This article maylendundue weight to personal views on historiography. The specific problem is: The article does not reflect actual historical research relating to the modern period. Pleasehelp improve it by rewriting it in abalanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view.(July 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
The modern period has been a period of significant development in the fields of science, politics, warfare, and technology. It has also been anAge of Discovery andglobalization. During this time, theEuropean powers and later their colonies, strengthened its political, economic, and culturalcolonization of the rest of the world. It also created a new modern lifestyle and has permanently changed the way people around the world live.[1][2]
In the19th and early20th century,modernist art, politics, science, and culture have come to dominate not only Western Europe and North America, but almost every area on the globe, includingmovements thought of as opposed to the western world andglobalization. The modern era is closely associated with the development ofindividualism,capitalism, urbanization, and a belief in the positive possibilities of technological and politicalprogress.
The term "modern" was coined shortly before 1585 to describe the beginning of a new era.[3]
The term "early modern" was introduced in the English language by American historians at the turn of the 20th century (around 1900).[4] It was long thought that the concept was invented either in the 1930s to distinguish the time between the Middle Ages and time of the late Enlightenment (1800),[5] or that "early modern" was not coined until the mid-20th century and only gained substantial traction in the 1960s and 1970s.[4] Nipperdey (2022) pointed to its widespread usage by American historians around 1900 already, adding: 'In the interwar years the term permeated all areas of professional activity from textbooks and graduate school seminars to conferences, research articles, and job descriptions.'[4] The difference between "early modern" and just "modern" was defined by theFrench Revolution and theIndustrial Revolution.[4]
Sometimes distinct from the modern periods themselves, the terms "modernity" and "modernism" refer to a new way of thinking, distinct, from previous ways of thinking such as medieval thinking.
The EuropeanRenaissance (about 1420–1630) is an important transition period beginning between theLate Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, which started in Italy.
"Postmodernism", coined 1949, on the other hand, would describe rather a movement in art than a period of history, and is usually applied to arts, but not to any events of the very recent history.[6] This changed, whenpostmodernity was coined to describe the major changes in the 1950s and 1960s in economy, society, culture, and philosophy.
These terms stem from European History; in worldwide usage, such as in China, India, and Islam, the terms are applied in a very different way, but often in the context with their contact with European culture in theAge of Discoveries.[7]
Changes, mostly seen as advances, in all areas of human activity—politics,industry, society, economics, commerce, transport, communication,mechanization,automation, science, medicine, technology, religion, the arts, and other aspects of culture—appear to have transformed anOld World into theModern orNew World. In each case, the identification of the change over time can be used to demarcate the old and old-fashioned from the modern.[8]
Starting in western countries, the modern world has seen a systematic re-evaluation ofvalue systems,monarchical regimes, andfeudal economic systems. These have often been replaced by democratic and liberal ideas in the areas of politics, science, psychology, sociology, and economics.[9][10]
Some events of modern history, though born out of context not entirely new, show a new way of perceiving the world. The concept of modernity interprets the general meaning of these events and seeks explanations for major developments.[11] Historians analyze the events taking place in Modern Times, since the so-called "Middle Ages" (between Modern andAncient Times).[12]
Historians sometimes define a nineteenth centuryhistorical era stretching from 1815 (the Congress of Vienna) to 1914 (the outbreak of theFirst World War); alternatively, Eric Hobsbawm defined the "long nineteenth century" as spanning the years 1789 to 1914.
The Napoleonic era is a period in thehistory of France and Europe. It is generally classified as the fourth stage of theFrench Revolution, the first being theNational Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being theDirectory. The Napoleonic era begins roughly with Napoleon's coup d'état, overthrowing the Directory and ends at theHundred Days and his defeat atWaterloo (9 November 1799 – 28 June 1815). TheCongress of Vienna soon set out to restore Europe to pre-French Revolution days.
A Watt steam engine inMadrid. The development of thesteam engine started the industrial revolution in England. The steam engine was created to pump water from coal mines, enabling them to be deepened beyondgroundwater levels.
The Industrial Revolution was the majortechnological,socioeconomic, andcultural change in late 18th and early 19th century that began inBritain and spread throughout the world. During that time, aneconomy based onmanual labour was replaced by one dominated by industry and the manufacture of machinery. It began with the mechanisation of the textile industries and the development of iron-making techniques, and trade expansion was enabled by the introduction ofcanals, improved roads, and then railways. The introduction ofsteam power (fuelled primarily by coal) and powered machinery (mainly intextile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity.[13] The development of all-metalmachine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries.
The date of the Industrial Revolution is not exact.Eric Hobsbawm held that it "broke out" in the 1780s and was not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s,[14] whileT. S. Ashton held that it occurred roughly between 1760 and 1830 (in effect the reigns ofGeorge III, TheRegency, andGeorge IV).[15]
The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting the majority of the world. The impact of this change on society was enormous and is often compared to theNeolithic Revolution, when mankind developed agriculture and gave up itsnomadic lifestyle.[16]
The First Industrial Revolution gave way to theSecond Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of steam-powered ships and railways, and later in the nineteenth century with theinternal combustion engine andelectric power generation.
Following theNapoleonic Wars, theBritish Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one-quarter of the world's population and one-third of the land area.[17] It enforced aPax Britannica, encouraged trade, and battled rampant piracy.[18]
Following the abolition of theslave trade, and propelled by economic exploitation, theScramble for Africa was initiated formally at theBerlin West Africa Conference in 1884–1885.[23] All the major European powers laid claim to the areas of Africa where they could exhibit a sphere of influence over the area. These claims did not have to have any substantial land holdings or treaties to be legitimate.[24] TheFrench gained major ground in West Africa, theBritish in East Africa, and thePortuguese andSpanish at various points throughout the continent, whileLeopold II of Belgium was able to retain his personal fiefdom,Congo.[25]
While earlier centuries also saw significant developments, the20th century was distinguished by the unprecedented pace and global scale of economic, technological, and cultural changes.[28]
Still, advancing technology and medicine have had a great impact even in theGlobal South. Large-scale industry and more centralized media made brutal dictatorships possible on an unprecedented scale in the middle of the century, leading to wars that were also unprecedented.[29] However, the increased communications contributed todemocratization.[30]
The First World War was aworld conflict, ranging from July 1914 to the finalArmistice on 11 November 1918. TheAllied Powers, led by theBritish Empire,France, Russia until March 1918, Japan and the United States after 1917, defeated theCentral Powers, led by theGerman Empire,Austro-Hungarian Empire and theOttoman Empire. The war caused the disintegration of four empires – the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian ones – as well as radical change in the European and Middle Eastern maps. The Allied powers before 1917 are sometimes referred to as theTriple Entente, and the Central Powers are sometimes referred to as theTriple Alliance.
Much of the fighting in World War I took place along theWestern Front, within a system of opposing manned trenches and fortifications (separated by a "no man's land") running from theNorth Sea to the border of Switzerland. On theEastern Front, the vast eastern plains and limited rail network prevented a trench warfare stalemate from developing, although the scale of the conflict was just as large. Hostilities also occurred on and under the sea and – for the first time – from the air. More than 9 million soldiers died on the various battlefields, and nearly that many more in the participating countries' home fronts on account of food shortages andgenocide committed under the cover of various civil wars and internal conflicts. Notably, more people died of the worldwideinfluenza outbreak at the end of the war and shortly after than died in the hostilities. The unsanitary conditions engendered by the war, severe overcrowding in barracks, wartime propaganda interfering with public health warnings, and migration of so many soldiers around the world helped the outbreak become apandemic.[40]
Ultimately, World War I created a decisive break with the oldworld order that had emerged after the Napoleonic Wars, which was modified by the mid-19th century's nationalistic revolutions. The results of World War I would be important factors in the development ofWorld War II approximately 20 years later.
The Interwar period was the period between the end of World War I in 1918 and the beginning of World War II in 1939. It included theRoaring Twenties, theGreat Depression, and the rise ofcommunism in Russia andfascism in Italy and Germany.
World War II was aglobalmilitary conflict that took place in 1939–1945. It was the largest and deadliest war in history, culminating inThe Holocaust and ending with the dropping of theatom bomb.[41]
Although Japan had invaded China in 1937, the conventional view is that World War II began on 1 September 1939, whenNazi Germany invaded Poland. Within two days, the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, even though the fighting was confined to Poland. Pursuant to a then-secret provision of its non-aggressionMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union joined Germany on 17 September 1939, to conquer Poland and divide Eastern Europe.[42] TheAllies were initially made up of Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, as well asBritish Commonwealth countries which were controlled directly by the UK, such as theIndian Empire. All of these countries declared war on Germany in September 1939.[43]
Following the lull in fighting, known as the "Phoney War", Germany invaded western Europe in May 1940. Six weeks later, France, in the meantime attacked by Italy as well, surrendered to Germany, which then tried unsuccessfully to conquer Britain. On 27 September, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a mutual defense agreement, theTripartite Pact, and were known as theAxis Powers. Nine months later, on 22 June 1941, Germany launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, which prompted it to join the Allies. Germany was now engaged in fighting a war on two fronts.[44]
On 7 December 1941,Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, bringing it too into the war on the side of the Allies. China also joined the Allies, as did most of the rest of the world. China was in turmoil at the time and attacked Japanese armies through guerrilla-type warfare. By the beginning of 1942, the alignment of the major combatants was as follows: the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union, and the United States were fighting Germany and Italy; China, the British Commonwealth, and the United States were fighting Japan.[45] The United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China were referred to as a "trusteeship of the powerful" during World War II[46] and were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in theDeclaration by United Nations.[47] These four countries were considered the "Four Policemen" or "Four Sheriffs" of theAllies and were the primary victors of World War II.[48] Battles raged across all of Europe, in the north Atlantic Ocean, across North Africa, throughout Southeast Asia, throughout China, across the Pacific Ocean, and in the air over Japan. Italy surrendered in September 1943 and was split into a northern Germany-occupiedpuppet state and an Allies-friendly state in the south; Germany surrendered in May 1945. Following theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,Japan surrendered, marking the end of the war on 2 September 1945.[49]
It is possible that around 62 million peopledied in the war; estimates vary greatly. About 60% of all casualties were civilians, who died as a result of disease, starvation,genocide (in particular, theHolocaust), and aerial bombing.[50] The former Soviet Union and China suffered the most casualties. Estimates place deaths in the Soviet Union at around 23 million, while China suffered about 10 million. No country lost a greater portion of its population than Poland: approximately 5.6 million, or 16%, of its pre-war population of 34.8 million died.[51] The Holocaust (which roughly means "burnt whole") was the deliberate and systematic murder of millions of Jews and other "unwanted" groups during World War II by the Nazi regime in Germany. 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 duringKristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). The Nazis used propaganda to great effect to stir up anti-Semitic feelings within ordinary Germans.[52]
After World War II, Europe was informally split into Western and Sovietspheres of influence. Western Europe later aligned asNATO, and Eastern Europe as theWarsaw Pact. There was a shift in power from Western Europe and theBritish Empire to the two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. These two rivals would later face off in theCold War.[53] In Asia, the defeat of Japan led to itsdemocratization.China's civil war continued through and after the war, eventually resulting in the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The former colonies of the European powers began their road to independence.[54]
TheCold War between the "West" (the United States, Western Europe, and Japan) and the "East" (the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China) dominated politics from the end of World War II in 1945, until thecollapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, at which point the Cold War ended and thepost–Cold War era began (which includes most of the 1990s, the last decade of the 20th century).[55][56]
At the end of the twentieth century, the world was at a major crossroads. Throughout the century, more technological advances had been made than in all of preceding history. Computers, the Internet, and other technologies radically altered daily lives.[59] However, several problems faced the world during the Cold War period and the 1990s that followed.
First of all, the gap between rich and poor nations continued to widen. Some said that this problem could not be fixed, arguing that there was a set amount of wealth and it could only be shared by so many.[60] Others claimed that powerful nations with large economies were not doing enough to help improve the rapidly evolving economies of theThird World.[61] Developing countries faced many challenges, including the scale of the task to be surmounted, rapidly growing populations, and the need to protect the environment, along with the associated costs.[62]
Secondly, disease threatened to destabilize many regions of the world. Viruses such asWest Nile andAvian influenza continued to spread quickly and easily.[63][64] In poor nations,malaria and other diseases affected the majority of the population.[65] Millions were infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, which was becoming anepidemic in southern Africa and around the world.[66]
Increasedglobalization, specificallyAmericanization, was also occurring. While not necessarily a threat, it was causing anti-Western andanti-American feelings in parts of the world, especially in the Middle East.[67] English was quickly becoming the global language, with people who did not speak it becoming increasingly disadvantaged.[68]
Terrorism, dictatorship, and the spread of nuclear weapons were also issues requiring immediate attention. Dictators such asKim Jong-il in North Korea continued to lead their nations toward the development of nuclear weapons.[69] The fear existed that not only were terrorists already attempting to obtain nuclear weapons, but that they had already acquired them.[70]
^"modern".The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.). Houghton Mifflin. 2000. Archived fromthe original on 22 June 2008. Retrieved19 December 2022.
^Giddens, Anthony (1990).The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford University Press. pp. 1–5.ISBN978-0804718912.
^Fukuyama, Francis (2011).The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 321–323.ISBN978-1846682568.
^Habermas, Jürgen (1989).The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. MIT Press. pp. 73–75.ISBN978-0262581080.
^Berman, Marshall (1982).All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity. Verso. pp. 14–17.ISBN978-0140109627.
^Davis, Natalie Zemon (1975).Society and Culture in Early Modern France. Stanford University Press. pp. 3–5.ISBN978-0804709729.
^Eric Hobsbawm,The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848, Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd.ISBN0-349-10484-0
^Joseph E Inikori.Africans and the Industrial Revolution in England: A Study in International Trade and Economic Development. Cambridge University Press. p. 102.ISBN0-521-01079-9.
^Ferguson, Niall (2004).Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World. Penguin. pp. 70–72.ISBN978-0141007540.
^Marshall, P. J. (2001).The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. pp. 142–145.ISBN978-0521002547.
^Hochschild, Adam (2005).Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 331–335.ISBN978-0618619078.
^Riasanovsky, Nicholas (2005).A History of Russia. Oxford University Press. pp. 352–355.ISBN978-0195153941.
^McPherson, James (1988).Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. Oxford University Press. pp. 557–560.ISBN978-0195038637.
^Bethell, Leslie (1970).The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade: Britain, Brazil and the Slave Trade Question. Cambridge University Press. pp. 412–415.ISBN978-0521074599.
^Pakenham, Thomas (1991).The Scramble for Africa. Harper Collins. pp. 112–115.ISBN978-0349104492.
^Chamberlain, M.E. (2010).The Scramble for Africa. Routledge. pp. 54–57.ISBN9781408220146.
^Hochschild, Adam (1998).King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 88–92.ISBN978-0618001903.
^Mokyr, Joel (1990).The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress. Oxford University Press. pp. 178–181.ISBN978-0195074772.
^Hobsbawm, Eric (1987).The Age of Empire: 1875–1914. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 134–136.ISBN978-0297793670.
^Hobsbawm, Eric (1994).The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991. Michael Joseph. pp. 7–9.ISBN978-0679730057.
^Overy, Richard (2005).The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia. Allen Lane. pp. 16–20.ISBN978-0140281491.
^Diamond, Larry (2008).The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World. Times Books. pp. 56–58.ISBN978-0805089134.
^Standage, Tom (1998).The Victorian Internet. Walker & Company. pp. 100–102.ISBN978-0802713667.
^Shlaim, Avi (2000).The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. Penguin Books. pp. 4–7.ISBN978-0140288704.
^Keegan, John (1998).The First World War. Knopf. pp. 14–17.ISBN9780375400520.
^Beevor, Antony (2012).The Second World War. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 45–48.ISBN978-0297860709.
^Gaddis, John Lewis (2005).The Cold War: A New History. Penguin Press. pp. 21–25.ISBN978-1594200625.
^Townshend, Charles (2011).The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. pp. 106–107.ISBN978-0199605415.
^Russell, Peter H. (2004).Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People?. University of Toronto Press. pp. 123–126.ISBN978-0802085917.
^Hastings, Max (2011).Inferno: The World at War, 1939–1945. Knopf. pp. 510–512.ISBN978-0307273598.
^Ferguson, Niall (2007).The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West. Penguin. pp. 413–416.ISBN978-0143112396.
^Snyder, Timothy (2012).Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. Basic Books. pp. 67–69.ISBN978-0465032976.
^Evans, Richard J. (2008).The Third Reich at War. Penguin. pp. 251–255.ISBN978-1594202063.
^Leffler, Melvyn P. (1993).A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War. Stanford University Press. pp. 15–17.ISBN978-0804719247.
^Darwin, John (2008).After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400–2000. Bloomsbury Press. pp. 357–360.ISBN978-1596913936.
^Gaddis, John Lewis (2005).The Cold War: A New History. Penguin Press. pp. 35–40.ISBN978-1594200625.
^Leffler, Melvyn P. (2007).For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War. Hill and Wang. pp. 80–85.ISBN9780374531423.
^Westad, Odd Arne (2007).The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. Cambridge University Press. pp. 212–217.ISBN978-0521703147.
^Castells, Manuel (1996).The Rise of the Network Society. Blackwell Publishers. pp. 3–8.ISBN978-1557866172.
^Standage, Tom (1998).The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers. Walker & Company. pp. 200–202.ISBN9780802713421.
^Sachs, Jeffrey D. (2005).The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. Penguin Press. pp. 30–32.ISBN978-1594200458.
^Stiglitz, Joseph E. (2000). "Globalization and Its Discontents".World Development.28 (6):1074–1076.doi:10.1016/S0305-750X(00)00031-4 (inactive 1 November 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
^Collier, Paul (2007).The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. Oxford University Press. pp. 40–42.ISBN978-0195311457.
