computing, a protocol is a convention or standard that controls or enables the connection Communication, and Data transfer between two computing Thanks to efforts from Al Gore, the Internet grew beyond its military role when universities and commercial businesses were permitted to connect their networks to it. Albert Arnold Gore Jr (born March 31 1948 is an American environmental Activist, author Businessperson, former Politician, and former The main impetus for this was electronic mail, a far faster and convenient form of communication than conventional letter and memo distribution, and the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, email, or originally eMail, is a Store-and-forward method of writing sending receiving However, the Internet remained largely unknown to the general public, who were used to Bulletin Boards and services like Compuserve and America Online. CompuServe, ( CompuServe Information Service, also known by its acronym CIS) was the first major commercial Online service in the United States This changed when Tim Berners-Lee devised a simpler form of Vannevar Bush's hypertext, which he dubbed the World Wide Web. Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee OM KBE FRS FREng FRSA (born 8 June 1955 is an English computer scientist who is credited Vannevar Bush ( March 11, 1890 &ndash June 30, 1974; pronounced "VAN-ee-var" ˈvæˌniː The World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked Hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. "The Web" suddenly changed the Internet into a printing press beyond the geographic boundaries of physical countries; it was termed "cyberspace". Cyberspace &mdash from the Greek el Κυβερνήτης (el kybernētēs steersman governor pilot or rudder &mdash is the global domain of electro-magnetics accessed Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection could write pages in the simple HTML format and publish their thoughts to the world. HTML, an initialism of HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant Markup language for Web pages It provides a means to describe the structure

The Web's immense success also fueled the commercial use of the Internet. Convenient home shopping had been an element of "visions of the future" since the development of the telephone, but now the race was on to provide convenient, interactive consumerism. Companies trading through web sites became known as "dot coms", due to the ". A Dot-com company, or simply a dot-com, is a company that does most of its business on the Internet, usually through a Website that uses the popular com" suffix of commercial Internet addresses.

European Union

Main article: History of the European Union

The world at the end of the century

By the end of the century, more technological advances had been made than in all of preceding history. This article refers to the development of what is now the European Union, and to developments within those countrieswhich constitute it at the time of or near to Communications and information technology, transportation technology, and medical advances had radically altered daily lives. Europe appeared to be at a sustainable peace for the first time in recorded history. The people of the Indian subcontinent, a sixth of the world population at the end of the century, had attained an indigenous independence for the first time in centuries. China, an ancient nation comprising a fifth of the world population, was finally open to the world in a new and powerful synthesis of west and east, creating a new state after the near-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 truly independent new nation states, some cut from whole cloth, standing up after centuries of foreign domination.

The world was undergoing its second major period of globalization; the first, which started in the 18th century, having been terminated by World War I. Globalization (or globalisation) in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones Since the US was on in a position of almost unchallenged domination, a major part of the process was Americanization. Americanization (verb form Americanize,) is the term used for the influence the United States of America has on the Culture of other countries resulting This led to anti-Western and anti-American feelings in parts of the world, especially the Middle East. Anti-Americanism, often anti-American sentiment, is opposition or hostility to the people culture or policies of the United States. The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. The influence of China and India was also rising, as the world's largest populations, long marginalized by the West and by their own rulers, were rapidly integrating with the world economy.

However, several problems faced the world. First of all, the gap between rich and poor nations continued to widen. Some said that this problem could not be fixed, that there was a set amount of wealth and it could only be shared by so many. Others said that the powerful nations with large economies were not doing enough to help improve the rapidly evolving economies of the Third World. Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically However, developing countries faced many challenges, including the scale of the task to be surmounted, rapidly growing populations, and the need to protect the environment, and the cost that goes along with it.

Secondly, disease threatened to destabilize many regions of the world. New viruses such as SARS and West Nile continued to spread. West Nile virus (or WNV is a Virus of the family Flaviviridae; part of the Japanese encephalitis (JE antigenic complex of viruses it is found in In poor nations, malaria and other diseases affected the majority of the population. Malaria is a vector -borne Infectious disease caused by Protozoan Parasites It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions including Millions were infected with HIV, the virus which causes AIDS. Human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV) is a Lentivirus (a member of the Retrovirus family that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome The virus was becoming an epidemic in southern Africa. The HIV / AIDS epidemics spreading through the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are highly varied

The geographic distribution of surface warming during the 21st century calculated by the HadCM3 climate model if a business as usual scenario is assumed for economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions. In this figure, the globally averaged warming corresponds to 3.0 °C (5.4 °F).
The geographic distribution of surface warming during the 21st century calculated by the HadCM3 climate model if a business as usual scenario is assumed for economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions. HadCM3 (Hadley Centre Coupled Model version 3 is a coupled atmosphere-ocean General circulation model (AOGCM developed at the Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom In this figure, the globally averaged warming corresponds to 3. 0 °C (5. 4 °F).

Terrorism, dictatorship, and the spread of nuclear weapons were other issues requiring attention. Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion A dictatorship is usually defined as an autocratic Form of government in which the Government is ruled by a Dictator. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. The world was still blighted by small-scale wars and other violent conflicts, fueled by competition over resources and by ethnic conflicts. Despots such as Kim Jong-il of North Korea continued to lead their nations toward the development of nuclear weapons. Despotism is a Form of government by a single authority either an individual or tightly knit group, which rules with absolute political power Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il) (born 16 February 1941 Vyatskoye, Soviet Union; official biographies state 16 February 1942 Baekdu North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia,

Perhaps most importantly, it was recognized that in the long term, environmental problems threatened the planet's liveability. The most serious was global warming due to human-caused emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Greenhouse gases are gaseous constituents of the atmosphere bothnatural and anthropogenic that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of thermal infrared Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single Fossil fuels or mineral fuels are fossil source Fuels that is Hydrocarbons found within the top layer of the Earth’s crust. This prompted many nations to negotiate and sign the Kyoto treaty, which set mandatory limits on carbon dioxide emissions. The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the international Framework Convention on Climate Change with the objective of reducing Greenhouse gases in an effort

A significant driver of many of many of these problems was overpopulation. Overpopulation refers to a condition where an Organism 's numbers exceed the Carrying capacity of its Habitat. At the century's end, the global population was six and a half billion and rising. There was some hope on this score, because the number of children per woman had been decreasing throughout the world, not only in the rich countries. In the long term, it was predicted that the population would probably reach a plateau of nine billion. However, it remained doubtful whether the planet had the long-term capacity to sustain such numbers.

See also

References

  1. ^ The historian Eric Hobsbawm has coined the term the short twentieth century for the period from 1914 (the start of World War I) to 1991 (the dissolution of the Soviet Union). Many infectious diseases that killed by the millions were greatly reduced in the 20th century, with one notable achievement being the eradication of Smallpox, and considerable Death rates in the 20th century from natural causes including disease and malnutrition plummeted in wealthier countries List of battles: before 601 - 601-1400 - 1401-1800 - 1801-1900 - 1901-2000 - 2001-current The timeline of 20th century art and what it became known as - Modern art, really began with Modernism in the late 19th century The short twentieth century, defined by Eric Hobsbawm, a British Marxist Historian and Author, refers to the period between the years World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991
  2. ^ 3 billion live on two dollars a day or less: ILO
  3. ^ The Other Killing Machine
  4. ^ The Gulag Collection: Paintings of Nikolai Getman.
  5. ^ Leaders mourn Soviet wartime dead

Sources

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Decades and years

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A century (from the Latin centum, meaning one hundred is One hundred consecutive Years Centuries are numbered ordinally (e A millennium (pl millennia) is a period of Time equal to one thousand Years (from Latin la mille, thousand and la annum The 4th millennium BC saw major changes in human culture It marks the beginning of the Bronze Age and of Writing. Events Start of Naqada culture in Egypt 4000 BC — Early Jomon period begins on the islands of Japan Events The Sweet Track, an ancient Causeway in the Somerset Levels, England, one of the oldest engineered Roads discovered Decades and years Mythology Antediluvian period ( Jewish mythology) September 25, 3760 BC — First Events Beginning of the Early Minoan period on Crete Significant persons Events Civilization of Sumer (? Ggantija, Malta Mnajdra solar temple complex Malta The 35th century BC in the Near East sees the gradual transition from the Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age. 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