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...

The 20th Century brought revolutionary changes to ourworld and our lives: the human population of the world tripledspace travel became reality, two world wars and a host of otherconflicts were fought, and huge advances in science, technology andcommunication resulted in the globalised world we know today.Enormous steps were made in wiping out widespreaddiscrimination, from the women's suffrage movement leading towomen's right to vote in western countries, to the civilrights movement in the US challenging racial segregation. Thepolitical landscape has provided lots of excitement, withcharismatic and scandalous presidents in the White House, the firstfemale prime minister in the UK, dictators working to variousmanifestoes across the world, the Middle East conflict and thechanging balance of political and economic"superpowers".Technological advances have resulted in nigh on universaladoption and dependence on automobiles, computers, mobiles andother wireless technology. The exponential rate at which technologyis evolving is one of the variables that make the twentieth centuryso fascinating.All this and much, much more happened in a mere one hundredyears - where did we find the time to do so much?!Twentieth Century History For Dummies tells all...

Introduction 1Part I: The Great War Years: 1900-19 9Chapter 1: Overview of a Century 11Chapter 2: Fin de Siècle - Wrapping Up the Nineteenth Century 31Chapter 3: The Great War: 1914-18 55Part II: The Years of the Great Dictators: 1919-45 81Chapter 4: The Red Flag - Communism 83Chapter 5: Men in Black (Shirts): The Right-Wing Dictators 101Chapter 6: The Twenties: The Decade that Roared 115Chapter 7: I'm the King of the World! Europe's Empires 133Chapter 8: Depression and Aggression 147Chapter 9: The War of the World 165Part III: The Divided World: 1945-89 181Chapter 10: You're Cold as Ice! The Cold War 183Chapter 11: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me: The End of Empires 201Chapter 12: Africa's Wind of Change 219Chapter 13: Going Bananas: Latin America 237Chapter 14: Asian Tigers 259Chapter 15: Disneyland: Post-War America 279Chapter 16: Red on Red: Russia and China 295Part IV: To the Millennium 315Chapter 17: Muddle in the Middle East 317Chapter 18: Europe Rides Again 337Chapter 19: New Order: Wrapping up the Twentieth Century 353Chapter 20: And the Living Is Easy - For Some 371Part V: The Part of Tens 387Chapter 21: Ten Iconic Images 389Chapter 22: Ten Triumphs of Technology 393Chapter 23: Ten Films That Made an Impact 399Chapter 24: Ten International Bodies that Made a Difference 405Chapter 25: Ten BAD Ideas 411Index 415