View source for 20th century

{{Short description|One hundred years, from 1901 to 2000}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg|thumb|''[[Earthrise]]'', taken on December 24, 1968 by astronaut [[William Anders|William "Bill" Anders]] during the [[Apollo 8]] space mission. It was the first photograph taken of [[Earth]] from [[lunar orbit]].]]
{{Centurybox|20}}The '''20th century''' began on <!-- Be aware the dates here are contentious and should only be changed with consensus on the talk page. --> 1 January [[1901]] (MCMI), and ended on 31 December [[2000]] (MM).<ref name="The New York Times">{{cite news |last=Bikos |first=Konstantin |title=When Did the 21st Century Start? |url=https://www.timeanddate.com/counters/mil2000.html#:~:text=The%2021st%20Century%20Started%20in%202001&text=The%20year%20number%20in%20the,BC%2C%3A%20What's%20the%20difference%3F |access-date=20 Jan 2024 |work=Time and Date}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The 21st Century and the 3rd Millennium When Did They Begin? |url=http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/millennium.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002112920/https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/millennium.php |archive-date=2019-10-02 |access-date=2013-06-07 |publisher=United States Naval Observatory}}</ref>  It was the 10th and last century of the [[2nd 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,<ref>{{Citation |first1=Wolfgang |last1=Lutz |first2=Warren C. |last2=Sanderson |first3=Sergei |last3=Scherbov |editor-first1=Wolfgang |editor-first2=Sergei |editor-last1=Lutz |editor-last2=Scherbov |title=The End of World Population Growth |date=2004 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315870571-2/end-world-population-growth-wolfgang-lutz-warren-sanderson-sergei-scherbov |work=The End of World Population Growth in the 21st Century |access-date=2024-01-15 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315870571 |isbn=978-1-315-87057-1}}</ref> as the century started with around 1.6 billion people, and ended with around 6.2 billion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Population by Year - Worldometer |url=https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/ |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=www.worldometers.info |language=en}}</ref>

The 20th century was dominated by significant geopolitical events that reshaped the political and social structure of the globe: [[World War I]], the [[Spanish flu|Spanish flu pandemic]], [[World War II]] and the [[Cold War]]. Unprecedented [[20th century in science|advances in science and technology]] defined the modern era, including the advent of [[nuclear weapon]]s and [[nuclear power]], [[space exploration]], the [[Digital Revolution|shift from analog to digital computing]] and the continuing advancement of transportation, including [[powered flight]] and the [[automobile]]. The Earth's sixth mass extinction event, the [[Holocene extinction]], continued, and human [[Conservation movement|conservation efforts]] increased. <!-- Add Bretton Woods, globalization of USD, shift from gold standards as major themes of economics -->

Major themes of the century include [[decolonization]], [[nationalism]], [[globalization]] and new forms of [[intergovernmental organization]]s. [[Democracy]] spread, and [[Women's suffrage|women earned the right to vote]] in many countries in the world. [[Cultural homogenization]] began through developments in emerging transportation and [[information and communications technology]], with [[popular music]] and other influences of [[Western culture]], [[Multinational corporation|international corporations]], and what was arguably a truly [[economic globalization|global economy]] by the end of the 20th century. Poverty was reduced and the century saw rising standards of living, [[world population]] growth, awareness of [[environmental degradation]] and [[ecological extinction]].<ref name="Wilson">[[E.O. Wilson|Wilson, E.O.]], ''The Future of Life'' (2002) ({{ISBN|0-679-76811-4}}). See also: [[Richard Leakey|Leakey, Richard]], ''The Sixth Extinction : Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind'', {{ISBN|0-385-46809-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/lists/mostrecent.htm |title=The Sixth Extinction – The Most Recent Extinctions |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218012125/http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/lists/mostrecent.htm |archive-date=2015-12-18 }}</ref> [[Automobile]]s, [[airplane]]s, and [[home appliance]]s became common, and [[video recording|video]] and [[audio recording]] saw mass adoption. These developments were made possible by the exploitation of [[fossil fuel]] resources, which offered energy in an easily portable form, but also caused concern about pollution and long-term impact on the [[environment (biophysical)|environment]]. Humans started to explore [[outer space|space]], taking their first footsteps on the [[Moon]]. Great advances in [[electricity generation]] and [[telecommunications]] allowed for near-instantaneous worldwide communication, ultimately leading to the [[Internet]]. Meanwhile, advances in [[Health technology|medical technology]] resulted in the near-eradication and [[Eradication of infectious diseases|eradication of many infectious diseases]], as well as opening the avenue of biological [[genetic engineering]]. Scientific discoveries, such as the [[theory of relativity]] and [[quantum physics]], profoundly changed the foundational models of physical science, forcing scientists to realize that the universe was 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.

== Summary ==
At the beginning of the period, the [[British Empire]] was the world's most powerful nation,<ref name="ferguson">{{Cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Niall |year=2004 |title=Empire: The rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power |publisher=Basic Books |location =New York |isbn=978-0-465-02328-8}}</ref> having [[Pax Britannica|acted as the world's policeman]] for the past century.

[[File:World_1914_empires_colonies_territory.PNG|thumb|750px|center|{{center|World powers and empires in 1914, just before the First World War.  }}]]

Technological advancements during [[World War I]] changed the way war was fought, as new inventions such as [[tank]]s, [[chemical weapons]], and aircraft modified tactics and strategy. After more than four years of [[trench warfare]] in Western Europe, and up to 17 million dead, the powers that had formed the [[Triple Entente]] ([[French Third Republic|France]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], and [[Russian Empire|Russia]], later replaced by the United States and joined by [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] and [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]]) emerged victorious over the [[Central Powers]] ([[German Empire|Germany]], [[Austria-Hungary]], the [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]). In addition to annexing many of the [[Colony|colonial possessions]] of the vanquished states, the Triple Entente exacted punitive restitution payments from them, plunging Germany in particular into [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|economic depression]]. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were dismantled at the war's conclusion. The [[Russian Revolution]] resulted in the overthrow of the [[Tsar]]ist regime of [[Nicholas II]] and the onset of the [[Russian Civil War]]. The victorious [[Bolsheviks]] then established the [[Soviet Union]], the world's first [[communist state]].

[[Fascism]], a movement which grew out of post-war [[angst]] and which accelerated during the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s, gained momentum in [[Italian Fascism|Italy]], [[Nazism|Germany]], and [[Falangism|Spain]] in the 1920s and 1930s, culminating in [[World War II]], sparked by [[Nazi Germany]]'s aggressive expansion at the expense of its neighbors. Meanwhile, [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] had rapidly transformed itself into a technologically advanced industrial power and, along with Germany and Italy, formed the [[Axis powers]]. Japan's military [[expansionism]] in East Asia and the Pacific Ocean brought it into conflict with the United States, culminating in [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|a surprise attack]] which drew the US into World War II.

After some years of dramatic military success, Germany was [[German Instrument of Surrender|defeated]] in 1945, having been [[Western Allied invasion of Germany|invaded]] by the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Polish Armed Forces in the East|Poland]] [[Eastern Front (World War II)|from the East]] and by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and [[Free France|France]] [[Western Front (World War II)|from the West]]. After the victory of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in Europe, the [[Pacific War|war in Asia]] ended with the [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria]] and the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|dropping of two atomic bombs]] on Japan by the US, the first nation to develop [[nuclear weapons]] and the only one to use them in warfare. In total, World War II left some 60 million people dead.

[[File:Atomic cloud over Hiroshima - NARA 542192 - Edit.jpg|thumb|The [[mushroom cloud]] of the detonation of [[Little Boy]], the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|first nuclear attack]] in history, on 6 August 1945 over [[Hiroshima]], igniting the [[nuclear age]] with the international security dominating thread of [[mutual assured destruction]] in the latter half of the 20th century.]]

Following World War II, the [[United Nations]], successor to the [[League of Nations]], was established as an international forum in which the world's nations could discuss issues diplomatically. It enacted [[United Nations resolution|resolutions]] on such topics as the conduct of warfare, environmental protection, international [[sovereignty]], and human rights. [[Peacekeeping]] forces consisting of troops provided by various countries, with various United Nations and other aid agencies, helped to relieve famine, disease, and poverty, and to suppress some local armed conflicts. Europe slowly united, economically and, in some ways, politically, to form the [[European Union]], which consisted of 15 European countries by the end of the 20th century.

After the war, Germany was [[Allied-occupied Germany|occupied]] and divided between the [[Western Bloc|Western]] powers and the Soviet Union. [[East Germany]] and the rest of [[Eastern Bloc|Eastern Europe]] became Soviet [[puppet states]] under communist rule. Western Europe was rebuilt with the aid of the American [[Marshall Plan]], resulting in a major [[Post–World War II economic expansion|post-war economic boom]], and many of the affected nations became close allies of the United States.

With the Axis defeated and Britain and France rebuilding, the United States and the Soviet Union were left standing as the world's only superpowers. Allies during the war, they soon became hostile to one another as their competing ideologies of [[communism]] and [[democratic capitalism]] proliferated in Europe, which became divided by the [[Iron Curtain]] and the [[Berlin Wall]]. They formed competing military alliances ([[NATO]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]]) which engaged in a decades-long standoff known as the [[Cold War]]. The period was marked by a [[Nuclear arms race|new arms race]] as the USSR became the second nation to develop nuclear weapons, which were produced by both sides in sufficient numbers to [[Nuclear holocaust|end most human life on the planet]] had a large-scale nuclear exchange ever occurred. [[Mutual assured destruction|Mutually assured destruction]] is credited by many historians as having prevented such an exchange, each side being unable to [[Pre-emptive nuclear strike|strike first]] at the other without ensuring an equally devastating [[Second strike|retaliatory strike]]. Unable to engage one another directly, the conflict played out in a series of [[proxy war]]s around the world—particularly in [[Chinese Civil War|China]], [[Korean War|Korea]], [[Cuban revolution|Cuba]], [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], and [[Soviet–Afghan War|Afghanistan]]—as the USSR sought to [[World communism|export communism]] while the US attempted to [[Containment|contain it]]. The technological competition between the two sides led to substantial investment in [[research and development]] which produced innovations that reached far beyond the battlefield, such as [[Space Race|space exploration]] and the Internet.

[[File:Africa independence dates.PNG|thumb|The international community grew in the second half of the century significantly due to a new wave of decolonization, particularly in Africa. Most of the newly independent states, were grouped together with many other so called [[developing countries]]. Developing countries gained attention, particularly due to rapid population growth, leading to a record [[world population]] of nearly 7&nbsp;billion people by the end of the century.]]

In the latter half of the century, most of the [[History of colonialism|European-colonized world]] in Africa and Asia gained independence in a process of [[decolonization]]. Meanwhile, [[globalization]] opened the door for several nations to exert a strong influence over many world affairs. The US's global military presence spread [[Culture of the United States|American culture]] around the world with the advent of the [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood motion picture industry]] and [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]], [[jazz]], rock music, and pop music, fast food and [[hippy]] counterculture, [[hip-hop]], [[house music]], and [[disco]], as well as [[street style]], all of which came to be identified with the concepts of popular culture and [[youth culture]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Delaney |first1=Tim |title=Pop Culture: An Overview |url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/64/Pop_Culture_An_Overview |website=Philosophy Now |access-date=12 September 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bell |last2=Bell |first1=P. |first2=R. |title="Americanization": Political and cultural examples from the perspective of "Americanized" Australia |journal=American Studies |date=1996 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/162640366.pdf |access-date=12 September 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Malchow |first1=Howard |title=Special Relations: The Americanization of Britain? |date=2011 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-804-77399-7}}</ref> After [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|the Soviet Union collapsed]] under internal pressure in 1991, most of the communist governments it had supported around the world [[Revolutions of 1989|were dismantled]]—with the notable exceptions of China, [[North Korea]], [[Cuba]], [[Vietnam]], and [[Laos]]—followed by awkward transitions into market economies.

== Nature of innovation and change ==
Due to continuing industrialization and expanding trade, many significant changes of the century were, directly or indirectly, economic and technological in nature. Inventions such as the [[light bulb]], the [[automobile]], [[mechanical computer]]s, and the [[telephone]] in the late 19th century, followed by [[supertanker]]s; [[airliner]]s; [[motorway]]s; [[radio communication]] and [[radio broadcasting|broadcasting]]; [[television]]; [[digital computers]]; [[air conditioning]]; [[antibiotics]]; [[nuclear power]]; [[frozen food]]; [[microcomputer]]s; the [[Internet]] and the [[World Wide Web]]; and [[mobile telephone]]s affected people's [[quality of life]] across the developed world. The quantity of goods consumed by the average person expanded massively. Scientific research, engineering professionalization and technological development—much of it motivated by the [[Cold War]] arms race—drove changes in everyday life.

== Social change ==
[[File:Martin_Luther_King_-_March_on_Washington.jpg|thumb|[[Martin Luther King Jr.]], an [[African Americans|African American]] [[civil rights movement]] leader ([[I Have a Dream|Washington, August 1963]])]]

Starting from the century, strong discrimination based on race and sex was significant in most societies. Although the [[Atlantic slave trade]] had ended in the 19th century, movements for equality for non-white people in the white-dominated societies of [[Civil rights movement|North America]], Europe, and [[Apartheid|South Africa]] continued. By the end of the 20th century, in many parts of the world, women had the same legal rights as men, and racism had come to be seen as unacceptable, a sentiment often backed up by legislation.<ref>Fleegler, Robert L. [http://mdah.state.ms.us/pubs/bilbo.pdf Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism, 1938–1947] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206151355/http://mdah.state.ms.us/pubs/bilbo.pdf |date=2009-02-06 }}. Retrieved 23 December 2014</ref> When the [[India|Republic of India]] was [[Constitution of India|constituted]], the disadvantaged classes of the [[caste system in India]] became entitled to [[affirmative action]] benefits in education, employment and government.

Attitudes toward pre-marital sex changed rapidly in many societies during the [[sexual revolution]] of the 1960s and 1970s. Attitudes towards homosexuality also began to change in the later part of the century.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Zadey|first=Siddhesh|date=2019-11-25|title=Constitution Day: Do We Truly Know the 'Real' Ambedkar?|url=https://www.thequint.com/voices/blogs/indian-constitution-ambedkar-caste-system-reservation-policy-activism-social-barriers|access-date=2021-07-30|website=TheQuint|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-08-16|title=Ambedkar and political reservation|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/ambedkar-and-political-reservation-6557591/|access-date=2021-07-30|website=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref>

Trauma brought on by events like World War I and World War II, with their [[World War I casualties#Casualties in the borders of 1914–1918|military death tolls]] alone [[World War II casualties#Total deaths by country|at bare minimum]] being 29,697,963, and the [[Spanish flu|Spanish Flu]], whose death count alone exceeded that, helped make society in many countries more [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]] and less neglectful of the poor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barry |first=John M. |author-link=John M. Barry |date=November 2017 |title=How the Horrific 1918 Flu Spread Across America |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/journal-plague-year-180965222/ |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |language=en}}</ref>

== Earth at the end of the 20th century ==
[[File:The Earth seen from Apollo 17.jpg|thumb|''[[The Blue Marble]]'', Earth as seen from [[Apollo 17]] in December 1972. The photograph was taken by LMP [[Harrison Schmitt]]. The second half of the 20th century saw humanity's first [[space exploration]].]]Economic growth and technological progress had radically altered daily lives. Europe appeared to be at a sustainable peace for the first time in recorded history{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}. The people of the [[Indian subcontinent]], a sixth of the world population at the end of the 20th century, had attained an [[Partition of India|indigenous independence]] for the first time in centuries. China, an ancient nation comprising a fifth of the world population, was finally [[Chinese economic reform|open to the world]], 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 in new nation states.

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. Since the US was in a dominant position, a major part of the process was [[Americanization]]. The influence of China and India was also rising, as the world's largest populations were rapidly integrating with the world economy.

[[Terrorism]], dictatorship, and the spread of [[nuclear weapon]]s were pressing [[global issues]]. The world was still blighted by small-scale wars and other violent conflicts, fueled by competition over resources and by ethnic conflicts.

Disease threatened to destabilize many regions of the world. New viruses such as the [[West Nile virus]] continued to spread. [[Malaria]] and other diseases affected large populations. Millions were infected with HIV, the virus which causes AIDS. The virus was becoming an [[AIDS in Africa|epidemic in southern Africa]].

Based on research done by climate scientists, the majority of the scientific community consider that in the long term environmental problems pose a serious threat.<ref>{{cite book | title=Extreme and Irreversible Effects | at=[http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/679.htm Sec 19.6.] | chapter-url=http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/657.htm | chapter=Ch. 19. Vulnerability to Climate Change and Reasons for Concern: A Synthesis | author=Smith, J.B. | display-authors=etal | access-date=2014-07-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018213321/http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/657.htm | archive-date=2016-10-18 | url-status=dead }}, in {{harvnb|IPCC TAR WG2|2001}}</ref> One argument is that of [[global warming]] occurring due to human-caused emission of [[greenhouse gas]]es, particularly [[carbon dioxide]] produced by the burning of [[fossil fuel]]s.<ref>{{Harvnb|IPCC AR5 WG1|2013}}, [https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WG1AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf "Summary for Policymakers, Observed Changes in the Climate System"], pp. 10–11: "Total radiative forcing is positive, and has led to an uptake of energy by the climate system. The largest contribution to total radiative forcing is caused by the increase in the atmospheric concentration of CO<sub>2</sub> since 1750." (p 11). "From 1750 to 2011, CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production have released 375 [345 to 405] GtC to the atmosphere, while deforestation and other land use change are estimated to have released 180 [100 to 260] GtC." (p. 10).</ref> This prompted many nations to negotiate and sign the [[Kyoto Protocol|Kyoto treaty]], which set mandatory limits on carbon dioxide emissions.

[[World population]] increased from about 1.6&nbsp;billion people in 1901 to 6.1&nbsp;billion at the century's end.<ref>{{cite web|title=World Population: Historical Estimates of World Population |url=https://www.census.gov/population/international/data/worldpop/table_history.php|publisher=United States Census Bureau|date=December 19, 2013|access-date=2015-01-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/international/data/worldpop/table_population.php|title=World Population: Total Midyear Population for the World: 1950–2050|publisher=United States Census Bureau |date=December 19, 2013 |access-date=2015-01-09}}</ref>

== Wars and politics ==
{{main|International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)|Diplomatic history of World War I|International relations (1919–1939)|Diplomatic history of World War II|Cold War|International relations since 1989}}
[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|right|Map of territorial changes in Europe after [[World War I]] (as of 1923).]]
The number of people killed during the century by government actions was in the hundreds of millions. This includes deaths caused by wars, genocide, politicide and mass murders. The deaths from acts of war during the two world wars alone have been estimated at between 50 and 80 million.{{Citation needed|date=February 2015|reason=also contradicted by figure of 100m by Tilly, below}} Political scientist [[Rudolph Rummel]] estimated 262,000,000 deaths caused by [[democide]], which excludes those killed in war battles, civilians unintentionally killed in war and killings of rioting mobs.<ref>[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/JCR.ART.HTM Democide] See various exclusions</ref> According to [[Charles Tilly]], "Altogether, about 100 million people died as a direct result of action by organized military units backed by one government or another over the course of the century. Most likely a comparable number of civilians died of war-induced disease and other indirect effects."<ref>Charles Tilly (2003). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ycwqpVKx4H4C&pg=PA55 The politics of collective violence]''" Cambridge University Press. p. 55. {{ISBN|0-521-53145-4}}.</ref> It is estimated that approximately 70 million Europeans died through war, violence and famine between 1914 and 1945.<ref>Gary Rodger Weaver (1998). ''Culture, Communication, and Conflict''. Simon & Schuster. p. 474. {{ISBN|0-536-00373-4}}</ref>
* The [[Armenian genocide|Armenian]], [[Seyfo|Syriac]] and [[Greek genocide]] were the systematic destruction, mass murder and expulsion of the [[Armenian people|Armenians]], [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] and [[Greek people|Greeks]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]] during [[World War&nbsp;I]], spearheaded by the ruling [[Committee of Union and Progress]] (CUP).{{sfn|Suny|2015|pp=245, 330}}{{sfn|Bozarslan|Duclert|Kévorkian|2015|p=187}}
* The [[Alliance of Eight Nations]] ([[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], [[Third French Republic|French Republic]], [[German Empire]], [[Kingdom of Italy]], [[Empire of Japan]], [[Russian Empire]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] and [[United States of America]]) formed in 1900 to invade the [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]] represented the club of great powers in the early 20th century.<!-- Moved from lead section 2023-07-12; I am not an expert but this sentence needs review. -->
* Rising [[nationalism]] and increasing national awareness were among the many causes of [[World War I]] (1914–1918), the first of two wars to involve many major world powers including [[German Empire|Germany]], [[French Third Republic|France]], [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]]/[[USSR]], the [[British Empire]] and the [[United States]]. At the time, it was said by many to be the "[[The war to end war|war to end all wars]]".
* The [[Arab Revolt]] of 1916 was an armed uprising against the [[Ottoman Empire]] done by the [[Arabs]] in [[McMahon–Hussein Correspondence|agreement with the British Empire.]] The revolt was led by [[Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz|Sharif Hussein bin Ali]] who was promised by [[Henry McMahon]], the British High Commissioner in Egypt, that in exchange for fighting the Ottoman Empire, Sharif Hussein would gain control over all Arab lands under the Ottoman Empire. A promise the British Empire did not honor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sabet |first=Amr G. E. |date=2010-01-01 |title=A History of the Modern Middle East, 4th ed. |journal=American Journal of Islam and Society |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=122–124 |doi=10.35632/ajis.v27i1.1351 |issn=2690-3741|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=McMahon |first1=Henry |title=6.2 British Diplomacy: The Hussein-McMahon Letters |date=2022-12-31 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814759332.003.0032 |work=The World War I Reader |pages=335–339 |access-date=2023-11-05 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-5933-2 |last2=Ali |first2=Hussein Ibn|doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814759332.003.0032 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=The Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916) |date=2009-09-10 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203871591-10 |work=The Arab-Israeli Conflict |pages=59–60 |access-date=2023-11-05 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780203871591-10 |isbn=978-0-203-87159-1}}</ref>
* During World War I, in the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]], 300 years of [[Russian Tsarist Empire|Tsarist reign]] were ended and the [[Bolsheviks]], under the leadership of [[Vladimir Lenin]], established the world's first [[Communist state]].
* The [[Aftermath of World War I#Territorial gains and losses|end of World War I]] saw the collapse of the [[Central Powers|central powers]], the [[German Empire]], the [[Austria-Hungary|Austrian-Hungarian Empire]], the [[Kingdom of Bulgaria]], and the [[Ottoman Empire]] into several independent sovereign states throughout [[Central Europe]], the [[Balkans]], and the [[Middle East]]. 
* After gaining political rights in the United States and much of Europe in the first part of the century, and with the advent of new [[birth control]] techniques, [[Women's suffrage|women became more independent]] throughout the century.
* [[Industrial warfare]] greatly increased in its scale and complexity during the first half of the 20th century. Notable developments included [[chemical warfare]], the introduction of [[military aviation]] and the widespread use of [[submarines]]. The introduction of [[nuclear warfare]] in the mid-20th century marked the definite transition to [[modern warfare]].
* [[Revolutions of 1917–1923|The Revolutions of 1917-1923]] occurred during and World War I inspired by the Russian Revolution which saw many political changes in Europe and in Asia.
* [[Osage Indian murders|The Osage Murders of 1918-1931]] were a series of killings of members of the Native American [[Osage Nation]], who were the richest people per capita in the world at that time.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1921-06-25 |title=OSAGE ARE RICHEST PEOPLE.; Greatest Per Capita Wealth in World Results From Oil Deal. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/06/25/archives/osage-are-richest-people-greatest-per-capita-wealth-in-world.html |access-date=2023-11-05 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
* The 1921 [[Tulsa race massacre|Tulsa Race Massacre]], was a racist anti black terrorist attack in the [[Greenwood District, Tulsa|Greenwood District]] in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]], which was home to many successful and wealthy [[African Americans|Black Americans]]. The attack was perpetrated by white residents and local white deputies. The  perpetrators were armed by local government officials.<ref>Brown, DeNeen L. (October 22, 2019). "HBO's 'Watchmen' depicts a deadly Tulsa race massacre that was all too real". ''Washington Post''. Retrieved July 3, 2020. <q>"White city police officer "deputized" members of the lynch mob and "instructed them to get a gun and get a n-----", according to the Oklahoma Historical Society".</q></ref><ref>"Tulsa race massacre of 1921 | Commission, Facts, & Books". ''Britannica''. Retrieved September 4, 2022.</ref>
* The [[Great Depression]] in the 1930s led to the rise of [[Fascism]] (especially [[Nazism]]) in Europe.
* A violent [[Spanish Civil War|civil war]] broke out in Spain in 1936 when General [[Francisco Franco]] rebelled against the [[Second Spanish Republic]]. Many consider this war as a testing battleground for World War II, as the fascist armies bombed some Spanish territories.
* [[World War II]] (1939–1945) became the deadliest conflict in human history involving primarily the axis, [[Nazi Germany]], [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]], and the [[Empire of Japan]] against the allies, [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]], [[French Third Republic|France]], the [[British Empire|United Kingdom]], the [[Soviet Union]], and the [[United States]]. Many atrocities occurred, particularly [[the Holocaust]] killing approximately 11 million victims. It ended with the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] in Japan.
* The two world wars led to efforts to increase [[Multilateralism|international cooperation]], notably through the founding of the [[League of Nations]] after World War I, and its successor, the [[United Nations]], after World War II.
* The [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|creation]] of [[Israel]] in 1948, a Jewish state in the Middle East, at the [[end of the British Mandate for Palestine]], fueled many conflicts between [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Israelis and Palestinians]] in addition to [[Arab–Israeli conflict|regional conflicts]]. These were also influenced by the vast oil fields in many of the other countries of the predominantly Arab region.
* In 1948 [[Nakba|The Nakba]] was, according to several historians, a targeted ethnic cleansing campaign against Arabs in Palestine perpetrated by Jewish Militias under [[Plan Dalet|Plan Delta]], a plan ordered by [[David Ben-Gurion|Ben-Gurion]]. The campaign utilized methods of intimidation, violent attacks, and the destruction of several Arab villages.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Palestinian Nakba |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt18dztmq.5 |work=The Politics of Denial |pages=7–48 |access-date=2023-11-05 |publisher=Pluto Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt18dztmq.5 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=VS |date=2023-11-29 |title=About the Nakba |url=https://www.un.org/unispal/about-the-nakba/ |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=Question of Palestine |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=How Palestinians were expelled from their homes | date=15 May 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGVgjS98OsU |access-date=2023-11-05 |language=en}}</ref>
* After the [[Soviet Union in World War II|Soviet Union's involvement in World War II]], [[communism]] became a major force in [[global politics]], notably in Eastern Europe, China, [[Indochina]] and [[Cuba]], where [[Communist party|communist parties]] gained near-absolute power. 
[[File:Richard_M._Nixon_and_Leonid_Brezhnev_aboard_the_Sequoia_-_NARA_-_194518.tif|thumb|[[Richard Nixon]] and [[Leonid Brezhnev]] aboard the [[USS Sequoia (presidential yacht)|USS ''Sequoia'']], June 19, 1973]]
* The [[Cold War]] (1947–1991) involved an [[arms race]] and increasing competition between the two major players in the world: the Soviet Union and the United States. This competition included the development and improvement of [[nuclear weapon]]s and [[Space Race|space technology]]. This led to the [[proxy war]]s with the [[Western bloc]], including wars in [[Korean War|Korea]] (1950–1953) and [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] (1957–1975).
* The [[Human rights in the Soviet Union|Soviet]] authorities caused the deaths of millions of their own citizens to eliminate domestic opposition.<ref>Geoffrey A. Hosking (2001). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=oh-5AAmboMUC&pg=PA469 Russia and the Russians: a history]''". Harvard University Press. p. 469. {{ISBN|0-674-00473-6}}</ref> More than 18 million people passed through the [[Gulag]], with a further 6 million being [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union#Timeline|exiled]] to remote areas of the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>"[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00EED61F3DF932A25756C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print The Other Killing Machine]". ''The New York Times''. May 11, 2003</ref>
* [[Nationalism|Nationalist movements]] in the [[Indian subcontinent]] led to the independence and [[Partition of India|partition]] of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]-led India and [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]]-led Pakistan, although would lead to [[Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts|conflicts]] between the two nations such as border and territorial disputes.
* After a [[Century of humiliation|long period]] of civil wars and conflicts with western powers, China's [[Qing dynasty|last imperial dynasty]] [[1911 Revolution|ended]] in 1912. The resulting [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|republic]] was replaced, after [[Chinese Civil War|another civil war]], by the communist [[China|People's Republic of China]] in 1949. At the end of the 20th century, though still ruled by a communist party, China's economic system had [[Chinese economic reform|largely transformed]] to [[capitalism]].
* [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s [[nonviolence]] and [[Indian independence movement]] against the [[British Empire]] influenced many [[political movement]]s around the world, including the [[civil rights movement]] in the United States, and freedom movements in South Africa against [[apartheid]] challenging [[racial segregation]] 
* [[Decolonization|The end]] of [[colonialism]] led to the independence of many [[Decolonisation of Africa|African]] and [[Decolonisation of Asia|Asian]] countries. During the Cold War, many of these aligned with the United States, the USSR, or China for defense.
[[File:20091002 Hong Kong 6269.jpg|thumb|[[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]], under British administration from 1842 to 1997, is one of the original [[Four Asian Tigers]].]]
* [[Mao Zedong]]'s [[Great Leap Forward|radical policy of modernization]] leads to the [[Great Chinese Famine]] causing the death of tens of millions of Chinese peasants between 1959 and 1962. It is thought to be the largest [[famine]] in [[human history]].<ref name="bmj.com">"[http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/319/7225/1619 China's great famine: 40 years later]". ''[[British Medical Journal]]'' 1999;319:1619–1621 (December 18 )</ref>
* The [[Vietnam War]] caused [[Vietnam War casualties|two million deaths]], changed the dynamics between the [[Eastern Bloc|Eastern]] and [[Western Bloc]]s, and altered global [[North–South divide in the World|North-South relations]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Thee|first=Marek|jstor=423343
|title=The Indochina Wars: Great Power Involvement – Escalation and Disengagement |journal=[[Journal of Peace Research]]|publisher=[[SAGE Publications]]|volume=13|issue=2|pages=117–129|year=1976|issn=1460-3578 |doi=10.1177/002234337601300204|s2cid=110243986}}</ref>
* The [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]] caused an estimated two million deaths and contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union along with complete [[Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)|political turmoil]] in Afghanistan<ref name="bmj.com"/>
* The [[revolutions of 1989]] released Eastern and Central Europe from [[Soviet Empire|Soviet control]]. Soon thereafter, the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union]], [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]], and [[Breakup of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] dissolved; the former having many states seceded and the latter violently over several years, into [[successor state]]s, with many rife with [[ethnic nationalism]]. Meanwhile, [[East Germany]] and [[West Germany]] [[German reunification|were reunified in 1990]].
* The [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]], culminating in the deaths of hundreds of civilian protesters and thousands of wounded, were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. Led mainly by students and intellectuals, the protests occurred in a year that saw the collapse of a number of communist governments around the world.
* [[European integration]] began in earnest in the 1950s, and eventually led to the [[European Union]], a political and economic union that comprised 15 countries at the end of the 20th century.

== Culture and entertainment ==
{{main|20th century in literature}}
[[File:Chagall IandTheVillage.jpg|thumb|''[[I and the Village]]'', 1911, by [[Marc Chagall]], a [[List of modern artists|modern painter]]]]
* As the century began, Paris was the artistic capital of the world, where both French and foreign writers, composers and visual artists gathered. By the middle of the century New York City had become the artistic capital of the world.
* Theater, films, music and the media had a major influence on fashion and trends in all aspects of life. As many films and much music originate from the United States, American culture spread rapidly over the world.
* 1953 saw the [[coronation of Queen Elizabeth II]], an iconic figure of the century.
* [[Visual culture]] became more dominant not only in films but in comics and television as well. During the century a new skilled understanding of narrativist imagery was developed.
* Computer games and internet surfing became new and popular form of entertainment during the last 25 years of the century.
* In literature, science fiction, fantasy (with well-developed fictional worlds, rich in detail), and [[alternate history|alternative history]] fiction gained popularity. [[Detective fiction]] gained popularity in the [[interwar period]]. In the United States in 1961 [[Grove Press]] published ''[[Tropic of Cancer (novel)|Tropic of Cancer]]'' a novel by [[Henry Miller]] redefining pornography and censorship in publishing in America.

===Music===
{{main|20th-century music}}
[[File:Elvis Presley first national television appearance 1956.jpg|thumb|[[Elvis Presley]] in 1956, a leading figure of [[rock and roll]] and [[rockabilly]].]]
The invention of music recording technologies such as the [[phonograph record]], and dissemination technologies such as [[radio broadcasting]], massively expanded the audience for music. Prior to the 20th century, music was generally only experienced in [[concert|live performances]]. Many new genres of music were established during the 20th century.
* [[Igor Stravinsky]] revolutionized classical composition.
* In the 1920s, [[Arnold Schoenberg]] developed the [[twelve-tone technique]], which became widely influential on 20th-century composers.
* In classical music, [[Musical composition|composition]] branched out into many completely new domains, including [[dodecaphony]], [[aleatoric music|aleatoric]] (chance) music, and [[minimalism]].
* [[Argentine tango|Tango]] was created in Argentina and became extremely popular in the rest of the Americas and Europe.
* [[Blues]] and [[jazz]] music became popularized during the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s in the United States. [[Bebop]] develops as a form of jazz in the 1940s.
* [[Country music]] develops in the 1920s and 1930s in the United States.
* Blues and country went on to influence [[rock and roll]] in the 1950s, which along with [[American folk music revival|folk music]], increased in popularity with the [[British Invasion]] of the mid-to-late 1960s.
* Rock soon branched into many different genres, including [[folk rock]], [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]], [[punk rock]], and [[alternative rock]] and became the dominant genre of [[popular music]].
* This was challenged with the rise of [[hip hop music|hip hop]] in the 1980s and 1990s.
* Other genres such as [[House music|house]], [[techno]], [[reggae]], and [[soul music|soul]] all developed during the latter half of the century and went through various periods of popularity.
* Synthesizers began to be employed widely in music and crossed over into the mainstream with [[new wave music]] in the 1980s. [[Electronic instruments]] have been widely deployed in all manners of popular music and has led to the development of such genres as [[house music|house]], [[synthpop|synth-pop]], [[electronic dance music]], and [[industrial music|industrial]].

===Film, television and theatre===
[[File:Chaplin_The_Kid_edit.jpg|thumb|[[Charlie Chaplin]] in his 1921 film ''[[The Kid (1921 film)|The Kid]]'', with [[Jackie Coogan]].]]
{{see also|History of film}}
Film as an artistic medium was created in the 20th century. The first modern movie theatre was established in [[Pittsburgh]] in 1905.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/movies/2005/06/19/You-saw-it-here-first-Pittsburgh-s-Nickelodeon-introduced-the-moving-picture-theater-to-the-masses-in-1905/stories/200506190169|title=You saw it here first: Pittsburgh's Nickelodeon introduced the moving picture theater to the masses in 1905|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=18 June 2005|access-date=11 February 2018}}</ref> [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] developed as the center of American film production. While the first films were in black and white, [[technicolor]] was developed in the 1920s to allow for color films. [[Sound film]]s were developed, with the first full-length feature film, ''[[The Jazz Singer]]'', released in 1927. The [[Academy Awards]] were established in 1929. Animation was also developed in the 1920s, with the first full-length [[cel animated]] feature film ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'', released in 1937. [[Computer-generated imagery]] was developed in the 1980s, with the first full-length [[CGI-animated]] film ''[[Toy Story]]'' released in 1995.
* [[Julie Andrews]], [[Harry Belafonte]], [[Humphrey Bogart]], [[Marlon Brando]], [[James Cagney]], [[Charlie Chaplin]], [[Sean Connery]], [[Tom Cruise]], [[James Dean]], [[Robert De Niro]], [[Harrison Ford]], [[Clark Gable]], [[Cary Grant]], [[Audrey Hepburn]], [[Katharine Hepburn]], [[Bruce Lee]], [[Marilyn Monroe]], [[Paul Newman]], [[Jack Nicholson]], [[Al Pacino]], [[Sidney Poitier]], [[Meryl Streep]], [[Elizabeth Taylor]], [[James Stewart]], [[Jane Fonda]] and [[John Wayne]] are among the most popular [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] stars of the 20th century.
* [[Madhubala]], [[Jean-Paul Belmondo]], [[Karel Roden]], [[Sean Connery]], [[Marcello Mastroianni]], [[Salah Zulfikar]], [[Marlene Dietrich]], [[Brigitte Bardot]], [[Omar Sharif]], [[Catherine Deneuve]], [[Alain Delon]], [[Soad Hosny]], [[Fernanda Montenegro]], [[Sophie Marceau]], [[Fatima Rushdi]], [[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Jean Gabin]], [[Toshiro Mifune]], [[Shoukry Sarhan]], [[Lars Mikkelsen]], [[Sophia Loren]], [[Youssef Wahbi]], [[Claudia Cardinale]], [[Klaus Kinski]], [[Gérard Depardieu]], [[Max von Sydow]], [[Faten Hamama]], [[Rutger Hauer]] and [[Toni Servillo]] are among the most popular movie stars of the 20th century. 
* [[Sergei Eisenstein]], [[D. W. Griffith]], [[Cecil B. DeMille]], [[Frank Capra]], [[Howard Hawks]], [[John Ford]], [[Orson Welles]], [[Martin Scorsese]], [[John Huston]], [[Alfred Hitchcock]], [[Akira Kurosawa]], [[Spike Lee]], [[Ingmar Bergman]], [[Federico Fellini]], [[Walt Disney]], [[Stanley Kubrick]], [[Steven Spielberg]], [[Ridley Scott]], [[Woody Allen]], [[Quentin Tarantino]], [[James Cameron]], [[William Friedkin]], [[Ezz El-Dine Zulficar]] and [[George Lucas]] are among the most important and popular filmmakers of the 20th century.
* In theater, sometimes referred to as [[Broadway theater|Broadway]] in New York City, playwrights such as [[Eugene O'Neill]], [[Samuel Beckett]], [[Edward Albee]], [[Arthur Miller]] and [[Tennessee Williams]] introduced innovative language and ideas to the idiom. In musical theater, figures such as [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]], [[Lerner and Loewe]], [[Mohammed Karim]], and [[Irving Berlin]] had an enormous impact on both film and the culture in general.
* [[Modern dance]] is born in America as a 'rebellion' against centuries-old European ballet. [[Dancers]] and choreographers [[Alvin Ailey]], [[Isadora Duncan]], [[Vaslav Nijinsky]], [[Ruth St. Denis]], [[Mahmoud Reda]], [[Martha Graham]], [[José Limón]], [[Doris Humphrey]], [[Merce Cunningham]], and [[Paul Taylor (choreographer)|Paul Taylor]] re-defined movement, struggling to bring it back to its 'natural' roots and along with Jazz, created a solely American art form. Alvin Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th-century concert dance. His company gained the nickname "Cultural Ambassador to the World" because of its extensive international touring. Ailey's choreographic masterpiece Revelations is believed to be the best known and most often seen modern dance performance.

{{see also|History of Television}}

===Video games===
[[File:Magnavox-Odyssey-Console-Set.jpg|thumb|[[Ralph Baer]]'s ''[[Magnavox Odyssey]]'', the first video game console, released in 1972.]]
{{main|History of video games}}
Video games—due to the great technological steps forward in [[computing]] since the second [[post-war]] period—are one of the new forms of entertainment that emerged in the 20th century alongside films.
* While already conceptualized in the [[1940s]]–[[1950s|50s]], video games only emerged as an industry during the [[1970s]], and then exploded into social and cultural phenomena in the late 1970s and early [[1980s]] with the [[golden age of arcade video games]], with notable releases such as [[Taito]]'s ''[[Space Invaders]]'', [[Atari, Inc.]]'s ''[[Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids]]'', [[Nintendo]]'s ''[[Donkey Kong (arcade game)|Donkey Kong]]'', [[Namco]]'s ''[[Pac-Man]]'' and ''[[Galaga]]'', [[Konami]]'s ''[[Frogger]]'', [[Capcom]]'s ''[[1942 (video game)|1942]]'' and [[Sega]]'s ''[[Zaxxon]]'',<ref name="Whittaker-122">{{citation|title=The cyberspace handbook|author=Jason Whittaker|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2004|isbn=978-0-415-16835-9|page=122}}</ref> the worldwide success of [[Nintendo]]'s ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-05-18/features/1993138174_1_mario-nintendo-mickey-mouse |title=How Mario Conquered America |first=James |last=Coates |date=May 18, 1993 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |access-date=February 7, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20151123103152/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-05-18/features/1993138174_1_mario-nintendo-mickey-mouse |archive-date=November 23, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and the release in the [[1990s]] of [[Sony]] [[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]] console, the first one to break the record of 100 million units sold, with ''[[Gran Turismo (1997 video game)|Gran Turismo]]'' being the system's best selling video game.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/051130e.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103211119/http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/051130e.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 January 2006|title=PlayStation 2 Breaks Record as the Fastest Computer Entertainment Platform to Reach Cumulative Shipment of 100 Million Units|date=30 November 2005|publisher=[[Sony Computer Entertainment]]|access-date=8 June 2008}}</ref>
* [[Video game design]] becomes a discipline. Some game designers in this century stand out for their work, such as [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], [[Hideo Kojima]], [[Sid Meier]] and [[Will Wright (game designer)|Will Wright]].

===Art and architecture===
[[File:Empire State Building (HDR).jpg|upright|thumb|The [[Empire State Building]] is an iconic building of the 1930s.]]
{{main|20th-century art}}
* The art world experienced the development of new styles and explorations such as [[fauvism]], [[expressionism]], [[Dadaism]], [[cubism]], [[de stijl]], [[surrealism]], [[abstract expressionism]], [[color field]], [[pop art]], [[minimal art]], [[lyrical abstraction]], and [[conceptual art]].
* The [[modern art]] movement revolutionized art and culture and set the stage for both [[Modernism]] and its counterpart [[postmodern art]] as well as other [[contemporary art]] practices.
* [[Art Nouveau]] began as a form of architecture and design but fell out of fashion after World War I. The style was dynamic and inventive but unsuited to the depression of the Great War.
* In Europe, [[modern architecture]] departed from the decorated styles of the [[Victorian era]]. Streamlined forms inspired by machines became commonplace, enabled by developments in [[building materials]] and technologies. Before World War II, many European architects moved to the United States, where modern architecture continued to develop.
* The automobile increased the mobility of people in the Western countries in the early-to-mid-century, and in many other places by the end of the 20th century. [[Urban planning|City design]] throughout most of the West became focused on transport via car.

===Sport===
* The popularity of sport increased considerably—both as an activity for all and as entertainment, particularly on television.
* The modern [[Olympic Games]], first held in 1896, grew to include tens of thousands of athletes in dozens of sports.
* The [[FIFA World Cup]] was first held in 1930 and was held every four years after World War II.
* American League [[Baseball]] was formed in 1900 and in 1903, both National and American agreed to play in the first [[World Series]] with over 100,000 in attendance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Giordano |first1=Ralph G. |title=Fun And Games In The Twentieth Century America: A Historical Guide to Leisure |date=2003 |publisher=GreenWood Press |isbn=0-313-32216-3 |page=20}}</ref>
* Boxing, also known as "Prize Fighting" became popular over this decade although [[bare-knuckle fighting]] was still popular.

== Science ==
{{main|20th century in science}}
{{see also|Big Science}}

=== Mathematics ===
[[File:Alan Turing portré.jpg|thumb|upright|The pioneer of [[computer science]], [[Alan Turing]]]]

Multiple new fields of mathematics were developed in the 20th century. In the first part of the 20th century, [[measure theory]], [[functional analysis]], and [[topology]] were established, and significant developments were made in fields such as [[abstract algebra]] and [[probability]]. The development of [[set theory]] and [[formal logic]] led to [[Gödel's incompleteness theorems]].

Later in the 20th century, the development of computers led to the establishment of a [[theory of computation]].<ref name="BoyerMath">{{Cite book|title=A history of mathematics|last=Boyer|first=Carl B.|date=1991|publisher=Wiley|others=[[Uta Merzbach|Merzbach, Uta C.]], 1933–, Rogers D. Spotswood Collection.|isbn=978-0471543978|edition=2nd ed. [rev.]|location=New York|oclc=23823042|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmathema00boye}}</ref> Computationally-intense results include the study of [[fractal]]s<ref>{{cite book|last1=Devaney|first1=Robert L.|title=A first course in chaotic dynamical systems : theory and experiment|date=1998|publisher=Addison-Wesley|location=Reading, Mass. [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-201-55406-9|edition=6. printing.}}</ref> and a proof of the [[four color theorem]] in 1976.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Every Planar Map is Four-Colorable|date=26 July 1976|journal=Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society|author1=Kenneth Appel|author2-link=Wolfgang Haken|author2=Wolfgang Haken |series=Contemporary Mathematics|volume=98|doi=10.1090/conm/098|isbn=9780821851036|s2cid=8735627|url=http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/1183538218|author1-link=Kenneth Appel}}</ref>

=== Physics ===
* New areas of [[physics]], like [[special relativity]], [[general relativity]], and [[quantum mechanics]], were developed during the first half of the century. In the process, the internal structure of [[atom]]s came to be clearly understood, followed by the discovery of [[elementary particle]]s.
* It was found that all the known [[force]]s can be traced to only four [[fundamental interaction]]s. It was discovered further that two forces, [[electromagnetism]] and [[weak interaction]], can be merged in the [[electroweak interaction]], leaving only three different fundamental interactions.
* Discovery of [[nuclear reaction]]s, in particular [[nuclear fusion]], finally revealed the source of [[sun|solar]] energy.
* [[Radiocarbon dating]] was invented, and became a powerful technique for determining the age of [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] animals and plants as well as historical objects.

=== Astronomy ===
* A much better understanding of the evolution of the [[universe]] was achieved, its [[Age of the universe|age]] (about 13.8&nbsp;billion years) was determined, and the [[Big Bang]] theory on its origin was proposed and generally accepted.
* The age of the [[Solar System]], including Earth, was determined, and it turned out to be much older than believed earlier: more than 4&nbsp;billion years, rather than the 20 million years suggested by [[Lord Kelvin]] in 1862.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Thomson |first=Sir William |title=On the Age of the Sun's Heat |journal=Macmillan's Magazine |year=1862 |volume=5 |pages=288–293 |url=http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/on_the_age_of_the_suns_heat.html}}</ref>
* The planets of the Solar System and their moons were closely observed via numerous [[space probe]]s. [[Pluto]] was discovered in 1930 on the edge of the Solar System, although in the early 21st century, it was reclassified as a [[dwarf planet]] instead of a planet proper, leaving eight planets.
* No trace of life was discovered on any of the other planets orbiting [[Sun|the Sun]] (or elsewhere in the universe), although it remained undetermined whether some forms of primitive life might exist, or might have existed, somewhere in the Solar System. [[Extrasolar planets]] were observed for the first time.

=== Agriculture ===
[[File:Wheat yields in Least Developed Countries.svg|thumb|Wheat yields greatly increased from the [[Green Revolution]] in the world's [[least developed countries]].]]

*[[Norman Borlaug]] fathered the [[Green Revolution]], the set of research [[technology transfer]] initiatives occurring between 1950 and the late 1960s that increased agricultural production in parts of the world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s, and is often credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation.

=== Biology ===
* [[Genetics]] was unanimously accepted and significantly developed. The [[structure of DNA]] was determined in 1953 by [[James D. Watson|James Watson]],<ref name="nobelmedicine1962">{{cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/|work=NobelPrize.org|publisher=Nobel Media AB|access-date=November 5, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Franklin"/> [[Francis Crick]],<ref name="nobelmedicine1962"/><ref name="Franklin"/> [[Rosalind Franklin]]<ref name="Franklin">{{cite web |title=James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/james-watson-francis-crick-maurice-wilkins-and-rosalind-franklin |work=Science History Institute |access-date=20 March 2018 |date=June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321132408/https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/james-watson-francis-crick-maurice-wilkins-and-rosalind-franklin |archive-date=21 March 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Maurice Wilkins]],<ref name="nobelmedicine1962"/><ref name="Franklin"/> following by developing techniques which allow to read DNA sequences and culminating in starting the [[Human Genome Project]] (not finished in the 20th century) and [[Dolly (sheep)|cloning the first mammal]] in 1996.
* The role of [[sexual reproduction]] in evolution was understood, and [[bacterial conjugation]] was discovered.
* The convergence of various sciences for the formulation of the [[modern synthesis (20th century)|modern evolutionary synthesis]] (produced between 1936 and 1947), providing a widely accepted account of [[evolution]].

=== Medicine ===
[[File:Faroe stamp 079 europe (fleming).jpg|thumb|right|A stamp commemorating [[Alexander Fleming]]. His discovery of [[penicillin]] changed the world of medicine by introducing the age of antibiotics.]]

* [[Placebo]]-[[scientific control|controlled]], [[random sample|randomized]], [[blind experiment|blinded]] [[clinical trial]]s became a powerful tool for testing new medicines.
* [[Antibiotics]] drastically reduced mortality from [[bacterial disease]]s.
* A [[vaccine]] was developed for [[polio]], ending a worldwide epidemic. Effective vaccines were also developed for a number of other serious infectious diseases, including [[influenza vaccine|influenza]], [[DPT vaccine|diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus]], [[MMR vaccine|measles]], [[mumps vaccine|mumps]], [[MMR vaccine|rubella (German measles)]], [[varicella vaccine|chickenpox]], [[hepatitis A vaccine|hepatitis A]], and [[hepatitis B vaccine|hepatitis B]].
* [[Epidemiology]] and [[vaccination]] led to the eradication of the [[smallpox]] virus in humans.
* [[X-ray]]s became a powerful diagnostic tool for a wide spectrum of diseases, from bone fractures to cancer. In the 1960s, [[computerized tomography]] was invented. Other important diagnostic tools developed were [[sonography]] and [[magnetic resonance imaging]].
* Development of [[vitamins]] virtually eliminated [[scurvy]] and other vitamin-deficiency diseases from industrialized societies.
* New psychiatric drugs were developed. These include [[antipsychotic]]s for treating [[hallucination]]s and [[delusion]]s, and [[antidepressant]]s for treating depression.
* The role of [[tobacco smoking]] in the causation of cancer and other diseases was proven during the 1950s (see [[British Doctors Study]]).
* New methods for cancer treatment, including [[chemotherapy]], [[radiation therapy]], and [[immunotherapy]], were developed. As a result, cancer could often be [[cure]]d or placed in [[remission (medicine)|remission]].
* The development of [[blood type|blood typing]] and [[blood bank]]ing made [[blood transfusion]] safe and widely available.
* The [[invention]] and development of [[immunosuppressive drug]]s and [[tissue typing]] made [[organ transplant|organ and tissue transplantation]] a clinical reality.
* New methods for [[heart surgery]] were developed, including [[pacemaker]]s and [[artificial heart]]s.
* [[Cocaine]] and heroin were widely illegalized after being found to be addictive and destructive. [[Psychoactive drug]]s such as [[LSD]] and [[MDMA]] were discovered and subsequently prohibited in many countries. [[Prohibition of drugs]] caused a growth in the black market drug industry, and [[War on drugs|expanded enforcement]] led to a larger prison population in some countries.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Engel|first=Pamela|date=April 23, 2014|title=Watch How Quickly The War On Drugs Changed America's Prison Population|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-war-on-drugs-changed-americas-prison-population-2014-4?op=1|website=Business Insider}}</ref>
* [[Contraceptive]] drugs were developed, which reduced population growth rates in industrialized countries, as well as decreased the taboo of [[premarital sex]] throughout many western countries.
* The development of medical [[insulin]] during the 1920s helped raise the life expectancy of [[diabetes|diabetics]] to three times of what it had been earlier.
* Vaccines, hygiene and clean water improved health and decreased mortality rates, especially among infants and the young.

==== Notable diseases ====
* An [[influenza]] pandemic, [[1918 flu pandemic|Spanish Flu]], killed anywhere from 17 to 100 million people between 1918 and 1919.
* A new [[virus|viral]] disease, called the [[Human Immunodeficiency Virus]], or HIV, arose in Africa and subsequently killed millions of people throughout the world. HIV leads to a syndrome called [[Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome]], or AIDS. Treatments for HIV remained inaccessible to many people living with AIDS and HIV in [[developing countries]], and a cure has yet to be discovered.
* Because of increased [[Life expectancy|life spans]], the [[prevalence]] of cancer, [[Alzheimer's disease]], [[Parkinson's disease]], and other diseases of [[old age]] increased slightly.
* Changes in food production, along with [[sedentary lifestyle]]s due to labor-saving devices and the increase in home entertainment, contributed to an "epidemic" of [[obesity]], at first in the rich countries, but by the end of the 20th century spreading to the developing world.

=== Energy and the environment ===
[[File:Oilfields California.jpg|thumb|[[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]].]]
* [[Fossil fuels]] and [[nuclear power]] were the dominant forms of energy sources.
* Widespread use of petroleum in industry—both as a chemical precursor to plastics and as a fuel for the automobile and airplane—led to the geopolitical importance of petroleum resources. The Middle East, home to many of the world's oil deposits, became a center of geopolitical and military tension throughout the latter half of the century. (For example, oil was a factor in Japan's decision to go to war against the United States in 1941, and the oil cartel, [[OPEC]], used an oil embargo of sorts in the wake of the [[Yom Kippur War]] in the 1970s).
* The increase in [[fossil fuel]] consumption also fueled a major scientific controversy over its effect on air pollution, [[global warming]], and global [[climate change]].
* [[Pesticide]]s, [[herbicide]]s and other [[toxicity|toxic]] [[chemical substance|chemicals]] accumulated in the environment, including in the bodies of humans and other animals.
* [[Population growth]] and worldwide [[deforestation]] diminished the [[environmental quality|quality of the environment]].
* In the last third of the century, concern about humankind's impact on the Earth's [[environment (biophysical)|environment]] made environmentalism popular. In many countries, especially in Europe, the movement was channeled into politics through [[Green party|Green parties]]. Increasing awareness of [[global warming]] began in the 1980s, commencing decades of social and political debate.

== Engineering and technology ==
[[File:First flight2.jpg|thumb|right|First flight of the [[Wright brothers]]' ''[[Wright Flyer]]'' on December 17, 1903, in [[Kitty Hawk, North Carolina]]; Orville piloting with Wilbur running at wingtip.]]

One of the prominent traits of the 20th century was the dramatic growth of technology. Organized research and practice of science led to advancement in the fields of communication, electronics, engineering, travel, medicine, and war.
* Basic [[home appliance]]s including [[washing machine]]s, [[clothes dryer]]s, furnaces, [[exercise machine]]s, [[dishwashers]], [[refrigerator]]s, freezers, [[electric stove]]s and [[vacuum cleaner]]s became popular from the 1920s through the 1950s. Radios were popularized as a form of entertainment during the 1920s, followed by television during the 1950s.
* The first airplane, the ''[[Wright Flyer]]'', was flown in 1903. With the engineering of the faster [[jet engine]] in the 1940s, mass [[air travel]] became commercially viable.
* The [[assembly line]] made mass production of the automobile viable. By the end of the 20th century, billions of people had automobiles for personal transportation. The combination of the automobile, [[motor boat]]s and air travel allowed for unprecedented personal mobility. In western nations, motor vehicle accidents became the greatest cause of death for young people. However, expansion of [[divided highway]]s reduced the death rate.
* The [[triode|triode tube]] was invented.
*Air conditioning of buildings became common
* New materials, most notably [[stainless steel]], [[Velcro]], [[silicone]], [[polytetrafluoroethylene|teflon]], and plastics such as [[polystyrene]], [[polyvinyl chloride|PVC]], [[polyethylene]], and nylon came into widespread use for many various applications. These materials typically have tremendous performance gains in strength, temperature, chemical resistance, or mechanical properties over those known prior to the 20th century.
* Aluminum became an inexpensive metal and became second only to iron in use.
* Thousands of [[chemical]]s were developed for industrial processing and home use.
* Digital computers came into use

=== Space exploration ===
[[File:Buzz salutes the U.S. Flag.jpg|thumb|Photo of American astronaut [[Buzz Aldrin]] during the [[Apollo 11|first moonwalk]] in 1969, taken by [[Neil Armstrong]]. The relatively young [[aerospace engineering]] industries rapidly grew in the 66 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.]]
* The [[Space Race]] between the United States and the [[Soviet Union]] gave a peaceful outlet to the political and military tensions of the [[Cold War]], leading to the first [[human spaceflight]] with the Soviet Union's [[Vostok 1]] mission in 1961, and man's first landing on another world—the [[Moon]]—with America's [[Apollo 11]] mission in 1969. Later, the first [[space station]] was launched by the [[Soviet space program]]. The United States developed the first reusable spacecraft system with the [[Space Shuttle program]], first launched in 1981. As the century ended, a permanent crewed presence in space was being founded with the ongoing construction of the [[International Space Station]].
* In addition to human spaceflight, uncrewed space probes became a practical and relatively inexpensive form of exploration. The first orbiting space probe, [[Sputnik 1]], was launched by the [[Soviet Union]] in 1957. Over time, a massive system of artificial satellites was placed into orbit around Earth. These satellites greatly advanced navigation, communications, military intelligence, geology, climate, and numerous other fields. Also, by the end of the 20th century, uncrewed probes had visited or flown by the Moon, [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Venus]], [[Mars]], [[Jupiter]], [[Saturn]], [[Uranus]], [[Neptune]], and various asteroids and comets, with ''[[Voyager 1]]'' being the farthest manufactured object from Earth at 23,5&nbsp;billion kilometers away from Earth as of 6 September 2022, and together with ''[[Voyager 2]]'' both carrying The [[Voyager Golden Record]] containing sounds, music and greetings in 55 languages as well as 116 images of nature, human advancement, space and society.
* The [[Hubble Space Telescope]], launched in 1990, greatly expanded our understanding of the Universe and brought brilliant images to TV and computer screens around the world.
* The [[Global Positioning System]], a series of satellites that allow land-based receivers to determine their exact location, was developed and deployed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/communications/policy/GPS_History.html|title= Global Positioning System History|date=2012-10-27|access-date=2018-02-07}}</ref>

== Religion ==
{{see also|List of 20th-century religious leaders}}
* 1900s – A number of related [[Pentecostalism#Early revivals: 1900–1929|revival movements]] mark the start of [[Pentecostalism]].
* 1904 – [[Aleister Crowley]] dictates ''[[The Book of the Law]]'', the foundational text of [[Thelema]].
* 1922 – The [[Soviet Union]] establishes a doctrine of [[state atheism#Soviet Union|state atheism]].
* 1924 – [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal Pasha]] abolishes the Islamic [[Caliphate]], in favor of [[secularism]]. This marks the last widely recognized Muslim Caliphate.
* 1930 – [[Wallace Fard Muhammad]] founds the [[Nation of Islam]]. The [[Lambeth Conference#Seventh: 1930|Seventh Lambeth Conference]] allows for the possibility of [[Christian views on birth control#Anglicanism|birth control within Anglicanism]], the first example of a modern Christian church supporting such a position.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jacobson |first=Molly |date=2022-07-19 |title="Seventh Lambeth Conference, Resolutions 9-20" (1930) by the Anglican Communion |url=https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/seventh-lambeth-conference-resolutions-9-20-1930-anglican-communion |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=Embryo Project Encyclopedia |issn=1940-5030}}</ref>
* 1940s – [[Wicca]] is formalized by [[Gerald Gardner]] and [[Doreen Valiente]].
* 1950s – [[Sayyid Qutb]] articulates [[Qutbism]], a violent variety of [[Islamism]] that would later become foundational to [[jihadist]] ideology. [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] begins to teach [[Transcendental Meditation]].
* 1953 – [[L. Ron Hubbard]] founds the [[Church of Scientology]], which has a unique cosmology based on [[Space opera in Scientology|science fiction]] and his older system of [[Dianetics]].
* 1956 – [[B. R. Ambedkar]] launches the [[Dalit Buddhist movement]].
* 1960 – The [[charismatic movement]] starts within Anglicanism, quickly spreading to other Christian sects.
* 1962–65 – The [[Second Vatican Council]] is held, resulting in significant changes in the [[Catholic Church]].
* 1970s – [[New Age]] beliefs and practices are popularized.
* 1979 – In [[Shia Islam]], the [[Islamic Revolution]] establishes a [[Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran|theocratic state within Iran]].
* 1988 – [[Al-Qaeda]], a network of [[Islamic extremists]], is founded among Arab members of the [[Afghan mujahideen]]. It engages in a number of terror attacks throughout the 1990s, leading up to the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001.
* 1999 – [[Falun Gong]], a Chinese [[new religious movement]] dating to the early 1990s, begins to be [[Persecution of Falun Gong|persecuted]] by the Chinese government.

== Economics ==
* The [[Great Depression]] was a worldwide [[economic slowdown]] that lasted throughout the early 1930s.
* The [[Soviet Union]] implemented a series of [[Five-year plans for the national economy of the Soviet Union|five-year plans]] for industrialization and economic development.
* Most countries abandoned the [[gold standard]] for their currency. The [[Bretton Woods system]] involved currencies being [[Fixed exchange-rate system|pegged]] to the United States dollar; after the system [[Nixon shock|collapsed in 1971]] most major currencies had a [[floating exchange rate]].
* Economics was divided into two general economic schools: Keynesian and neoclassical
* The [[1970s energy crisis]] occurred when the [[Western world]], particularly the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, faced substantial petroleum shortages as well as elevated prices. The two worst crises of this period were the [[1973 oil crisis]] and the [[1979 oil crisis|1979 energy crisis]], when, respectively, the [[Yom Kippur War]] and the [[Iranian Revolution]] triggered interruptions in [[Middle East]]ern oil exports.

== See also ==
{{portal|Modern history}}
* [[19th century|19th Century]] 
* [[21st century|21st Century]]
* [[Timeline of historic inventions#20th century|20th-century inventions]]
* [[Death rates in the 20th century]]
* [[Infectious disease in the 20th century]]
* [[Modern art]]
* [[Short twentieth century]]
* [[Timelines of modern history]]
* [[List of 20th-century women artists]]
* [[List of notable 20th-century writers]]
* [[List of battles 1901–2000]]
* [[List of stories set in a future now past]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{citation
 | year=2013
 | author=IPCC AR5 WG1
 | editor=Stocker, T.F.| title=Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group 1 (WG1) Contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (AR5)
 | url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/
 | publisher=Cambridge University Press
 | display-editors=etal 
}}. [http://www.climatechange2013.org/ Climate Change 2013 Working Group 1 website.]
* {{cite book
 |year         = 2001
 |author       = IPCC TAR WG2
 |title        = Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
 |series       = Contribution of Working Group II to the [[IPCC Third Assessment Report|Third Assessment Report]] of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
 |editor       = McCarthy, J. J.
 |editor2      = Canziani, O. F.
 |editor3      = Leary, N. A.
 |editor4      = Dokken, D. J.
 |editor5      = White, K. S.
 |publisher    = Cambridge University Press
 |url          = https://archive.org/details/climatechange2000000unse_j1j8
 |isbn         = 978-0521807685
 |url-status   = dead
 |df           = dmy-all
 |url-access   = registration
 |access-date  = 18 December 2019
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160514070847/http://www.grida.no/publications/other/ipcc%5Ftar/?src=%2Fclimate%2Fipcc_tar%2Fwg2%2Findex.htm
 |archive-date = 14 May 2016
}} (pb: {{ISBNT|0521015006}})
*{{cite book |last1=Bozarslan |first1=Hamit |last2=Duclert |first2=Vincent |last3=Kévorkian |first3=Raymond H. |author1-link=:fr:Hamit Bozarslan |author2-link=:fr:Vincent Duclert |title=Comprendre le génocide des arméniens—1915 à nos jours |date=2015 |publisher={{ill|Tallandier|fr|Éditions Tallandier}} |isbn=979-10-210-0681-2 |language=fr |trans-title=Understanding the Armenian genocide: 1915 to the present day }}
* {{cite book |last1=Suny |first1=Ronald Grigor|author-link=Ronald Grigor Suny |title="They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide|title-link=They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6558-1}}

== Further reading ==
* Brower, Daniel R. and Thomas Sanders. ''The World in the Twentieth Century'' (7th Ed, 2013)
* CBS News. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wO3qlZr7s3MC ''People of the century'']. Simon and Schuster, 1999. {{ISBN|0-684-87093-2}}
* Grenville, J. A. S. ''A History of the World in the Twentieth Century'' (1994). [https://archive.org/details/historyofworldin00gren online free]
* Hallock, Stephanie A. ''The World in the 20th Century: A Thematic Approach'' (2012)
* Langer, William. ''An Encyclopedia of World History'' (5th ed. 1973); highly detailed outline of events [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo00lang online free]
* Morris, Richard B. and Graham W. Irwin, eds. ''Harper Encyclopedia of the Modern World: A Concise Reference History from 1760 to the Present'' (1970) [https://archive.org/details/harperencycloped00morr online]
* Pindyck, Robert S. "What we know and don't know about climate change, and implications for policy." ''Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy'' 2.1 (2021): 4–43. [https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c14502/c14502.pdf online]
* Pollard, Sidney, ed. ''Wealth and Poverty: an Economic History of the 20th Century'' (1990), 260 pp; global perspective [https://archive.org/details/wealthpovertyeco00poll online free]
* Stearns, Peter, ed. ''The Encyclopedia of World History'' (2001)
* {{cite encyclopedia | title=The Twentieth Century | author=UNESCO| encyclopedia=History of Humanity| volume=VII | pages = 600 | publisher=[[Routledge]]| date=February 28, 2008 | isbn = 978-0-415-09311-8| author-link=UNESCO |ref=none}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120226212146/http://www.20th-century.net/ The 20th Century Research Project] (archived 26 February 2012)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120206080625/http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Old.html Slouching Towards Utopia: The Economic History of the Twentieth Century] (archived 6 February 2012)
* [http://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature ''Discovering Literature: 20th century''] at the British Library

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