A History of the Modern World is a work initially published by the distinguished American historian at Princeton and Yale universitiesRobert Roswell Palmer in 1950. The work has since been extended byJoel Colton (from its second edition, 1956) and Lloyd S. Kramer (from its ninth edition, 2001), and currently counts 12 editions. First published in 1950, and translated into six languages, the book is used in more than 1,000 colleges and universities, as well as many high school advanced placement courses.

The second edition (1956), comprises two volumes, 20 main chapters and 110 sub-chapters. The author focuses on World History from a European perspective, and the newer editions also exists under the title "AHistory of Europe in the Modern World". (Full article...)

Contemporary archaeology is a field of archaeological research that focuses on the most recent (20th and 21st century) past, and also increasingly explores the application of archaeological thinking to the contemporary world. It has also been referred to as the archaeology of the 'contemporary past'. The use of this term in the United Kingdom is particularly associated with the Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory (CHAT) conference group. The field forms part ofhistorical archaeology, or the archaeology of the modern period. Unlikeethnoarchaeology, contemporary archaeology studies the recent and contemporary past in its own right, rather than to develop models that can inform the study of the more distant past. (Full article...)

Habsburg Spain refers toSpain and theHispanic Monarchy, also known as theCatholic Monarchy, in the period from 1516 to 1700 when it was ruled by kings from theHouse of Habsburg. In this period the Spanish Empire was at the zenith of its influence and power. During this period, Spain held many territories, including Pan-American continental holdings and theWest Indies; European territories like theLow Countries,Italian territories,Portugal and parts ofFrance; and thePhilippines and other possessions in Southeast Asia. The period ofSpanish history has also been referred to as the "Age of Expansion".

The Habsburg name was not always used by the family members, who often emphasized their more prestigious princely titles. The dynasty was long known as the "House of Austria". In some circumstances, the family members were identified by their birthplace. Thus,Charles V was known in his youth as Charles ofGhent. As king of Spain, he was known as Charles I of Spain and as emperor, Charles V (in French,Charles Quint). In Spain, the dynasty was known as theCasa de Austria, includingillegitimate sons such asJohn of Austria andJohn Joseph of Austria. The arms displayed in their simplest form were those of Austria, which the Habsburgs had made their own, at times impaled with the arms of theDuchy of Burgundy (ancient), as seen on the arms of John of Austria. Calling this era "Habsburg", is, to some extent, a convenience for historians.

The marriage ofIsabella I of Castile andFerdinand II of Aragon in 1469 united the two main crowns, Castile and Aragon, which eventually led to thede facto unification of Spain after the culmination of theReconquista with theconquest of Granada in 1492 and ofNavarre from 1512 to 1529. Isabella and Ferdinand were given the title of "Catholic Monarchs of Spain" byPope Alexander VI in 1494. With the Habsburgs, the termMonarchia Catholica (Catholic Monarchy, Modern Spanish:Monarquía Católica) remained in use. Spain remained one of the greatestpolitical andmilitary powers in Europe and the world for much of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Habsburg period ushered in theSpanish Golden Age of arts and literature, producing some of the world's most influential writers, painters, and intellectuals, includingTeresa of Ávila,Pedro Calderón de la Barca,Miguel de Cervantes,Francisco de Quevedo,Diego Velázquez,El Greco,Domingo de Soto,Francisco Suárez andFrancisco de Vitoria.
The death of Charles II, the last Habsburg king of Spain, in 1700, led to theWar of the Spanish Succession and the ascension ofPhilip V of theBourbon dynasty. (Full article...)

After decades of conflict, Cambodia's current form of government began in 1993 with the restoration of themonarchy and end of theState of Cambodia and theUnited Nations Transitional Authority aftergeneral elections were held. Since 1993, theCambodian People's Party have consistently been in government, and consolidated power in a1997 coup d'état.Hun Sen was prime minister until transfer of power to his son,Hun Manet, in 2023. (Full article...)

The20th century began on 1 January1901 (MCMI), and ended on 31 December2000 (MM). It was the 10th and last century in the2nd millennium and was marked by new models of scientific understanding, unprecedented scopes of warfare, new modes of communication that would operate at nearly instant speeds, and new forms of art and entertainment.Population growth was also unprecedented, as the century started with around 1.6 billion people, and ended with around 6.2 billion.

The 20th century was dominated by significant geopolitical events that reshaped the political and social structure of the globe:World War I, theSpanish flu pandemic,World War II and theCold War. Unprecedentedadvances in science and technology defined the century, including the advent ofnuclear weapons andnuclear power,space exploration, theshift from analog to digital computing and the continuing advancement of transportation, includingpowered flight and theautomobile. The Earth's sixth mass extinction event, theHolocene extinction, continued, and humanconservation efforts increased.

Major themes of the century includeddecolonization,nationalism,globalization and new forms ofintergovernmental organizations.Democracy spread, andwomen were given the right to vote in many countries in the world.Cultural homogenization began through developments in emerging transportation andinformation and communications technology, withpopular music and other influences ofWestern culture,international corporations, and what is arguably a trulyglobal economy by the end of the 20th century. Poverty was reduced and the century saw rising standards of living,world population growth, awareness ofenvironmental degradation andecological extinction.Automobiles,airplanes, andhome appliances became common, andvideo andaudio recording saw mass adoption. These developments were made possible by the exploitation offossil fuel resources, which offered energy in an easily portable form, but also caused concern about pollution and long-term impact on theenvironment. Humans started to explorespace, taking their first footsteps on theMoon. Great advances inelectricity generation andtelecommunications allowed for near-instantaneous worldwide communication, ultimately leading to theInternet. Meanwhile, advances inmedical technology resulted in the near-eradication anderadication of many infectious diseases, as well as opening the avenue of biologicalgenetic engineering. Scientific discoveries, such as thetheory of relativity andquantum physics, profoundly changed the foundational models of physical science, forcing scientists to realize that the universe is more complex than previously believed, and dashing the hopes (or fears) at the end of the 19th century that the last few details of scientific knowledge were about to be filled in. (Full article...)

Habsburg Spain was at the height of its power andcultural influence at the beginning of the17th century, but military, political, and economic difficulties were alreadybeing discussed within Spain. In the coming decades these difficulties grew and saw France gradually taking Spain's place as Europe's leading power through the later half of the century. Many different factors, including the decentralized political nature of Spain, inefficient taxation, a succession of weak kings, power struggles in the Spanish court and a tendency to focus on the American colonies instead of Spain's domestic economy, all contributed to the decline of the Habsburg rule of Spain.

The end of the century also brought the end of Habsburg rule. The 18th century began with theWar of the Spanish Succession, which concluded in the establishment of theBourbon dynasty in Spain. (Full article...)

TheAtomic Age, also known as theAtomic Era, is the period of history following the detonation of the firstnuclear weapon,The Gadget at theTrinity test in New Mexico on 16 July 1945 duringWorld War II. Althoughnuclear chain reactions had been hypothesized in 1933 and the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (Chicago Pile-1) had taken place in December 1942, the Trinity test and the ensuingbombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II represented the first large-scale use ofnuclear technology and ushered in profound changes insociopolitical thinking and the course of technological development.

Whileatomic power was promoted for a time as the epitome of progress and modernity, entering into the nuclear power era also entailed frightful implications ofnuclear warfare, theCold War,mutual assured destruction,nuclear proliferation, the risk ofnuclear disaster (potentially as extreme asanthropogenic globalnuclear winter), as well as beneficial civilian applications innuclear medicine. It is no easy matter to fully segregate peaceful uses of nuclear technology from military or terrorist uses (such as the fabrication ofdirty bombs fromradioactive waste), which complicated the development of a global nuclear-power export industry right from the outset.

In 1973, concerning a flourishing nuclear power industry, theUnited States Atomic Energy Commission predicted that by the turn of the 21st century, 1,000 reactors would be producing electricity for homes and businesses across the U.S. However, the "nuclear dream" fell far short of what was promised because nuclear technology produced a range of social problems, from thenuclear arms race tonuclear meltdowns, and the unresolved difficulties of bomb plant cleanup and civilian plant waste disposal and decommissioning. Since 1973, reactor orders declined sharply as electricity demand fell and construction costs rose. Many orders andpartially completed plants were cancelled. (Full article...)

Free France (French:France libre) was a resistance government
claiming to be the legitimate government ofFrance following the dissolution of theThird Republic duringWorld War II. Led by GeneralCharles de Gaulle, Free France was established as agovernment-in-exile in London in June 1940 after theFall of France toNazi Germany. It joined theAllied nations in fightingAxis forces with theFree French Forces (Forces françaises libres), supported theresistance inNazi-occupied France, known as theFrench Forces of the Interior, and gained strategic footholds in severalFrench colonies in Africa.

Following the defeat of the Third Republic by Nazi Germany, MarshalPhilippe Pétain led efforts tonegotiate an armistice and established a German puppet state known asVichy France. Opposed to the idea of an armistice, de Gaulle fled to Britain and from there broadcast theAppeal of 18 June (Appel du 18 juin) exhorting the French people to resist the Nazis and join the Free French Forces. On 27 October 1940, theEmpire Defense Council (Conseil de défense de l'Empire)—later theFrench National Committee (Comité national français or CNF)—formed to govern French territories in central Africa, Asia, and Oceania that had heeded the 18 June call.

Initially, with the exception of French possessions in the Pacific,India, andEquatorial Africa, all the territories of the French colonial empire rejectedde Gaulle's appeal and reaffirmed their loyalty to Marshall Pétain and the Vichy government. It was only progressively, often with the decisive military intervention of the Allies, that Free France took over more Vichy possessions, securing the majority of colonies byNovember 1942. (Full article...)

Thehistory of independent India orhistory of Republic of India began when the country became an independent sovereign state within theBritish Commonwealth on 15 August 1947. Direct administration by the British, which began in 1858, affected a political and economic unification of thesubcontinent. When British rule came to an end in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines into two separate countries—India, with a majority ofHindus, andPakistan, with a majority ofMuslims. Concurrently the Muslim-majority northwest and east ofBritish India was separated into theDominion of Pakistan, by thePartition of India. The partition led to apopulation transfer of more than 10 million people between India and Pakistan and the death of about one million people.Indian National Congress leaderJawaharlal Nehru became the firstPrime Minister of India, but the leader most associated with theindependence struggle,Mahatma Gandhi, accepted no office. Theconstitution adopted in 1950 madeIndia a democratic republic withWestminster style parliamentary system of government, both at federal and state level respectively. The democracy has been sustained since then. India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newly independent states, despite its history being perforated by several crises and recent worries ofdemocratic backsliding under the premiership ofNarendra Modi.
The country has facedreligious violence,corruption,poverty,unemployment,language conflicts,naxalism,terrorism,separatist insurgencies in North East India andgender-based violence. India has unresolvedterritorial disputes overKashmir andArunachal Pradesh withChina which escalated into a war in1962 and1967,Kashmir with Pakistan which resulted in wars in1947–1948,1965,1971 and1999 andKalapani withNepal. India was neutral in theCold War, and was a leader in theNon-Aligned Movement. However, itmade a loose alliance with theSoviet Union from 1971, when Pakistan was allied with theUnited States and thePeople's Republic of China.

India isa nuclear-weapon state, having conducted its firstnuclear test in 1974, followed byanother five tests in 1998. From the 1950s to the 1980s, India followedsocialist-inspired policies. The economy was influenced byextensive regulation,protectionism and public ownership, leading to pervasivecorruption and slow economic growth. Since 1991,India has pursued more economic liberalisation. Today, India is thethird largest and one of thefastest-growing economies in the world. (Full article...)

Ottoman Tripolitania, also known as theRegency of Tripoli, was officially ruled by theOttoman Empire from 1551 to 1912. It corresponded roughly to the northern parts of modern-dayLibya in historicTripolitania andCyrenaica. It was initially established as anOttoman province ruled by apasha (governor) inTripoli who was appointed fromConstantinople, though in practice it was semi-autonomous due to the power of the localJanissaries. From 1711 to 1835, theKaramanli dynasty ruled the province as ade facto hereditary monarchy while remaining under nominal Ottomansuzerainty. In 1835, the Ottomans reestablished direct control over the region until itsannexation by Italy in 1912.

Like the Ottoman regencies inTunis andAlgiers, the Regency of Tripoli was a major base for the privateering activities of theNorth African corsairs, who also provided revenues for Tripoli. A remnant of the centuries of Turkish rule is the presence ofa population of Turkish origin, and those of partial Turkish origin, theKouloughlis. (Full article...)

Thehistory of modern Christianity concerns theChristian religion from the beginning of the 15th century to the end of World War II. It can be divided into the early modern period and thelate modern period. The history of Christianity in the early modern period coincides with theAge of Exploration, and is usually taken to begin with theProtestant Reformationc. 1517–1525 (usually rounded down to 1500) and ending in the late 18th century with the onset of theIndustrial Revolution and the events leading up to theFrench Revolution of 1789. It includes theProtestant Reformation, theCounter-Reformation and theCatholic Church and the Age of Discovery. Christianity expanded throughout the world during theAge of Exploration. Christianity has thus become theworld's largest religion. (Full article...)

TheMachine Age is an era that includes the early-to-mid 20th century, sometimes also including the late 19th century. An approximate dating would be about 1880 to 1945. Considered to be at its peak in the time between thefirst andsecond world wars, the Machine Age overlaps with the late part of theSecond Industrial Revolution (which ended around 1914 at the start of World War I) and continues beyond it until 1945 at the end of World War II. The 1940s saw the beginning of theAtomic Age, wheremodern physics saw new applications such as theatomic bomb, the firstcomputers, and thetransistor. TheDigital Revolution ended the intellectual model of the machine age founded in the mechanical and heralding a new more complex model ofhigh technology. The digital era has been called theSecond Machine Age, with its increased focus on machines that do mental tasks. (Full article...)

Themodern history of Wales starts in 1800 and continues until the present day. In the 19th century,South Wales became heavilyindustrialised with ironworks; this, along with the spread of coal mining to theCynon andRhondda valleys from the 1840s, led to an increase in population. The social effects of industrialisation resulted in armed uprisings against the mainly English owners. Socialism developed in South Wales in the latter part of the century, accompanied by the increasing politicisation of religiousNonconformism. The firstLabour Party MP,Keir Hardie, was elected as a junior member for the Welsh constituency ofMerthyr Tydfil andAberdare in 1900.

The first decade of the 20th century was the period of the coal boom in South Wales, when population growth exceeded 20 per cent. Demographic changes affected the language frontier; the proportion of Welsh speakers in the Rhondda valley fell from 64 per cent in 1901 to 55 per cent ten years later, and similar trends were evident elsewhere in South Wales. The Labour Party replaced the Liberals as the dominant party in Wales after theFirst World War, particularly in the industrial valleys of South Wales.Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 but initially its growth was slow and it gained few votes at parliamentary elections. Industries, particularly the coal industry, declined after theSecond World War. By the early 1990s there was only one deep pit still working in Wales. There was a similar decline in the steel industry, and the Welsh economy, like that of other developed societies, became increasingly based on the expanding service sector.

The results of the 2001 Census showed an increase in the number of Welsh speakers to 21% of the population aged 3 and older, compared with 18.7% in 1991 and 19.0% in 1981. This compares with a pattern of steady decline indicated by census results during the 20th century. (Full article...)

East Asia, the region dominated by Chinese, Japanese and Korean culture, was greatly transformed following its contact with the West in the 19th century. This defining period can be considered as the start of the modern period of East Asian history, and also happens to be the time of origin of most schools ofmartial arts of East Asian origin practiced today.
New approaches and ideas about martial arts were created that are distinctly different from the previoushistory of martial arts, especially under the influence of nascentnationalism in the region, which took the respective traditions of martial arts as being part of the nation's heritage to be polished and standardized into a pure form and showcased to the rest of the world.

As a result, the modern martial arts of China and Japan are for the most part a product of the nationalist governments in power during the 1920s and 1930s, in the case of Korea developed underJapanese occupation and cast in terms of a Korean national art during the 1950s.
The modern history ofIndochinese martial arts is closely related, and especially modernMuay Thai was developed in the years leading up to and following theSiamese revolution of 1932.

In many countries local arts likeTe inOkinawa,kenjutsu andjujutsu in Japan, andtaekyon andsoobak inKorea mixed with other martial arts and evolved to produce some of the more well-known martial arts in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries likekarate,aikido, andtaekwondo. (Full article...)

Amodern language (also known as aliving language) is anyhuman language that is currently in use as anative language.

The term is used inlanguage education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such asFrench andGerman) anddeadclassical languages such asLatin andClassical Chinese, which are studied for their cultural and linguistic value. For example, theModern Language Association tracks student enrollments inAncient Greek versusModern Greek, orBiblical Hebrew versusModern Hebrew, separately.

SIL Ethnologue defines aliving language as "one that has at least one speaker for whom it is their first language" (see alsoLanguage § Linguistic diversity). (Full article...)

World powers and empires in 1914, just before the First World War.