Twentieth Century History For Dummies

The 20th Century brought revolutionary changes to our
world and our lives: the human population of the world tripled,
space travel became reality, two world wars and a host of other
conflicts were fought, and huge advances in science, technology and
communication resulted in the globalised world we know today.

Enormous steps were made in wiping out widespread
discrimination, from the women's suffrage movement leading to
women's right to vote in western countries, to the civil
rights movement in the US challenging racial segregation. The
political landscape has provided lots of excitement, with
charismatic and scandalous presidents in the White House, the first
female prime minister in the UK, dictators working to various
manifestoes across the world, the Middle East conflict and the
changing balance of political and economic
"superpowers".

Technological advances have resulted in nigh on universal
adoption and dependence on automobiles, computers, mobiles and
other wireless technology. The exponential rate at which technology
is evolving is one of the variables that make the twentieth century
so fascinating.

All this and much, much more happened in a mere one hundred
years - where did we find the time to do so much?!
Twentieth Century History For Dummies tells all...

Auteur
Dr Sean Lang studied history at Oxford and is the author of the best-selling British History For Dummies and European History For Dummies. He is coeditor of Twentieth Century History Review, and regularly appears on radio and television talking about history.

Résumé
The 20th Century brought revolutionary changes to our world and our lives: the human population of the world tripled, space travel became reality, two world wars and a host of other conflicts were fought, and huge advances in science, technology and communication resulted in the globalised world we know today. Enormous steps were made in wiping out widespread discrimination, from the women's suffrage movement leading to women's right to vote in western countries, to the civil rights movement in the US challenging racial segregation. The political landscape has provided lots of excitement, with charismatic and scandalous presidents in the White House, the first female prime minister in the UK, dictators working to various manifestoes across the world, the Middle East conflict and the changing balance of political and economic superpowers.

Technological advances have resulted in nigh on universal adoption and dependence on automobiles, computers, mobiles and other wireless technology. The exponential rate at which technology is evolving is one of the variables that make the twentieth century so fascinating.

All this and much, much more happened in a mere one hundred years where did we find the time to do so much?! Twentieth Century History For Dummies tells all...

Contenu

Introduction 1

Part I: The Great War Years: 190019 9

Chapter 1: Overview of a Century 11

Chapter 2: Fin de Siècle Wrapping Up the Nineteenth Century 31

Chapter 3: The Great War: 191418 55

Part II: The Years of the Great Dictators: 191945 81

Chapter 4: The Red Flag Communism 83

Chapter 5: Men in Black (Shirts): The Right-Wing Dictators 101

Chapter 6: The Twenties: The Decade that Roared 115

Chapter 7: I'm the King of the World! Europe's Empires 133

Chapter 8: Depression and Aggression 147

Chapter 9: The War of the World 165

Part III: The Divided World: 194589 181

Chapter 10: You're Cold as Ice! The Cold War 183

Chapter 11: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me: The End of Empires 201

Chapter 12: Africa's Wind of Change 219

Chapter 13: Going Bananas: Latin America 237

Chapter 14: Asian Tigers 259

Chapter 15: Disneyland: Post-War America 279

Chapter 16: Red on Red: Russia and China 295

Part IV: To the Millennium 315

Chapter 17: Muddle in the Middle East 317

Chapter 18: Europe Rides Again 337

Chapter 19: New Order: Wrapping up the Twentieth Century 353

Chapter 20: And the Living Is Easy For Some 371

Part V: The Part of Tens 387

Chapter 21: Ten Iconic Images 389

Chapter 22: Ten Triumphs of Technology 393

Chapter 23: Ten Films That Made an Impact 399

Chapter 24: Ten International Bodies that Made a Difference 405

Chapter 25: Ten BAD Ideas 411

Index 415