Modern era

Eras cannot easily be defined for periodization. 1500 is an approximate starting period for the modern era because many major events caused the Western world to change around that time: from the fall of Constantinople (1453), Gutenberg's moveable type printing press (1450s), completion of the Reconquista (1492 in Spain) and Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas (also 1492), to the Reformation begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses (1517).{{explain|date=April 2024}}

The term "modern" was coined shortly before 1585 to describe the beginning of a new era.{{Cite encyclopedia|title=modern|encyclopedia=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=2000|url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/28/M0362800.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622132303/http://www.bartleby.com/61/28/M0362800.html|archive-date=22 June 2008|edition=4th|access-date=19 December 2022|url-status=dead}}

The term "early modern" was introduced in the English language by American historians at the turn of the 20th century (around 1900).{{sfn|Nipperdey|2022|p=199}} 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),New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Volume 5, Detroit 2005. s.v. "Modernism and Modern". or that "early modern" was not coined until the mid-20th century and only gained substantial traction in the 1960s and 1970s.{{sfn|Nipperdey|2022|p=199}} 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.'{{sfn|Nipperdey|2022|p=199}} The difference between "early modern" and just "modern" was defined by the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.{{sfn|Nipperdey|2022|p=199}}

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 European Renaissance (about 1420–1630) is an important transition period beginning between the Late 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/postmodern|title=Definition of POSTMODERN|website=merriam-webster.com|date=2 June 2023|access-date=9 October 2022|archive-date=1 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101091725/http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/postmodern|url-status=live}} This changed, when postmodernity 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 the Age of Discoveries.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/islamic_medical/islamic_14.html|title=Islamic Culture and the Medical Arts: Late Medieval and Early Modern Medicine|website=www.nlm.nih.gov|access-date=2022-10-09|archive-date=2018-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423084551/https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/islamic_medical/islamic_14.html|url-status=live}}

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 an Old World into the Modern or New World. In each case, the identification of the change over time can be used to demarcate the old and old-fashioned from the modern.{{cite book |last=Giddens |first=Anthony |title=The Consequences of Modernity |year=1990 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0804718912 |pages=1–5}}

Starting in western countries, the modern world has seen a systematic re-evaluation of value systems, monarchical regimes, and feudal economic systems. These have often been replaced by democratic and liberal ideas in the areas of politics, science, psychology, sociology, and economics.{{cite book |last=Fukuyama |first=Francis |title=The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=2011 |isbn=978-1846682568 |pages=321–323}}{{cite book |last=Habermas |first=Jürgen |title=The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere |year=1989 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0262581080 |pages=73–75}}

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.{{cite book |last=Berman |first=Marshall |title=All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity |year=1982 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-0140109627 |pages=14–17}} Historians analyze the events taking place in Modern Times, since the so-called "Middle Ages" (between Modern and Ancient Times).{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Natalie Zemon |title=Society and Culture in Early Modern France |year=1975 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0804709729 |pages=3–5}}

{{Main|Early modern period|Early modern Europe}}

{{Further|16th century|17th century}}

File:Printing towns incunabula.svg by Johannes Gutenberg from Mainz in Europe in the 15th century]]

• Johannes Gutenberg’s moveable‐type printing press (c. 1450s) ushered in the information age and rise of newspapers.{{cite book |last=Eisenstein |first=Elizabeth L. |title=The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005}}
• Conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire (1453) marked the fall of the Byzantine Empire.{{cite book |last=Runciman |first=Steven |title=The Fall of Constantinople, 1453 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1965}}
• Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas (1492) initiated sustained contact between Europe and the New World.{{cite book |last=Crosby |first=Alfred W. |title=The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 |publisher=Praeger |year=1972}}
• Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince (c. 1513), a foundational work of modern political philosophy.{{cite book |last=Machiavelli |first=Niccolò |title=The Prince |translator-last=Mansfield |translator-first=Harvey C. |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1998 |isbn=9780226500447}}
• Nicolaus Copernicus’s De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543) launched the Scientific Revolution.{{cite book |last=Kuhn |first=Thomas S. |title=The Copernican Revolution |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1957}}
• Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses (1517) ignited the Reformation.{{cite book |last=Bainton |first=Roland H. |title=Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther |publisher=Abingdon Press |year=1950}}
• The broader Age of Discovery saw unprecedented maritime exploration and early colonial empires.{{cite book |last=Buisseret |first=David |title=The Exploration of the New World, 1400–1600: Maps and Narratives |publisher=Routledge |year=1992}}
• Rise of Mercantilism as the prevailing economic theory.{{cite book |last=Heckscher |first=Eli F. |title=Mercantilism |publisher=Routledge |year=1994}}
• Defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) secured English naval supremacy and enabled the rise of the British Empire.{{cite book |last=Mattingly |first=Garrett |title=The Armada |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=1959}}

• The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) devastated Europe and reshaped its political order.{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |title=Europe’s Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years' War |publisher=Penguin Press |year=2009}}
• The Peace of Westphalia treaties (1648) ended multiple European conflicts and established the principle of state sovereignty.{{cite book |last=Croxton |first=Derek |last2=Tischer |first2=Anuschka |title=The Peace of Westphalia: A Historical Dictionary |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780313280733}}
• The Glorious Revolution (1688) in England affirmed parliamentary supremacy over the monarchy.{{cite book |last=Vallance |first=Edward |title=The Glorious Revolution: 1688—Britain’s Fight for Liberty |publisher=Little, Brown |year=2001}}
• Continued developments of the Scientific Revolution.{{cite book |last=Westfall |first=Richard S. |title=Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1983}}
• Early reign of Louis XIV (1643–1715), epitomizing the Age of Absolutism in France.{{cite book |last=Mansel |first=Philip |title=Louis XIV |publisher=John Murray |year=2019}}

{{Main|18th century}}

• War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), concluded by the Peace of Utrecht and redrawing dynastic and colonial boundaries.{{cite book |last=Browning |first=Reed |title=The War of the Spanish Succession |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1993}}
• War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), contesting Habsburg succession and reshaping Central Europe.{{cite book |last=Duffy |first=Christopher |title=The Military Experience in the Age of Reason |publisher=Routledge |year=1987}}
• Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the first truly global conflict, spanning Europe, North America (French and Indian War), India and the Caribbean.{{cite book |last=Baugh |first=Daniel A. |title=The Global Seven Years War 1754–1763 |publisher=Pearson Education |year=2011}}
• American Revolution (1775–1783), resulting in the independence of the United States of America.{{cite book |last=Wood |first=Gordon S. |title=The Radicalism of the American Revolution |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1993}}
• French Revolution (1789–1799), which overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and established the First French Republic.{{cite book |last=Doyle |first=William |title=The Oxford History of the French Revolution |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1989}}
• Onset of the Industrial Revolution (c. 1760), beginning in Britain with mechanization of textile production and development of the steam engine.{{cite book |last=Mokyr |first=Joel |title=The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700–1850 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2009}}

{{Main|19th century}}

Historians sometimes define a nineteenth century historical era from 1815 (the Congress of Vienna) to 1914 (the outbreak of World War I).{{cite book |last=Hobsbawm |first=Eric |title=The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=1962}} Alternatively, Eric Hobsbawm defined the "long nineteenth century" as spanning from the French Revolution in 1789, to 1914.{{cite book |last=Hobsbawm |first=Eric |title=The Age of Empire: 1875–1914 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=1987}}

During this century, the Spanish, Portuguese, and Ottoman Empires began to decline. The Ottoman Empire suffered territorial losses in the eastern Mediterranean and Balkans.{{cite book |last=Quataert |first=Donald |title=The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005}} The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806 by Emperor Francis II.{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Peter H. |title=Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire |publisher=Belknap Press |year=2016}} The Mughal Empire effectively ended after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.{{cite book |last=Richards |first=John F. |title=The Mughal Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1993}}

{{Main|Napoleonic era}}

The Napoleonic era, regarded as the fourth phase of the French Revolution, began with Napoleon’s coup in 1799 and ended with his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |title=Napoleon: A Life |publisher=Penguin |year=2014}} The subsequent Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) sought to restore the pre-Revolutionary balance of power across Europe.{{cite book |last=Jarrett |first=Mark |title=The Congress of Vienna and Its Legacy |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2013}}

{{Main|Industrial Revolution}}

Image:Maquina vapor Watt ETSIIM.jpg. The development of the steam engine started the industrial revolution in England. The steam engine was created to pump water from coal mines, enabling them to be deepened beyond groundwater levels.]]

The Industrial Revolution was the major technological, socioeconomic, and cultural change in late 18th and early 19th century that began in Britain and spread throughout the world. During that time, an economy based on manual 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 of canals, improved roads, and then railways. The introduction of steam power (fuelled primarily by coal) and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity.{{Cite book|last1=Meier|first1=Gerald M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CX9kBaVx4JkC&pg=PA98|title=Leading Issues in Economic Development|last2=Rauch|first2=James E.|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-511589-5|page=98|access-date=2023-02-08|archive-date=2023-03-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331130624/https://books.google.com/books?id=CX9kBaVx4JkC&pg=PA98|url-status=live}} The development of all-metal machine 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,Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848, Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. {{ISBN|0-349-10484-0}} while T. S. Ashton held that it occurred roughly between 1760 and 1830 (in effect the reigns of George III, The Regency, and George IV).{{ cite book | author= Joseph E Inikori| title= Africans and the Industrial Revolution in England: A Study in International Trade and Economic Development | page= 102 | publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 0-521-01079-9}}

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 the Neolithic Revolution, when mankind developed agriculture and gave up its nomadic lifestyle.{{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Lester Russell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5aCyfUsHM6kC&pg=PA93|title=Eco-economy: Building an Economy for the Earth|date=2003|publisher=Earthscan|isbn=978-1-85383-904-7|page=93|access-date=2023-02-08|archive-date=2023-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414231536/https://books.google.com/books?id=5aCyfUsHM6kC&pg=PA93|url-status=live}}

The First Industrial Revolution gave way to the Second 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 the internal combustion engine and electric power generation.

Following the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one-quarter of the world's population and one-third of the land area.{{cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Niall |title=Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World |year=2004 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0141007540 |pages=70–72}} It enforced a Pax Britannica, encouraged trade, and battled rampant piracy.{{cite book |last=Marshall |first=P. J. |title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521002547 |pages=142–145}}

Slavery was greatly reduced around the world. Following a successful slave revolt in Haiti, Britain forced the Barbary pirates to halt their practice of kidnapping and enslaving Europeans, passed the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 which banned slavery throughout its domain, and charged its navy with ending the global slave trade.{{cite book |last=Hochschild |first=Adam |title=Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves |year=2005 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0618619078 |pages=331–335}} Slavery was then abolished in Russia in 1861,{{cite book |last=Riasanovsky |first=Nicholas |title=A History of Russia |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195153941 |pages=352–355}} by the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States in 1863,{{cite book |last=McPherson |first=James |title=Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era |year=1988 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195038637 |pages=557–560}} and in Brazil in 1888.{{cite book |last=Bethell |first=Leslie |title=The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade: Britain, Brazil and the Slave Trade Question |year=1970 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521074599 |pages=412–415}} (see Abolitionism).

Following the abolition of the slave trade, and propelled by economic exploitation, the Scramble for Africa was initiated formally at the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1884–1885.{{cite book |last=Pakenham |first=Thomas |title=The Scramble for Africa |publisher=Harper Collins |year=1991 |isbn=978-0349104492 |pages=112–115}} 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.{{cite book |last=Chamberlain |first=M.E. |title=The Scramble for Africa |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=9781408220146 |pages=54–57}} The French gained major ground in West Africa, the British in East Africa, and the Portuguese and Spanish at various points throughout the continent, while Leopold II of Belgium was able to retain his personal fiefdom, Congo.{{cite book |last=Hochschild |first=Adam |title=King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa |year=1998 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=978-0618001903 |pages=88–92}}

Electricity, steel, and petroleum fuelled a Second Industrial Revolution which enabled Germany, Japan, and the United States to become great powers that raced to create empires of their own.{{cite book |last=Mokyr |first=Joel |title=The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress |year=1990 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195074772 |pages=178–181}} However, Russia and China failed to keep pace with the other world powers, which led to massive social unrest in both empires.{{cite book |last=Hobsbawm |first=Eric |title=The Age of Empire: 1875–1914 |year=1987 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=978-0297793670 |pages=134–136}}

{{Main|20th century}}

While earlier centuries also saw significant developments, the 20th century was distinguished by the unprecedented pace and global scale of economic, technological, and cultural changes.{{cite book |last=Hobsbawm |first=Eric |title=The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991 |year=1994 |publisher=Michael Joseph |isbn=978-0679730057 |pages=7–9}}

Still, advancing technology and medicine have had a great impact even in the Global 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.{{cite book |last=Overy |first=Richard |title=The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia |publisher=Allen Lane |year=2005 |isbn=978-0140281491 |pages=16–20}} However, the increased communications contributed to democratization.{{cite book |last=Diamond |first=Larry |title=The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World |year=2008 |publisher=Times Books |isbn=978-0805089134 |pages=56–58}}

Technological developments included the development of airplanes and space exploration, nuclear technology, advancement in genetics, and the dawning of the Information Age.{{cite book |last=Standage |first=Tom |title=The Victorian Internet |year=1998 |publisher=Walker & Company |isbn=978-0802713667 |pages=100–102}}

Major political developments included the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,{{cite book |last=Shlaim |first=Avi |title=The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World |year=2000 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0140288704 |pages=4–7}} two world wars,{{cite book |last=Keegan |first=John |title=The First World War |publisher=Knopf |year=1998 |isbn=9780375400520 |pages=14–17}}{{cite book |last=Beevor |first=Antony |title=The Second World War |year=2012 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=978-0297860709 |pages=45–48}} and the Cold War.{{cite book |last=Gaddis |first=John Lewis |title=The Cold War: A New History |year=2005 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=978-1594200625 |pages=21–25}} It also saw the former British Empire lose most of its remaining political power over Commonwealth countries, most notably by the dividing of the British crown into several sovereignties by the Statute of Westminster,{{cite book |last=Townshend |first=Charles |title=The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction |year=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199605415 |pages=106–107}} the patriation of constitutions by the Canada Act 1982,{{cite book |last=Russell |first=Peter H. |title=Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People? |year=2004 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0802085917 |pages=123–126}} and the Australia Act 1986,{{cite book |last=Saunders |first=Cheryl |author-link=

Cheryl Saunders |title=The Constitution of Australia: A Contextual Analysis |year=2011 |publisher=Hart Publishing |isbn=978-1841137346 |pages=68–70}} as well as the independence of countries like India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Ireland.{{cite book |last=Judt |first=Tony |title=Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 |year=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0143037750 |pages=91–93}}

{{Main|World War I}}

The First World War was a world conflict, ranging from July 1914 to the final Armistice on 11 November 1918. The Allied Powers, led by the British Empire, France, Russia until March 1918, Japan and the United States after 1917, defeated the Central Powers, led by the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman 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 the Triple Entente, and the Central Powers are sometimes referred to as the Triple Alliance.

Much of the fighting in World War I took place along the Western Front, within a system of opposing manned trenches and fortifications (separated by a "no man's land") running from the North Sea to the border of Switzerland. On the Eastern 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 and genocide committed under the cover of various civil wars and internal conflicts. Notably, more people died of the worldwide influenza 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 a pandemic.{{cite book|last=Barry|first=John M.|authorlink=John M. Barry|title=The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History|publisher=Viking Penguin|year=2004|isbn=0-670-89473-7|series=}}

Ultimately, World War I created a decisive break with the old world 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 of World War II approximately 20 years later.

{{main|Interwar period}}

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 the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and the rise of communism in Russia and fascism in Italy and Germany.

{{Main|World War II}}

World War II was a global military conflict that took place in 1939–1945. It was the largest and deadliest war in history, culminating in The Holocaust and ending with the dropping of the atom bomb.{{cite book |last=Keegan |first=John |title=The Second World War |year=1989 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0140113419 |pages=5–6}}

Although Japan had invaded China in 1937, the conventional view is that World War II began on 1 September 1939, when Nazi 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-aggression Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union joined Germany on 17 September 1939, to conquer Poland and divide Eastern Europe.{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Geoffrey |title=The Soviet Union and the Origins of the Second World War |year=1995 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0333640685 |pages=55–58}} The Allies were initially made up of Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, as well as British Commonwealth countries which were controlled directly by the UK, such as the Indian Empire. All of these countries declared war on Germany in September 1939.{{cite book |last=Overy |first=Richard |title=Why the Allies Won |year=1995 |publisher=Pimlico |isbn=9781845950651 |pages=3–4}}

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, the Tripartite Pact, and were known as the Axis 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.{{cite book |last=Beevor |first=Antony |title=The Second World War |year=2012 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=978-0297844976 |pages=137–139}}

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.{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |title=The Second World War: A Complete History |year=1989 |publisher=Henry Holt |isbn=9780805005349|pages=223–225}} The United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China were referred to as a "trusteeship of the powerful" during World War II{{cite book |last1=Doenecke |first1=Justus D. |last2=Stoler |first2=Mark A. |title=Debating Franklin D. Roosevelt's Foreign Policies, 1933–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xdMF9rX6mX8C&pg=PA62 |year=2005 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0847694167 |access-date=2019-10-13 |archive-date=2016-12-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203230343/https://books.google.com/books?id=xdMF9rX6mX8C&pg=PA62 |url-status=live |pages=62–63}} and were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in the Declaration by United Nations.Hoopes, Townsend, and Douglas Brinkley. FDR and the Creation of the U.N. (Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 155–160. These four countries were considered the "Four Policemen" or "Four Sheriffs" of the Allies and were the primary victors of World War II.{{cite book|first=John Lewis|last=Gaddis|title=The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947|url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesorig0000gadd|url-access=registration|year=1972|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0231122399|pages=[https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesorig0000gadd/page/24 24]–25}} 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-occupied puppet state and an Allies-friendly state in the south; Germany surrendered in May 1945. Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered, marking the end of the war on 2 September 1945.{{cite book |last=Hastings |first=Max |title=Inferno: The World at War, 1939–1945 |year=2011 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0307273598 |pages=510–512}}

It is possible that around 62 million people died in the war; estimates vary greatly. About 60% of all casualties were civilians, who died as a result of disease, starvation, genocide (in particular, the Holocaust), and aerial bombing.{{cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Niall |title=The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West |year=2007 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0143112396 |pages=413–416}} 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.{{cite book |last=Snyder |first=Timothy |title=Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin |year=2012 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0465032976 |pages=67–69}} 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 during Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). The Nazis used propaganda to great effect to stir up anti-Semitic feelings within ordinary Germans.{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard J. |title=The Third Reich at War |year=2008 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1594202063 |pages=251–255}}

After World War II, Europe was informally split into Western and Soviet spheres of influence. Western Europe later aligned as NATO, and Eastern Europe as the Warsaw Pact. There was a shift in power from Western Europe and the British Empire to the two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. These two rivals would later face off in the Cold War.{{cite book |last=Leffler |first=Melvyn P. |title=A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War |year=1993 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0804719247 |pages=15–17}} In Asia, the defeat of Japan led to its democratization. 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.{{cite book |last=Darwin |first=John |title=After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400–2000 |year=2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury Press |isbn=978-1596913936 |pages=357–360}}

{{Main|Cold War}}

{{See also|Contemporary history|Post–Cold War era}}

The Cold 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 the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, at which point the Cold War ended and the post–Cold War era began (which includes most of the 1990s, the last decade of the 20th century).{{cite book |last=Gaddis |first=John Lewis |title=The Cold War: A New History |year=2005 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=978-1594200625 |pages=35–40}}{{cite book |last=Leffler |first=Melvyn P. |title=For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War |year=2007 |publisher=Hill and Wang |isbn=9780374531423|pages=80–85}}

The Korean War, Vietnam War, and Soviet–Afghan War, impacted political life, while the counterculture of the 1960s and the rise of computers changed society in different, complex ways, including higher social and local mobility.{{cite book |last=Westad |first=Odd Arne |title=The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times |year=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521703147 |pages=212–217}}{{cite book |last=Castells |first=Manuel |title=The Rise of the Network Society |year=1996 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |isbn=978-1557866172 |pages=3–8}}

{{Main|1990s}}

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.{{cite book |last=Standage |first=Tom |title=The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers |year=1998 |publisher=Walker & Company |isbn=9780802713421 |pages=200–202}} 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.{{cite book |last=Sachs |first=Jeffrey D. |title=The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time |year=2005 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=978-1594200458 |pages=30–32}} Others claimed that powerful nations with large economies were not doing enough to help improve the rapidly evolving economies of the Third World.{{cite journal |last=Stiglitz |first=Joseph E. |title=Globalization and Its Discontents |journal=World Development |volume=28 |issue=6 |year=2000 |pages=1074–1076 |doi=10.1016/S0305-750X(00)00031-4|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }} 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.{{cite book |last=Collier |first=Paul |title=The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It |year=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195311457 |pages=40–42}}

Secondly, disease threatened to destabilize many regions of the world. Viruses such as West Nile and Avian influenza continued to spread quickly and easily.{{cite journal |last=Reiter |first=Paul |title=West Nile Virus in Europe: Understanding the Present to Gauge the Future |journal=Eurosurveillance |volume=15 |issue=10 |year=2010 |doi=10.2807/ese.15.10.19508-en |pages=5–6|doi-access=free }}{{cite web |title=Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Infection in Humans |url=https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/h5n1-people.htm |website=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) |access-date=2024-09-04}} In poor nations, malaria and other diseases affected the majority of the population.{{cite web |title=Malaria |url=https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria |website=World Health Organization (WHO) |access-date=2024-09-04}} Millions were infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, which was becoming an epidemic in southern Africa and around the world.{{cite web |title=Global HIV & AIDS Statistics |url=https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet |website=UNAIDS |access-date=2024-09-04}}

Increased globalization, specifically Americanization, was also occurring. While not necessarily a threat, it was causing anti-Western and anti-American feelings in parts of the world, especially in the Middle East.{{cite book |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |title=Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance |year=2003 |publisher=Metropolitan Books |isbn=978-0-8050-7400-0 |pages=45–47}} English was quickly becoming the global language, with people who did not speak it becoming increasingly disadvantaged.{{cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |title=English as a Global Language |year=1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521592475 |pages=13–15}}

Terrorism, dictatorship, and the spread of nuclear weapons were also issues requiring immediate attention. Dictators such as Kim Jong-il in North Korea continued to lead their nations toward the development of nuclear weapons.{{cite book |last=Cha |first=Victor D. |title=The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future |year=2012 |publisher=Ecco |isbn=978-0061998508 |pages=20–22}} The fear existed that not only were terrorists already attempting to obtain nuclear weapons, but that they had already acquired them.{{cite book |last=Allison |first=Graham |title=Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe |year=2004 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co. |isbn=9780805078527 |pages=15–18}}

• Postmodernity
• Post-classical history
• Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns
• Timelines of modern history

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last=Nipperdey |first=Justus |title=Inventing "Early Modern" Europe: Fashioning a New Historical Period in American Historiography 1880–1945 |journal=Journal of Early Modern History |publisher=Brill |volume=27 |issue=3 |date=6 July 2022 |issn=1385-3783 |doi=10.1163/15700658-bja10051 |pages=199–223 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jemh/27/3/article-p199_2.xml?language=en |access-date=25 June 2024}}

• [http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/chinawh/index.html China and Europe]

{{Periods of the History of Europe}}

{{Western culture}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Historical eras

Category:Modern history

Category:Western culture