Events of the 20th century in history. Brief chronology of events of the 20th century. Using the combination “XX century” in titles

Culture, science, technology and medicine.

The main economic result of the century was the transition to mass machine production of goods from natural and synthetic materials, the creation of conveyor production lines and automatic factories. At the same time, a scientific and technological revolution took place, which transferred the economy of the whole world to the post-industrial stage of capitalism and went through three main phases:

the first (transport and communication) phase of the scientific and technological revolution (motor transport, aviation, radio, television), the creation of a weapons industry (machine guns, tanks, chemical weapons);
second (chemical) phase of the scientific and technological revolution: creation of the chemical and medical industry (fertilizers, synthetic materials and medicines, plastics, thermonuclear weapons).
the third (information-cybernetic) phase of the scientific and technological revolution: (space exploration, electronic computing), the creation of the entertainment industry (cinema and sports shows), the growth of the service sector.

The cyclical nature of world social production, which arose in the previous century, continued in the 20th century: global financial and economic crises (recessions, recessions) overtook industrialized countries in 1907, 1914, 1920-1921, 1929-1933 (Great Depression), 1937-1938 , 1948-1949, 1953-1954, 1957-1958, 1960-1961, 1969-1971, 1973-1975, 1979-1982, 1990-1991, 1997-1998, leading to an absolute drop in production, a reduction in capital investment, growth unemployment, an increase in the number of bankruptcies of companies, falling stock prices and other economic shocks.

In the political field, the world moved from the colonial agrarian empires of the 19th century to industrial republican states. The military-revolutionary era of the first half of the 20th century became a global political catastrophe - a period of revolutionary changes in the largest world powers and associated civil, interstate and inter-coalition wars of 1904-1949 (includes the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, the Iranian revolution 1905-1911, Young Turk Revolution 1908, Mexican Revolution 1910-1917, Xinhai Revolution and Chinese Civil War 1911-1949, Italo-Turkish War 1911-1912, Balkan Wars 1912-1913, inter-coalition World War I 1914-1 918, Great Russian revolution and civil war in Russia 1917-1923, revolutions in the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires 1918, interwar period in Europe 1918-1939, Spanish revolution and civil war in Spain 1931-1939, Japanese-Chinese 1931-1945 and inter-coalition Second world war 1939-1945). Rapid technological progress has allowed the means of war to be brought to unprecedented levels of destruction. The Second World War resulted in massive civilian deaths through aerial bombing and genocide of "non-Aryan" peoples. In 1945, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed with nuclear weapons. Wars claimed the lives of about 90 million people (the First World War - more than 20 million, civil wars and famine in China and Russia - more than 10 million, the Second World War - about 60 million). The main political events of the century were:

The collapse of the Ottoman, Chinese, Austro-Hungarian, Second German and Russian empires during the First World War.
Creation of the League of Nations, formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Third German, Japanese Empires; The Great Depression during the interwar period.
The death of the Third German and Japanese Empires and the creation of the United Nations during World War II as a means of preventing future world wars.
The Cold War between the two superpowers USA and USSR after World War II.
The emergence of divided nations in Germany, China, Korea and Vietnam and their struggle for reunification.
The re-establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine and the associated long-term Middle East conflict.
Creation of the socialist People's Republic of China.
The collapse of the British, French and Portuguese colonial empires and the end of colonialism, which led to the declaration of independence of many African and Asian countries.
European integration, which began in the 1950s and led to the European Union, which at the end of the century united 15 countries.
Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the USSR.

As a result of these events, almost all the great powers of the beginning of the century ceased to exist, only the United States acquired and retained its status as a superpower until the end of the century.

The economic and political upheavals of Europe in the first half of the century led to the emergence of totalitarian ideologies of several types: in Europe - fascism, in Russia - communism, and in Germany after the Great Depression in the 30s - Nazism. After the victory of the Soviet Union in World War II, communism became one of the main world ideologies, receiving state status in Eastern Europe, China, Cuba and some countries in Asia and Africa. The development of communist ideology led to an unprecedented increase in atheism and agnosticism in the world, as well as a decline in the authority of traditional religions. At the end of the century, after the fall of the main part of them, the political activity of Christian and Islamic fundamentalists, the Roman Pontiff and the Dalai Lama was resuscitated.

In the social field, during the 20th century, ideas about the equal rights of all people on Earth, regardless of their gender, height, age, nationality, race, language or religion, became widespread. The eight-hour working day has become the legal norm in most developed countries. With the advent of new birth control methods, women became more independent. After decades of struggle, all Western countries gave them the right to vote.

The mass social movements of the 20th century were:

communist organizations in Russia and China;
civil disobedience movement in India;
the civil rights movement in the United States;
the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa;

The 20th century brought into the consciousness of mankind such terms as world war, genocide, nuclear war. Thermonuclear missile weapons that emerged during the Cold War provided humanity with a means of complete self-destruction. The media, telecommunications and information technology (radio, television, paperback pocket books, personal computers and the Internet) have made knowledge more accessible to people. Cinema, literature, and popular music have become available anywhere in the world. At the same time, the media became a means of unbridled propaganda and a weapon in the fight against ideological opponents in the 20th century.

As a result of the United States achieving political and cultural hegemony, American culture spread throughout the world, carried by Hollywood films and Broadway musical productions. At the beginning of the century, blues and jazz became popular in the United States and maintained their dominance in music until the advent of rock and roll in the 1950s. In the second half of the century, rock became the leading direction in popular music - a conglomerate of various styles and trends (heavy metal, punk rock, pop music). Synthesizers and electronic instruments began to be widely used as musical instruments. After the First World War, the detective genre gained unprecedented popularity in literature, and after the Second World War, science fiction and fantasy. Visual culture has become dominant not only in cinema and television, but has penetrated literature in the form of comics. Animation has gained enormous importance in cinema, in particular in its computer versions. Expressionism, Dadaism, Cubism, abstractionism and surrealism developed in the visual arts. The architects of the 20th century, who began their activities in the modernist style, after numerous shocks and destructions of the world wars, as well as due to the development of the construction industry, which arose on the basis of the use of standard reinforced concrete products, were forced to abandon decoration and move on to simplifying forms. However, in the USA, in interwar Germany and the USSR, architecture and monumental art continued to develop. The popularity of sports increased significantly in the 20th century, turning into a mass spectacle thanks to the development of the international Olympic movement and the support of the governments of totalitarian states. Computer games and Internet surfing became a new and popular form of entertainment during the last quarter of the 20th century. By the end of the century, the American lifestyle dominated in most countries of the world: English, rock and roll, pop music, fast food, supermarkets. Increased public awareness has sparked widespread debate about the impact of the environment on humanity and global climate change, which began in the 1980s.

Huge changes in the 20th century occurred in science, which from the entertainment of loners turned into the main productive force of society. During the interwar period, Gödel's theorems on incompleteness were formulated and proven in mathematics, and the invention of the Turing machine made it possible to lay the foundations for the creation and application of computer technology. The very use of computer technology in the second half of the 20th century changed the nature of mathematical calculations, forcing mathematicians to abandon the methods of classical mathematical analysis and move to the methods of discrete applied mathematics. During the first half of the 20th century, new fields of physics were created: special relativity, general relativity and quantum mechanics, which radically changed the worldview of scientists, making them understand that the Universe is fantastically more complex than it was understood at the end of the 19th century. It was found that all known forces can be explained in terms of four fundamental forces, two of which - electromagnetism and the weak force - can theoretically be combined into the electroweak force, leaving only three fundamental forces. The discovery of nuclear reactions and nuclear fusion made it possible to solve astronomy questions about the source of solar energy. The Big Bang theory was proposed and the age of the Universe and Solar System, including the Earth, was determined. Spacecraft that reached the orbit of Neptune made it possible to study the Solar System more deeply and prove the absence of intelligent life on its planets and their satellites. In geology, isotope analysis has provided a powerful method for determining the age of ancient animals and plants, as well as historical objects. The theory of global tectonics revolutionized geology, proving the mobility of the earth's continents. Genetics has gained recognition in biology. In 1953, the structure of DNA was determined, and in 1996, the first experiment in cloning mammals was carried out. The selection of new plant varieties and the development of the mineral fertilizer industry have led to a significant increase in the yield of agricultural crops. In addition to agricultural fertilizers, thanks to the unprecedented development of chemistry, new materials have come into use: stainless steel, plastics, plastic film, Velcro and synthetic fabrics. Thousands of chemicals have been developed for industrial processing and home use.

The most significant inventions that came to life in the 20th century were the light bulb, the automobile and telephone, supertankers, airplanes, highways, radio, television, antibiotics, refrigerators and frozen foods, computers and microcomputers, and mobile phones. The improvement of the internal combustion engine made it possible to create the first airplane in 1903, and the creation of a conveyor assembly line made it possible to make mass production of cars profitable. Transport, based on horse-drawn vehicles for millennia, was replaced during the 20th century by trucks and buses, made possible by the large-scale exploitation of fossil fuels. With the development of jet aircraft engines in the mid-century, the possibility of commercially viable mass air transport was created. Humanity has conquered the air ocean and gained the opportunity to study outer space. Competition for space between the United States and the Soviet Union led to the first human spaceflights and the landing of a man on the Moon. Unmanned space probes have become a practical and relatively inexpensive form of reconnaissance and telecommunications. They visited Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, various asteroids and comets. The space telescope, launched in 1990, has greatly expanded our understanding of the universe. Aluminum fell sharply in price in the 20th century and became the second most common after iron. The invention of the transistor and integrated circuits revolutionized the world of computers, leading to the proliferation of personal computers and cell phones. In the 20th century, a large number of types of household appliances appeared and spread, which was facilitated by the growth of electricity production and the welfare of the population. Already in the first half of the century, washing machines, refrigerators, freezers, radios, electric ovens and vacuum cleaners became popular. In the middle of the 20th century, television receivers and audio recorders appeared, and at the end - video recorders, microwave ovens, personal computers, music and video players, cable and digital television arose. The spread of the Internet has made it possible to digitize music and video recordings.

Infectious diseases, including smallpox, Spanish flu and other influenza viral infections, plague, cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, malaria, and other particularly dangerous, well-known and little-known viral infections killed up to a billion people in the 20th century (see Pandemics), and at the end of the century, a new viral disease, AIDS, was discovered that originated in Africa. Nevertheless, at the end of the 20th century, infectious diseases for the first time in human history gave way to diseases of the cardiovascular system and malignant neoplasms as causes of death. Medical science and revolutionary scientific advances in agriculture led to an increase in the world population from one and a half to six billion people, although contraception helped reduce the rate of population growth in industrialized countries. In the 20th century, vaccines were developed against polio, which threatened a worldwide epidemic, influenza, diphtheria, whooping cough (convulsive cough), tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), chickenpox, and hepatitis. The successful application of epidemiology and vaccination led to the eradication of the smallpox virus from the human body. However, in low-income countries people still die predominantly from infectious diseases and less than a quarter of the population lives to age 70. At the beginning of the century, the use of X-rays became a powerful diagnostic tool for a wide range of diseases, from fractures to cancer. In 1960, the computer tomography method was invented. Ultrasound devices and magnetic resonance imaging have become important diagnostic tools. After the creation of blood banks, the method of blood transfusion received significant development, and after the invention of immunosuppressive drugs, doctors began to transplant organs and tissues. As a result, new fields of surgery emerged, including organ transplantation and heart surgery, for which pacemakers and artificial hearts were developed. The development of vitamin production has virtually eliminated scurvy and other vitamin deficiencies in industrialized societies. Antibiotics, created in the mid-20th century, sharply reduced mortality from bacterial diseases. Psychotropic drugs and antidepressants have been developed to treat neuropsychiatric diseases. Insulin synthesis contributed to a threefold increase in the average life expectancy of diabetics. Advances in medical technology and improvements in the well-being of many people increased the average life expectancy in the 20th century from 35 to 65 years. The world's population has increased almost 4 times.

February 8 - July 27 - Russo-Japanese War.
August 1 - November 11 - World War I.
Great Depression of the 1930s.
September 1 - September 2 - World War II.
The end of vast colonial empires.
Formation and decay

The chronology of Russian history in the 20th century includes a lot of sad and tragic incidents.
Thus, the coronation of the last emperor of the Russian Empire, Nicholas II, popularly nicknamed the “rag tsar,” begins with a catastrophic stampede on the Khodynka field, which led to numerous casualties. After coming to power in 1894, in 1904 he began a “small victorious” war with Japan, which was later shamefully lost by the Russian side. In 1914, Russia entered the First World War, which would later have a most catastrophic impact on the country.

Already in 1917, the October Revolution took place, during which the emperor renounced the throne, and in 1918, by order of the Bolsheviks, he was shot, along with the entire royal family.

The government of the country, erected during the revolution, under the leadership of Lenin, concludes the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty with the countries participating in the conflict, under difficult and even predatory conditions for the country, and thus the RSFSR emerges from the war.
Some parts of the country's population and even entire regions oppose the Bolshevik government. A civil war breaks out between supporters of the Soviet government and their opponents. This war completely destroyed the remnants of the country’s already weak economy after participation in WWII.
The country was virtually in ruins, widespread famine and an increase in crime prevailed. In these circumstances, Vladimir Lenin begins a program to restore the country's economy after the severe post-war decline - also known as the NEP (New Economic Policy). During this period, in 1922, the state of the USSR was formed, which initially included four republics.

In 1922, when Vladimir Lenin was no longer able to manage the affairs of the state due to illness, the state was headed by Joseph Stalin. He launches several large-scale government programs, such as industrialization and collectivization, with the goal of carrying out major economic transformations in the country in the shortest possible time, and transfers the country's economy to full government regulation.
Since 1934, Stalin has been carrying out massive internal party purges, the apogee of which was in 1937. The absolute majority of opposition figures to Stalin’s group were repressed, incl. revolutionary pro-communist leaders.

In 1941, the largest military conflict in the entire history of Russia in the twentieth century began - the Great Patriotic War, which lasted four years, ending with the victory of the USSR and the military surrender of Germany. The Soviet Union lost more than 27 million people.

Even though the Soviet Union suffered the most from World War II, it completely restored the country's economy in less than ten years.
The mid-twentieth century was the period of Nikita Khrushchev’s leadership of the USSR, as well as the time of another critical conflict, now with the United States. After the end of WW2, a major restructuring of world relations began, in which the USSR and the USA took the main part, which is known as the “Cold War”, and after the “Carribean crisis” the world was almost brought to the threshold of a nuclear disaster,
During the administration of the country by Mikhail Gorbachev, the period of perestroika began - the largest changes in all areas of foreign and domestic policy of the USSR.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, a new state was formed - the Russian Federation, of which Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin was elected president.
The 20th century for Russia ends with the Chechen wars, default, devaluation of the ruble, as well as the election of Vladimir Putin in 1999.

If you look at the world map of the early 20th century. and try to compare it with a modern map, it is not difficult to see that this century is not called a turning point for nothing. The outlines of continents and oceans, deserts and mountains seem to have remained the same (although geographers will say that they are also changing). But the political map has become completely different. Instead of some countries, others appeared on it. Not only the borders of many states changed, but also their political structure: monarchies turned into republics, colonies into independent states, etc.

World of Empires

What did the world look like on the map at the beginning of the 20th century? Part of Europe and America was occupied by national states, which we are accustomed to seeing on a modern map. Some of them arose several centuries ago, others much later (for example, unified states in Italy and Germany emerged in the second half of the 19th century). At the same time, empires were located over vast areas.

At the beginning of the 20th century. There were many empires and they were different. One group consisted of states that, over the course of centuries, annexed through conquest, alliances, and colonization territories inhabited by peoples of different ethnicity, religion, and traditions. Such multinational empires were Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

The other group can be called traditional empires. Such, for example, was the Great Heavenly Empire in China, which existed since the 17th century. under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, Empire of Japan. Trying to preserve their integrity and traditional structure, these states until the middle of the 19th century. adhered to a policy of self-isolation, “closed doors” for foreigners. But from the second half of the 19th century. Europeans began to penetrate these countries not only with their goods and capital, but also with social ideas, lifestyle, fashion, etc.

Another type of empire developed during the New Age. These were the colonial empires of European countries that “discovered” and subjugated vast territories of Africa, America, and Asia.

The largest colonial powers were first Portugal, Spain, Holland, and in the 19th century. - Great Britain, France, etc. The territories of the colonial possessions of these countries were many times larger than their own. Thus, it was rightly said about the possessions of the British crown that “the sun never sets on them.”

The last major targets of colonial conquest were Central Africa and Southeast Asia. In Africa in the 80-90s of the 19th century. There was a fierce struggle for territory between Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. If before this the colonies of European countries occupied 10.8% of the territory of Africa, then by 1900 - already 90.4%. By the end of the 19th century. The colonial division of the world between the leading European powers was practically completed.

The life of peoples and individuals in empires was determined not only by historical conditions and traditions, but to a large extent by their place in the imperial pyramid. At its peak, in the metropolises, the highest power and wealth of the empire were concentrated.

Metropolis (from the Greek words “mother” and “city”) is the designation of a state in relation to the colonies it founded or conquered.

The personification of this power in many European capitals (London, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin) were not only royal palaces, but also business centers with banks, offices of large industrial companies, and stock exchanges located in monumental multi-story buildings. A certain share of the capital accumulated here was allocated to those who formed part of the empire's management machine - officials, military and technical specialists, etc. At the foot of the imperial pyramids there were millions of peasants, urban and rural workers. Their wages were extremely low. So, in England at the beginning of the 20th century. The worker's income was almost 10 times less than that of the highest official of the state apparatus. It was especially difficult for the vast majority of the population of the colonies, who experienced double oppression - from their own rulers and the colonial authorities.

Scientific and technological progress. Successes and problems of industrialization

The end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century. - this is the time of the most important discoveries in science, which expanded ideas about nature and man, and changed the previously established scientific picture of the world. The discoveries in physics were especially significant; contemporaries called them a revolution, a revolution in science. Let's remember the most important of them. At the end of the 19th century. German physicist G. Hertz discovered electromagnetic waves, V. K. Roentgen - X-rays penetrating material objects (on the basis of this, an apparatus was created that made it possible to see the internal structure of objects and was called X-ray). The Dutchman G. A. Lorenz developed the electronic theory of the structure of matter. In 1896-1898. French scientists A. Becquerel, M. Sklodowska-Curie and P. Curie laid the foundation for the study of radioactivity. These studies refuted those established in the 18th century. canons of mechanistic physics, traditional ideas about energy, about the indivisibility of the atom.

At the beginning of the 20th century. English physicist E. Rutherford substantiated a new model of the structure of the atom and the theory of radioactivity. The German physicist M. Planck and the Dane N. Bohr developed a quantum theory that explained the nature of energy transfer in radiation. German physicist A. Einstein developed the theory of relativity. In it, in contrast to I. Newton’s law of universal gravitation, the mechanisms of mutual attraction of material objects were associated with changes in the properties of space and time. These discoveries meant a real revolution in physics. The atom, which was considered indivisible, “disintegrated.” This caused mixed assessments in the scientific world. Some believed that the discoveries indicated the inconsistency of the materialistic picture of the world, others saw in them new opportunities for scientific knowledge of nature and man.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie (1867-1934). Polish by origin, she received her higher education in Warsaw. Then she moved to Paris, where she and her husband Pierre Curie began researching radioactivity. In 1903 and 1911 she was awarded the Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry. She died from a blood disease caused by radioactive radiation.

Significant successes were achieved at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. and in other branches of science. In biology, based on Darwin's theory of evolution, the science of the structure and development of cells (cytology) and tissues (histology) was further developed. The study of problems of heredity - genetics - became a special scientific direction, in which the works of the German biologist A. Weissmann and the American scientist T. Morgan became most famous during this period. IP Pavlov's research in the field of human physiology, especially his theory of conditioned reflexes, received worldwide recognition. At the end of the 19th century. great strides have been made in bacteriology. One of its centers was the Pasteur Institute, founded in 1888 in Paris (funds for its establishment were collected through international subscription). Bacteriologists have developed drugs to prevent diseases and treat anthrax, cholera, tuberculosis, diphtheria and other previously incurable diseases.

Discoveries in various fields of natural science marked a new stage of scientific progress. It turned out to be especially important that they very quickly found practical application and were embodied in technical inventions and devices. Thus, radio waves were discovered in the late 80s of the 19th century, and already in 1895, the Russian scientist A. S. Popov demonstrated his first radio receiver, and the Italian G. Marconi patented in England “a method of transmitting electrical impulses without wires.” The following year, a joint-stock company was created to implement and operate Marconi's invention. He received significant funds for further work at the beginning of the 20th century. was able to carry out radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean. Following A. S. Popov, the German engineer H. Hülsmeier outlined approaches to radar.

In technology, special attention was paid to the invention and improvement of technical devices, in particular internal combustion engines. The names of G. Daimler, K. Benz, R. Diesel are widely known, immortalized in the names of the equipment they created, the use of which brought the production of cars and aircraft to a qualitatively new level. In the first decades of the 20th century. diesel locomotives and motor ships appeared. The developments of chemist scientists made it possible to begin the production of artificial materials: plastics, rubber, silk, etc.

The widespread introduction of scientific and technological advances contributed to the industrialization of an increasing number of European countries. Thus, the automotive industry began to develop in Italy. By 1914, there were 44 automobile manufacturing companies operating in the country, the largest of which was Fiat. In Germany, the Netherlands and a number of other countries, the electrical industry has developed. In Belgium, along with traditional coal mining and metallurgy, the production of railway express trains and carriages was launched.

Hundreds of thousands of kilometers of railways under construction, new steamship lines, bridges and tunnels became a kind of “blood vessels” of industrialization.

In 1900-1913. the length of railways in the world increased from 710 thousand km to 1014 thousand km, world coal production increased from 700 million tons to 1.2 billion tons, oil production - from 20 million to 52 million tons. In the USA by the beginning of the 20th century. There were four railroad lines connecting the eastern states with the Pacific coast. In Russia, in 1904, the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, 7 thousand km long, was completed. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. The largest tunnels in the Alps were built (for example, the famous Simplon tunnel stretched for 20 km), which made it possible to significantly shorten the distance from Western European capitals to Istanbul. In 1914, the construction of the Panama Canal (over 81 km long), connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, was completed.

If the 19th century was considered the century of coal and steel, then the 20th century. It is rightly called the age of electricity. At the beginning of this century, electricity began to be widely used in industry and transport. In large cities, trams replaced horse-drawn trains, and subway lines were switched to electric power (for example, in London).

In industry, simultaneously with the use of more advanced machines and technologies, new principles for organizing production were developed. American entrepreneur F. Taylor proposed dividing the factory production process into separate stages and operations. The specialization of a worker in only one operation made it possible to significantly increase labor productivity. These ideas were picked up and developed at H. Ford's automobile enterprises in the USA. Here production was based on standardization and automation of work. The most important technological innovation was the use of the “assembly line,” as Ford himself called it, or the assembly line (this first happened in 1913). The idea of “delivering work to the workers” and the organization of labor according to the Taylor method made it possible to significantly save the energy of workers, each of whom had to clearly, almost automatically, carry out the operation assigned to him. Thus, the assembly of a car engine, which was previously performed by one worker, was divided into 48 separate movements. All necessary parts and materials were delivered to the workplace. As a result, worker productivity increased by 3-4 times.

The introduction of the conveyor had, however, not only positive aspects. G. Ford himself noted: “... the result of following these basic rules is to reduce the demands placed on the worker’s thinking ability and reduce his movements to the minimum limit. If possible, he has to do the same thing with the same movement.”

And here’s what the workers themselves thought (from the story of a worker at the S. H. Ford automobile plant in Dedgenham):

“This is the most boring job in the world. It's the same thing over and over again. There is no change in it, it wears you out. It makes you extremely tired. It slows down your thoughts. There is no need to think here... You just do it and do it. You put up with it for the money. That's what they pay us for - to endure the tedium of this... Ford sees you more as a machine than as a person. They stand over you all the time. They expect you to work every minute of the day.”

The rapid industrial development of the countries of Europe and North America affected not only the working conditions of people, but also their habitat. There were no longer any forests left around the industrial cities, and the rivers were polluted. The air in large cities, especially in factory districts, was poisoned by the smoke of factory chimneys and machines. In London since the end of the 19th century. began to systematically check the composition of the air, identifying the content of carbon dioxide and other harmful substances in it. On weekends, townspeople rushed out of town to “get some fresh air.” It became increasingly clear that technological progress also had negative consequences.

Changes in people's conditions and lifestyles

Scientific and technical achievements were increasingly reflected in the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people - their occupations, living conditions, education, leisure, etc.

Increasing industrialization led to a significant influx of population into the cities. This has become a universal phenomenon, although the share of urban residents in the total population in individual countries in Europe and the world has varied significantly. For example, in 1901 it was 78% in England, 21.5% in Sweden, and 13% in Russia in 1897. Migration (movement) of people from one country to another in search of a means of subsistence has become widespread. This became possible to a large extent due to the development of railway and sea transport. The main flow of emigrants rushed from the countries of Eastern and Southern Europe to the New World - the USA and Latin America. So, in the USA in 1900-1915. 14.5 million people arrived. Emigrants from Great Britain and other European countries were also sent to British possessions - Australia, Canada, etc.

In any place, the first generation of settlers had to overcome great difficulties. They got the hardest work, the worst housing. The guiding star of these people was the hope of “breaking through” and providing a better life for themselves and their children. It was from such aspirations in the United States, where especially many immigrants arrived, that the concept of the “American Dream” was born, and the image of a “country of unlimited opportunities” appeared in the world. In fact, many people have never been able to achieve their dream throughout their lives.

The work of people working in industry and transport, as more advanced, productive machines appeared, became not as hard as before. The use of machinery in agriculture has expanded. The amount of manual labor began to decline. But at the same time, the worker found himself increasingly tied to the machine; it often set the pace of his work. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. At industrial enterprises in Western European countries, a 10-hour working day with a shortened working Saturday prevailed. In the first decades of the 20th century. One of the main demands of the workers was the establishment of an 8-hour working day.

The 20th century brought noticeable changes to the appearance of cities and the living conditions of their inhabitants. In capitals and large cities, cars, subways, and trams became the usual mode of transport. Kerosene and gas lamps in houses and on the streets were replaced by electric ones. Elevators and telephones appeared in rich houses and institutions. City water supply was improved. The use of antiseptics and vaccines helped in the fight against epidemics that were once the scourge of large cities. The flow of so-called colonial goods grew. Tea, coffee and other products previously available to few were now included in the daily diet.

Leisure opportunities expanded in cities. Invented in 1895, cinema attracted an increasing number of viewers. In the first decade of the 20th century. films appeared in the genres of science fiction and western (as films about adventures in the Wild West were called). “The Great Mute” aroused interest not only because of its moving pictures, but also because of what it talked about. For men, the center of attraction was various kinds of sports competitions, among which football matches became increasingly popular.

Rapid industrial development placed increased demands on the education system. In industry, transport, and agriculture, specialists were needed who were able to operate new equipment. By the beginning of the 20th century. In most European countries, universal primary education was replaced by incomplete secondary education (six-year, and in some countries - eight-year). It was mandatory. In Austria-Hungary, for example, fines were provided for parents whose children did not attend school without good reason. Vocational educational institutions developed especially quickly - technical and commercial schools, agricultural schools, in which students who graduated from junior high school could acquire one or another profession. True, the possibility of further higher education in this case was most often not provided for; such schools were called dead-end. Still, they played a big role in training mid-level specialists for various sectors of the economy. Much attention began to be paid to teacher training. In some countries, in addition to the previous two-year teacher courses, pedagogical schools with a four-year duration of study have appeared.

Dynamic industrial development and the growth of profits from the exploitation of colonies contributed to the increase in the number of technical specialists, office workers, as well as representatives of the so-called liberal professions - lawyers, doctors and other specialists who received a certain share of the income of large enterprises. Together with small owners, traders, and artisans, they constituted the lower layer of the middle class. In the working environment, highly qualified workers were identified as a special group, who were called the labor aristocracy. However, even with the growth of the middle class in developed industrial countries, a huge gap remained between the top of society and its bottom.

Material benefits were distributed extremely unevenly among people. Some traveled in expensive cars on pleasure trips, while others saved every cent (penny, centime, etc.) and considered a luxury to travel in the “subway” (as the metro was called).

One of the acute problems of that time was civil and professional discrimination (restriction of rights) of women. Traditionally, the lot of a working woman was the exhausting work of a servant, or, at best, a saleswoman. In the 20th century Women's labor began to be increasingly used in industry, but they were entrusted with low-skilled work, and even for pay half that of men. True, opportunities for women to work in the service sector, in offices, in education and health care expanded. However, as professions began to be “feminized” (that is, mastered by women), wages decreased. All this led to the rise of what arose back in the 19th century. feminist movement, whose participants advocated for the equality of women with men in all spheres of life.

References:
Aleksashkina L.N. / General history. XX - early XXI centuries.

The history of Russia contains many interesting events. The 20th century is a new era in the annals of our state. Just as it began with an unstable situation in the country, that is how it ended. Over these hundred years, the people have seen great victories, and great defeats, and miscalculations of the country's leadership, and tyrants in power and, conversely, ordinary leaders.

Russian history. 20th century. Start

How did the new era begin? It would seem that Nicholas II is in power, everything seems to be fine, but the people are rebelling. What is he missing? Of course, factory legislation and solving the land issue. These problems will become the main reasons for the first revolution, which will begin with the execution at the Winter Palace. A workers' demonstration with peaceful goals was sent to the Tsar, but a completely different reception awaited it. The First Russian Revolution ended in violation of the October Manifesto, and the country once again plunged into confusion. The second revolution led to the overthrow of the one-man reign - the monarchy. The third - to the establishment of Bolshevik politics in the country. The country turns into the USSR and the communists come to power: under them the state flourishes, overtakes the West in economic indicators, and becomes a powerful industrial and military center. But suddenly there is a war...

Russian history. 20th century. Trial by war

There were many wars in the 20th century: the war with Japan, when the tsarist government showed its insolvency to the fullest, and the First World War, when the successes of Russian soldiers were extremely underestimated; this is the internal civil war, when the country plunged into terror, and the Great Second World War, where the Soviet people showed patriotism and courage; this includes the Afghan war, where young guys died, and the lightning-fast Chechen war, where the brutality of the militants knew no bounds. The history of Russia in the 20th century was filled with events, but the main one still remains the Second World War. Do not forget about the Battle of Moscow, when the enemy was at the gates of the capital; about the Battle of Stalingrad, when Soviet soldiers turned the tide of the war; about the Kursk Bulge, where Soviet technology surpassed the powerful “German machine” - all these are glorious pages of our military history.

Russian history. 20th century. Second half and collapse of the USSR

After Stalin's death, a fierce struggle for power begins, in which the extraordinary N. Khrushchev wins. Under him, we were the first to fly into space, create the hydrogen bomb and almost lead the whole world to nuclear war. Many crises, his first visit to the United States, the development of virgin lands and corn - all this personifies his activities. Afterwards there was L. Brezhnev, who also came after the conspiracy. His time is called the “era of stagnation”; the leader was very indecisive. Those who replaced him, Yu. Andropov, and then K. Chernenko, were little remembered by the world, but M. Gorbachev remained in the memory of everyone. It was he who “destroyed” a powerful and strong state. The instability of the situation at the turn of the century played a role: as it all began, so it ended. The default, the dashing 90s, the crisis and deficits, the August putsch - all this is the history of Russia. The twentieth century is a difficult period in the formation of our country. From political instability, from arbitrariness of power, we came to a strong state with a strong people.

1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Chronological table

It is a common misconception that the 20th century began on January 1 1900 year, and ended on December 31 1999 year.

Main events and concepts:

Collapse of Empires
October Revolution, creation of the USSR, building socialism and an attempt to build communism
The emergence of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes
Creation of revolutionary drugs: sulfonamides and penicillin, synthetic analgesics, mass vaccination
Holocaust, Stalinist repressions, "cultural revolution"
Creation of the UN
Beginning of the Atomic Age: nuclear weapons (atomic bomb), atomic energy, Chernobyl
Space breakthrough: spacewalk, flights to the Moon, Mars, Venus
Transport development: jet civil aviation, mass motorization
Massive use of birth control pills and antidepressants
Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Bloc
Development of information and communication technologies: telephone, radio, television, Internet

Main events

The 20th century brought a major shift in worldview as a result of changes in economics, politics, ideology, culture, science, technology and medicine.

the first (transport and communication) phase of the scientific and technological revolution (motor transport, aviation, radio, television), the creation of a weapons industry (machine guns, tanks, chemical weapons);
second (chemical) phase of the scientific and technological revolution: creation of the chemical and medical industry (fertilizers, synthetic materials and medicines, plastics, thermonuclear weapons).
the third (information-cybernetic) phase of the scientific and technological revolution: (space exploration, electronic computing), the creation of the entertainment industry (cinema and sports shows), the growth of the service sector.

The cyclical nature of world social production that arose in the previous century continued in the twentieth century: global financial and economic crises (recessions, recessions) overtook industrialized countries in 1907, 1914, 1920-1921, 1929-1933 (Great Depression), 1937-1938, 1948-1949, 1953-1954, 1957-1958, 1960-1961, 1969-1971, 1973-1975, 1979-1982, 1990-1991, 1997-1998, leading to an absolute drop in production, a reduction in capital investment, and an increase in unemployment , an increase in the number of bankruptcies of companies, falling stock prices and other economic shocks. At the same time, in the USSR, which emerged from the capitalist production system, a planned economy was created, which ensured crisis-free growth of economic indicators for seventy years.

In the political field, the world moved from the colonial agrarian empires of the 19th century to industrial republican states. The military-revolutionary era of the first half of the twentieth century became a global political catastrophe - a period of revolutionary changes in the largest world powers and associated civil, interstate and inter-coalition wars of 1904-1949 (includes the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, the Iranian revolution 1905-1911, Young Turk Revolution 1908, Mexican Revolution 1910-1917, Xinhai Revolution and Chinese Civil War 1911-1949, Italo-Turkish War 1911-1912, Balkan Wars 1912-1913, inter-coalition World War I 1914-1 918, Great Russian revolution and civil war in Russia 1917-1923, revolutions in the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires 1918, interwar period in Europe 1918-1939, Spanish revolution and civil war in Spain 1931-1939, Japanese-Chinese 1931-1945 and inter-coalition Second world war 1939-1945). Rapid technological progress has allowed the means of war to be brought to unprecedented levels of destruction. The Second World War resulted in massive civilian deaths through aerial bombing and genocide of "non-Aryan" peoples. In 1945, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed with nuclear weapons. Wars claimed the lives of about 90 million people (the First World War - more than 20 million, civil wars and famine in China and Russia - more than 10 million, the Second World War - about 60 million). The main political events of the century were:

The collapse of the Ottoman, Chinese, Austro-Hungarian, Second German and Russian empires during the First World War.
Creation of the League of Nations, formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Third German, Japanese Empires; The Great Depression during the interwar period.
The death of the Third German and Japanese Empires and the creation of the United Nations during World War II as a means of preventing future world wars.
The Cold War between the two superpowers USA and USSR after World War II.
The emergence of divided nations in Germany, China, Korea and Vietnam and their struggle for reunification.
The re-establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine and the associated long-term Middle East conflict.
Creation of the socialist People's Republic of China.
The collapse of the British, French and Portuguese colonial empires and the end of colonialism, which led to the declaration of independence of many African and Asian countries.
European integration, which began in the 1950s and led to the European Union, which at the end of the century united 15 countries.
Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the USSR.

The economic and political upheavals of Europe in the first half of the century led to the emergence of totalitarian ideologies of several types: in Europe - fascism, in Russia - communism, and in Germany after the Great Depression in the 30s - Nazism. After the victory of the Soviet Union in World War II, communism became one of the main world ideologies, receiving state status in Eastern Europe, China, Cuba and some countries in Asia and Africa. The development of communist ideology led to an unprecedented increase in atheism and agnosticism in the world, as well as a decline in the authority of traditional religions. At the end of the century it revived the political activity of Christian and Islamic fundamentalists, the Roman Pontiff and the Dalai Lama.

In the social field, during the twentieth century, ideas about the equal rights of all people on earth, regardless of their gender, height, age, nationality, race, language or religion, became widespread. The eight-hour working day has become the legal norm in most developed countries. With the advent of new birth control methods, women became more independent. After decades of struggle, all Western countries gave them the right to vote.

The mass social movements of the twentieth century were:

communist organizations in Russia and China;
civil disobedience movement in India;
the civil rights movement in the United States;
the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa;

The twentieth century brought into the consciousness of mankind such terms as world war, genocide, nuclear war. Thermonuclear missile weapons that emerged during the Cold War provided humanity with a means of complete self-destruction. The media, telecommunications and information technology (radio, television, paperback pocket books, personal computers and the Internet) have made knowledge more accessible to people. Cinema, literature, and popular music have become available anywhere in the world. At the same time, the media became in the twentieth century a means of unbridled propaganda and a weapon in the fight against an ideological enemy.

As a result of the United States achieving political and cultural hegemony, American culture spread throughout the world, carried by Hollywood films and Broadway musical productions. At the beginning of the century, blues and jazz became popular in the United States and maintained their dominance in music until the advent of rock and roll in the 1950s. In the second half of the century, rock became the leading direction in popular music - a conglomerate of various styles and trends (heavy metal, punk rock, pop music). Synthesizers and electronic instruments began to be widely used as musical instruments. After the First World War, the detective genre gained unprecedented popularity in literature, and after the Second World War, science fiction and fantasy. Visual culture has become dominant not only in cinema and television, but has penetrated literature in the form of comics. Animation has gained enormous importance in cinema, in particular in its computer versions. Expressionism, Dadaism, Cubism, abstractionism and surrealism developed in the visual arts. The architects of the twentieth century, who began their activities in the modernist style, after numerous shocks and destructions of the world wars, as well as due to the development of the construction industry, which arose on the basis of the use of standard reinforced concrete products, were forced to abandon decoration and move on to simplifying forms. However, in the USA, in interwar Germany and the USSR, architecture and monumental art continued to develop. The popularity of sports increased significantly in the 20th century, turning into a mass spectacle thanks to the development of the international Olympic movement and the support of the governments of totalitarian states. Computer games and Internet surfing became a new and popular form of entertainment during the last quarter of the twentieth century. By the end of the century, the American lifestyle dominated everywhere: English, rock and roll, pop music, fast food, supermarkets. Increased public awareness has sparked widespread debate about the impact of the environment on humanity and global climate change, which began in the 1980s.

Huge changes in the twentieth century occurred in science, which from the entertainment of loners turned into the main productive force of society. During the interwar period, Gödel's theorems on incompleteness were formulated and proven in mathematics, and the invention of the Turing machine made it possible to lay the foundations for the creation and application of computer technology. The very use of computer technology in the second half of the twentieth century changed the nature of mathematical calculations, forcing mathematicians to abandon the methods of classical mathematical analysis and move on to the methods of discrete applied mathematics. During the first half of the 20th century, new fields of physics were created: special relativity, general relativity and quantum mechanics, which radically changed the worldview of scientists, making them understand that the Universe is fantastically more complex than it was believed at the end of the 19th century. It was found that all known forces can be explained in terms of four fundamental forces, two of which - electromagnetism and the weak force - can theoretically be combined into the electroweak force, leaving only three fundamental forces. The discovery of nuclear reactions and nuclear fusion made it possible to solve astronomy questions about the source of solar energy. The Big Bang theory was proposed and the age of the Universe and Solar System, including the Earth, was determined. Spacecraft that reached the orbit of Neptune made it possible to study the Solar System more deeply and prove the absence of intelligent life on its planets and their satellites. In geology, isotope analysis has provided a powerful method for determining the age of ancient animals and plants, as well as historical objects. The theory of global tectonics revolutionized geology, proving the mobility of the earth's continents. Genetics has gained recognition in biology. In 1953, the structure of DNA was determined, and in 1996, the first attempt at cloning mammals was carried out. The selection of new plant varieties and the development of the mineral fertilizer industry have led to a significant increase in the yield of agricultural crops. In addition to agricultural fertilizers, thanks to the unprecedented development of chemistry, new materials have come into use: stainless steel, plastics, plastic film, Velcro and synthetic fabrics. Thousands of chemicals have been developed for industrial processing and home use.

The most significant inventions that came to life in the twentieth century were the light bulb, the automobile and telephone, supertankers, airplanes, highways, radio, television, antibiotics, refrigerators and frozen foods, computers and microcomputers, the Internet and mobile phones. The improvement of the internal combustion engine made it possible to create the first airplane in 1903, and the creation of an assembly line made it possible to make mass production of cars profitable. Transport, based on horse-drawn vehicles for thousands of years, was replaced during the 20th century by trucks and buses, made possible by the large-scale exploitation of fossil fuels. With the development of jet aircraft engines in the mid-century, the possibility of commercially viable mass air transport was created. Humanity has conquered the air ocean and gained the opportunity to study outer space. Competition for space between the United States and the Soviet Union led to the first human spaceflights and the landing of a man on the Moon. Unmanned space probes have become a practical and relatively inexpensive form of reconnaissance and telecommunications. They visited Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, various asteroids and comets. The space telescope, launched in 1990, has greatly expanded our understanding of the universe. Aluminum fell sharply in price in the 20th century and became the second most common after iron. The invention of the transistor and integrated circuits revolutionized the world of computers, leading to the proliferation of personal computers and cell phones. In the twentieth century, a large number of types of household appliances appeared and spread, which was facilitated by the growth of electricity production and the welfare of the population. Already in the first half of the century, washing machines, refrigerators, freezers, radios, electric ovens and vacuum cleaners became popular. In the middle of the twentieth century, television receivers and audio recorders appeared, and at the end - video recorders, microwave ovens, personal computers, music and video players, cable and digital television arose. The spread of the Internet has made it possible to digitize music and video recordings.

Infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and influenza virus epidemics, killed millions of people during the 20th century, and at the end of the century, a new viral disease, AIDS, was discovered that originated in Africa. Nevertheless, in the twentieth century, infectious diseases for the first time in human history gave way to cardiovascular diseases and malignant neoplasms as causes of death. Medical science and revolutionary scientific advances in agriculture led to an increase in the world population from one and a half to six billion people, although contraception helped reduce the rate of population growth in industrialized countries. In the twentieth century, vaccines were developed against polio, which threatened a worldwide epidemic, influenza, diphtheria, whooping cough (convulsive cough), tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), chickenpox, and hepatitis. The successful application of epidemiology and vaccination led to the eradication of the smallpox virus from the human body. However, in low-income countries people still die predominantly from infectious diseases and less than a quarter of the population lives to age 70. At the beginning of the century, the use of X-rays became a powerful diagnostic tool for a wide range of diseases, from fractures to cancer. In 1960, the computer tomography method was invented. Ultrasound devices and magnetic resonance imaging have become important diagnostic tools. After the creation of blood banks, the method of blood transfusion received significant development, and after the invention of immunosuppressive drugs, doctors began to transplant organs and tissues. As a result, new fields of surgery emerged, including organ transplantation and heart surgery, for which pacemakers and artificial hearts were developed. The development of vitamin production has virtually eliminated scurvy and other vitamin deficiencies in industrialized societies. Antibiotics, created in the mid-20th century, sharply reduced mortality from bacterial diseases. Psychotropic drugs and antidepressants have been developed to treat neuropsychiatric diseases. Insulin synthesis contributed to a threefold increase in the average life expectancy of diabetics. Advances in medical technology and improvements in the well-being of many people increased the average life expectancy in the 20th century from 35 to 65 years.

Major inventions

Using the combination “XX century” in titles

In the Russian Empire, before the revolution, the weekly magazine “20th Century” was published.
Until 1995, the magazine “The XX Century and the World” was published in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation.
In the USA, one of the largest film studios is called 20th Century Fox.
The title of a popular Soviet action movie is Pirates of the 20th Century.
The Twentieth Century (film) is a film by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, released in 1976.

Twentieth century in art

The following works are worth mentioning here:

In the film “Warlock 2: Armageddon”, tied to a tree by an agent of the devil (who tries to invade the Earth once every thousand years), the main character, using a telekinetic effort, turned on the headlights of the cars, mockingly and furiously shouted to the devil, who was defeated by their light, crawling out of the ground: “ Welcome to the twentieth century!».
The action of Isaac Asimov's novel "The End of Eternity" - about time travel of people of the distant future - ends in the 20th century, where the main characters decided to stay forever.
The fifth and final part of the series of television feature films based on the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes is called “The 20th Century Begins”.

Results of the 20th century

This section of the article has not been written.