Modern Life
1700 to Now
The World We Live In
The world so many of us take for granted is less than 500 years old. It is not only electricity, cars, air travel, the internet and television that are new. Women's suffrage, the exploration of space, a world-wide telecommunications system, atomic and nuclear energy, and global terrorism are less than a century old.
The future, with all its mysterious possibilities, lies before us.
Steam and the Industrial Age
1765
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In 1763, a Scottish engineer named James Watt harnessed the energy of steam and put it to the service of manufacturing. The steam engine un-tethered mills from the stream-side and factories moved close to their sources of supply and commerce in the cites. When steam locomotives were used to power railway systems, it revolutionized land transport. Then the steamship did the same for shipping, freeing it from the unreliability of wind power.
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American Independence and Democracy
1776
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In 1776, 13 American colonies declared their independence from Britain, fought the Revolutionary War and wrote a constitution for a democracy based on equal rights for all. Admittedly, "all" was something of an overstatement since it excluded women, non-landowners, Native Americans and blacks. It took the Civil War in 1865 before slaves were even theoretically granted the rights of citizenship, and the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote was not passed until 1920. Yet it was government subject to a constitution and majority rule, designed to protect the rights of minorities and promote religious tolerance. |
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James Madison, the Fourth President of the United States is regarded as the father of the constitution.
Height of European Empire
1901
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During the reign of Britain's Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901, Britain, America and European powers continued to industrialize. Railroads, oil pipelines, major highways and electricity were components of this process. |
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Global trade burgeoned, radio, telephone and telegraph were revolutionizing communications, and Henry Ford's Model T was about to revolutionize transportation. The United States had expanded from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast, but it was the huge British Empire that contained one in five of the world's population that looked unassailable. Few guessed that in less than half a century it would be in tatters.
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World Wars
1914
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For centuries, European nations had fought over territory, trade, and religion. So when another war began in 1914 with Britain, France and Russia against Germany and Austria, it did not seem very different. But it was. Trench warfare and tanks, aircraft and submarines, machine guns and mustard gas killed 8 million troops and 6.5 million civilians in the four years of World War l. |
After the war a world flu pandemic killed up to twice as many people again. During World War ll, 22 million soldiers and 28 million civilians died, 14 million in German concentration camps. When the war ended the world was left with the ashes of the atom bomb dropped on Japan.
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Post-War 20th Century
1945
When World War ll ended, the world stood appalled before the almost unimaginable destruction humans had wrought and determined it should never happen gain. European domination was replaced by America and Russia, two superpowers staring across the chasm of the Cold War for the next 45 years. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many thought capitalism would be embraced everywhere. Instead, the new millennium opened with "9/11" an assault striking at the heart of New York City's financial center.
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Challenges and Possibilities
The Third Millennium
This is as far as the story goes. We know that part of what happens will depend on us. A history of arrogance, greed, stupidity, and cruelty might seem reason for despair. But we also have a history of heroism, inventiveness, determination, and love to give us reason for hope. The human species has a reservoir of good will, technological innovation, a capacity to work together, and a sense of justice that might yet save us.
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Purchase The Big Bang to Now: A Time Line
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