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id="toc-Political_history-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-1945–1991" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#1945–1991"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.1</span> <span>1945–1991</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-1945–1991-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-1991–2001" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#1991–2001"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.2</span> <span>1991–2001</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-1991–2001-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-2001–present" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#2001–present"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.3</span> <span>2001–present</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-2001–present-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-War_on_Terror,_Afghanistan_War,_and_Iraq_War" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#War_on_Terror,_Afghanistan_War,_and_Iraq_War"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.3.1</span> <span>War on Terror, Afghanistan War, and Iraq War</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-War_on_Terror,_Afghanistan_War,_and_Iraq_War-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Arab_Spring_and_Syria" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Arab_Spring_and_Syria"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.3.2</span> <span>Arab Spring and Syria</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Arab_Spring_and_Syria-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Russia" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Russia"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.3.3</span> <span>Russia</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Russia-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Economic_history" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Economic_history"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Economic history</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Economic_history-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Social_history" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Social_history"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Social history</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Social_history-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Contemporary_science_and_technology" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Contemporary_science_and_technology"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Contemporary science and technology</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Contemporary_science_and_technology-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Contemporary science and technology subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Contemporary_science_and_technology-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Energy" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Energy"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.1</span> <span>Energy</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Energy-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Computing_and_the_Internet" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Computing_and_the_Internet"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2</span> <span>Computing and the Internet</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Computing_and_the_Internet-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Space_exploration" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Space_exploration"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.3</span> <span>Space exploration</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Space_exploration-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Challenges_and_problems" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Challenges_and_problems"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Challenges and problems</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Challenges_and_problems-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Challenges and problems subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Challenges_and_problems-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Climate_change" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Climate_change"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.1</span> <span>Climate change</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Climate_change-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Health_and_pandemics" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Health_and_pandemics"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.2</span> <span>Health and pandemics</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Health_and_pandemics-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-COVID-19_pandemic" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#COVID-19_pandemic"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5.2.1</span> <span>COVID-19 pandemic</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-COVID-19_pandemic-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Charts" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Charts"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Charts</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Charts-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Charts subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Charts-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Timeline" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Timeline"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.1</span> <span>Timeline</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Timeline-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Contemporary_world_map" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Contemporary_world_map"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.2</span> <span>Contemporary world map</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Contemporary_world_map-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Further_reading" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Further_reading"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>Further reading</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Further_reading-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">10</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" 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Available in 21 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-21" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">21 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%B1" title="التاريخ المعاصر – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="التاريخ المعاصر" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A3%CF%8D%CE%B3%CF%87%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B7_%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%B1" title="Σύγχρονη ιστορία – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Σύγχρονη ιστορία" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ελληνικά</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_de_la_era_contempor%C3%A1nea" title="Historia de la era contemporánea – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Historia de la era contemporánea" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%AE_%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%B1" title="تاریخ معاصر – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="تاریخ معاصر" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr badge-Q70894304 mw-list-item" title=""><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoire_contemporaine" title="Histoire contemporaine – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Histoire contemporaine" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%98%84%EB%8C%80%EC%82%AC" title="현대사 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="현대사" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hi mw-list-item"><a href="https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%A8" title="समकालीन – Hindi" lang="hi" hreflang="hi" data-title="समकालीन" data-language-autonym="हिन्दी" data-language-local-name="Hindi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>हिन्दी</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-is mw-list-item"><a href="https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samt%C3%ADmasaga" title="Samtímasaga – Icelandic" lang="is" hreflang="is" data-title="Samtímasaga" data-language-autonym="Íslenska" data-language-local-name="Icelandic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Íslenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kn mw-list-item"><a href="https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%AE%E0%B2%95%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%B2%E0%B3%80%E0%B2%A8" title="ಸಮಕಾಲೀನ – Kannada" lang="kn" hreflang="kn" data-title="ಸಮಕಾಲೀನ" data-language-autonym="ಕನ್ನಡ" data-language-local-name="Kannada" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ಕನ್ನಡ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ms mw-list-item"><a href="https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejarah_sezaman" title="Sejarah sezaman – Malay" lang="ms" hreflang="ms" data-title="Sejarah sezaman" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Melayu" data-language-local-name="Malay" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Melayu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8F%BE%E4%BB%A3_(%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3%E5%8C%BA%E5%88%86)" title="現代 (時代区分) – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="現代 (時代区分)" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ps mw-list-item"><a href="https://ps.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%B1_%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%AE" title="معاصر تاریخ – Pashto" lang="ps" hreflang="ps" data-title="معاصر تاریخ" data-language-autonym="پښتو" data-language-local-name="Pashto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>پښتو</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nykyaika" title="Nykyaika – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Nykyaika" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samtidshistoria" title="Samtidshistoria – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Samtidshistoria" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ta mw-list-item"><a href="https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D" title="சமகாலம் – Tamil" lang="ta" hreflang="ta" data-title="சமகாலம்" data-language-autonym="தமிழ்" data-language-local-name="Tamil" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>தமிழ்</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-th mw-list-item"><a href="https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99" title="สมัยปัจจุบัน – Thai" lang="th" hreflang="th" data-title="สมัยปัจจุบัน" data-language-autonym="ไทย" data-language-local-name="Thai" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ไทย</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tg mw-list-item"><a href="https://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%B0%D1%8A%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B8_%D2%B7%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B4" title="Таърихи ҷадид – Tajik" lang="tg" hreflang="tg" data-title="Таърихи ҷадид" data-language-autonym="Тоҷикӣ" data-language-local-name="Tajik" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Тоҷикӣ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr badge-Q70893996 mw-list-item" title=""><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_tarih" title="Modern tarih – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Modern tarih" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%E1%BB%8Bch_s%E1%BB%AD_%C4%91%C6%B0%C6%A1ng_%C4%91%E1%BA%A1i" title="Lịch sử đương đại – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Lịch sử đương đại" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vls mw-list-item"><a href="https://vls.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigntydsn_tyd" title="Eigntydsn tyd – West Flemish" lang="vls" hreflang="vls" data-title="Eigntydsn tyd" data-language-autonym="West-Vlams" data-language-local-name="West Flemish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>West-Vlams</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BD%93%E4%BB%A3%E5%8F%B2" title="当代史 – Chinese" lang="zh" 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data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Era from 1945–present</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">"Contemporary" redirects here. 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href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks" style="width:20.0em;border-spacing:0;padding:0;"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle">Part of <a href="/wiki/Category:World_history" title="Category:World history">a series</a> on</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle"><a href="/wiki/Human_history" title="Human history">Human history</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-above"> <span style="font-size:120%">↑</span> <a href="/wiki/Prehistory" title="Prehistory">Prehistory</a> (<a href="/wiki/Stone_Age" title="Stone Age">Stone Age</a>) <span class="nowrap">  </span>(<small><i><b><a href="/wiki/Pleistocene" title="Pleistocene">Pleistocene epoch</a></b></i></small>)</td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content plainlist"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Holocene" title="Holocene">Holocene</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Timelines_of_world_history" title="Timelines of world history">Timelines</a><br /><small><b><a href="/wiki/Neolithic_Revolution" title="Neolithic Revolution">Neolithic</a> – <a class="mw-selflink selflink">Contemporary</a></b></small><br /><small>(<a href="/wiki/10,000_BCE" class="mw-redirect" title="10,000 BCE">10,000 BCE</a> – <a href="/wiki/Portal:Current_events" title="Portal:Current events">Present</a>)</small></li></ul> </div> <hr /> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Discovery_of_human_antiquity" title="Discovery of human antiquity">Age of the human race</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Recorded_history" title="Recorded history">Recorded history</a> (<a href="/wiki/Common_Era" title="Common Era">Common Era</a>)</li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_writing" title="History of writing">Earliest records</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Protohistory" title="Protohistory">Protohistory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proto-writing" title="Proto-writing">Proto-writing</a></li></ul> </div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content plainlist"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Ancient_history" title="Ancient history">Ancient</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Chalcolithic" title="Chalcolithic">Copper Age</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bronze_Age" title="Bronze Age">Bronze Age</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Iron_Age" title="Iron Age">Iron Age</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Axial_Age" title="Axial Age">Axial Age</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Classical_antiquity" title="Classical antiquity">Classical antiquity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Late_antiquity" title="Late antiquity">Late antiquity</a></li></ul> </div> <hr /> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Africa#Antiquity" title="History of Africa">Africa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mesoamerica" title="Mesoamerica">North America</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Andean_civilizations" title="Andean civilizations">South America</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Oceania#Prehistory" title="History of Oceania">Oceania</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_East_Asia" title="History of East Asia">East Asia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_South_Asian_history" title="Outline of South Asian history">South Asia</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Southeast_Asia#Early_historical_era" title="History of Southeast Asia">Southeast Asia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Near_East" title="Ancient Near East">West Asia</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Classical_antiquity" title="Classical antiquity">Europe</a></li></ul> </div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content plainlist"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Post-classical_history" title="Post-classical history">Postclassical</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Middle_Ages" class="mw-redirect" title="Timeline of the Middle Ages">Timeline</a></li></ul> </div> <hr /> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Africa#500_to_1800" title="History of Africa">Africa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pre-Columbian_era" title="Pre-Columbian era">Americas</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Oceania" title="History of Oceania">Oceania</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_East_Asia" title="History of East Asia">East Asia</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Middle_kingdoms_of_India" title="Middle kingdoms of India">South Asia</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Southeast_Asia#Medieval_history" title="History of Southeast Asia">Southeast Asia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_the_Middle_East#Medieval_Near_East" title="History of the Middle East">West Asia</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Middle_Ages" title="Middle Ages">Europe</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Renaissance" title="Renaissance">Renaissance</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content plainlist"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Modern_era" title="Modern era">Modern</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks" style="background-color: transparent; color: var( --color-base ); border-collapse:collapse; border-spacing:0px; border:none; width:100%; margin:0px; font-size:100%; clear:none; float:none"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-bottom:0.4em;"> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Early_modern_period" title="Early modern period">Early modern</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Contemporary</a></li></ul> </div> <hr /> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Africa#Modern" title="History of Africa">Africa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_North_America#Modern" title="History of North America">North America</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_South_America#Modern" title="History of South America">South America</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Oceania#Modern_age" title="History of Oceania">Oceania</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_East_Asia#Modern" title="History of East Asia">East Asia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_South_Asian_history#Modern" title="Outline of South Asian history">South Asia</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Southeast_Asia#Modern" title="History of Southeast Asia">Southeast Asia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modern_Middle_East" class="mw-redirect" title="Modern Middle East">West Asia</a></li></ul> </div><div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Europe#From_revolution_to_imperialism_(1789–1914)" title="History of Europe">Europe</a></li></ul> </div> <hr /></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading" style="font-weight:normal;padding-bottom:0;"> See also</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-bottom:0;"> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Age_of_Discovery" title="Age of Discovery">Age of Discovery</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modernity" title="Modernity">Modernity</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Postmodernity" title="Postmodernity">Postmodernity</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Futures_studies" title="Futures studies">Futurology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_history_of_the_world" title="Political history of the world">Political history</a></li></ul> </div></td> </tr></tbody></table></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-below"> <span style="font-size:120%">↓</span> <a href="/wiki/Future" title="Future">Future</a> <span class="nowrap">  </span></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Human_history" title="Template:Human history"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Human_history" title="Template talk:Human history"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Human_history" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Human history"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p><b>Contemporary history</b>, in English-language <a href="/wiki/Historiography" title="Historiography">historiography</a>, is a subset of <a href="/wiki/Modern_history" class="mw-redirect" title="Modern history">modern history</a> that describes the <a href="/wiki/Historical_period" class="mw-redirect" title="Historical period">historical period</a> from about 1945 to the present.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related to, the rise of <a href="/wiki/Postmodernity" title="Postmodernity">postmodernity</a>. </p><p>Contemporary history is <a href="/wiki/Political_history" title="Political history">politically</a> dominated by the <a href="/wiki/Cold_War" title="Cold War">Cold War</a> (1947–1991) between the <a href="/wiki/Western_Bloc" title="Western Bloc">Western Bloc</a>, led by the United States, and the <a href="/wiki/Eastern_Bloc" title="Eastern Bloc">Eastern Bloc</a>, led by the <a href="/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a>. The confrontation spurred fears of a <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_warfare" title="Nuclear warfare">nuclear war</a>. An all-out "hot" war was avoided, but both sides intervened in the internal politics of smaller nations in their bid for global influence and via <a href="/wiki/Proxy_war" title="Proxy war">proxy wars</a>. The Cold War ultimately ended with the <a href="/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989" title="Revolutions of 1989">Revolutions of 1989</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Dissolution of the Soviet Union">dissolution of the Soviet Union</a> in 1991. The latter stages and aftermath of the Cold War enabled the <a href="/wiki/Democratization" title="Democratization">democratization</a> of much of Europe, Africa, and Latin America. <a href="/wiki/Decolonization" title="Decolonization">Decolonization</a> was another important trend in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa as new states gained independence from European <a href="/wiki/Colonial_empire" title="Colonial empire">colonial empires</a> during the period from 1945–1975. The Middle East also saw a <a href="/wiki/Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_conflict" title="Arab–Israeli conflict">conflict involving the new state of Israel</a>, the rise of <a href="/wiki/Petroleum_politics" title="Petroleum politics">petroleum politics</a>, the continuing prominence but later decline of <a href="/wiki/Arab_nationalism" title="Arab nationalism">Arab nationalism</a>, and the growth of <a href="/wiki/Islamism" title="Islamism">Islamism</a>. The first supranational organizations of government, such as the United Nations and European Union, emerged during the period after 1945. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s" title="Counterculture of the 1960s">Countercultures</a> rose and the <a href="/wiki/Sexual_revolution" title="Sexual revolution">sexual revolution</a> transformed <a href="/wiki/Social_history" title="Social history">social</a> relations in western countries between the 1960s and 1980s, as seen in the <a href="/wiki/Protests_of_1968" title="Protests of 1968">protests of 1968</a>. Living standards rose sharply across the <a href="/wiki/Developed_country" title="Developed country">developed world</a> because of the <a href="/wiki/Post%E2%80%93World_War_II_economic_expansion" title="Post–World War II economic expansion">post-war economic boom</a>. Japan and <a href="/wiki/West_Germany" title="West Germany">West Germany</a> both emerged as exceptionally strong economies. The <a href="/wiki/Culture_of_the_United_States" title="Culture of the United States">culture of the United States</a> spread widely, with American television and movies spreading across the world. Some Western countries began a slow process of <a href="/wiki/Deindustrialization" title="Deindustrialization">deindustrializing</a> in the 1970s; <a href="/wiki/Globalization" title="Globalization">globalization</a> led to the emergence of new financial and industrial centers in Asia. The <a href="/wiki/Japanese_economic_miracle" title="Japanese economic miracle">Japanese economic miracle</a> was later followed by the <a href="/wiki/Four_Asian_Tigers" title="Four Asian Tigers">Four Asian Tigers</a> of Hong Kong, Singapore, <a href="/wiki/South_Korea" title="South Korea">South Korea</a> and <a href="/wiki/Taiwan" title="Taiwan">Taiwan</a>. <a href="/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform" title="Chinese economic reform">China launched major economic reforms</a> from 1979 onward, becoming a major exporter of consumer goods around the world. </p><p><a href="/wiki/History_of_science" title="History of science">Science</a> made new advances after 1945, which included <a href="/wiki/History_of_spaceflight" title="History of spaceflight">spaceflight</a>, <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_technology" title="Nuclear technology">nuclear technology</a>, <a href="/wiki/Laser" title="Laser">lasers</a>, <a href="/wiki/Semiconductor" title="Semiconductor">semiconductors</a>, <a href="/wiki/Molecular_biology" title="Molecular biology">molecular biology</a>, <a href="/wiki/Genetics" title="Genetics">genetics</a>, <a href="/wiki/Particle_physics" title="Particle physics">particle physics</a>, and the <a href="/wiki/Standard_Model" title="Standard Model">Standard Model</a> of <a href="/wiki/History_of_quantum_field_theory" title="History of quantum field theory">quantum field theory</a>. The first commercial computers were created, followed by the Internet, beginning the <a href="/wiki/Information_Age" title="Information Age">Information Age</a>. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Political_history">Political history</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Political history"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="1945–1991"><span id="1945.E2.80.931991"></span>1945–1991</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: 1945–1991"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/Post-war" title="Post-war">Post-war</a> and <a href="/wiki/Cold_War" title="Cold War">Cold War</a></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Modernity" title="Modernity">Modernity</a>, <a href="/wiki/1940s" title="1940s">1940s</a>, <a href="/wiki/1950s" title="1950s">1950s</a>, <a href="/wiki/1960s" title="1960s">1960s</a>, <a href="/wiki/1970s" title="1970s">1970s</a>, and <a href="/wiki/1980s" title="1980s">1980s</a></div> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg/460px-Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg.png" decoding="async" width="460" height="288" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg/690px-Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg/920px-Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="812" data-file-height="509" /></a><figcaption>The division of Europe during the Cold War</figcaption></figure> <p>In 1945, the <a href="/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_II" title="Allies of World War II">Allies of World War II</a> had defeated all significant opposition to them. They established the United Nations to govern international relations and disputes. A looming question was how to handle the defeated Axis nations and the shattered nations that the Axis had conquered. Following the <a href="/wiki/Yalta_Conference" title="Yalta Conference">Yalta Conference</a>, territory was divided into zones for which Allied country would have responsibility and manage rebuilding. While these zones were theoretically temporary (such as the eventual fate of <a href="/wiki/Allied-occupied_Austria" title="Allied-occupied Austria">occupied Austria</a>, which was released to independence as a neutral country), growing tensions between the <a href="/wiki/Western_Bloc" title="Western Bloc">Western Bloc</a>, led by the United States, with the <a href="/wiki/Eastern_Bloc" title="Eastern Bloc">Eastern Bloc</a>, led by the <a href="/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a>, meant that many calcified into place. Countries in Soviet zones of Eastern Europe had communist regimes installed as <a href="/wiki/Satellite_state" title="Satellite state">satellite states</a>. The <a href="/wiki/Berlin_Blockade" title="Berlin Blockade">Berlin Blockade</a> of 1948 led to a Western Airlift to preserve <a href="/wiki/West_Berlin" title="West Berlin">West Berlin</a> and signified a cooling of East-West relations. Germany split into two countries in 1949, liberal-democratic <a href="/wiki/West_Germany" title="West Germany">West Germany</a> and communist <a href="/wiki/East_Germany" title="East Germany">East Germany</a>. The conflict as a whole would become known as the <a href="/wiki/Cold_War" title="Cold War">Cold War</a>. The Western Bloc formed <a href="/wiki/NATO" title="NATO">NATO</a> in 1949 while the Eastern Bloc formed the <a href="/wiki/Warsaw_Pact" title="Warsaw Pact">Warsaw Pact</a> in 1955. Direct combat between the new Great Powers was generally avoided, although <a href="/wiki/Proxy_war" title="Proxy war">proxy wars</a> fought in other countries by factions equipped by one side against the other side's faction occurred. An <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_arms_race" title="Nuclear arms race">arms race</a> to develop and build <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_weapon" title="Nuclear weapon">nuclear weapons</a> happened as policymakers wanted to ensure their side had more if it came to a war.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In East Asia, <a href="/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek" title="Chiang Kai-shek">Chiang Kai-shek</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912%E2%80%931949)" title="Republic of China (1912–1949)">Republic of China</a> was overthrown in the <a href="/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Revolution" title="Chinese Communist Revolution">Chinese Communist Revolution</a> from 1945–1949. <a href="/wiki/Retreat_of_the_government_of_Republic_of_China_to_Taiwan" class="mw-redirect" title="Retreat of the government of Republic of China to Taiwan">His government retreated to Taiwan</a>, but both the nationalist <a href="/wiki/Kuomintang" title="Kuomintang">KMT</a> government and the new communist mainland government under <a href="/wiki/Mao_Zedong" title="Mao Zedong">Mao Zedong</a> continued to claim authority over all of China. <a href="/wiki/Division_of_Korea" title="Division of Korea">Korea was divided</a> similarly to Germany, with the Soviet Union occupying the North and the United States occupying the South (future <a href="/wiki/North_Korea" title="North Korea">North Korea</a> and <a href="/wiki/South_Korea" title="South Korea">South Korea</a>). Unlike Germany, the conflict there turned hot, as the <a href="/wiki/Korean_War" title="Korean War">Korean War</a> erupted from 1950–1953. Korea was not reunified under either government, however, due to strong support from both the US and China for their favored side; it became a <a href="/wiki/Frozen_conflict" title="Frozen conflict">frozen conflict</a> instead. Japan was given a <a href="/wiki/Constitution_of_Japan" title="Constitution of Japan">new constitution foreswearing aggressive war</a> in 1947, and the <a href="/wiki/Occupation_of_Japan#Ending_the_occupation" title="Occupation of Japan">American occupation ended in 1952</a>, although a treaty of mutual aid with the US was soon signed. The US also granted the <a href="/wiki/Philippines" title="Philippines">Philippines</a> their independence in 1946 while keeping close relations. </p><p>The Middle East became a hotbed of instability. The new Jewish state of Israel declared its independence, recognized by both the United States and the Soviet Union, after which followed the <a href="/wiki/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War" title="1948 Arab–Israeli War">1948 Arab–Israeli War</a>. Egypt's weak and ineffective king <a href="/wiki/Farouk_of_Egypt" title="Farouk of Egypt">Farouk</a> was overthrown in the <a href="/wiki/1952_Egyptian_revolution" title="1952 Egyptian revolution">1952 Egyptian revolution</a>, and replaced by General <a href="/wiki/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser" title="Gamal Abdel Nasser">Nasser</a>; the <a href="/wiki/1953_Iran_coup" class="mw-redirect" title="1953 Iran coup">1953 Iran coup</a> saw the American-friendly shah <a href="/wiki/Mohammad_Reza_Pahlavi" title="Mohammad Reza Pahlavi">Mohammad Reza Pahlavi</a> remove the democratic constraints on his government and take power directly; and Iraq's <a href="/wiki/Faisal_II" title="Faisal II">Western-friendly monarchy</a> was <a href="/wiki/14_July_Revolution" title="14 July Revolution">overthrown in 1958</a>. Nasser's Egypt would go on to face the <a href="/wiki/Suez_Crisis" title="Suez Crisis">Suez Crisis</a> in 1956, briefly unify with Syria as the <a href="/wiki/United_Arab_Republic" title="United Arab Republic">United Arab Republic</a> (UAR) from 1958 to 1961, and expensively intervene in the <a href="/wiki/North_Yemen_civil_war" title="North Yemen civil war">North Yemen civil war</a> from 1962 to 1970. </p> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:British_Decolonisation_in_Africa.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/British_Decolonisation_in_Africa.png/370px-British_Decolonisation_in_Africa.png" decoding="async" width="370" height="370" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/British_Decolonisation_in_Africa.png/555px-British_Decolonisation_in_Africa.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/British_Decolonisation_in_Africa.png/740px-British_Decolonisation_in_Africa.png 2x" data-file-width="2000" data-file-height="2000" /></a><figcaption>Decolonization of the British Empire in Africa.</figcaption></figure> <p><a href="/wiki/Decolonization" title="Decolonization">Decolonization</a> was the most important development across Southeast Asia and Africa from 1946–1975, as the old British, French, Dutch, and Portuguese colonial empires were dismantled. Many new <a href="/wiki/State_(polity)" title="State (polity)">states</a> were given their independence, but soon found themselves having to choose between allying with the Western Bloc, Eastern Bloc, or attempting to stay neutral as a member of the <a href="/wiki/Non-Aligned_Movement" title="Non-Aligned Movement">Non-Aligned Movement</a>. <a href="/wiki/British_India" class="mw-redirect" title="British India">British India</a> was granted independence in 1947 without an outright war of independence being required. It was <a href="/wiki/Partition_of_India" title="Partition of India">partitioned</a> into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan (<a href="/wiki/West_Pakistan" title="West Pakistan">West Pakistan</a> and <a href="/wiki/East_Pakistan" title="East Pakistan">East Pakistan</a>, future <a href="/wiki/Pakistan" title="Pakistan">Pakistan</a> and <a href="/wiki/Bangladesh" title="Bangladesh">Bangladesh</a>); <a href="/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_wars_and_conflicts" title="Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts">Indo-Pakistani wars</a> were fought in 1947, 1965, and 1971. <a href="/wiki/Sukarno" title="Sukarno">Sukarno</a> took control of an independent <a href="/wiki/Indonesia" title="Indonesia">Indonesia</a> in 1950, as attempts to reinstate Dutch rule in 1945–1949 had largely failed, and took an independent-to-Eastern leaning stance. He would later be overthrown by <a href="/wiki/Suharto" title="Suharto">Suharto</a> in 1968, who took a pro-Western stance. The <a href="/wiki/Federation_of_Malaya" title="Federation of Malaya">Federation of Malaya</a> was granted independence in 1957, with the concurrent fighting of the <a href="/wiki/Malayan_Emergency" title="Malayan Emergency">Malayan Emergency</a> against communist forces from 1948–1960. The French unsuccessfully fought the <a href="/wiki/First_Indochina_War" title="First Indochina War">First Indochina War</a> in an attempt to hold on to <a href="/wiki/French_Indochina" title="French Indochina">French Indochina</a>; at the <a href="/wiki/1954_Geneva_Conference" title="1954 Geneva Conference">1954 Geneva Conference</a>, the new states of <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Cambodia_(1953%E2%80%931970)" title="Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–1970)">Cambodia</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kingdom_of_Laos" title="Kingdom of Laos">Laos</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Vietnam" class="mw-redirect" title="Democratic Republic of Vietnam">Democratic Republic of Vietnam</a>, and the eventual <a href="/wiki/Republic_of_Vietnam" class="mw-redirect" title="Republic of Vietnam">Republic of Vietnam</a> were created. The division of Indochina eventually led to the <a href="/wiki/Vietnam_War" title="Vietnam War">Vietnam War</a> in the 1960s and 70s (as well as the <a href="/wiki/Laotian_Civil_War" title="Laotian Civil War">Laotian Civil War</a> and <a href="/wiki/Cambodian_Civil_War" title="Cambodian Civil War">Cambodian Civil War</a>), which ended in communist North Vietnam took over <a href="/wiki/Sai_Gon" class="mw-redirect" title="Sai Gon">Sai Gon</a> in 1975.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In Africa, France fought the grinding <a href="/wiki/Algerian_War" title="Algerian War">Algerian War</a> from 1954–1962 that saw the end of <a href="/wiki/French_Algeria" title="French Algeria">French Algeria</a> and the rise of a new independent <a href="/wiki/Algeria" title="Algeria">Algeria</a>. The British and French both slowly released their vast holdings, leading to the creation of states such as <a href="/wiki/First_Nigerian_Republic" title="First Nigerian Republic">First Nigerian Republic</a> in 1963. Portugal, on the other hand, fiercely held onto their Empire, leading to the <a href="/wiki/Portuguese_Colonial_War" title="Portuguese Colonial War">Portuguese Colonial War</a> from 1961–1974 in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique until the <i><a href="/wiki/Estado_Novo_(Portugal)" title="Estado Novo (Portugal)">Estado Novo</a></i> government fell. Meanwhile, <a href="/wiki/Apartheid" title="Apartheid">apartheid-era</a> <a href="/wiki/South_Africa#Apartheid_era" title="South Africa">South Africa</a> remained fiercely anti-communist, but withdrew from the British Commonwealth in 1961, and supported various pro-colonial factions across Africa that had lost support from their "home" governments in Europe. Many of the newly independent African governments struggled with the balance between being too weak and overthrown by ambitious coup-plotters, and too strong and becoming dictatorships. </p><p>Latin America saw gradual economic growth but also instability in many countries, as the threat of coups and military regimes (<a href="/wiki/Military_junta" title="Military junta">juntas</a>) were a major threat. The most famous was the <a href="/wiki/Cuban_Revolution" title="Cuban Revolution">Cuban Revolution</a> that overthrew <a href="/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista" title="Fulgencio Batista">Fulgencio Batista</a>'s American-friendly government for <a href="/wiki/Fidel_Castro" title="Fidel Castro">Fidel Castro</a>'s Soviet-aligned government. This led to the <a href="/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis" title="Cuban Missile Crisis">Cuban Missile Crisis</a> in 1963, generally considered one of the incidents most dangerously close to turning the Cold War into a direct military conflict. The <a href="/wiki/1968_Peruvian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat" title="1968 Peruvian coup d'état">1968 Peruvian coup d'état</a> and also installed a Soviet-friendly government. Despite this, the region ultimately leaned toward the US in this period, with the <a href="/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency" title="Central Intelligence Agency">CIA</a> supporting American-friendly factions in the <a href="/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat" title="1954 Guatemalan coup d'état">1954 Guatemalan coup d'état</a>, the <a href="/wiki/1964_Brazilian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat" title="1964 Brazilian coup d'état">1964 Brazilian coup d'état</a>, the <a href="/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat" title="1973 Chilean coup d'état">1973 Chilean coup d'état</a>, and others. Nicaragua suffered the most, with the <a href="/wiki/Nicaraguan_Revolution" title="Nicaraguan Revolution">Nicaraguan Revolution</a> seeing major military aid from both great powers to their favored factions that extended a civil war in the country for decades. Mexico escaped this unrest, although functioned largely as a one-party state dominated by the <a href="/wiki/Institutional_Revolutionary_Party" title="Institutional Revolutionary Party">PRI</a>. <a href="/wiki/Argentina" title="Argentina">Argentina</a> had a succession of idiosyncratic governments that courted both the US and USSR, but generally mismanaged the economy. </p><p>The Middle East saw events that presaged later conflicts in the 70s and 80s. A few years after the end of the UAR's union between Egypt and Syria, Syria's government was overthrown in the <a href="/wiki/1966_Syrian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat" title="1966 Syrian coup d'état">1966 Syrian coup d'état</a> and replaced with the Neo-Baathist Party, eventually leading to the leadership of the <a href="/wiki/Al-Assad_family" title="Al-Assad family">Al-Assad family</a>. Israel and its neighbors fought the <a href="/wiki/Six-Day_War" title="Six-Day War">Six-Day War</a> in 1967 and the <a href="/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War" title="Yom Kippur War">Yom Kippur War</a> of 1973. Under <a href="/wiki/Anwar_Sadat" title="Anwar Sadat">Anwar Sadat</a> and later <a href="/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak" title="Hosni Mubarak">Hosni Mubarak</a>, Egypt switched from <a href="/wiki/Nasserism" title="Nasserism">Nasserism</a> to favoring the Western Bloc, and signed a peace treaty with Israel. Lebanon, once among the most prosperous countries in the region and a cultural center, collapsed into the decade-long <a href="/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War" title="Lebanese Civil War">Lebanese Civil War</a> from 1975–1990. Iran's unpopular pro-American government was overthrown in the 1979 <a href="/wiki/Iranian_Revolution" class="mw-redirect" title="Iranian Revolution">Iranian Revolution</a> and was replaced by a new Islamic Republic headed by <a href="/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini" title="Ruhollah Khomeini">Ruhollah Khomeini</a>. Iran and Baathist Iraq under <a href="/wiki/Saddam_Hussein" title="Saddam Hussein">Saddam Hussein</a> then fought each other in the <a href="/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War" title="Iran–Iraq War">Iran–Iraq War</a> from 1980–1988, which ended inconclusively. </p><p>In East Asia, China underwent the <a href="/wiki/Cultural_Revolution" title="Cultural Revolution">Cultural Revolution</a> from 1966 to 1976, a major internal struggle that saw an intense program of <a href="/wiki/Maoism" title="Maoism">Maoism</a> and persecution of perceived internal enemies. China's relations with the Soviets deteriorated in the 1960s and 70s, resulting in the <a href="/wiki/Sino-Soviet_split" title="Sino-Soviet split">Sino-Soviet split</a>, although the two were able to cooperate on some matters. "<a href="/wiki/Ping-pong_diplomacy" title="Ping-pong diplomacy">Ping-pong diplomacy</a>" led to a rapprochement between the US and China and <a href="/wiki/China%E2%80%93United_States_relations" title="China–United States relations">American recognition of the Chinese communist government</a> in the 1970s. China's pro-democracy movement was suppressed after the <a href="/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests_and_massacre" title="1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre">1989 Tiananmen Square protests</a>, and China's government survived the tensions that would roil the Soviet-aligned bloc during the 1980s. South Korea (in the <a href="/wiki/June_Democratic_Struggle" title="June Democratic Struggle">June Democratic Struggle</a>) and Taiwan (with the <a href="/wiki/Martial_law_in_Taiwan" title="Martial law in Taiwan">lifting of martial law</a>) would take major steps toward liberalization in 1987–1988, shifting from Western-aligned one-party states to more fully participatory democracies. </p><p>The 1980s saw a general retreat for the communist bloc. The <a href="/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War" title="Soviet–Afghan War">Soviet–Afghan War</a> (1979–1989) is often called the "Soviet Union's Vietnam War" in comparison to the American defeat, being an expensive and ultimately unsuccessful war and occupation. More importantly, the intervening decades had seen that Eastern Europe was unable to compete economically with Western Europe, which undermined the promise of communist abundance compared to capitalist poverty. The Western capitalist economies had proven wealthier and stronger, which made matching the Soviet defense budget to the American one strain limited resources. The <a href="/wiki/Pan-European_Picnic" title="Pan-European Picnic">Pan-European Picnic</a> in 1989 then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction with the subsequent <a href="/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall" title="Fall of the Berlin Wall">fall of the Berlin Wall</a>. The <a href="/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989" title="Revolutions of 1989">Revolutions of 1989</a> saw many countries of Eastern Europe throw off their communist governments, and the USSR declined to invade to re-establish them. <a href="/wiki/German_reunification" title="German reunification">East and West Germany were reunified</a>. <a href="/wiki/Client_state" title="Client state">Client state</a> status for many states ended, as there was no conflict left to fund. The <a href="/wiki/Malta_Summit" title="Malta Summit">Malta Summit</a> on 3 December 1989, the failure of the <a href="/wiki/1991_Soviet_coup_attempt" title="1991 Soviet coup attempt">August Coup</a> by Soviet hardliners, and the formal <a href="/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Dissolution of the Soviet Union">dissolution of the Soviet Union</a> on 26 December 1991 sealed the end of the Cold War.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="1991–2001"><span id="1991.E2.80.932001"></span>1991–2001</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: 1991–2001"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/1990s" title="1990s">1990s</a>, <a href="/wiki/Postmodernity" title="Postmodernity">Postmodernity</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Post%E2%80%93Cold_War_era" title="Post–Cold War era">Post–Cold War era</a></div> <p>The end of the Cold War left the United States the world's sole superpower. Communism seemed discredited; while China remained an officially communist state, <a href="/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform" title="Chinese economic reform">Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms</a> and <a href="/wiki/Socialism_with_Chinese_characteristics" title="Socialism with Chinese characteristics">socialism with Chinese characteristics</a> allowed for the growth of a capitalist private sector in China. In Russia, President <a href="/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin" title="Boris Yeltsin">Boris Yeltsin</a> pursued a policy of privatization, spinning off former government agencies into private corporations, attempting to handle budget problems inherited from the USSR. The end of Soviet foreign aid caused a variety of changes in countries previously part of the Eastern Bloc; many officially became democratic republics, though some were more accurately described as authoritarian or <a href="/wiki/Oligarchy" title="Oligarchy">oligarchic</a> republics and <a href="/wiki/One-party_state" title="One-party state">one-party states</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Many Western commentators treated the development optimistically; it was thought the world was steadily progressing toward free, liberal democracies. South Africa, no longer able to attract Western support by claiming to be anti-communist, <a href="/wiki/Negotiations_to_end_apartheid_in_South_Africa" title="Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa">ended apartheid</a> in the early 1990s, and many Eastern European countries switched to stable democracies. While some Americans had anticipated a "peace dividend" from budget cuts to the Defense Department, these cuts were not as large as some had hoped. The <a href="/wiki/European_Economic_Community" title="European Economic Community">European Economic Community</a> evolved into the European Union with the signing of the <a href="/wiki/Maastricht_Treaty" title="Maastricht Treaty">Maastricht Treaty</a> in 1993, which integrated Europe across borders to a new degree. International coalitions continued to have a role; the <a href="/wiki/Gulf_War" title="Gulf War">Gulf War</a> saw a large international coalition undo Baathist Iraq's annexation of Kuwait, but other "police" style actions were less successful. <a href="/wiki/Somalia" title="Somalia">Somalia</a> and <a href="/wiki/Afghanistan" title="Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> descended into long, bloody civil wars for almost the entirety of the decade (<a href="/wiki/Somali_Civil_War" title="Somali Civil War">Somali Civil War</a>, <a href="/wiki/Afghan_Civil_War_(1992%E2%80%931996)" title="Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)">Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)</a>, <a href="/wiki/Afghan_Civil_War_(1996%E2%80%932001)" title="Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)">Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)</a>). Russia fought a <a href="/wiki/First_Chechen_War" title="First Chechen War">brutal war in Chechnya</a> that failed to suppress the insurgency there from 1994–1996; war would resume during the <a href="/wiki/Second_Chechen_War" title="Second Chechen War">Second Chechen War</a> in 1999–2000 that saw a resumption of Russian control after Russia successfully convinced enough rebels to join their cause with promises of autonomy. The <a href="/wiki/Breakup_of_Yugoslavia" title="Breakup of Yugoslavia">breakup of Yugoslavia</a> also led to a series of <a href="/wiki/Yugoslav_Wars" title="Yugoslav Wars">Yugoslav Wars</a>; NATO eventually intervened in the <a href="/wiki/Kosovo_War" title="Kosovo War">Kosovo War</a>. In the Middle East, the <a href="/wiki/Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_peace_process" title="Israeli–Palestinian peace process">Israeli–Palestinian peace process</a> offered the prospect of a long-term peace deal to many; the <a href="/wiki/Oslo_Accords" title="Oslo Accords">Oslo Accords</a> signed in 1993 seemed to offer a <a href="/wiki/Road_map_for_peace" title="Road map for peace">"roadmap" to resolving the conflict</a>. Despite these high hopes, they would be largely dashed in 2000–2001 after a breakdown of negotiations and the <a href="/wiki/Second_Intifada" title="Second Intifada">Second Intifada</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="2001–present"><span id="2001.E2.80.93present"></span>2001–present</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: 2001–present"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/2000s" title="2000s">2000s</a>, <a href="/wiki/2010s" title="2010s">2010s</a>, <a href="/wiki/2020s" title="2020s">2020s</a>, and <a href="/wiki/21st_century" title="21st century">21st century</a></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="War_on_Terror,_Afghanistan_War,_and_Iraq_War"><span id="War_on_Terror.2C_Afghanistan_War.2C_and_Iraq_War"></span>War on Terror, Afghanistan War, and Iraq War</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: War on Terror, Afghanistan War, and Iraq War"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/Modern_terrorism" class="mw-redirect" title="Modern terrorism">Modern terrorism</a>, <a href="/wiki/War_on_Terror" class="mw-redirect" title="War on Terror">War on Terror</a>, <a href="/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021)" title="War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)">War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Iraq_War" title="Iraq War">Iraq War</a></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:WTC_smoking_on_9-11.jpeg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/WTC_smoking_on_9-11.jpeg/220px-WTC_smoking_on_9-11.jpeg" decoding="async" width="220" height="165" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/WTC_smoking_on_9-11.jpeg/330px-WTC_smoking_on_9-11.jpeg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/WTC_smoking_on_9-11.jpeg/440px-WTC_smoking_on_9-11.jpeg 2x" data-file-width="1600" data-file-height="1200" /></a><figcaption>The <a href="/wiki/World_Trade_Center_(1973%E2%80%932001)" title="World Trade Center (1973–2001)">World Trade Center</a> on fire in the September 11 attacks</figcaption></figure> <p>The <a href="/wiki/September_11_attacks" title="September 11 attacks">September 11 attacks</a> were a series of coordinated <a href="/wiki/Suicide_attack" title="Suicide attack">suicide attacks</a> by <a href="/wiki/Al-Qaeda" title="Al-Qaeda">al-Qaeda</a> upon the United States on 11 September 2001. On that morning, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists <a href="/wiki/Aircraft_hijacking" title="Aircraft hijacking">hijacked</a> four commercial passenger <a href="/wiki/Jet_airliner" title="Jet airliner">jet airliners</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-SecCounc_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-SecCounc-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-cbc-2004_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-cbc-2004-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the <a href="/wiki/World_Trade_Center_(1973%E2%80%932001)" title="World Trade Center (1973–2001)">World Trade Center</a> in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into <a href="/wiki/The_Pentagon" title="The Pentagon">the Pentagon</a> in <a href="/wiki/Arlington,_Virginia" class="mw-redirect" title="Arlington, Virginia">Arlington, Virginia</a>. The fourth plane crashed into a field near <a href="/wiki/Shanksville,_Pennsylvania" title="Shanksville, Pennsylvania">Shanksville</a> in rural <a href="/wiki/Somerset_County,_Pennsylvania" title="Somerset County, Pennsylvania">Somerset County, Pennsylvania</a>, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane. </p><p>In response, the United States under President <a href="/wiki/George_W._Bush" title="George W. Bush">George W. Bush</a> enacted the <a href="/wiki/Patriot_Act" title="Patriot Act">Patriot Act</a>. Many other countries also strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers. Major terrorist events after the September 11 attacks include the <a href="/wiki/2002_Bali_bombings" title="2002 Bali bombings">2002 Bali bombings</a>, the 2002 <a href="/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis" title="Moscow theater hostage crisis">Moscow theater hostage crisis</a>, the <a href="/wiki/2003_Istanbul_bombings" title="2003 Istanbul bombings">2003 Istanbul bombings</a>, the <a href="/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_bombings" title="2004 Madrid train bombings">2004 Madrid train bombings</a>, the 2004 <a href="/wiki/Beslan_school_siege" title="Beslan school siege">Beslan school siege</a>, the <a href="/wiki/2005_London_bombings" class="mw-redirect" title="2005 London bombings">2005 London bombings</a>, the <a href="/wiki/2005_Delhi_bombings" title="2005 Delhi bombings">2005 Delhi bombings</a>, and the <a href="/wiki/2008_Mumbai_attacks" title="2008 Mumbai attacks">2008 Mumbai attacks</a>, generally from <a href="/wiki/Islamic_terrorism" title="Islamic terrorism">Islamic terrorism</a>. </p> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:US_Army_Afghanistan_2006.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/US_Army_Afghanistan_2006.jpg/220px-US_Army_Afghanistan_2006.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="144" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/US_Army_Afghanistan_2006.jpg/330px-US_Army_Afghanistan_2006.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/US_Army_Afghanistan_2006.jpg/440px-US_Army_Afghanistan_2006.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2299" data-file-height="1500" /></a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/United_States_Army" title="United States Army">U.S. Army</a> troops in <a href="/wiki/Kunar_Province" title="Kunar Province">Kunar Province</a></figcaption></figure> <p>The United States responded to the 11 September 2001 attacks by launching a "Global War on Terrorism", invading the <a href="/wiki/Islamic_Emirate_of_Afghanistan_(1996%E2%80%932001)" title="Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)">Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan</a> to depose the <a href="/wiki/Taliban" title="Taliban">Taliban</a>, who had harbored al-Qaeda terrorists. The <a href="/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021)" title="War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)">War in Afghanistan</a> began in late 2001 and was launched by the UN-authorized <a href="/wiki/International_Security_Assistance_Force" title="International Security Assistance Force">ISAF</a>, with the United States and United Kingdom providing most of the troops. The <a href="/wiki/Foreign_policy_of_the_George_W._Bush_administration" title="Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration">Bush administration policy</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Bush_Doctrine" title="Bush Doctrine">Bush Doctrine</a> stated forces would not distinguish between terrorist organizations and nations or governments that harbor them. <a href="/wiki/Operation_Enduring_Freedom" title="Operation Enduring Freedom">Operation Enduring Freedom</a> (OEF) was the United States combat operation involving some coalition partners and operating primarily in the eastern and southern parts of the country along the <a href="/wiki/Pakistan" title="Pakistan">Pakistan</a> border; the ISAF established by the <a href="/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council" title="United Nations Security Council">United Nations Security Council</a> was in charge of securing the capital of <a href="/wiki/Kabul" title="Kabul">Kabul</a> and its surrounding areas. NATO assumed control of ISAF in 2003. </p><p>Despite initial coalition successes, the Taliban were never entirely defeated, and continued to hold territory in mountainous regions as well as threaten the new government, the <a href="/wiki/Islamic_Republic_of_Afghanistan" title="Islamic Republic of Afghanistan">Islamic Republic of Afghanistan</a>, whose grasp on power outside the major cities was shaky at best.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-unfailed_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-unfailed-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The war was also less successful in restricting al-Qaeda than anticipated.<sup id="cite_ref-rothstein_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-rothstein-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/Iraq_War" title="Iraq War">Iraq War</a> began in March 2003 with the <a href="/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq" title="2003 invasion of Iraq">invasion of Iraq</a> by a <a href="/wiki/Multi-National_Force_%E2%80%93_Iraq" title="Multi-National Force – Iraq">multinational force</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The invasion of Iraq led to an <a href="/wiki/Occupation_of_Iraq_(2003%E2%80%932011)" title="Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011)">occupation</a> and the eventual capture of <a href="/wiki/Saddam_Hussein" title="Saddam Hussein">Saddam Hussein</a>, who was later <a href="/wiki/Execution_of_Saddam_Hussein" title="Execution of Saddam Hussein">executed</a> by the Iraqi Government. Despite government assumptions that the war in Iraq would be over with the fall of Hussein, it continued and intensified. Sectarian groups both fought each other and the occupying coalition forces via <a href="/wiki/Asymmetric_warfare" title="Asymmetric warfare">asymmetric warfare</a> during the <a href="/wiki/Iraqi_insurgency_(2003%E2%80%932011)" title="Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)">Iraqi insurgency</a>, as Iraq was starkly divided between Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish groups that now competed with each other for power. <a href="/wiki/Al-Qaeda_in_Iraq" title="Al-Qaeda in Iraq">Al-Qaeda operations in Iraq</a> continued as well.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In late 2008, the U.S. and Iraqi governments approved a <a href="/wiki/U.S.%E2%80%93Iraq_Status_of_Forces_Agreement" title="U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement">Status of Forces Agreement</a> effective through to the end of 2011.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/Presidency_of_Barack_Obama" title="Presidency of Barack Obama">Obama administration</a> re-focused US involvement in the conflict on the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq and a surge of troops and government support in Afghanistan. In May 2011, the <a href="/wiki/Killing_of_Osama_bin_Laden" title="Killing of Osama bin Laden">bin Laden raid</a> occurred after bin Laden was tracked to <a href="/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden%27s_compound_in_Abbottabad" title="Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad">his compound in Abbottabad</a>, Pakistan.<sup id="cite_ref-NYT-clues_15-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-NYT-clues-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In 2011, the United States declared a <a href="/wiki/Withdrawal_of_United_States_troops_from_Iraq_(2007%E2%80%932011)" title="Withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq (2007–2011)">formal end to the Iraq War</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In February 2020, President <a href="/wiki/Donald_Trump" title="Donald Trump">Donald Trump</a> agreed with the Taliban to <a href="/wiki/2020%E2%80%932021_U.S._troop_withdrawal_from_Afghanistan" title="2020–2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan">withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan</a> over the next year. The <a href="/wiki/Presidency_of_Joe_Biden" title="Presidency of Joe Biden">Biden administration</a> delayed the withdrawal by a few months, but still largely kept to the deal; the coalition-supported Afghan government soon collapsed, and the Taliban took undisputed control of the country in August 2021 after the successful <a href="/wiki/2021_Taliban_offensive" title="2021 Taliban offensive">2021 Taliban offensive</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Arab_Spring_and_Syria">Arab Spring and Syria</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Arab Spring and Syria"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Arab_Spring" title="Arab Spring">Arab Spring</a> began in earnest in 2010 with anti-government protests in the <a href="/wiki/Muslim_world" title="Muslim world">Muslim world</a>, but quickly escalated to full-scale military conflicts in countries like <a href="/wiki/Syrian_civil_war" title="Syrian civil war">Syria</a>, <a href="/wiki/Libyan_Crisis_(2011%E2%80%93present)" class="mw-redirect" title="Libyan Crisis (2011–present)">Libya</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Yemeni_civil_war_(2014%E2%80%93present)" title="Yemeni civil war (2014–present)">Yemen</a> and also gave the opportunity for the emergence of various militant groups including the <a href="/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant" class="mw-redirect" title="Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant">Islamic State</a> (IS). The IS was able to take advantage of social media platforms including Twitter to recruit foreign fighters from around the world and seized significant portions of territory in <a href="/wiki/Iraq" title="Iraq">Iraq</a>, <a href="/wiki/Syria" title="Syria">Syria</a>, <a href="/wiki/Afghanistan" title="Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, and the <a href="/wiki/Sinai_Peninsula" title="Sinai Peninsula">Sinai Peninsula</a> of <a href="/wiki/Egypt" title="Egypt">Egypt</a> from 2013 and ongoing. On the other hand, some violent militant organizations were able to negotiate peace with governments including the <a href="/wiki/Moro_Islamic_Liberation_Front" title="Moro Islamic Liberation Front">Moro Islamic Liberation Front</a> in the <a href="/wiki/Philippines" title="Philippines">Philippines</a> in 2014. The presence of IS and the stalemate in the <a href="/wiki/Syrian_civil_war" title="Syrian civil war">Syrian civil war</a> created a <a href="/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_civil_war" title="Refugees of the Syrian civil war">migration of refugees to Europe</a> and also galvanized and encouraged high-profile terrorism attacks and armed conflicts around the world, such as the <a href="/wiki/November_2015_Paris_attacks" title="November 2015 Paris attacks">November 2015 Paris attacks</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Siege_of_Marawi" title="Siege of Marawi">Siege of Marawi</a> in the Philippines in 2017. In 2014, the United States decided to <a href="/wiki/US-led_intervention_in_Iraq_(2014%E2%80%932021)" title="US-led intervention in Iraq (2014–2021)">intervene</a> against the Islamic State in <a href="/wiki/Iraq" title="Iraq">Iraq</a>, with most IS fighters being driven out by the end of 2018. Russia and <a href="/wiki/Iran" title="Iran">Iran</a> also jointly launched a campaign against IS and in support of Syrian President <a href="/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad" title="Bashar al-Assad">Bashar al-Assad</a>. As of 2022, Assad has largely regained authority in the southern half of the country, while the northern reaches are controlled by a mixture of Arab Sunni rebels, Kurds, and Turkey. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Russia">Russia</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Russia"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Vladimir_Putin" title="Vladimir Putin">Vladimir Putin</a>, Yeltsin's successor, was very popular in Russia after his victory in the Second Chechen War. He portrayed himself as a corruption fighter initially, checking <a href="/wiki/Russian_oligarchs" title="Russian oligarchs">Russian oligarchs</a> who had acquired vast wealth during Russia's liberalization period. With a combination of genuine popularity and legal rollbacks, Russia gradually moved toward being a <a href="/wiki/One-party_state" title="One-party state">one-party state</a>, a democracy but one where Putin's party always won. Russia has since intervened in a variety of military conflicts in its neighboring countries including the 2008 <a href="/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War" title="Russo-Georgian War">Russo-Georgian War</a>; the 2014 <a href="/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War" title="Russo-Ukrainian War">Russo-Ukrainian War</a> and <a href="/wiki/Annexation_of_Crimea_by_the_Russian_Federation" title="Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation">Annexation of Crimea</a>; a 2015 <a href="/wiki/Russian_intervention_in_the_Syrian_civil_war" title="Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war">intervention in the Syrian Civil War</a>; and the expansion of the <a href="/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_War" title="Russo-Ukrainian War">Russo-Ukrainian War</a> to the full-fledged <a href="/wiki/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine" title="Russian invasion of Ukraine">Russian invasion of Ukraine</a> where Russia declared their intent to depose the Ukrainian government and install a compliant, Russia-friendly government. The Russian government has often cited the <a href="/wiki/Enlargement_of_NATO" title="Enlargement of NATO">enlargement of NATO</a> as a <a href="/wiki/Controversy_in_Russia_regarding_the_legitimacy_of_eastward_NATO_expansion" title="Controversy in Russia regarding the legitimacy of eastward NATO expansion">major complaint</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Economic_history">Economic history</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Economic history"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The end of World War II in 1945 saw an increase in <a href="/wiki/International_trade" title="International trade">international trade</a> and an interconnected system of treaties and agreements to ease its flow. In particular, the United States and the United States dollar took a pivotal role in the <a href="/wiki/World_economy" title="World economy">world economy</a>, displacing the UK. The era is sometimes called "<a href="/wiki/Pax_Americana" title="Pax Americana">Pax Americana</a>" for the relative liberal peace in the Western world, resulting from the preponderance of power enjoyed by the US, as a comparison to the <a href="/wiki/Pax_Romana" title="Pax Romana">Pax Romana</a> established at the height of the Roman Empire. New York's financial sector ("<a href="/wiki/Wall_Street" title="Wall Street">Wall Street</a>") was the center of the financial world from 1945–1970 in a dominant way unlikely to be seen again. Unlike the aftermath of World War I, the US strongly aided in the rebuilding of Europe, including aid to the defeated Axis nations, rather than punishment. The <a href="/wiki/Marshall_Plan" title="Marshall Plan">Marshall Plan</a> sent billions of dollars of aid to Western Europe to ensure its stability and ward off a potential economic downturn. The 1944 <a href="/wiki/Bretton_Woods_Conference" title="Bretton Woods Conference">Bretton Woods Conference</a> established the <a href="/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system" title="Bretton Woods system">Bretton Woods system</a>, a set of practices that governed world trade and currencies from 1945–1971, as well as the <a href="/wiki/World_Bank" title="World Bank">World Bank</a> and the <a href="/wiki/International_Monetary_Fund" title="International Monetary Fund">International Monetary Fund</a> (IMF). Western Europe also established the <a href="/wiki/European_Economic_Community" title="European Economic Community">European Economic Community</a> in 1957 to ease customs and aid international trade. In general, vast quality of life improvements affected most every corner of the globe during this period, in both the Western and Eastern spheres. France called them <i><a href="/wiki/Trente_Glorieuses" title="Trente Glorieuses">Les Trente Glorieuses</a></i> ("The Glorious Thirty [Years]"). Despite being largely destroyed in the war, West Germany soon bounced back to being an economic powerhouse by the 1950s with the <i><a href="/wiki/Wirtschaftswunder" title="Wirtschaftswunder">wirtschaftswunder</a></i>. Surprisingly, <a href="/wiki/Economy_of_Japan" title="Economy of Japan">Japan</a> followed Germany, achieving incredible economic growth and becoming the second largest economy in the world in 1968, a phenomenon called the <a href="/wiki/Japanese_economic_miracle" title="Japanese economic miracle">Japanese economic miracle</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Many explanations are proffered for the enviable results of these years: relative peace (at least outside the "<a href="/wiki/Third_World" title="Third World">Third World</a>"); a reduction in average family size; technological improvements; and others. The Eastern Bloc, meanwhile, established <a href="/wiki/Comecon" title="Comecon">Comecon</a> as their equivalent to the Marshall Plan and to establish internal trading rules between communist states.<sup id="cite_ref-loc-cs_20-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-loc-cs-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The 1970s saw economic headwinds. Notably, the <a href="/wiki/Price_of_oil" title="Price of oil">price of oil</a> started to go up in the 1970s, as the easiest and most accessible wells had already been pumped dry in the preceding century, and oil is a non-renewable resource. Attention was drawn to the abundant oil in the Middle East, where countries in <a href="/wiki/OPEC" title="OPEC">OPEC</a> controlled substantial untapped oil reserves. Political tensions over the <a href="/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War" title="Yom Kippur War">Yom Kippur War</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Iranian_Revolution" class="mw-redirect" title="Iranian Revolution">Iranian Revolution</a> led to the <a href="/wiki/1973_oil_crisis" title="1973 oil crisis">1973 oil crisis</a> and <a href="/wiki/1979_oil_crisis" title="1979 oil crisis">1979 oil crisis</a>. The Soviet Union called it the "<a href="/wiki/Era_of_Stagnation" title="Era of Stagnation">Era of Stagnation</a>". The 1970s and 80s also saw the rise of the <a href="/wiki/Four_Asian_Tigers" title="Four Asian Tigers">Four Asian Tigers</a>, as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong emulated the Japanese route to prosperity with varying degree of success. In China, the leftist <a href="/wiki/Gang_of_Four" title="Gang of Four">Gang of Four</a> were overthrown in 1976, and <a href="/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping" title="Deng Xiaoping">Deng Xiaoping</a> pursued a policy of tentatively opening the Chinese economy to capitalist innovations throughout the 1980s, which would be continued by his successors in the 1990s. China's economy, tiny in 1976, would see tremendous growth, and eventually take the spot as second largest economy from Japan in 2010. Among Western economies, the collapse of the Bretton Woods system was replaced by a more flexible era of floating exchange rates. The <a href="/wiki/Group_of_Seven" class="mw-redirect" title="Group of Seven">Group of Seven</a> (G7) first met in 1975 and become one of the main international forums that regulated international trade among <a href="/wiki/Developed_country" title="Developed country">developed country</a>. The Soviet Union implemented a policy of <i><a href="/wiki/Perestroika" title="Perestroika">perestroika</a></i> in the 1980s which allowed tentative market reforms.<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The fall of the USSR saw differing approaches in the 1990s in the East: some newly independent states went in a capitalist direction such as <a href="/wiki/Economy_of_Estonia" title="Economy of Estonia">Estonia</a>, some maintained a strong governmental presence in their economy, and some opted for a mix. The privatization of government firms and resources drew accusations of <a href="/wiki/Crony_capitalism" title="Crony capitalism">crony capitalism</a> in many states, however, including the Russian Federation, the largest and most important state of the USSR; the beneficiaries of the turbulent period were often called the "<a href="/wiki/Russian_oligarchs" title="Russian oligarchs">Russian oligarchs</a>".<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In the beginning of the 2000s, there was a global rise in prices in <a href="/wiki/Commodity" title="Commodity">commodities</a> and housing, marking an end to the <a href="/wiki/2000s_commodities_boom" title="2000s commodities boom">2000s commodities boom</a>. The US mortgage-backed securities, which had risks that were hard to assess, were marketed around the world and a broad based credit boom fed a global speculative bubble in real estate and equities. The financial situation was also affected by a sharp increase in oil and <a href="/wiki/Food_prices" title="Food prices">food prices</a>. The collapse of the American <a href="/wiki/Housing_bubble" title="Housing bubble">housing bubble</a> caused the values of <a href="/wiki/Security_(finance)" title="Security (finance)">securities</a> tied to <a href="/wiki/Real_estate_pricing" class="mw-redirect" title="Real estate pricing">real estate pricing</a> to plummet thereafter, damaging financial institutions.<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The <a href="/wiki/Great_Recession" title="Great Recession">Great Recession</a>, a severe economic <a href="/wiki/Recession" title="Recession">recession</a> which began in the United States in 2007,<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> was sparked by the outbreak of the <a href="/wiki/2007%E2%80%932008_financial_crisis" title="2007–2008 financial crisis">2007–2008 financial crisis</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The modern financial crisis was linked to earlier lending practices by financial institutions and the trend of <a href="/wiki/Securitization" title="Securitization">securitization</a> of American real estate mortgages.<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/Great_Recession" title="Great Recession">Great Recession</a><sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> spread to much of the <a href="/wiki/Developed_country" title="Developed country">developed country</a>, and has caused a pronounced deceleration of economic activity. The <a href="/wiki/Global_recession" title="Global recession">global recession</a> occurred in an economic environment characterized by various imbalances. This global recession has resulted in a sharp drop in <a href="/wiki/International_trade" title="International trade">international trade</a>, rising unemployment and slumping commodity prices. The recession <a href="/wiki/2008%E2%80%932009_Keynesian_resurgence" title="2008–2009 Keynesian resurgence">renewed interest in Keynesian economic ideas</a> on how to combat recessionary conditions. However, various industrial countries continued to undertake <a href="/wiki/Austerity" title="Austerity">austerity</a> policies to cut <a href="/wiki/Government_budget_deficit" class="mw-redirect" title="Government budget deficit">deficits</a>, reduced <a href="/wiki/Government_spending" title="Government spending">spending</a>, as opposed to following Keynesian theories. </p> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Countries_by_Real_GDP_Growth_Rate_(2014).svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Countries_by_Real_GDP_Growth_Rate_%282014%29.svg/300px-Countries_by_Real_GDP_Growth_Rate_%282014%29.svg.png" decoding="async" width="300" height="138" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Countries_by_Real_GDP_Growth_Rate_%282014%29.svg/450px-Countries_by_Real_GDP_Growth_Rate_%282014%29.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Countries_by_Real_GDP_Growth_Rate_%282014%29.svg/600px-Countries_by_Real_GDP_Growth_Rate_%282014%29.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="863" data-file-height="396" /></a><figcaption>Countries by real GDP growth rate in 2014. (Countries in brown were in recession.)</figcaption></figure> <p>From late 2009 <a href="/wiki/European_debt_crisis" title="European debt crisis">European debt crisis</a>, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among investors concerning rising government debt levels across the globe together with a wave of downgrading of government debt of certain European states. Concerns intensified early 2010 and thereafter making it difficult or impossible for sovereigns to re-finance their debts. On 9 May 2010, Europe's Finance Ministers approved a rescue package worth €750 billion aimed at ensuring financial stability across Europe. The <a href="/wiki/European_Financial_Stability_Facility" title="European Financial Stability Facility">European Financial Stability Facility</a> (EFSF) was a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the <a href="/wiki/Eurozone" title="Eurozone">eurozone</a> to combat the European sovereign debt crisis. In October 2011 eurozone leaders agreed on another package of measures designed to prevent the collapse of member economies. The three most affected countries, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, collectively account for six percent of eurozone's gross domestic product (GDP). In 2012, eurozone finance ministers reached an agreement on a second €130-billion Greek bailout. In 2013, the European Union <a href="/wiki/2012%E2%80%932013_Cypriot_financial_crisis" title="2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis">agreed to a €10 billion economic bailout</a> for Cyprus. The 2020 coronavirus pandemic caused economic disruption, with wide-ranging <a href="/wiki/Economic_impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic" title="Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic">economic impacts of COVID-19</a> such as supply chain changes and an increase in working-from-home, along with the <a href="/wiki/COVID-19_recession" title="COVID-19 recession">COVID-19 recession</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Social_history">Social history</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Social history"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Social changes since 1945 have been vast and disparate, affecting countries and subgroups within those countries in ways specific to each population, meaning there is not one single global story of social change. Despite this, one of the major trends has been an increasing interchange between cultures and a wider spread of the most successful works, enabled by new technology and <a href="/wiki/Globalization" title="Globalization">globalization</a>. In earlier periods, a successful musician or theater troupe might be confined to playing in a single city at a time, limiting their reach. The spread of better recording technology, such as the <a href="/wiki/Magnetophon" title="Magnetophon">magnetophon</a>, meant that a musical act could have their song be played over the radio everywhere without loss of sound quality, creating international superstars such as <a href="/wiki/Elvis_Presley" title="Elvis Presley">Elvis Presley</a> and <a href="/wiki/The_Beatles" title="The Beatles">The Beatles</a>. The spread of home <a href="/wiki/Television_set" title="Television set">television sets</a> allowed people across the globe to easily watch the same show, rather than requiring viewers to attend a local theater. <a href="/wiki/Cinema_of_the_United_States" title="Cinema of the United States">Hollywood</a> in California produced films that dominated cinema; while intended for the lucrative American market, these films spread across the globe, backed by their large budgets and the cinematic expertise gathered there. The rise of the Internet in the 1990s allowed both for an ever further spread of the most popular and dominant works, but the comparatively cheap cost of publishing there, whether as a personal website, blog, or YouTube video, also allowed specific niche subcultures to connect and thrive in a way that was less true in the 20th century. For example, diaspora groups of immigrants can more easily stay in contact with their family and friends in their origin region, compared to earlier eras where travel and communication was far more expensive, making a narrative of strictly increasing global homogenization incomplete. International telephone networks, and later Internet telephony, allowed cheaper and easier long-distance communication than previous eras. </p><p>Language usage in the contemporary era has seen a rise in <a href="/wiki/English_as_a_lingua_franca" title="English as a lingua franca">English as a lingua franca</a>, where people across the world learn the English language as a <a href="/wiki/Second_language" title="Second language">second language</a>. This has been both to facilitate international communication, especially in places tied to international trade or tourism, as well as to better consume widespread English-language media. This is tied to increased <a href="/wiki/Americanization" title="Americanization">Americanization</a>, as American culture has grown increasingly influential and widespread. To a lesser extent, during the Cold War, something similar happened with the Russian language in the Eastern Bloc and among communist-aligned factions; however, this status was mostly reversed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The French and German languages saw their prestige as <a href="/wiki/Global_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Global language">global languages</a> decline after World War II. </p><p>Religious trends have been disparate and not consistent across countries, often with sharply varying results even between similar and nearby groups. In industrialized and economically prosperous regions, there has been a loose trend toward <a href="/wiki/Secularization" title="Secularization">secularization</a> that deprioritized the role of religion, even among people who still identified as adherents. The <a href="/wiki/Decline_of_Christianity_in_the_Western_world" title="Decline of Christianity in the Western world">decline of Christianity in the Western world</a> has been perhaps the most notable of these trends, although many non-Western cultures have been affected as well, such as the rise of <a href="/wiki/Irreligion_in_China" title="Irreligion in China">irreligion in China</a> (buttressed by <a href="/wiki/Antireligious_campaigns_in_China" title="Antireligious campaigns in China">antireligious campaigns</a>). As an example of how localized this process can be, during the Cold War both the <a href="/wiki/Polish_People%27s_Republic" title="Polish People's Republic">Polish People's Republic</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Czechoslovak_Socialist_Republic" title="Czechoslovak Socialist Republic">Czechoslovak Socialist Republic</a> endorsed <a href="/wiki/State_atheism" title="State atheism">state atheism</a>. However, after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989–1990, the people of these bordering states had radically different cultural attitudes toward religion; <a href="/wiki/Religion_in_Poland" title="Religion in Poland">Poland was one of the more religious states</a> in Europe, with 96% of its population espousing a belief in Catholic Christianity in 2011, while the <a href="/wiki/Religion_in_the_Czech_Republic" title="Religion in the Czech Republic">Czech Republic was one of the most stridently irreligious</a>, with only 15% of its population espousing any religious beliefs at all by 2011. In the <a href="/wiki/Islamic_world" class="mw-redirect" title="Islamic world">Islamic world</a>, a notable trend has been the spread of international schools of thought into regions where belief was previously localized, such as the <a href="/wiki/International_propagation_of_Salafism_and_Wahhabism" class="mw-redirect" title="International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism">International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism</a> funded by the government of <a href="/wiki/Saudi_Arabia" title="Saudi Arabia">Saudi Arabia</a>. While regional Islamic groups remain strong, they are more contested than in the past. </p><p>Another social trend has been the rise of urbanization as a larger proportion of the world's population has moved to live in cities and urban areas, and fewer people live in rural areas. In the United States, as the overall population more than doubled from 1930 to 1990, around a third of its counties saw their population decline by around 27%, suggesting that as rural counties empty, the urban counties are where the vast majority of inhabitants are moving to.<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In Eastern Africa, the urban population soared from 11 million in 1920 to 77 million in 2010.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Many <a href="/wiki/Migration_in_China" title="Migration in China">rural Chinese people moved to large coastal cities</a> such as Shenzhen to work in the 1990s and 2000s, leading to a sharp increase of <a href="/wiki/Urbanization_in_China" title="Urbanization in China">Urbanization in China</a>. Rural parts of Japan have seen stark population declines, especially among the young, with only the <a href="/wiki/Greater_Tokyo_area" class="mw-redirect" title="Greater Tokyo area">Greater Tokyo area</a> continuing to grow.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-31"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>31<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> How to deal with this change is a major issue, as many cities and their transportation networks were not designed to serve the larger populations that now occupy them. </p><p>A major trend in many industrialized nations was the <a href="/wiki/Sexual_revolution" title="Sexual revolution">sexual revolution</a>, an adoption of publicly more tolerant attitudes toward sex and <a href="/wiki/Pre-marital_sex" class="mw-redirect" title="Pre-marital sex">pre-marital sex</a>. "<a href="/wiki/Combined_oral_contraceptive_pill" title="Combined oral contraceptive pill">The pill</a>" was first approved for use in 1960 in the United States, and spread rapidly around the world. The pill made <a href="/wiki/Birth_control" title="Birth control">birth control</a> easier and more reliable than earlier methods. This made sex for pleasure less likely to result in unintended children. It also allowed for easier <a href="/wiki/Family_planning" title="Family planning">family planning</a>, where couples could choose more specifically when to have kids compared to earlier eras. Some analysts credit this as one reason behind a <a href="/wiki/Population_decline" title="Population decline">decline in birth rates</a> in the industrialized world, which had multiple second-order effects. Many regions have also made divorce much easier to officially procure. However, the decline in birth rate is not a universal trend; <a href="/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate" class="mw-redirect" title="List of sovereign states and dependencies by total fertility rate">many nations continue to have high birth rates</a>, and the world's overall population is still growing as of 2022. </p><p>One of the yet evolving and unknown impacts in the contemporary era has been the social effects of cheap and common Internet access. As users gradually switched from <a href="/wiki/Personal_web_page" title="Personal web page">personal web pages</a> to blogs to social media, many surprising effects have resulted with both positive and negative assessments. Optimistic assessments often praise the decentralized nature that allows anyone to theoretically gain a platform without the need to convince a publisher or media company to back them, as well as the ease in enabling like-minded people to collaborate at long-distance, even if the <a href="/wiki/Cyber-utopianism" title="Cyber-utopianism">digital utopianism</a> of the 1990s is less common. Pessimistic assessments worry about the effects on children such as enabling <a href="/wiki/Cyberbullying" title="Cyberbullying">cyberbullying</a>; <a href="/wiki/Filter_bubble" title="Filter bubble">filter bubbles</a> where Internet users are not challenged by outsider views; "<a href="/wiki/Cancel_culture" title="Cancel culture">cancel culture</a>" where people are pilloried online but sometimes disproportionately; and <a href="/wiki/Slacktivism" title="Slacktivism">slacktivism</a> as an appealing but ineffective replacement for older forms of community work. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Contemporary_science_and_technology">Contemporary science and technology</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Contemporary science and technology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Energy">Energy</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Energy"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Energy_development" title="Energy development">Energy development</a></div> <p>The growing world population and rising standards of living has caused a vast increase in demand for <a href="/wiki/Energy_development" title="Energy development">energy development</a>, both to power vehicles such as personal cars as well as on public <a href="/wiki/Electrical_grid" title="Electrical grid">electrical grids</a>. In particular, <a href="/wiki/Petroleum" title="Petroleum">petroleum oil</a> has been in ravenous demand across the world. Many of the cheapest and easiest sources of oil to access were largely drained in the 19th and early 20th centuries, leading to a hunt for new sources of oil. The value of oil has spilled over into politics as well, as "<a href="/wiki/Petrostate" title="Petrostate">petrostates</a>" with access to oil found a source of vast revenue that did not require traditional government revenue-raising measures, such as tariffs or income taxation. The rising cost of oil led to the <a href="/wiki/1970s_energy_crisis" title="1970s energy crisis">1970s energy crisis</a> and various adaptations in <a href="/wiki/Energy_conservation" title="Energy conservation">energy conservation</a> to better conserve oil, such as more efficient engines and better insulation. It has also led to concerns of "<a href="/wiki/Peak_oil" title="Peak oil">peak oil</a>," that the rising extraction costs of oil will eventually lead to massive shortages and a large disincentive to burn oil except when absolutely necessary (such as in the case of <a href="/wiki/Aviation_fuel" title="Aviation fuel">aviation fuel</a>), although oil continues to be one of the most popular sources of energy. </p><p>Other <a href="/wiki/Fossil_fuel" title="Fossil fuel">fossil fuels</a> have continued a prominent role in the world's energy production. <a href="/wiki/Coal_energy" class="mw-redirect" title="Coal energy">Coal energy</a>, usually credited as helping kickstart the <a href="/wiki/Industrial_Revolution" title="Industrial Revolution">Industrial Revolution</a>, has declined somewhat in prominence, but it started from a commanding large slice of the sources of energy. Even if diminished, coal is still a popular and common style of power plant; it made up a huge proportion of South Africa and <a href="/wiki/Coal_in_India" title="Coal in India">India's power grid</a> from 1945 to the present, for example.<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-32"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>32<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> That said, increasing price, as well as concerns both over the air pollution generated when it is burnt and the landscape destruction when it is mined (such as <a href="/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining" title="Mountaintop removal mining">mountaintop removal mining</a>), have caused setbacks for the coal industry. Natural gas has grown in its proportion of the market, especially as <a href="/wiki/Liquefied_natural_gas" title="Liquefied natural gas">Liquefied natural gas</a> (LNG) has enabled it to be transported over longer distances than was previously feasible. </p><p>An entirely new form of energy creation dawned in the 1950s and 1960s: <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_power" title="Nuclear power">nuclear power</a> for peaceful purposes and the construction of <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_power_plant" title="Nuclear power plant">nuclear power plants</a>. Hopes that atomic energy would be "<a href="/wiki/Too_cheap_to_meter" title="Too cheap to meter">too cheap to meter</a>" in the 1950s proved overly optimistic, however. Atomic energy grew to be a large part of several nations energy generation strategies, especially <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_France" title="Nuclear power in France">nuclear power in France</a>. Nuclear power continues to be controversial. Concerns include its association with <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_weapon" title="Nuclear weapon">nuclear weapons</a>, <a href="/wiki/Economics_of_nuclear_power_plants" title="Economics of nuclear power plants">financial cost</a>, disposal of radioactive <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_waste" class="mw-redirect" title="Nuclear waste">nuclear waste</a>, and fears of safety from <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_meltdown" title="Nuclear meltdown">reactor meltdowns</a>, especially after the 1986 <a href="/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster" title="Chernobyl disaster">Chernobyl disaster</a>. An <a href="/wiki/Anti-nuclear_movement" title="Anti-nuclear movement">anti-nuclear movement</a> arose that was skeptical of atomic energy and has discouraged many projects. Nuclear proponents counter that nuclear energy produces no air pollution compared to traditional fossil fuel plants, and can provide a steady supply of energy regardless of external conditions unlike solar and wind energy. With the <a href="/wiki/Russia_in_the_European_energy_sector" title="Russia in the European energy sector">supply of Russian natural gas disrupted in 2022</a>, France is looking to reactivate some of its older decommissioned nuclear plants, for example.<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Various forms of <a href="/wiki/Renewable_energy" title="Renewable energy">renewable energy</a> have grown in prominence in the contemporary era. <a href="/wiki/Wind_energy" class="mw-redirect" title="Wind energy">Wind energy</a>, while used on a small scale for centuries, has seen growth with large distributed groups of <a href="/wiki/Windmill" title="Windmill">windmills</a> used to produce energy for the grid. <a href="/wiki/Solar_power" title="Solar power">Solar power</a> has also grown in prominence, with around 4% of the world's overall energy production in 2021 (compared to a much smaller slice before). While these energy sources are considered to be much less environmentally impactful than <a href="/wiki/Fossil_fuels" class="mw-redirect" title="Fossil fuels">fossil fuels</a>, concerns have been raised over the various <a href="/wiki/Rare_earth_metal" class="mw-redirect" title="Rare earth metal">rare earth metals</a> used in the production of batteries and solar, which can require destructive mining techniques to gather. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Computing_and_the_Internet">Computing and the Internet</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Computing and the Internet"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/Information_Age" title="Information Age">Information Age</a> and <a href="/wiki/History_of_the_Internet" title="History of the Internet">History of the Internet</a></div> <figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Internet_map_1024.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Internet_map_1024.jpg/220px-Internet_map_1024.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="220" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Internet_map_1024.jpg/330px-Internet_map_1024.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Internet_map_1024.jpg/440px-Internet_map_1024.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1280" data-file-height="1280" /></a><figcaption>A visualization of the various routes through a portion of the Internet. Partial map of the Internet based in 2005.</figcaption></figure> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Information_Age" title="Information Age">Information Age</a> or Information Era, also commonly known as the Age of the Computer, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously. The idea is heavily linked to the concept of a <a href="/wiki/Digital_Age" class="mw-redirect" title="Digital Age">Digital Age</a> or <a href="/wiki/Digital_Revolution" class="mw-redirect" title="Digital Revolution">Digital Revolution</a>, and carries the ramifications of a shift from traditional industry that the <a href="/wiki/Industrial_Revolution" title="Industrial Revolution">Industrial Revolution</a> brought through industrialization, to an economy based around the manipulation of information. The period is generally said to have begun in the latter half of the 20th century, though the particular date varies. The term began its use around the late 1980s and early 1990s, and has been used up to the present with the availability of the Internet. </p><p>During the late 1990s, both <a href="/wiki/Internet_directory" class="mw-redirect" title="Internet directory">Internet directories</a> and <a href="/wiki/Search_engine" title="Search engine">search engines</a> were popular—<a href="/wiki/Yahoo!" class="mw-redirect" title="Yahoo!">Yahoo!</a> and <a href="/wiki/Altavista" class="mw-redirect" title="Altavista">Altavista</a> (both founded 1995) were the respective industry leaders. By late 2001, the directory model had begun to give way to search engines, tracking the rise of Google (founded 1998), which had developed new approaches to <a href="/wiki/Relevance_(information_retrieval)" title="Relevance (information retrieval)">relevancy ranking</a>. Directory features, while still commonly available, became after-thoughts to search engines. Database size, which had been a significant marketing feature through the early 2000s (decade), was similarly displaced by emphasis on relevancy ranking, the methods by which search engines attempt to sort the best results first. </p><p>"<a href="/wiki/Web_2.0" title="Web 2.0">Web 2.0</a>" is characterized as facilitating communication, <a href="/wiki/Information_sharing" class="mw-redirect" title="Information sharing">information sharing</a>, <a href="/wiki/Interoperability" title="Interoperability">interoperability</a>, <a href="/wiki/User-centered_design" title="User-centered design">User-centered design</a><sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>34<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and <a href="/wiki/Collaboration" title="Collaboration">collaboration</a> on the <a href="/wiki/World_Wide_Web" title="World Wide Web">World Wide Web</a>. It has led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, <a href="/wiki/Web_service" title="Web service">hosted services</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Web_application" title="Web application">web applications</a>. Examples include <a href="/wiki/Social_network_service" class="mw-redirect" title="Social network service">social-networking sites</a>, <a href="/wiki/Video_sharing" class="mw-redirect" title="Video sharing">video-sharing sites</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wiki" title="Wiki">wikis</a>, blogs, <a href="/wiki/Mashup_(digital)" class="mw-redirect" title="Mashup (digital)">mashups</a> and <a href="/wiki/Folksonomy" title="Folksonomy">folksonomies</a>. <a href="/wiki/Social_networking" class="mw-redirect" title="Social networking">Social networking</a> emerged in the early 21st century as a popular social communication, largely replacing much of the function of email, <a href="/wiki/Message_board" class="mw-redirect" title="Message board">message boards</a> and <a href="/wiki/Instant_messaging" title="Instant messaging">instant messaging</a> services. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are all major examples of social websites that gained widespread popularity. The information distribution continued into the early 21st century with <a href="/wiki/Mobile_interaction" title="Mobile interaction">mobile interaction</a> and <a href="/wiki/Internet_access" title="Internet access">Internet access</a> growing massively in the early 21st century. By the 2010s, a majority of people in the developed world had Internet access and a majority of people worldwide had a mobile phone.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-35"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>35<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Marking the rise of <a href="/wiki/Mobile_computing" title="Mobile computing">mobile computing</a>, worldwide sales of personal computers fall 14% during the first quarter of 2013. The <a href="/wiki/Semantic_Web" title="Semantic Web">Semantic Web</a> (dubbed, "Web 3.0") begins the inclusion of <a href="/wiki/Semantics" title="Semantics">semantic</a> content in web pages, converting the current web dominated by unstructured and semi-structured documents into a "web of data". </p><p>With the rise of information technology, <a href="/wiki/Computer_security" title="Computer security">computer security</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Information_security" title="Information security">information security</a> in general, is a concern for computers and networks. Concerns include information and services which are protected from unintended or unauthorized access, change or destruction. This has also raised questions of <a href="/wiki/Internet_privacy" title="Internet privacy">Internet privacy</a> and <a href="/wiki/Personal_privacy" class="mw-redirect" title="Personal privacy">personal privacy</a> globally. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Space_exploration">Space exploration</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Space exploration"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Space_exploration" title="Space exploration">Space exploration</a></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Space_Race" title="Space Race">Space Race</a> was one of the rivalries of the Cold War, with both the United States space program (<a href="/wiki/NASA" title="NASA">NASA</a>) and the <a href="/wiki/Soviet_space_program" title="Soviet space program">Soviet space program</a> launching <a href="/wiki/Satellite" title="Satellite">satellites</a>, probes, and planning missions. While the Soviets put the first human into space with <a href="/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin" title="Yuri Gagarin">Yuri Gagarin</a>, the Americans soon caught up, and the US was the first to launch a successful Moon landing mission with <a href="/wiki/Apollo_11" title="Apollo 11">Apollo 11</a> in 1969, followed by <a href="/wiki/Apollo_program" title="Apollo program">five more landings</a> in the next few years. </p><p>In the 1970s and 80s, the US took a new approach with the <a href="/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program" title="Space Shuttle program">Space Shuttle program</a>, hoping to reduce the cost of launches by creating a re-usable Space Shuttle. The first fully functional <a href="/wiki/Space_Shuttle_orbiter" title="Space Shuttle orbiter">Space Shuttle orbiter</a> was <a href="/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia" title="Space Shuttle Columbia">Columbia</a> (designated OV-102), launched into <a href="/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit" title="Low Earth orbit">low Earth orbit</a> in April 1981. In 1996, Shuttle mission <a href="/wiki/STS-75" title="STS-75">STS-75</a> conducted research in space with the <a href="/wiki/Electrodynamic_tether" title="Electrodynamic tether">electrodynamic tether</a> generator and other tether configurations. The program suffered from two incidents that destroyed a shuttle: the <a href="/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster" title="Space Shuttle Challenger disaster"><i>Challenger</i> disaster</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster" title="Space Shuttle Columbia disaster"><i>Columbia</i> disaster</a>). The program ultimately had 135 missions. The <a href="/wiki/Space_Shuttle_retirement" title="Space Shuttle retirement">retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet</a> took place from March to July 2011. </p><p>The end of the Cold War saw a new era of international cooperation with the <a href="/wiki/International_Space_Station" title="International Space Station">International Space Station</a> (ISS). <a href="/wiki/Commercial_spaceflight" class="mw-redirect" title="Commercial spaceflight">Commercial spaceflight</a> also became possible as governments loosened what had previously been their firm control over satellites, opening new possibilities, but also new risks such as <a href="/wiki/Satellite_flare" title="Satellite flare">light pollution from satellites</a>. The <a href="/wiki/Commercial_Orbital_Transportation_Services" title="Commercial Orbital Transportation Services">Commercial Orbital Transportation Services</a> (COTS) program began in 2006. </p><p>There are <a href="/wiki/List_of_spaceports" class="mw-redirect" title="List of spaceports">various spaceports</a>, including <a href="/wiki/Spaceport" title="Spaceport">spaceports</a> of <a href="/wiki/Human_spaceflight" title="Human spaceflight">human spaceflight</a> and other <a href="/wiki/Launch_system" class="mw-redirect" title="Launch system">launch systems</a> (<a href="/wiki/Space_logistics" title="Space logistics">space logistics</a>). <a href="/wiki/Private_spaceflight" title="Private spaceflight">Private spaceflight</a> is flight beyond the <a href="/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line" title="Kármán line">Kármán line</a><sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-36"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>36<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. <a href="/wiki/Commercialization_of_space" class="mw-redirect" title="Commercialization of space">Commercialization of space</a> is the use of equipment sent into or through outer space to provide goods or services of commercial value, either by a corporation or state. <a href="/wiki/Space_trade" title="Space trade">Space trade</a> plans and predictions began in the 1960s. <a href="/wiki/Spacecraft_propulsion" title="Spacecraft propulsion">Spacecraft propulsion</a><sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> is any <a href="/wiki/Propulsion" title="Propulsion">method used to accelerate</a> <a href="/wiki/Spacecraft" title="Spacecraft">spacecraft</a> and artificial <a href="/wiki/Satellite" title="Satellite">satellites</a>. </p><p>NASA announced in 2011 that its <a href="/wiki/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter" title="Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter">Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter</a> captured photographic evidence of possible liquid <a href="/wiki/Water_on_Mars" title="Water on Mars">water on Mars</a> during warm seasons. On 6 August 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory <a href="/wiki/Curiosity_(rover)" title="Curiosity (rover)">Curiosity</a>, the most elaborate Martian exploration vehicle to date, landed on Mars. After the <a href="/wiki/WMAP" class="mw-redirect" title="WMAP">WMAP</a> observations of the <a href="/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background" title="Cosmic microwave background">cosmic microwave background</a>, information was released in 2011 of the work done by the <a href="/wiki/Planck_Surveyor" class="mw-redirect" title="Planck Surveyor">Planck Surveyor</a>, estimating the <a href="/wiki/Age_of_the_universe" title="Age of the universe">Age of the universe</a> to 13.8 billion years old (a 100 million years older than previously thought). Another technological advancement came in 2012 with European physicists statistically demonstrating the existence of the <a href="/wiki/Higgs_boson" title="Higgs boson">Higgs boson</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-38"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>38<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Challenges_and_problems">Challenges and problems</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Challenges and problems"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Climate_change">Climate change</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Climate change"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/Climate_change" title="Climate change">Climate change</a> and <a href="/wiki/Effects_of_global_warming" class="mw-redirect" title="Effects of global warming">Effects of global warming</a></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Climate_change" title="Climate change">Climate change</a> and <a href="/wiki/Global_warming" class="mw-redirect" title="Global warming">global warming</a> reflects the notion of the modern <a href="/wiki/Climate" title="Climate">climate</a>. The changes of climate over the past century, have been <a href="/wiki/Attribution_of_recent_climate_change" class="mw-redirect" title="Attribution of recent climate change">attributed to various factors</a> which have resulted in a global warming. This warming is the increase in the <a href="/wiki/Instrumental_temperature_record" class="mw-redirect" title="Instrumental temperature record">average temperature</a> of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Some effects on both the <a href="/wiki/Natural_environment" title="Natural environment">natural environment</a> and <a href="/wiki/Civilization" title="Civilization">human life</a> are, at least in part, already being attributed to global warming. A 2001 report by the <a href="/wiki/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change" title="Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> suggests that <a href="/wiki/Retreat_of_glaciers_since_1850" title="Retreat of glaciers since 1850">glacier retreat</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ice_shelf#Ice_shelf_disruption" title="Ice shelf">ice shelf disruption</a> such as that of the <a href="/wiki/Larsen_Ice_Shelf" title="Larsen Ice Shelf">Larsen Ice Shelf</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sea_level_rise" title="Sea level rise">sea level rise</a>, changes in rainfall patterns, and increased intensity and frequency of <a href="/wiki/Extreme_weather" title="Extreme weather">extreme weather</a> events are attributable in part to global warming.<sup id="cite_ref-tar_wg2_39-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-tar_wg2-39"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>39<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Other expected effects include <a href="/wiki/Water_scarcity" title="Water scarcity">water scarcity</a> in some regions and increased precipitation in others, changes in mountain snowpack, and adverse health effects from warmer temperatures.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-40"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>40<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>It is usually impossible to connect specific weather events to human impact on the world. Instead, such impact is expected to cause changes in the overall distribution and intensity of weather events, such as changes to the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation. Broader effects are expected to include <a href="/wiki/Glacier_mass_balance" title="Glacier mass balance">glacial retreat</a>, <a href="/wiki/Arctic_shrinkage" class="mw-redirect" title="Arctic shrinkage">Arctic shrinkage</a>, and worldwide <a href="/wiki/Sea_level_rise" title="Sea level rise">sea level rise</a>. Other effects may include changes in <a href="/wiki/Crop_yields" class="mw-redirect" title="Crop yields">crop yields</a>, addition of new trade routes,<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-41"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>41<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> species <a href="/wiki/Extinction_risk_from_climate_change" title="Extinction risk from climate change">extinctions</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-ar4syn_42-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ar4syn-42"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>42<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and changes in the range of <a href="/wiki/Vector_(epidemiology)" class="mw-redirect" title="Vector (epidemiology)">disease vectors</a>. Until 2009, the Arctic <i><a href="/wiki/Northwest_Passage" title="Northwest Passage">Northwest Passage</a></i> <a href="/wiki/Arctic_ice_pack" title="Arctic ice pack">pack ice</a> prevented regular <a href="/wiki/Ship_transport" class="mw-redirect" title="Ship transport">marine shipping</a> throughout most of the year in this area, but climate change has reduced the pack ice, and this <a href="/wiki/Arctic_shrinkage" class="mw-redirect" title="Arctic shrinkage">Arctic shrinkage</a> made the waterways more navigable.<sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-43"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>43<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-44"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>44<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-45"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>45<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Health_and_pandemics">Health and pandemics</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Health and pandemics"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Several <a href="/wiki/Disease_outbreak" title="Disease outbreak">disease outbreaks</a>, epidemics, and <a href="/wiki/Pandemic" title="Pandemic">pandemics</a> have occurred during contemporary history. Some of these include the <a href="/wiki/1957%E2%80%931958_influenza_pandemic" title="1957–1958 influenza pandemic">1957–1958 influenza pandemic</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Hong_Kong_flu" title="Hong Kong flu">Hong Kong flu</a> of 1968–1969, the <a href="/wiki/1977_Russian_flu" title="1977 Russian flu">1977–1979 Russian flu</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Epidemiology_of_HIV/AIDS" title="Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS">HIV/AIDS epidemic</a> (1981–present), the <a href="/wiki/2002%E2%80%932004_SARS_outbreak" title="2002–2004 SARS outbreak">SARS outbreak of 2002–2004</a>, the <a href="/wiki/2009_swine_flu_pandemic" title="2009 swine flu pandemic">swine flu pandemic</a> of 2009–2010, and the <a href="/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic" title="COVID-19 pandemic">COVID-19 pandemic</a> (2019–2022). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="COVID-19_pandemic">COVID-19 pandemic</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: COVID-19 pandemic"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main articles: <a href="/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic" title="COVID-19 pandemic">COVID-19 pandemic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic" title="Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic" title="Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic">Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic</a></div> <p>In 2020, an outbreak of the <a href="/wiki/COVID-19" title="COVID-19">COVID-19</a> disease, first documented in late 2019 in <a href="/wiki/Wuhan" title="Wuhan">Wuhan</a>, China, spread to other countries becoming a <a href="/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic" title="COVID-19 pandemic">global pandemic</a>, which caused a major socio-economic disruption all over the world. Many countries ordered mandatory <a href="/wiki/COVID-19_lockdowns" title="COVID-19 lockdowns">lockdowns</a> on movement and closures of non-essential businesses.<sup id="cite_ref-47" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-47"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>47<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The threat of the disease caused the <a href="/wiki/COVID-19_recession" title="COVID-19 recession">COVID-19 recession</a>, although the distribution of vaccines has since eased the economic impact in many countries. </p><p>More generally, COVID-19 has been held up as an example of a <a href="/wiki/Global_catastrophic_risk" title="Global catastrophic risk">global catastrophic risk</a> unique to the modern era's ease of travel. New diseases can spread far faster and further in the contemporary era than any previous era of human history; <a href="/wiki/Pandemic_prevention" title="Pandemic prevention">pandemic prevention</a> is one resulting field to ensure that if this happens with a sufficiently deadly virus, humanity can take measures to stop its spread. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Charts">Charts</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Charts"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Timeline">Timeline</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Timeline"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Timelines_of_modern_history#Contemporary_period" title="Timelines of modern history">Timelines of modern history § Contemporary period</a></div> <div class="timeline-wrapper"><map name="timeline_1j50ovatqjq4y8gsebw17o62w66bel2"><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/Postmodernity" coords="455,40,563,61" title="Postmodernity" alt="Postmodernity" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/Modernity" coords="40,40,154,61" title="Modernity" alt="Modernity" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/War_on_Terror" coords="731,29,839,49" title="War on Terror" alt="War on Terror" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/Cold_War" coords="319,29,400,49" title="Cold War" alt="Cold War" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/WWII" coords="66,29,124,49" title="WWII" alt="WWII" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/Big_Data" coords="786,7,866,28" title="Big Data" alt="Big Data" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/Information_Age" coords="568,7,688,28" title="Information Age" alt="Information Age" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/Integrated_circuit" coords="271,10,346,31" title="Integrated circuit" alt="Integrated circuit" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/Integrated_circuit" coords="263,0,354,21" title="Integrated circuit" alt="Integrated circuit" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/Transistor" coords="156,7,248,28" title="Transistor" alt="Transistor" /><area shape="rect" href="/wiki/Vacuum_tube" coords="108,7,166,28" title="Vacuum tube" alt="Vacuum tube" /></map><img usemap="#timeline_1j50ovatqjq4y8gsebw17o62w66bel2" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/1j50ovatqjq4y8gsebw17o62w66bel2.png" /></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Contemporary_world_map">Contemporary world map</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Contemporary world map"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/World_map" title="World map">World map</a></div> <div role="img" class="noresize" style="width: 800px; line-height: 1; text-align: center; background-color: #ffffff; position: relative;"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:WorldMap.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/WorldMap.svg/800px-WorldMap.svg.png" decoding="async" width="800" height="405" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/WorldMap.svg/1200px-WorldMap.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/WorldMap.svg/1600px-WorldMap.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="2760" data-file-height="1398" /></a></span> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:378px; top:384px"><b><a href="/wiki/Antarctica" title="Antarctica">Antarctica</a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:630px; top:266px"><b><a href="/wiki/Oceania" title="Oceania">Oceania</a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:412px; top:162px"><b><a href="/wiki/Africa" title="Africa">Africa</a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:536px; top:46px"><b><a href="/wiki/Asia" title="Asia">Asia</a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:402px; top:52px"><b><a href="/wiki/Europe" title="Europe">Europe</a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:140px; top:100px"><b><a href="/wiki/North_America" title="North America">North<br />America</a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:226px; top:240px"><b><a href="/wiki/South_America" title="South America">South<br />America</a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:72px; top:176px"><b><a href="/wiki/Pacific_Ocean" title="Pacific Ocean"><span style="color: #48A3B5; font-style: italic;">Pacific<br />Ocean</span></a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:706px; top:120px"><b><a href="/wiki/Pacific_Ocean" title="Pacific Ocean"><span style="color: #48A3B5; font-style: italic;">Pacific<br />Ocean</span></a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:320px; top:216px"><b><a href="/wiki/Atlantic_Ocean" title="Atlantic Ocean"><span style="color: #48A3B5; font-style: italic;">Atlantic<br />Ocean</span></a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:530px; top:232px"><b><a href="/wiki/Indian_Ocean" title="Indian Ocean"><span style="color: #48A3B5; font-style: italic;">Indian<br />Ocean</span></a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:394px; top:352px"><b><a href="/wiki/Southern_Ocean" title="Southern Ocean"><span style="color: #48A3B5; font-style: italic;">Southern Ocean</span></a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:474px; top:16px"><b><a href="/wiki/Arctic_Ocean" title="Arctic Ocean"><span style="color: #48A3B5; font-style: italic;">Arctic Ocean</span></a></b></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:454px; top:128px"><a href="/wiki/West_Asia" title="West Asia">West<br />Asia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:202px; top:146px"><a href="/wiki/Caribbean" title="Caribbean">Caribbean</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:516px; top:72px"><a href="/wiki/Central_Asia" title="Central Asia">Central<br />Asia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:600px; top:102px"><a href="/wiki/East_Asia" title="East Asia">East Asia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:590px; top:76px"><a href="/wiki/North_Asia" title="North Asia">North Asia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:518px; top:136px"><a href="/wiki/South_Asia" title="South Asia">South<br />Asia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:606px; top:182px"><a href="/wiki/Southeast_Asia" title="Southeast Asia">Southeast<br />Asia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:490px; top:112px"><a href="/wiki/Southwest_Asia" class="mw-redirect" title="Southwest Asia">SW.<br />Asia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:686px; top:246px"><a href="/wiki/Australasia" title="Australasia">Australasia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:690px; top:214px"><a href="/wiki/Melanesia" title="Melanesia">Melanesia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:718px; top:176px"><a href="/wiki/Micronesia" title="Micronesia">Micronesia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:2px; top:210px"><a href="/wiki/Polynesia" title="Polynesia">Polynesia</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:154px; top:164px"><a href="/wiki/Central_America" title="Central America">Central<br />America</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:174px; top:200px"><a href="/wiki/Latin_America" title="Latin America">Latin<br />America</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:158px; top:64px"><a href="/wiki/Northern_America" title="Northern America">Northern<br />America</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:222px; top:174px"><a href="/wiki/Americas" title="Americas">Americas</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:396px; top:184px"><a href="/wiki/Central_Africa" title="Central Africa">C.<br />Africa</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:450px; top:192px"><a href="/wiki/East_Africa" title="East Africa">E.<br />Africa</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:474px; top:168px"><a href="/wiki/Horn_of_Africa" title="Horn of Africa">H.<br />Africa</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:378px; top:120px"><a href="/wiki/North_Africa" title="North Africa">N.<br />Africa</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:408px; top:242px"><a href="/wiki/Southern_Africa" title="Southern Africa">Southern<br />Africa</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:342px; top:156px"><a href="/wiki/West_Africa" title="West Africa">W.<br />Africa</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:398px; top:68px"><a href="/wiki/Central_Europe" title="Central Europe">C.<br />Europe</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:450px; top:56px"><a href="/wiki/Eastern_Europe" title="Eastern Europe">E.<br />Europe</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:362px; top:28px"><a href="/wiki/Northern_Europe" title="Northern Europe">N.<br />Europe</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:410px; top:96px"><a href="/wiki/Southern_Europe" title="Southern Europe">S.<br />Europe</a></div> <div style="position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:330px; top:66px"><a href="/wiki/Western_Europe" title="Western Europe">W.<br />Europe</a></div> </div> <div class="thumb tnone" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;overflow:hidden;width:auto;max-width:758px"><div class="thumbinner"><div class="noresize" style="overflow:auto"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:World_Map_(political).svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Political map of country and territory boundaries"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/World_Map_%28political%29.svg/750px-World_Map_%28political%29.svg.png" decoding="async" width="750" height="381" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/World_Map_%28political%29.svg/1125px-World_Map_%28political%29.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/World_Map_%28political%29.svg/1500px-World_Map_%28political%29.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1920" data-file-height="975" /></a></span></div><div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:World_Map_(political).svg" title="File:World Map (political).svg"> </a></div>Political map of country and territory boundaries</div></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239009302">.mw-parser-output .portalbox{padding:0;margin:0.5em 0;display:table;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:175px;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portalborder{border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);padding:0.1em;background:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa)}.mw-parser-output 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href="/wiki/Urban_contemporary" class="mw-redirect" title="Urban contemporary">Urban contemporary</a>, <a href="/wiki/History_of_video_games" title="History of video games">Video games</a></li></ul> <p><b>Future</b>: </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Future_history" title="Future history">Future history</a>, <a href="/wiki/Futurology" class="mw-redirect" title="Futurology">Futurology</a>, <a href="/wiki/Timeline_of_the_near_future" class="mw-redirect" title="Timeline of the near future">Timeline of the near future</a>], <a href="/wiki/Third_millennium" class="mw-redirect" title="Third millennium">Third millennium</a>, <a href="/wiki/21st_century" title="21st century">21st century</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFBrivati1996" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Brian_Brivati" title="Brian Brivati">Brivati, Brian</a> (1996). 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Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. xvi. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780719048364" title="Special:BookSources/9780719048364"><bdi>9780719048364</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Introduction&rft.btitle=The+contemporary+history+handbook&rft.place=Manchester&rft.pages=xvi&rft.edition=1st&rft.pub=Manchester+University+Press&rft.date=1996&rft.isbn=9780719048364&rft.aulast=Brivati&rft.aufirst=Brian&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Gaddis 2005, p. 33-60</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFThai_Binh_Department_of_Information_and_Communications2020" class="citation cs2">Thai Binh Department of Information and Communications (30 July 2020), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230409174812/https://thaibinh.gov.vn/english130nam/dat-va-nguoi-thai-binh/soldier-from-thai-binh-who-put-flag-on-the-roof-of-independe.html">"Soldier from Thai Binh who put flag on the roof of Independence Palace"</a>, <i>Thai Binh Provincial Portal</i>, Thai Binh, archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://thaibinh.gov.vn/english130nam/dat-va-nguoi-thai-binh/soldier-from-thai-binh-who-put-flag-on-the-roof-of-independe.html">the original</a> on 9 April 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">, retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 January</span> 2022</span></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Thai+Binh+Provincial+Portal&rft.atitle=Soldier+from+Thai+Binh+who+put+flag+on+the+roof+of+Independence+Palace&rft.date=2020-07-30&rft.au=Thai+Binh+Department+of+Information+and+Communications&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fthaibinh.gov.vn%2Fenglish130nam%2Fdat-va-nguoi-thai-binh%2Fsoldier-from-thai-binh-who-put-flag-on-the-roof-of-independe.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Gaddis 2005, p. 237-257</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Steven Levitsky, Lucan A. 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Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 December</span> 2011</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=BBC+News&rft.atitle=US+flag+ceremony+ends+Iraq+operation&rft.date=2011-12-15&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld-us-canada-16192105&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-lowers-flag-to-end-iraq-war-6277340.html">"US lowers flag to end Iraq war"</a>. Associated Press. 15 December 2011<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 December</span> 2011</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=US+lowers+flag+to+end+Iraq+war&rft.date=2011-12-15&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Fmiddle-east%2Fus-lowers-flag-to-end-iraq-war-6277340.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMak2011" class="citation news cs1">Mak, Tim (15 December 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70480.html">"Leon Panetta marks end of Iraq war"</a>. <i>Politico</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 December</span> 2011</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Politico&rft.atitle=Leon+Panetta+marks+end+of+Iraq+war&rft.date=2011-12-15&rft.aulast=Mak&rft.aufirst=Tim&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F1211%2F70480.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200529065759/http://en.classora.com/reports/t24369/general/ranking-of-the-worlds-richest-countries-by-gdp?edition=1967&fields=">"Ranking of the World's Richest Countries by GDP (1967) – Classora Knowledge Base"</a>. <i>en.classora.com</i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.classora.com/reports/t24369/general/ranking-of-the-worlds-richest-countries-by-gdp?edition=1967&fields=">the original</a> on 29 May 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">8 December</span> 2017</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=en.classora.com&rft.atitle=Ranking+of+the+World%27s+Richest+Countries+by+GDP+%281967%29+%E2%80%93+Classora+Knowledge+Base&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fen.classora.com%2Freports%2Ft24369%2Fgeneral%2Franking-of-the-worlds-richest-countries-by-gdp%3Fedition%3D1967%26fields%3D&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-loc-cs-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-loc-cs_20-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501075842/http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/germany_east/gx_appnb.html">"Appendix B: The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance: Germany (East)"</a>. Library of Congress Country Study. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/germany_east/gx_appnb.html">the original</a> on 1 May 2009.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Appendix+B%3A+The+Council+for+Mutual+Economic+Assistance%3A+Germany+%28East%29&rft.pub=Library+of+Congress+Country+Study&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fmemory.loc.gov%2Ffrd%2Fcs%2Fgermany_east%2Fgx_appnb.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika (New York: Harper Collins, 1987), quoted in Mark Kishlansky, ed., <i>Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization</i>, 4th ed., vol. 2 (New York: Longman, 2001), p. 322.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFScheidel2017" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Walter_Scheidel" title="Walter Scheidel">Scheidel, Walter</a> (9 January 2017). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=NgZpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA51"><i>The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century</i></a>. Princeton University Press, pages 27–86. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4008-8460-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-4008-8460-5"><bdi>978-1-4008-8460-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Great+Leveler%3A+Violence+and+the+History+of+Inequality+from+the+Stone+Age+to+the+Twenty-First+Century&rft.pub=Princeton+University+Press%2C+pages+27%E2%80%9386&rft.date=2017-01-09&rft.isbn=978-1-4008-8460-5&rft.aulast=Scheidel&rft.aufirst=Walter&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DNgZpDQAAQBAJ%26pg%3DPA51&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFThis_American_Life" class="citation web cs1">This American Life. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100415153017/http://www.pri.org/business/giant-pool-of-money.html">"NPR-The Giant Pool of Money-April 2009"</a>. Pri.org. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pri.org/business/giant-pool-of-money.html">the original</a> on 15 April 2010<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">1 May</span> 2010</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=NPR-The+Giant+Pool+of+Money-April+2009&rft.pub=Pri.org&rft.au=This+American+Life&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pri.org%2Fbusiness%2Fgiant-pool-of-money.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">In December 2008, the <a href="/wiki/National_Bureau_of_Economic_Research" title="National Bureau of Economic Research">National Bureau of Economic Research</a> (NBER) declared that the United States had been in recession since December 2007. See <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFIsidore2008" class="citation news cs1">Isidore, Chris (1 December 2008). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://money.cnn.com/2008/12/01/news/economy/recession/index.htm?postversion=2008120112">"It's official: Recession since December '07"</a>. CNN<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">10 April</span> 2009</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=It%27s+official%3A+Recession+since+December+%2707&rft.date=2008-12-01&rft.aulast=Isidore&rft.aufirst=Chris&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2F2008%2F12%2F01%2Fnews%2Feconomy%2Frecession%2Findex.htm%3Fpostversion%3D2008120112&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span> for more information.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHulbert2010" class="citation news cs1">Hulbert, Mark (15 July 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203983104575367471896032724.html?mod=googlenews_barrons">"It's Dippy to Fret About a Double-Dip Recession"</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=It%27s+Dippy+to+Fret+About+a+Double-Dip+Recession&rft.date=2010-07-15&rft.aulast=Hulbert&rft.aufirst=Mark&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.barrons.com%2Farticle%2FSB50001424052970203983104575367471896032724.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_barrons&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMishkin2008" class="citation speech cs1">Mishkin, Fredric S. (15 May 2008). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/mishkin20080515a.htm"><i>How Should We Respond to Asset Price Bubbles?</i></a> (Speech)<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">18 April</span> 2009</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=How+Should+We+Respond+to+Asset+Price+Bubbles%3F&rft.date=2008-05-15&rft.aulast=Mishkin&rft.aufirst=Fredric+S.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.federalreserve.gov%2Fnewsevents%2Fspeech%2Fmishkin20080515a.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-27">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFWessel2010" class="citation news cs1">Wessel, David (8 April 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303591204575169693166352882">"Did 'Great Recession' Live Up to the Name?"</a>. <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+Wall+Street+Journal&rft.atitle=Did+%27Great+Recession%27+Live+Up+to+the+Name%3F&rft.date=2010-04-08&rft.aulast=Wessel&rft.aufirst=David&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2FSB10001424052702303591204575169693166352882&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFJuliana_KaplanLauren_FriasMorgan_McFall-Johnsen2020" class="citation news cs1">Juliana Kaplan; Lauren Frias; Morgan McFall-Johnsen (14 March 2020). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-on-lockdown-coronavirus-italy-2020-3">"A third of the global population is on coronavirus lockdown – here's our constantly updated list of countries and restrictions"</a>. <i>Business Insider Australia</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 April</span> 2020</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Business+Insider+Australia&rft.atitle=A+third+of+the+global+population+is+on+coronavirus+lockdown+%E2%80%93+here%27s+our+constantly+updated+list+of+countries+and+restrictions&rft.date=2020-03-14&rft.au=Juliana+Kaplan&rft.au=Lauren+Frias&rft.au=Morgan+McFall-Johnsen&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fcountries-on-lockdown-coronavirus-italy-2020-3&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-29">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFPritchett2006" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Lant_Pritchett" title="Lant Pritchett">Pritchett, Lant</a> (2006). 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Brookings Institution Press. pp. 1–56. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25063204">25063204</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Boom+Towns+and+Ghost+Countries%3A+Geography%2C+Agglomeration%2C+and+Population+Mobility&rft.btitle=Brookings+Trade+Forum&rft.pages=1-56&rft.pub=Brookings+Institution+Press&rft.date=2006&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F25063204%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.aulast=Pritchett&rft.aufirst=Lant&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-30">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHope2012" class="citation journal cs1">Hope, Kempe Ronald (2012). 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Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2005/05/18/mobile-subcribers-worldwide">the original</a> on 19 January 2008<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">31 December</span> 2008</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=MobileTracker+Cell+Phone+News+and+Reviews&rft.atitle=Total+mobile+subscribers+top+1.8+billion&rft.date=2005-05-18&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobiletracker.net%2Farchives%2F2005%2F05%2F18%2Fmobile-subcribers-worldwide&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-36"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-36">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">This is above the nominal <a href="/wiki/Edge_of_space" class="mw-redirect" title="Edge of space">edge of space</a> at 100 km (62 mi) Earth's altitude. See also: <a href="/wiki/Turbopause" title="Turbopause">Turbopause</a>; <a href="/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit" title="Low Earth orbit">Low</a>, <a href="/wiki/Medium_Earth_orbit" title="Medium Earth orbit">Medium</a>, and <a href="/wiki/High_Earth_orbit" title="High Earth orbit">High Earth orbit</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-37"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-37">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">There are many different methods, in conventional and unconventional propulsion systems. Each method has drawbacks and advantages, and spacecraft propulsion is an active area of research. However, most spacecraft today are propelled by forcing a gas from the back/rear of the vehicle at very high speed through a <a href="/wiki/Rocket_engine_nozzle" title="Rocket engine nozzle">supersonic de Laval nozzle</a>. This sort of engine is called a <a href="/wiki/Rocket_engine" title="Rocket engine">rocket engine</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-38"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-38">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18702455">"Higgs boson-like particle discovery claimed at LHC"</a>. <i>BBC News</i>. 4 July 2012. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180731153930/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18702455">Archived</a> from the original on 31 July 2018<span class="reference-accessdate">. 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BBC News. 14 September 2007.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-45"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-45">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">BBC News "Plain Sailing on the Northwest Passage"</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-46"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-46">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKeating2009" class="citation web cs1">Keating, Joshua E. (December 2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140907221245/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_top_10_stories_you_missed_in_2009">"The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2009: A few ways the world changed while you weren't looking"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Foreign_Policy" title="Foreign Policy">Foreign Policy</a></i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_top_10_stories_you_missed_in_2009">the original</a> on 7 September 2014<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">6 March</span> 2017</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Foreign+Policy&rft.atitle=The+Top+10+Stories+You+Missed+in+2009%3A+A+few+ways+the+world+changed+while+you+weren%27t+looking&rft.date=2009-12&rft.aulast=Keating&rft.aufirst=Joshua+E.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fforeignpolicy.com%2Farticles%2F2009%2F11%2F30%2Fthe_top_10_stories_you_missed_in_2009&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-47"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-47">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/the-global-crisis-of-our-time-the-long-term-impacts-of-covid-19">The Global Crisis of Our Time: The Long-Term Impacts of COVID-19</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210127230853/https://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/the-global-crisis-of-our-time-the-long-term-impacts-of-covid-19">Archived</a> 27 January 2021 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>, <i>Oxford Research Group</i></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: Further reading"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Bell, P. M. H. and Mark Gilbert. <i>The World Since 1945: An International History</i> (2nd ed. 2017), 584pp <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.amazon.com/World-Since-1945-International-History/dp/1472524756/">excerpt</a></li> <li>Boyd, Andrew, Joshua Comenetz. <i> An atlas of world affairs</i> (2007) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=P1dly1ikblUC">excerpt</a>. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-415-39169-5" title="Special:BookSources/0-415-39169-5">0-415-39169-5</a></li> <li>Briggs, Asa, and Peter Burke. <i>A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet</i> (2002) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kIhzo0ze7vsC">excerpt</a>.</li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGaddis2005" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/John_Lewis_Gaddis" title="John Lewis Gaddis">Gaddis, John Lewis</a> (2005). <i>The Cold War: A New History</i>. Penguin Books.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Cold+War%3A+A+New+History&rft.pub=Penguin+Books&rft.date=2005&rft.aulast=Gaddis&rft.aufirst=John+Lewis&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AContemporary+history" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li>Hunt, Michael H. <i>The World Transformed: 1945 to the Present</i> (2nd ed. 2015) 624pp <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199371020/">website</a></li> <li>Hunt, Michael H. ed., <i>The World Transformed, 1945 to the Present: A Documentary Reader</i> (2nd ed. 2001) primary sources <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.amazon.com/World-Transformed-1945-Present-Documentary/dp/0199371032/">excerpts</a></li> <li>McWilliams, Wayne C. and Harry Piotrowski. <i>The World Since 1945: A History of International Relations</i> (8th ed. 2014), 620pp</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Contemporary_history&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1237033735">@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox{display:none!important}}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right plainlinks sistersitebox"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png" decoding="async" width="30" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/45px-Commons-logo.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/59px-Commons-logo.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="1024" data-file-height="1376" /></span></span></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikimedia Commons has media related to <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Contemporary_history" class="extiw" title="commons:Category:Contemporary history">Contemporary history</a></span>.</div></div> </div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/modsbook.asp">Internet Modern History Sourcebook</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20141009014126/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.asp">Archived</a> 9 October 2014 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> at <a href="/wiki/Fordham_University" title="Fordham University">Fordham University</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://jch.sagepub.com/"><i>Journal of Contemporary History</i></a>. SAGE Publications. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:1461-7250">1461-7250</a> (Print <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0022-0094">0022-0094</a>)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090321072022/http://www.ohiou.edu/conhist/">Contemporary History Institute (CHI)</a>. ohiou.edu (ed., Analyzes the contemporary period in world affairs—the period from World War II to the present—from an interdisciplinary historical perspective.)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17858981">Soviet Union Timeline</a> on <i><a href="/wiki/BBC" title="BBC">BBC</a></i></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output 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dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Western_world_and_culture" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Western_world" title="Template:Western world"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Western_world" title="Template talk:Western world"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Western_world" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Western world"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Western_world_and_culture" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Western_world" title="Western world">Western world</a> and <a href="/wiki/Western_culture" title="Western culture">culture</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Foundations</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Cradle_of_civilization" title="Cradle of civilization">Cradle of civilization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Old_World" title="Old World">Old World</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Greco-Roman_world" title="Greco-Roman world">Greco-Roman world</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greece" title="Ancient Greece">Greece</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hellenistic_period" title="Hellenistic period">Hellenistic Kingdoms</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Rome" title="Ancient Rome">Rome</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Roman_Empire" title="Roman Empire">Roman Empire</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Western_Roman_Empire" title="Western Roman Empire">Western</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Byzantine_Empire" title="Byzantine Empire">Eastern</a></li></ul></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Legacy_of_the_Roman_Empire" title="Legacy of the Roman Empire">Roman legacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Romanization_(cultural)" title="Romanization (cultural)">Romanization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Romano-Germanic_culture" title="Romano-Germanic culture">Romano-Germanic culture</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Gallo-Roman_culture" title="Gallo-Roman culture">Gallo-Roman</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Christendom" title="Christendom">Christendom</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/History_of_Western_civilization" title="History of Western civilization">History</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Bronze_Age_Europe" title="Bronze Age Europe">European Bronze Age</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Classical_antiquity" title="Classical antiquity">Classical antiquity</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Late_antiquity" title="Late antiquity">Late antiquity</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Middle_Ages" title="Middle Ages">Middle Ages</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Early_Middle_Ages" title="Early Middle Ages">early</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/High_Middle_Ages" title="High Middle Ages">high</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Late_Middle_Ages" title="Late Middle Ages">late</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Renaissance" title="Renaissance">Renaissance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modern_period" class="mw-redirect" title="Modern period">Modern period</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Early_modern_period" title="Early modern period">Early modern period</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Age_of_Discovery" title="Age of Discovery">Age of Discovery</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reformation" title="Reformation">Reformation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment" title="Age of Enlightenment">Age of Enlightenment</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scientific_Revolution" title="Scientific Revolution">Scientific Revolution</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Age_of_Revolution" title="Age of Revolution">Age of Revolution</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Romanticism" title="Romanticism">Romanticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Abolitionism" title="Abolitionism">Abolitionism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Emancipation" title="Emancipation">Emancipation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Capitalism" title="Capitalism">Capitalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Industrial_Revolution" title="Industrial Revolution">Industrial Revolution</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Great_Divergence" title="Great Divergence">Great Divergence</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modernism" title="Modernism">Modernism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/World_War_I" title="World War I">World War I</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interwar_period" title="Interwar period">Interwar period</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Universal_suffrage" title="Universal suffrage">Universal suffrage</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/World_War_II" title="World War II">World War II</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cold_War" title="Cold War">Cold War</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Post%E2%80%93Cold_War_era" title="Post–Cold War era">Post–Cold War era</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Information_Age" title="Information Age">Information age</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/War_on_terror" title="War on terror">War on terror</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Western_culture" title="Western culture">Culture</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">Alphabet</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Latin_script" title="Latin script">Latin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cyrillic_script" title="Cyrillic script">Cyrillic</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Architecture" title="Architecture">Architecture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Art_of_Europe" title="Art of Europe">Art</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Periods_in_Western_art_history" title="Periods in Western art history">Periods</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gregorian_calendar" title="Gregorian calendar">Calendar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_cuisine" title="European cuisine">Cuisine</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Western_pattern_diet" title="Western pattern diet">Diet</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Classical_tradition" title="Classical tradition">Classical tradition</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Classics" title="Classics">Studies</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_dress_codes" title="Western dress codes">Clothing</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_Western_fashion" title="History of Western fashion">History</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_dance_(Europe_and_North_America)" class="mw-redirect" title="Western dance (Europe and North America)">Dance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_education" title="Western education">Education</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_esotericism" title="Western esotericism">Esotericism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Western_astrology" title="Western astrology">Astrology</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_folklore" title="European folklore">Folklore</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Immigration_to_the_Western_world" title="Immigration to the Western world">Immigration</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_law" title="Western law">Law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Languages_of_Europe" title="Languages of Europe">Languages</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Eurolinguistics" title="Eurolinguistics">Eurolinguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Standard_Average_European" title="Standard Average European">Standard Average European</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_literature" title="Western literature">Literature</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Western_canon" title="Western canon">Canon</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_media" title="Western media">Media</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Internet" title="Internet">Internet</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Music" title="Music">Music</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Chant" title="Chant">Chant</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Classical_music" title="Classical music">Classical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_European_folk_music_traditions" title="List of European folk music traditions">Folk</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_mythology" class="mw-redirect" title="European mythology">Mythology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_painting" title="Western painting">Painting</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/20th-century_Western_painting" title="20th-century Western painting">contemporary</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_philosophy" title="Western philosophy">Philosophy</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_science" title="Philosophy of science">Science</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Values_(Western_philosophy)" title="Values (Western philosophy)">Values</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_physical_culture" title="Western physical culture">Physical culture</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Western_sports" title="Western sports">Sport</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_religions" title="Western religions">Religion</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism" title="East–West Schism">East–West Schism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_Christianity" title="Western Christianity">Western Christianity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Decline_of_Christianity_in_the_Western_world" title="Decline of Christianity in the Western world">Decline</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Secularism" title="Secularism">Secularism</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Western_philosophy" title="Western philosophy">Philosophy</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek_philosophy" title="Ancient Greek philosophy">Ancient Greek philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hellenistic_philosophy" title="Hellenistic philosophy">Hellenistic philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Roman_philosophy" title="Ancient Roman philosophy">Ancient Roman philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Christian_ethics" title="Christian ethics">Christian ethics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Judeo-Christian_ethics" title="Judeo-Christian ethics">Judeo-Christian ethics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Christian_philosophy" title="Christian philosophy">Christian philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scholasticism" title="Scholasticism">Scholasticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rationalism" title="Rationalism">Rationalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Empiricism" title="Empiricism">Empiricism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Existentialism" title="Existentialism">Existentialism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Christian_existentialism" title="Christian existentialism">Christian existentialism</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Humanism" title="Humanism">Humanism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Christian_humanism" title="Christian humanism">Christian humanism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Secular_humanism" title="Secular humanism">Secular humanism</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Liberalism" title="Liberalism">Liberalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conservatism" title="Conservatism">Conservatism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Socialism" title="Socialism">Socialism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Continental_philosophy" title="Continental philosophy">Continental philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Analytic_philosophy" title="Analytic philosophy">Analytic philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Post-structuralism" title="Post-structuralism">Post-structuralism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Toleration" title="Toleration">Tolerance</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance" title="Paradox of tolerance">Paradox</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Relativism" title="Relativism">Relativism</a> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Peritrope" title="Peritrope">Peritrope</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atlanticism" title="Atlanticism">Atlanticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sovereigntism" title="Sovereigntism">Sovereigntism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_values" title="Western values">Values</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/European_values" title="European values">European</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Western_religions" title="Western religions">Religion</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Abrahamic_religions" title="Abrahamic religions">Abrahamic</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity">Christianity</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Christian_culture" title="Christian culture">Culture</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Western_Christianity" title="Western Christianity">Western</a>/<a href="/wiki/Eastern_Christianity" title="Eastern Christianity">Eastern</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Catholic_Church" title="Catholic Church">Catholicism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Latin_Church" title="Latin Church">Latin Church</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eastern_Orthodoxy" title="Eastern Orthodoxy">Eastern Orthodoxy</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Greek_Orthodox_Church" title="Greek Orthodox Church">Greek Orthodox Church</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Protestantism" title="Protestantism">Protestantism</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Judaism" title="Judaism">Judaism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Jewish_culture" title="Jewish culture">Culture</a></li></ul></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paganism" title="Paganism">Paganism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Baltic_mythology" title="Baltic mythology">Baltic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Celtic_religion" title="Ancient Celtic religion">Celtic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Finnish_paganism" class="mw-redirect" title="Finnish paganism">Finnish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Germanic_paganism" title="Germanic paganism">Germanic</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_paganism" title="Anglo-Saxon paganism">Anglo-Saxon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Frankish_mythology" class="mw-redirect" title="Frankish mythology">Frankish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gothic_paganism" title="Gothic paganism">Gothic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Old_Norse_religion" title="Old Norse religion">Old Norse</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hellenistic_religion" title="Hellenistic religion">Hellenistic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Religion_in_ancient_Rome" title="Religion in ancient Rome">Roman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Slavic_paganism" title="Slavic paganism">Slavic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modern_paganism" title="Modern paganism">Neo</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Agnosticism" title="Agnosticism">Agnosticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atheism" title="Atheism">Atheism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Western_law" title="Western law">Law</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Natural_law" title="Natural law">Natural law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rule_of_law" title="Rule of law">Rule of law</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Equality_before_the_law" title="Equality before the law">Equality before the law</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Constitutionalism" title="Constitutionalism">Constitutionalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Human_rights" title="Human rights">Human rights</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Right_to_life" title="Right to life">Life</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Freedom_of_thought" title="Freedom of thought">Thought</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Freedom_of_speech" title="Freedom of speech">Speech</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press" title="Freedom of the press">Press</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Freedom_of_religion" title="Freedom of religion">Religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Right_to_property" title="Right to property">Property</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Democracy" title="Democracy">Democracy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/International_law" title="International law">International law</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Contemporary<br />integration</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/ABCANZ_Armies" title="ABCANZ Armies">ABCANZ Armies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Assembly_of_European_Regions" title="Assembly of European Regions">AER</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance" title="Anglo-Portuguese Alliance">Anglo-Portuguese Alliance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/ANZUK" title="ANZUK">ANZUK</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/ANZUS" title="ANZUS">ANZUS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arctic_Council" title="Arctic Council">Arctic Council</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/AUKUS" title="AUKUS">AUKUS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/AUSCANNZUKUS" title="AUSCANNZUKUS">AUSCANNZUKUS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Baltic_Assembly" title="Baltic Assembly">Baltic Assembly</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Benelux" title="Benelux">Benelux</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/British%E2%80%93Irish_Council" title="British–Irish Council">British–Irish Council</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Organization_of_the_Black_Sea_Economic_Cooperation" title="Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation">BSEC</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bucharest_Nine" title="Bucharest Nine">Bucharest Nine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/CANZUK" title="CANZUK">CANZUK</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Council_of_the_Baltic_Sea_States" title="Council of the Baltic Sea States">CBSS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Central_European_Free_Trade_Agreement" title="Central European Free Trade Agreement">CEFTA</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Council_of_Europe" title="Council of Europe">Council of Europe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Craiova_Group" title="Craiova Group">Craiova Group</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eastern_European_Group" title="Eastern European Group">Eastern European Group</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eastern_Partnership" title="Eastern Partnership">Eastern Partnership</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_Economic_Area" title="European Economic Area">EEA</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_Free_Trade_Association" title="European Free Trade Association">EFTA</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_Political_Community" title="European Political Community">EPC</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_Space_Agency" title="European Space Agency">ESA</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_Union" title="European Union">EU</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_Union_Customs_Union" title="European Union Customs Union">EU Customs Union</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eurozone" title="Eurozone">Eurozone</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/EU%E2%80%93UK_Trade_and_Cooperation_Agreement" title="EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement">EU–UK TCA</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Five_Eyes" title="Five Eyes">Five Eyes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/G7" title="G7">G7</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lancaster_House_Treaties" title="Lancaster House Treaties">Lancaster House Treaties</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lublin_Triangle" title="Lublin Triangle">Lublin Triangle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/NATO" title="NATO">NATO</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nordic_Council" title="Nordic Council">Nordic Council</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Organization_of_American_States" title="Organization of American States">OAS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open_Balkan" title="Open Balkan">Open Balkan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Organization_for_Security_and_Co-operation_in_Europe" title="Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe">OSCE</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pacific_Islands_Forum" title="Pacific Islands Forum">Pacific Islands Forum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Forum_for_the_Progress_and_Integration_of_South_America" title="Forum for the Progress and Integration of South America">PROSUR/PROSUL</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inter-American_Treaty_of_Reciprocal_Assistance" 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