1) The resolution of WWI and its effects on Europe. 2) The great worldwide depression of the 1930's. 3) The spread of Marx-inspired Communism around the world and its subsequent failure. 4) The rise of the United States of America as a world superpower and a champion of capitalism. 5) The tensions in the Middle East which woke with the creation of Israel, and the subsequent spread of Islamic fundamentalism.
Yes, you are right. Your phrase would probably be more encompassing and more accurate. A sixth main event could very well be the problems brought to Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia by the legacy of colonialism and its demise. (I'd include Latin America in there but we'd have to go back beyond 1900.
Yes, but I think if you look at the events which I brought up, the greatest changes or developments were part of the history of the 20th century. For example, you could argue that the rise of the US as a superpower began in the 19th century, but I still consider it primarily a 20th century event. Such would not be the case with the end of European colonialism in Latin America, which belongs in the 19th century, although the effects of it are still felt to this day.
Is that a serious question? The beggining, of course, and its not even close. I cannot begin to envision what the world would be like today if Europeans didn't colonize and change most of the world. But if we are looking at events from specific eras, and limiting ourselves to specific centuries, I'd say the end of colonialism, and the its leftover effect on the new emerging nations are still among the most significant events of their era.
Actually, those tensions "woke" before English or French rule, and are probably better captured in ASF's 1st item. Paris 1919 would probably be my #1 choice for its global implications, including the Middle East. Although the rule between the Wars was problematical, and the creation of Israel in 1948 may have worsened matters in the Middle East (if nothing else, by giving a tangible local target for Muslim anger, thereby creating a unifying factor among the various sects and tribes), the problems were already there in the early decades of the Century (Zionism, failure to be granted autonomy following the defeat of the Ottomans, and the rise in power of Wahhabism via ibn Saud). Surely the roots go back even further, but I would put the vast weight of the problem in the past 100 years.
For better or for worse, I try to think what I'd learn about the 20th Century if I was alive 500 years from now: 1. Moon landing 2. Massive rise in enfranchisement of women and minorities 3. Atomic bombs 4. DNA double helix 5. Invention of the television (and the consequent rise of electronics in entertainment)
Beings as we're asked for events not generalities, I tried to be severe with myself about it... 1. Invention of the transistor. 2. JFK's decision to go to the moon. 3. Russian revolution. 4. Treaty of Versailles 5. Chain reaction at Soldier Field In a hundred years I might choose the writing of the Charter of the League of Nations in place of #4, but right now the pendulum's swinging the other way... If I could point to one event as the foundation of Chaos Theory, I'd make it number 1 and bump everything else down...
This is a GREAT GREAT "What if?" question. I think the answer would be that the European continent would've collapsed, and the regions of Africa and America would have remained largely dependent on substistence agriculture and hunting. Almost surely none of the technological advances of the last 200 years would have occurred.
In no particular order and given the constraints of the thread starter (no WWII) -Ghandi-led march to protest the Salt Tax (establishing both techniques of civil disobedience and third world decolonization, beginings of end of British Empire, etc) -Dropping of the atomic bomb -Assassinantion of Franz Ferdinand -Discovery of Penicillin -Invention of transistor
Here is a completely unbiased list of events as yet unmentioned in this thread: 1918 - Margaret Sanger wins doctors the right to discuss birth control with patients 1920 - Women's suffrage 1963 - Betty Friedan publishes Feminine Mystique; Equal Pay Act 1964 - Civil Rights Act (including prohibition against gender discrimination) 1972 - Title IX 1973 - Roe V. Wade One should include at least one of those in any list of 5.
The only part of that I agree with is that much of the world would have remained resolutely stuck in a (if you excuse the term) "primitive" society. There's no reason at all to believe europe would have collapsed, unless perhaps through a massive war, nor to claim there'd have been almost no technological advances in the last 200 years. Just because something might have been invented in the united states doesn't mean that thing wouldn't have been invented if the united states didn't exist. It's a bit like saying that all computers would still be the size of a room and filled with valves if the Japanese hadn't pioneered microchip technology. It's almost certain somebody else would have invented it as research went in that direction.
I think someone mentioned the release of "the pill", which imo trumps all of these in terms of furthering equality of the sexes. That a woman could be sexually active and still determine whether she became pregnant or not: huge. But, yeah... the list had been a bit yang-biased until you posted these
I started a thread on this here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216507 The resources that the Europeans have gained from their colonies in the last 500 years have been absolutely essential to the continent's development.
Agreed, the premise of the thread was to look at singular events that shaped the World since 1900. I submit Roswell in that it opened the eyes of the World to possiblities of actual visits from Space, perhaps even help lead to a push in the space race which of course happened years later.
This actually happened in a squash court under the University of Chicago's old football stadium (which has since been torn down and replaced with a library), not quite two blocks from where I'm sitting now. As for my list, I'll devote it exclusively to politics: 1. June 28, 1914: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 2. March 19, 1920: The United States Senate refuses to ratify the entire Treaty of Versailles 3. December 10, 1921: The Indian National Congress gives executive authority to Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi 4. September 5, 1905: Japan wins the Russo-Japanese War 5. February 12, 1912: Warlord Yuan Shikai overthrows Aixin-Jueluo Puyi, last emperor of China
The reason I knew it or should have known it is because Mellencamp's band supposedly used the same court as a rehearsal room while learning the 50 greatest garage band songs once upon a time... or maybe it was the hundred greatest? It gets kinda like grey cottage cheese after awhile...