Scientific events of the 20th century. Where did the general misconception come from?

The history of the 20th century was full of events of a very different nature - there were both great discoveries and great disasters. States were created and destroyed, and revolutions and civil wars forced people to leave their homes to go to foreign lands, but to save their lives. In art, the twentieth century also left an indelible mark, completely updating it and creating completely new directions and schools. There were great achievements in science as well.

World history of the 20th century

The 20th century began for Europe with very sad events - the Russo-Japanese War happened, and in Russia in 1905 the first revolution, albeit one that ended in failure, took place. This was the first war in the history of the 20th century in which weapons such as destroyers, battleships and heavy long-range artillery were used.

The Russian Empire lost this war and suffered colossal human, financial and territorial losses. However, to enter into peace negotiations Russian government it was decided only when more than two billion rubles in gold were spent from the treasury on the war - a sum that is still fantastic today, but in those days simply unthinkable.

In the context of global history, this war was just another clash colonial powers in the struggle for the territory of a weakened neighbor, and the role of the victim fell to the weakening Chinese Empire.

Russian Revolution and its consequences

Some of the most significant events Of the 20th century, of course, there were the February and October revolutions. The fall of the monarchy in Russia triggered a series of unexpected and incredibly powerful events. The liquidation of the empire was followed by the defeat of Russia in the First World War, the separation from it of such countries as Poland, Finland, Ukraine and the countries of the Caucasus.

For Europe, the revolution and the subsequent Civil War also did not pass without a trace. The Ottoman Empire, liquidated in 1922, also ceased to exist. German Empire in 1918. Austro-Hungarian Empire existed until 1918 and broke up into several independent states.

However, within Russia, calm did not come immediately after the revolution. The civil war lasted until 1922 and ended with the creation of the USSR, the collapse of which in 1991 would be another important event.

First World War

This war was the first so-called trench warfare, in which huge amount time was spent not so much on moving troops forward and capturing cities, but on meaningless waiting in the trenches.

In addition, artillery was used en masse, chemical weapons were used for the first time, and gas masks were invented. Another important feature began the use of combat aviation, the formation of which actually took place during hostilities, although aviator schools were created several years before its start. Along with aviation, forces were created that were supposed to fight it. This is how the air defense troops appeared.

Developments in information and communications technology have also found their way onto the battlefield. Information began to be transmitted from headquarters to the front tens of times faster thanks to the construction of telegraph lines.

But not only on development material culture and technology affected this terrible war. There was also a place for it in art. The twentieth century for culture became one turning point, when many old forms were rejected and new ones replaced them.

Arts and literature

Culture on the eve of the First World War experienced an unprecedented rise, which resulted in the creation of the most different trends both in literature and in painting, sculpture and cinema.

Perhaps the brightest and one of the most well known artistic directions there was futurism in art. Under this name it is customary to unite a number of movements in literature, painting, sculpture and cinema, which trace their genealogy to the famous manifesto of Futurism, written by the Italian poet Marinetti.

Futurism became most widespread, along with Italy, in Russia, where such literary communities of futurists as “Gilea” and OBERIU appeared, the largest representatives of which were Khlebnikov, Mayakovsky, Kharms, Severyanin and Zabolotsky.

As for the fine arts, pictorial futurism had Fauvism as its foundation, while also borrowing a lot from the then popular cubism, which was born in France at the beginning of the century. In the 20th century, the history of art and politics are inextricably linked, as many avant-garde writers, painters and filmmakers drew up their own plans for the reconstruction of the society of the future.

World War II

The history of the 20th century cannot be complete without a story about the most catastrophic event - the Second World War, which began a year ago and lasted until September 2, 1945. All the horrors that accompanied the war left an indelible mark on the memory of mankind.

Russia in the 20th century, like other European countries, experienced many terrible events, but none of them can compare in their consequences with the Great Patriotic War, which was part of the Second World War. According to various sources, the number of war victims in the USSR reached twenty million people. This number includes both military and civilian residents of the country, as well as numerous victims of the siege of Leningrad.

Cold War with Former Allies

Sixty-two sovereign states out of seventy-three that existed at that time were drawn into hostilities on the fronts of the World War. Fighting were carried out in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the Caucasus and Atlantic Ocean, as well as beyond the Arctic Circle.

World War II and cold war followed one after another. Yesterday's allies became first rivals, and later enemies. Crises and conflicts followed one another for several decades, until Soviet Union did not cease to exist, thereby putting an end to the competition between the two systems - capitalist and socialist.

Cultural Revolution in China

If we tell the history of the twentieth century in terms state history, then it might sound like long list wars, revolutions and endless violence, often used against completely random people.

By the mid-sixties, when the world had not yet fully comprehended the consequences of the October Revolution and the Civil War in Russia, another revolution unfolded at the other end of the continent, which went down in history under the name of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

Reason Cultural Revolution In the PRC, it is generally accepted that there is an internal party split and Mao’s fear of losing his dominant position within the party hierarchy. As a result, it was decided to begin an active struggle against those party representatives who were supporters of small property and private initiative. All of them were accused of counter-revolutionary propaganda and were either shot or sent to prison. So it began mass terror, which lasted more than ten years, and the cult of personality of Mao Zedong.

Space Race

Space exploration was one of the most popular trends in the twentieth century. Although today people have already become accustomed to international cooperation in the field high technology and space exploration, at that time space was an arena of intense confrontation and fierce competition.

The first frontier for which the two superpowers fought was near-Earth orbit. Both the USA and the USSR had samples by the beginning of the fifties rocket technology, which served as prototypes for launch vehicles of later times.

Despite all the speed with which American scientists worked, Soviet rocket scientists were the first to put the cargo into orbit, and on October 4, 1957, the first man-made satellite appeared in Earth orbit, which made 1440 orbits around the planet and then burned up in dense layers atmosphere.

Also soviet engineers were the first to launch the first into orbit living creature- a dog, and later a person. In April 1961, a rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, cargo compartment which contained the Vostok-1 spaceship, in which Yuri Gagarin was. The event of launching the first man into space was risky.

In the conditions of the race, space exploration could cost an astronaut his life, since in a hurry to get ahead of the Americans, Russian engineers made a number of decisions that were quite risky from a technical point of view. However, both takeoff and landing were successful. So the USSR won the next stage of the competition, called Space Race.

Flights to the Moon

Having lost the first few stages in space exploration, American politicians and scientists decided to set themselves a more ambitious and difficult task, for which the Soviet Union might simply not have had enough resources and technical developments.

The next milestone that needed to be taken was the flight to the Moon - the natural satellite of the Earth. The project, called Apollo, was initiated in 1961 and aimed to carry out a manned expedition to the Moon and land a man on its surface.

No matter how ambitious this task seemed at the time the project began, it was solved in 1969 with the landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. IN total As part of the program, six manned flights to the earth's satellite were made.

Defeat of the socialist camp

The Cold War, as we know, ended in defeat socialist countries not only in the arms race, but also in economic competition. There is a consensus among most leading economists that the main reasons for the collapse of the USSR and the entire socialist camp were economic.

Despite the fact that in some countries there is widespread resentment regarding the events of the late eighties and early nineties, for most countries in Eastern and Central Europe the liberation from Soviet domination turned out to be extremely favorable.

The list of the most important events of the 20th century invariably contains a line mentioning the fall of Berlin Wall, which served as a physical symbol of the division of the world into two hostile camps. The date of the collapse of this symbol of totalitarianism is considered to be November 9, 1989.

Technological progress in the 20th century

The twentieth century was rich in inventions like never before technical progress didn't go that fast. Hundreds of very significant inventions and discoveries have been made in a hundred years, but a few of them are worthy of special mention because of their extreme importance for development human civilization.

One of the inventions without which modern life is unthinkable is, of course, the airplane. Despite the fact that people have dreamed of flight for many millennia, the first flight in human history was accomplished only in 1903. This achievement, fantastic in its consequences, belongs to the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Another important invention related to aviation was the backpack parachute, designed by St. Petersburg engineer Gleb Kotelnikov. It was Kotelnikov who received a patent for his invention in 1912. Also in 1910, the first seaplane was designed.

But perhaps the most terrible invention of the twentieth century was nuclear bomb, the single use of which plunged humanity into horror that has not passed to this day.

Medicine in the 20th century

Technology is also considered one of the main inventions of the 20th century artificial production penicillin, thanks to which humanity was able to get rid of many infectious diseases. The scientist who discovered the bactericidal properties of the fungus was Alexander Fleming.

All advances in medicine in the twentieth century were inextricably linked with the development of such fields of knowledge as physics and chemistry. After all, without achievements fundamental physics, chemistry or biology, the invention of the X-ray machine, chemotherapy, radiation and vitamin therapy would have been impossible.

In the 21st century, medicine is even more closely connected with high-tech branches of science and industry, which opens up truly fascinating prospects in the fight against diseases such as cancer, HIV and many other intractable diseases. It is worth noting that the discovery of the DNA helix and its subsequent decoding also allows us to hope for the possibility of curing inherited diseases.

After the USSR

Russia in the 20th century experienced many disasters, including wars, including civil ones, the collapse of the country and revolutions. At the end of the century there was another extreme important event- The Soviet Union ceased to exist, and in its place were formed sovereign states, some of which plunged into civil war or war with their neighbors, and some, like the Baltic countries, rather quickly joined the European Union and began building an effective democratic state.

The end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century - what years are these?

The end and beginning of the century are the last and first years. For example, the last 10-15 years both ways. When it comes specifically to the transition between the 19th and 20th centuries, for some reason I immediately think of Sherlock Holmes, I don’t know why. Perhaps thanks to last movie Soviet films about the famous detective.

My grandmother was born at the end of the 19th century, in 1893. And she lived 103 years. So maybe it wasn’t so bad, the 19th century.

The concept of the end of a century or the beginning of a century is very subjective, and everyone can understand it differently and in any case will be right. Most often under in recent years centuries mean its last decade, and the beginning of a century means its first decade. But if desired, this period can be extended to two decades, or fifteen years, or maybe to the last or first five years.

More precisely, we can name the second and first half of the century, also frequently occurring dates. The first half is before the age of 50, the second half is after. The decade before 50 and after is the middle of the century, although this dating cannot be exact.

The period from 1890 to 1900 is the end of the 19th century, from January 1, 1900 to 1910, the beginning of the 20th century.

Usually the last 10-15 years are called the end of the century, and the first 10-15, respectively, the beginning. For example, since we are now in 2016, it is no longer correct to say that we are still living in the early 21st century. But the zero years could be called the beginning and everyone did.

So, the end of the 19th century - from about 1885, and the beginning of the twentieth - until 1915.

The 19th century is a very beautiful century. But just like everyone else.

It continued according to the Gregorian calendar from 1801 to 1900 including it. Like all centuries, it lasted exactly 100 years.

This is an age with beautiful huge dresses and uncomfortable corsets. I really like the way people dressed at that time, but I understand that the burden was very heavy!

The 20th century accordingly began on January 1, 1901 and lasted until December 31, 2000.

The end of the century is approximately 20-30 years before the end, and the beginning is 20-30 years after the beginning of the century. Said a little chaotically)

It turns out that the end of the century begins in 1870-1880, and the beginning of the 20th century is 1920-1930. Mid is 50s.

And we now live in the beginning of the 21st century.

There is no exact definition of the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries; this period of time can only be approximately designated. Similar expressions historians use in their research in cases where the dates of individual events are blurred. Most often, the end of the 19th century is determined by the last decade of the century, and the beginning of the 20th century by the first. So the time period from 1890 to 1910 can be considered the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, albeit conditionally.

When they say the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, they mean that exact year unknown and the date is approximate, or so they say about some event that lasted several years. In my opinion, this period includes the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, that is, the period from 1890 to 1910. But this, I repeat, is very approximately, it could be the period from 1880 to 1920 or even 1870-1930, depending on the context. The sixties of the 19th century and the forties of the 20th century can no longer be considered the beginning, but the middle of the century.

Late 19th century, it will be the end of the century, they usually talk about the end of the century about the years from 1880 and up to 1900 inclusive- it's still the 19th century, eh The 20th century begins from 1901 to 2000 od, but the next year 2001 is already the 21st century.

Really interesting. The period of time that is understood by the concept of the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century is quite vague. Let's first define what is commonly understood by date - the 19th and 20th centuries?

The 19th century is considered from 01/01/1801 to 12/31/1900.

The 20th century is considered from 01/01/1901 to 12/31/2000.

Based on this, it turns out that, expressed late 19th century - early 20th century, the authors mean time period between 1880 and 1920. Most often, this expression can be used in connection with the years of life of some scientific or literary figure. Thus, the years of his life or the discovery he made will fall on these dates.

Considering that the 19th century (century) falls on the years from 1800 to 1899, and the 20th - from 1900 to 1999, it becomes immediately clear which years belong to the end and which to the beginning.

As a rule, the run-up takes about ten years.

Thus, when answering the question, you should indicate the range

Perhaps these are years that belong to the 19th century, this is 1880 to December 31, 1899. Well, from January 1, 1900, the twentieth century begins and its beginning is also about 20 years. Around 1920, and then it already refers to the middle of the 20th century.

We have been living in the twenty-first century for more than 10 years now, and almost no one thinks about why we are equipped with everything that makes our lives easier and more comfortable. Why is current science and society so developed, where did all this come from? The answer to this question is very simple - the entire revolution and construction modern society, discoveries that made it possible to soar almost to the heights of science occurred over the course of a hundred years.

One hundred years of the 20th century, a rather long and sometimes terrible time. Sometimes, without knowing, people ask: 20th century, what years are these? But when ignorant people answer: the 20th century began in 1900 and ended in 1999, they are mistaken. In fact, the 20th century began on January 1, 1901, and ended on December 31, 2000. Let's start with a classification of the main concepts and events of the 20th century.

Chronology

• Industrialization is the development of new technologies in the production process. The quality and efficiency of enterprises, the quantity of raw materials produced are improving, there are fewer accidents and industrial accidents, and the abandonment of manufactories. Enterprises are beginning to operate at a completely new level, increasing not only the quality of life of the population, but also the amount of profit for states.
• First World War - (1914 - 1918). One of the most large-scale military conflicts in the entire history of mankind. The result of the war was the end of the existence of four empires - Austro-Hungarian, German, Russian and Ottoman. The countries that took part in the battles lost over 22 million people.
• The creation of the USSR took place in 1922, then one of the greatest powers that ever existed was born, which embraced huge territory 15 modern states.
• Great Depression- a worldwide economic crisis that began in 1929 and ended in 1939. Most affected industrial cities, in some countries construction has practically stopped.
• The construction of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes is the construction by some states of regimes leading to complete totalitarian control over the population, truncation of human rights, and genocide.
• Revolutionaries saw the world medicines- penicillin and sulfonamides, antibiotics, vaccines against polio, typhus, whooping cough, and diphtheria were invented. All of these drugs have dramatically reduced the number of deaths from various infectious diseases.
• The Holodomor of 1932-1933 is an artificial genocide Ukrainian people, which Joseph Stalin provoked with his repressions. It claimed the lives of about 4 million people.
• If you ask any person what the 20th century was like, you can quickly get the answer - a century of wars and bloodshed. In 1939, the Second World War began, which became biggest war throughout the history of mankind. More than 60 states, about 80% of the planet's population, took part in it. 65 million people died.
• The creation of the UN - an organization that strengthens peace and prevents wars, to this day
• Decolonization - the liberation of a number of countries from colonial invaders, at that time powerful countries weakened by the Second World War.
• The scientific and technological revolution is the transformation of science into a productive force, during which the role of information in society has grown.
• The Atomic Age - Beginning to Apply nuclear weapons, nuclear reactions as a source of electricity.
• Conquest of space - flights to Mars, Venus, the Moon.
• Mass motorization and the use of jet aircraft as civilian ones.
• Massive use of antidepressants and contraceptives.
• The Cold War between the giant countries - the USA and the USSR.
• Creation of the NATO bloc.
• Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Bloc.
• Spread of international terrorism.
• Development of communication and information technology, radio, telephones, Internet and television are widely used.
• Creation of the European Union.

What are the most famous writers of the 20th century?

What are the most impressive achievements of the 20th century?

Definitely, revolutionary inventions can be called achievements, among which the most impressive were:

• Airplane (1903).
• Steam turbine (1904).
• Superconductivity (1912).
• Television (1925).
• Antibiotics (1940).
• Computer (1941).
• Nuclear Power Plant (1954).
• Sputnik (1957).
• Internet (1969).
• Mobile Phone (1983).
• Cloning (1997).

XX, what century is this? First of all, this is the century scientific progress, the formation of many states, the destruction of Nazism, and everything that helps you and me move forward into the future, without forgetting the past, which has become the determining factor in our development.

Culture, science, technology and medicine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Massive social movements XX century steel:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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