The Remarkable 20th Century

A decade significantly defined by what was then the most deathly and international war in human history, the 1910's served as a sort of experiment in modernity's treatment of national identity, especially with respect to one another. A global war that dominated all facets of life in all continents, the transitioning dichotomies established and in many ways defined the cultures that grew to symbolize the decades that followed on both local and continental levels. Naturally, equivalent progressions were demanded by the times in parallel fields, such as art, philosophy and science. Over a decade that necessitated perpetual improvements in all industries upstaged by the backdrop of a worldwide catastrophe.

In the years following the "War to End All Wars," countries that were already amid reforming their semblances of peacetime, found themselves confronted with the need to reinvent and solidify decidedly solidified cultural identities. The increasing accessibility of the media, its accompanying information, and views into the everyday near and abroad, citizens of all nationalities were exposed to information on a regular basis in ways that had never been possible prior. Fads took the world by storm, influencing culture and inherently the consumers of those cultures from the way they dressed, to the way they shopped, to the places they traveled.

Following a seemingly worldwide regression, a decidedly active collective effort initiated to establish and balance the increasingly unpredictable nature of modernity. Global uncertainty enabled rises to power from idealistic sources who completely dismantled staples of world culture for the inevitably adverse ways that contemporary society leaned towards. Charismatic leaders from nations from the US, to the UK, to Germany, to Russia, took advantage of this massive vacuum of uncertainty and rose to power, to mixed results. New world orders dominated what had otherwise been a static and (recently) stagnant global fluidity, instead opting for their idealistic visions of preferred ways of life.

A decade intrinsically linked to the infamous iconography that defined it, the 1940's have become almost synonymous with all things WWII and Holocaust-related. Managing to eclipse the damage of even its predecessor WW1, the entire ordeal immediately affected every element of human life on Earth, establishing future policies and alliances for generations to come. In a span of years known overwhelmingly for the international carnage that nearly negated the years of social and economic progress since the last World War, the 1940's forced the natural order of things to reevaluate themselves and adapt to an era full of perpetually evolving complications in the eternal search for global peace.

With cultures and world identities solidifying themselves identifiers later recognized as staples of the times (and the countries) beginning to form, the 1950's became a widely identifiable starting point of what we now colloquially refer to as pop culture. With television graduating to a commonplace medium for information to reach the indiscriminate masses, information becomes more easily available than ever, and accordingly public awareness takes on a considerable role in public perception, naturally. With mongered fears spreading about foreign ideals and plans to infiltrate one another's ways of life, nationalism began to provoke a more direct reaction in the form of communal energy being channeled towards defending national ways from perceived outside influence.

The 1960's served as a pivotal transition period, filled with revolutions ranging from social to governmental. With disillusionment growing towards the many outdated facets of contemporary life, protests and systematic demands for change instigated transformations to the worldscape on both local and global levels. Popular culture and the ever-increasing accessibility to televised news of the changing world, inspired great change in the stapled fixtures of life. Subcultures grew, largely out of the vocal dissatisfaction with what felt like cultures of violence, and in the process faces of change lost their lives for suggesting change. This installment in the series delves into the social upheavals dictating the eclectic decade of mass social evolution.

The 1970's were marred by an escalating number of international disputes, many of which resulted in wars or loosely-defined wars. International alliances came into existence due to widespread paranoia and a perceived distrust of adverse ways of life both next door an across the oceans. With tensions mounting over America's imperial presence in all corners of the planet, combined with juxtaposing dissatisfactions over domestic policy, fear was a recursive staple of daily life in what would be known as a decade of military upheaval, many with no clear good guys and bad guys.

The 1980's were a time of technological progress, which naturally implemented changes ranging from oppressive regimes to improvements in daily life. Following years of tumultuous violence between competing parties for control over respective regions, the advent of the personal computer allotted personal responsibility for one's familiarity and involvement with the rapidly transitioning state of the world and those who dictate its direction. Discontent with the paths of self-elected leaders filling pockets of uncertainty with their own agendas, various uprisings around the world demonstrated the powers behind the voices who yelled for change. Populaces demanded the best that they felt were conceivable, and a widespread need to rid the combative regimes of their fascist stems led to innumerable changes, most notably the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

With the turn of a new century breathing down its neck, the 1990's were recognizable by the inevitable presence of a new millenium breathing down its neck. Though fears existed of impending doom following such a famously uneven century comprised of progressively transformative laws, borders, and mentalities, the last few years of the 1900's served as a pocket of time for establishments to make sense of themselves, make informed decisions about which paths were the most resonant going forward, and prepare for what was already presumed to be an unfathomably unrecognizable period quickly approaching. With science and technology's capabilities amplifying with each given year, the 1990's were ideal as any for active choices to be made on what future the world wanted going forward, especially in light of the past 100 years of trial and error as evidence.