View source for Contemporary history

{{Short description|Era from 1945&ndash;present}}
{{Redirect|Contemporary}}
{{Redirect|Current history|the academic journal|Current History{{!}}''Current History''}}
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{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}

{{Human history}} 
'''Contemporary history''', in English-language [[historiography]], is a subset of [[modern history]] that describes the [[historical period]] from about 1945 to the present.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brivati|first1=Brian|author-link = Brian Brivati|editor1-last=Brivati|editor1-first=Brian|editor2-last=Buxton|editor2-first=Julia|editor3-last=Seldon|editor3-first=Anthony|title=The contemporary history handbook|date=1996|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|isbn=9780719048364|edition=1st|chapter=Introduction|page=xvi}}</ref> In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related to, the rise of [[postmodernity]].

Contemporary history is [[Political history|politically]] dominated by the [[Cold War]] (1947–1991) between the [[Western Bloc]], led by the United States, and the [[Eastern Bloc]], led by the [[Soviet Union]]. The confrontation spurred fears of a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]]. 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 [[proxy war]]s. The Cold War ultimately ended with the [[Revolutions of 1989]] and the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991. The latter stages and aftermath of the Cold War enabled the [[democratization]] of much of Europe, Africa, and Latin America. [[Decolonization]] was another important trend in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa as new states gained independence from European [[colonial empire]]s during the period from 1945&ndash;1975. The Middle East also saw a [[Arab–Israeli conflict|conflict involving the new state of Israel]], the rise of [[petroleum politics]], the continuing prominence but later decline of [[Arab nationalism]], and the growth of [[Islamism]]. The first supranational organizations of government, such as the United Nations and European Union, emerged during the period after 1945.

[[Counterculture of the 1960s|Countercultures]] rose and the [[sexual revolution]] transformed [[Social history|social]] relations in western countries between the 1960s and 1980s, as seen in the [[protests of 1968]]. Living standards rose sharply across the [[Developed country|developed world]] because of the [[Post–World War II economic expansion|post-war economic boom]]. Japan and [[West Germany]] both emerged as exceptionally strong economies. The [[culture of the United States]] spread widely, with American television and movies spreading across the world. Some Western countries began a slow process of [[Deindustrialization|deindustrializing]] in the 1970s; [[globalization]] led to the emergence of new financial and industrial centers in Asia. The [[Japanese economic miracle]] was later followed by the [[Four Asian Tigers]] of Hong Kong, Singapore, [[South Korea]] and [[Taiwan]]. [[Chinese economic reform|China launched major economic reform]]s from 1979 onward, becoming a major exporter of consumer goods around the world.

[[History of science|Science]] made new advances after 1945, which included [[History of spaceflight|spaceflight]], [[nuclear technology]], [[laser]]s, [[semiconductor]]s, [[molecular biology]], [[genetics]], [[particle physics]], and the [[Standard Model]] of [[History of quantum field theory|quantum field theory]]. The first commercial computers were created, followed by the Internet, beginning the [[Information Age]].

==Political history==
===1945&ndash;1991===
{{Main|Post-war|Cold War}}
{{See also|Modernity|1940s|1950s|1960s|1970s|1980s}}
[[File:Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg|thumb|right|upright=2.1|The division of Europe during the Cold War]]

In 1945, the [[Allies of World War II]] 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 [[Yalta Conference]], 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 [[Allied-occupied Austria|occupied Austria]], which was released to independence as a neutral country), growing tensions between the [[Western Bloc]], led by the United States, with the [[Eastern Bloc]], led by the [[Soviet Union]], meant that many calcified into place. Countries in Soviet zones of Eastern Europe had communist regimes installed as [[satellite state]]s. The [[Berlin Blockade]] of 1948 led to a Western Airlift to preserve [[West Berlin]] and signified a cooling of East-West relations. Germany split into two countries in 1949, liberal-democratic [[West Germany]] and communist [[East Germany]]. The conflict as a whole would become known as the [[Cold War]]. The Western Bloc formed [[NATO]] in 1949 while the Eastern Bloc formed the [[Warsaw Pact]] in 1955. Direct combat between the new Great Powers was generally avoided, although [[proxy war]]s fought in other countries by factions equipped by one side against the other side's faction occurred. An [[Nuclear arms race|arms race]] to develop and build [[nuclear weapon]]s happened as policymakers wanted to ensure their side had more if it came to a war.<ref>Gaddis 2005, p. 33-60</ref>

In East Asia, [[Chiang Kai-shek]]'s [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] was overthrown in the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]] from 1945&ndash;1949. [[Retreat of the government of Republic of China to Taiwan|His government retreated to Taiwan]], but both the nationalist [[Kuomintang|KMT]] government and the new communist mainland government under [[Mao Zedong]] continued to claim authority over all of China. [[Division of Korea|Korea was divided]] similarly to Germany, with the Soviet Union occupying the North and the United States occupying the South (future [[North Korea]] and [[South Korea]]). Unlike Germany, the conflict there turned hot, as the [[Korean War]] erupted from 1950&ndash;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 [[frozen conflict]] instead. Japan was given a [[Constitution of Japan|new constitution foreswearing aggressive war]] in 1947, and the [[Occupation of Japan#Ending the occupation|American occupation ended in 1952]], although a treaty of mutual aid with the US was soon signed. The US also granted the [[Philippines]] their independence in 1946 while keeping close relations.

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 [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]]. Egypt's weak and ineffective king [[Farouk of Egypt|Farouk]] was overthrown in the [[1952 Egyptian revolution]], and replaced by General [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Nasser]]; the [[1953 Iran coup]] saw the American-friendly shah [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] remove the democratic constraints on his government and take power directly; and Iraq's [[Faisal II|Western-friendly monarchy]] was [[14 July Revolution|overthrown in 1958]]. Nasser's Egypt would go on to face the [[Suez Crisis]] in 1956, briefly unify with Syria as the [[United Arab Republic]] (UAR) from 1958 to 1961, and expensively intervene in the [[North Yemen civil war]] from 1962 to 1970.

[[File:British Decolonisation in Africa.png|thumb|upright=1.7|right|Decolonization of the British Empire in Africa.]] <!-- Ideally should be replaced by an all-Africa picture-->
[[Decolonization]] was the most important development across Southeast Asia and Africa from 1946&ndash;1975, as the old British, French, Dutch, and Portuguese colonial empires were dismantled. Many new [[State (polity)|states]] 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 [[Non-Aligned Movement]]. [[British India]] was granted independence in 1947 without an outright war of independence being required. It was [[Partition of India|partitioned]] into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan ([[West Pakistan]] and [[East Pakistan]], future [[Pakistan]] and [[Bangladesh]]); [[Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts|Indo-Pakistani wars]] were fought in 1947, 1965, and 1971. [[Sukarno]] took control of an independent [[Indonesia]] in 1950, as attempts to reinstate Dutch rule in 1945&ndash;1949 had largely failed, and took an independent-to-Eastern leaning stance. He would later be overthrown by [[Suharto]] in 1968, who took a pro-Western stance. The [[Federation of Malaya]] was granted independence in 1957, with the concurrent fighting of the [[Malayan Emergency]] against communist forces from 1948&ndash;1960. The French unsuccessfully fought the [[First Indochina War]] in an attempt to hold on to [[French Indochina]]; at the [[1954 Geneva Conference]], the new states of [[Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–1970)|Cambodia]], [[Kingdom of Laos|Laos]], the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]], and the eventual [[Republic of Vietnam]] were created. The division of Indochina eventually led to the [[Vietnam War]] in the 1960s and 70s (as well as the [[Laotian Civil War]] and [[Cambodian Civil War]]), which ended in communist North Vietnam took over [[Sai Gon]] in 1975.<ref>{{Citation |last=Thai Binh Department of Information and Communications |title=Soldier from Thai Binh who put flag on the roof of Independence Palace |date=30 July 2020 |work=Thai Binh Provincial Portal |url=https://thaibinh.gov.vn/english130nam/dat-va-nguoi-thai-binh/soldier-from-thai-binh-who-put-flag-on-the-roof-of-independe.html |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-date=9 April 2023 |publication-place=Thai Binh |archiveurl=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}}</ref>

In Africa, France fought the grinding [[Algerian War]] from 1954&ndash;1962 that saw the end of [[French Algeria]] and the rise of a new independent [[Algeria]]. The British and French both slowly released their vast holdings, leading to the creation of states such as [[First Nigerian Republic]] in 1963. Portugal, on the other hand, fiercely held onto their Empire, leading to the [[Portuguese Colonial War]] from 1961&ndash;1974 in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique until the ''[[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]]'' government fell. Meanwhile, [[Apartheid|apartheid-era]] [[South Africa#Apartheid era|South Africa]] 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.

Latin America saw gradual economic growth but also instability in many countries, as the threat of coups and military regimes ([[Military junta|junta]]s) were a major threat. The most famous was the [[Cuban Revolution]] that overthrew [[Fulgencio Batista]]'s American-friendly government for [[Fidel Castro]]'s Soviet-aligned government. This led to the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] in 1963, generally considered one of the incidents most dangerously close to turning the Cold War into a direct military conflict. The [[1968 Peruvian coup d'état]] and also installed a Soviet-friendly government. Despite this, the region ultimately leaned toward the US in this period, with the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] supporting American-friendly factions in the [[1954 Guatemalan coup d'état]], the [[1964 Brazilian coup d'état]], the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état]], and others. Nicaragua suffered the most, with the [[Nicaraguan Revolution]] 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 [[Institutional Revolutionary Party|PRI]]. [[Argentina]] had a succession of idiosyncratic governments that courted both the US and USSR, but generally mismanaged the economy.

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 [[1966 Syrian coup d'état]] and replaced with the Neo-Baathist Party, eventually leading to the leadership of the [[Al-Assad family]]. Israel and its neighbors fought the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967 and the [[Yom Kippur War]] of 1973. Under [[Anwar Sadat]] and later [[Hosni Mubarak]], Egypt switched from [[Nasserism]] 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 [[Lebanese Civil War]] from 1975&ndash;1990. Iran's unpopular pro-American government was overthrown in the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]] and was replaced by a new Islamic Republic headed by [[Ruhollah Khomeini]]. Iran and Baathist Iraq under [[Saddam Hussein]] then fought each other in the [[Iran–Iraq War]] from 1980&ndash;1988, which ended inconclusively.

In East Asia, China underwent the [[Cultural Revolution]] from 1966 to 1976, a major internal struggle that saw an intense program of [[Maoism]] and persecution of perceived internal enemies. China's relations with the Soviets deteriorated in the 1960s and 70s, resulting in the [[Sino-Soviet split]], although the two were able to cooperate on some matters. "[[Ping-pong diplomacy]]" led to a rapprochement between the US and China and [[China–United States relations|American recognition of the Chinese communist government]] in the 1970s. China's pro-democracy movement was suppressed after the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre|1989 Tiananmen Square protests]], and China's government survived the tensions that would roil the Soviet-aligned bloc during the 1980s. South Korea (in the [[June Democratic Struggle]]) and Taiwan (with the [[Martial law in Taiwan|lifting of martial law]]) would take major steps toward liberalization in 1987&ndash;1988, shifting from Western-aligned one-party states to more fully participatory democracies.

The 1980s saw a general retreat for the communist bloc. The [[Soviet–Afghan War]] (1979&ndash;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 [[Pan-European Picnic]] in 1989 then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction with the subsequent [[fall of the Berlin Wall]]. The [[Revolutions of 1989]] saw many countries of Eastern Europe throw off their communist governments, and the USSR declined to invade to re-establish them. [[German reunification|East and West Germany were reunified]]. [[Client state]] status for many states ended, as there was no conflict left to fund. The [[Malta Summit]] on 3 December 1989, the failure of the [[1991 Soviet coup attempt|August Coup]] by Soviet hardliners, and the formal [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] on 26 December 1991 sealed the end of the Cold War.<ref>Gaddis 2005, p. 237-257</ref>

===1991&ndash;2001===
{{see also|1990s|Postmodernity|Post–Cold War era}}
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, [[Chinese economic reform|Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms]] and [[socialism with Chinese characteristics]] allowed for the growth of a capitalist private sector in China. In Russia, President [[Boris Yeltsin]] 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 [[oligarchy|oligarchic]] republics and [[one-party state]]s.<ref>Steven Levitsky, Lucan A. Way. Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War. 2010. Pg 3.</ref> 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, [[Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa|ended apartheid]] 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 [[European Economic Community]] evolved into the European Union with the signing of the [[Maastricht Treaty]] in 1993, which integrated Europe across borders to a new degree. International coalitions continued to have a role; the [[Gulf War]] saw a large international coalition undo Baathist Iraq's annexation of Kuwait, but other "police" style actions were less successful. [[Somalia]] and [[Afghanistan]] descended into long, bloody civil wars for almost the entirety of the decade ([[Somali Civil War]], [[Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)]], [[Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)]]). Russia fought a [[First Chechen War|brutal war in Chechnya]] that failed to suppress the insurgency there from 1994&ndash;1996; war would resume during the [[Second Chechen War]] in 1999&ndash;2000 that saw a resumption of Russian control after Russia successfully convinced enough rebels to join their cause with promises of autonomy. The [[breakup of Yugoslavia]] also led to a series of [[Yugoslav Wars]]; NATO eventually intervened in the [[Kosovo War]]. In the Middle East, the [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process]] offered the prospect of a long-term peace deal to many; the [[Oslo Accords]] signed in 1993 seemed to offer a [[Road map for peace|"roadmap" to resolving the conflict]]. Despite these high hopes, they would be largely dashed in 2000&ndash;2001 after a breakdown of negotiations and the [[Second Intifada]].

=== 2001–present ===
{{Further|2000s|2010s|2020s|21st century}}
[[File:Explosion_following_the_plane_impact_into_the_South_Tower_(WTC_2)_-_B6019~11.jpg|thumb|The [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in [[New York City]], US, during the [[September 11 attacks]], 2001]]
In 2001, the [[September 11 attacks]]—the deadliest [[Terrorism|terrorist attacks]] in human history—were carried out by [[al-Qaeda]] against the United States. In response, the United States declared the [[war on terror]], a global conflict against [[Islamic terrorism|Islamist terrorism]]. US-led coalitions launched a [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|war in Afghanistan]] (2001–2021) against the [[Taliban]]-ruled [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Islamic Emirate]] and the [[Iraq War]] (2003–2011) that deposed Iraqi leader [[Saddam Hussein]]. The US [[Killing of Osama bin Laden|killed]] al-Qaeda leader [[Osama bin Laden]] in 2011 and [[2020–2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan|withdrew from Afghanistan]] in 2021, after which the [[Fall of Kabul (2021)|Taliban retook control of the country]]. The US also led interventions against militant groups across Africa and the Middle East, including the [[war against the Islamic State]]. [[Post-9/11|After the September 11 attacks]], many countries expanded the powers of law enforcement to combat terrorism and several other terrorist attacks took place across the world.

China has sought to challenge the United States's global hegemony. Under [[Barack Obama]], the US [[East Asian foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration|pivoted its foreign policy focus]] to East Asia; [[China–United States relations|China–US relations]] deteriorated further under [[Xi Jinping]] in China and [[Donald Trump]] in the US. The two countries have engaged in [[China–United States trade war|a trade war]] and fought for influence in the [[Developing country|developing world]]. In later years, China escalated [[Territorial disputes in the South China Sea|disputes in the South China Sea]] and over Taiwan and has led [[BRICS]] as forum for [[Emerging power|emerging powers]], while the US formed the [[Quadrilateral Security Dialogue|Quad]] grouping with Australia, India, and Japan. Disputes between India and China led to [[2020–2021 China–India skirmishes|skirmishes between the two countries]] (2020–2021), and after North Korea [[2006 North Korean nuclear test|obtained nuclear weapons in 2006]], the threat of their use caused the [[2017–2018 North Korea crisis|North Korean crisis]] (2017–2018). Elsewhere in Asia, Nepal abolished its monarchy in 2008 after the end of the [[Nepalese Civil War]]; a 2015 [[Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement|nationwide ceasefire]] after [[2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms|a series of reforms]] (2011–2015) ended the [[Myanmar conflict]] until [[2021 Myanmar coup d'état|a coup d'état]] began [[Myanmar civil war (2021–present)|a new civil war]] in 2021; and a 2024 [[Students–People's uprising (Bangladesh)|a pro-democracy uprising]] in Bangladesh overthrew [[Sheikh Hasina]].
[[File:Tahrir_Square_-_February_9,_2011.png|left|thumb|[[Tahrir Square]] in [[Cairo]], Egypt, during the [[2011 Egyptian revolution|Egyptian revolution]], 2011]]
In the [[Arab world]], a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed resistances known as the [[Arab Spring]] (2010–2012) began after a [[Tunisian revolution|revolution in Tunisia]] that ended the country's dictatorship. The [[2011 Egyptian revolution|Egyptian revolution]] in 2011 led to [[Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014)|a political crisis]] and a second change of power in [[2013 Egyptian coup d'état|a 2013 coup d'état]]; in [[Libyan crisis (2011–present)|Libya]] and [[Yemeni crisis|Yemen]], successful revolutions gave way to protracted political crises and civil wars. Protests against Syrian leader [[Bashar al-Assad]] led to [[Syrian civil war|a multi-sided civil war]] (2011–2024) that ultimately ended after the [[fall of the Assad regime]] in 2024 amid [[Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)|a regional crisis]] triggered by the [[October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel|October 7 Hamas attack on Israel]] in 2023 and subsequent [[Gaza war]]. The Gaza war also led to an [[Israeli invasion of Lebanon (2024–present)|Israeli invasion of Lebanon]] that largely destroyed [[Hezbollah]] and [[2024 Iran–Israel conflict|a significant escalation]] of the [[Iran–Israel proxy conflict]]. Fears of [[Nuclear program of Iran|Iran's nuclear program]] led to [[Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action|a 2015 international deal]] to limit it and growing [[Arab–Israeli normalization]] which included the 2020 signing of the [[Abraham Accords]].

[[List of conflicts in territory of the former Soviet Union|Conflicts in the former Soviet Union]] continued; [[Russo-Georgian War|Russia invaded Georgia]] in 2008 and [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|seized Crimea]] from [[Ukraine]] in 2014 after [[Revolution of Dignity|a pro-Western revolution in Ukraine]], beginning [[Russo-Ukrainian War|a conflict]] that led to [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|a full-scale Russian invasion of the country]] in 2022. The [[Nagorno-Karabakh conflict]] ended after Azerbaijan's victories in [[Second Nagorno-Karabakh War|a war with Armenia]] (2020) and in [[2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh|a later offensive]] (2023) incorporated [[Republic of Artsakh|Artsakh]] into the country. [[Serbia and Montenegro]] dissolved in 2006 and [[Kosovo]] declared [[2008 Kosovo declaration of independence|independence from Serbia]] two years later to [[International recognition of Kosovo|partial recognition]]. NATO and the European Union [[European integration|continued to expand eastward]]; by 2024, [[Enlargement of NATO|11 more countries had joined]] NATO and [[Enlargement of the European Union|13 had joined]] the EU, while the United Kingdom [[Brexit|left the EU in 2020]] after [[Brexit negotiations|years of negotiations]].

In Africa, the end of the [[Second Sudanese Civil War]] allowed [[South Sudan]] to declare independence in 2011, and a [[South Sudanese Civil War|subsequent civil war]] (2013–2020) ended in a ceasefire. Beginning in the 2020s, [[Coup Belt|a series of coups d'état]] primarily in the [[Sahel]] installed military juntas [[2021 Malian coup d'état|in Mali]], [[2021 Guinean coup d'état|in Guinea]], [[September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état|in Burkina Faso]], [[2023 Nigerien coup d'état|in Niger]], and [[2023 Gabonese coup d'état|in Gabon]] amid [[Islamist insurgency in the Sahel|a regional Islamist insurgency]] and initiated [[Nigerien crisis (2023–2024)|a standoff]] (2023–2024) between [[ECOWAS]] and juntas in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, which formed the [[Alliance of Sahel States]] in 2023 and established a confederation in 2024. A [[2021 Sudanese coup d'état|2021 coup in Sudan]] ended [[Sudanese transition to democracy (2019–2021)|the country's transition to democracy]] and resulting political crises began [[Sudanese civil war (2023–present)|a civil war in 2023]]. The [[East African Community]] has developed and expanded across the continent while [[Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict (2022–present)|a military conflict]] between Rwanda and the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] has persisted since 2022.

==Economic history==
The end of World War II in 1945 saw an increase in [[international trade]] 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 [[world economy]], displacing the UK. The era is sometimes called "[[Pax Americana]]" for the relative liberal peace in the Western world, resulting from the preponderance of power enjoyed by the US, as a comparison to the [[Pax Romana]] established at the height of the Roman Empire. New York's financial sector ("[[Wall Street]]") was the center of the financial world from 1945&ndash;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 [[Marshall Plan]] sent billions of dollars of aid to Western Europe to ensure its stability and ward off a potential economic downturn. The 1944 [[Bretton Woods Conference]] established the [[Bretton Woods system]], a set of practices that governed world trade and currencies from 1945&ndash;1971, as well as the [[World Bank]] and the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF). Western Europe also established the [[European Economic Community]] 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 ''[[Trente Glorieuses|Les Trente Glorieuses]]'' ("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 ''[[wirtschaftswunder]]''. Surprisingly, [[Economy of Japan|Japan]] followed Germany, achieving incredible economic growth and becoming the second largest economy in the world in 1968, a phenomenon called the [[Japanese economic miracle]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ranking of the World's Richest Countries by GDP (1967) – Classora Knowledge Base |url=http://en.classora.com/reports/t24369/general/ranking-of-the-worlds-richest-countries-by-gdp?edition=1967&fields= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529065759/http://en.classora.com/reports/t24369/general/ranking-of-the-worlds-richest-countries-by-gdp?edition=1967&fields= |archive-date=29 May 2020 |access-date=2017-12-08 |website=en.classora.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Many explanations are proffered for the enviable results of these years: relative peace (at least outside the "[[Third World]]"); a reduction in average family size; technological improvements; and others. The Eastern Bloc, meanwhile, established [[Comecon]] as their equivalent to the Marshall Plan and to establish internal trading rules between communist states.<ref name="loc-cs">{{cite web |title=Appendix B: The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance: Germany (East) |url=http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/germany_east/gx_appnb.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501075842/http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/germany_east/gx_appnb.html |archive-date=1 May 2009 |publisher=Library of Congress Country Study}}</ref>

The 1970s saw economic headwinds. Notably, the [[price of oil]] 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 [[OPEC]] controlled substantial untapped oil reserves. Political tensions over the [[Yom Kippur War]] and the [[Iranian Revolution]] led to the [[1973 oil crisis]] and [[1979 oil crisis]]. The Soviet Union called it the "[[Era of Stagnation]]". The 1970s and 80s also saw the rise of the [[Four Asian Tigers]], as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong emulated the Japanese route to prosperity with varying degree of success. In China, the leftist [[Gang of Four]] were overthrown in 1976, and [[Deng Xiaoping]] 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 [[Group of Seven]] (G7) first met in 1975 and become one of the main international forums that regulated international trade among [[developed country]]. The Soviet Union implemented a policy of ''[[perestroika]]'' in the 1980s which allowed tentative market reforms.<ref>Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika (New York: Harper Collins, 1987), quoted in Mark Kishlansky, ed., ''Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization'', 4th ed., vol. 2 (New York: Longman, 2001), p. 322.</ref> 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 [[Economy of Estonia|Estonia]], 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 [[crony capitalism]] 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 "[[Russian oligarchs]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Scheidel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgZpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 |title=The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century |date=9 January 2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press, pages 27–86 |isbn=978-1-4008-8460-5 |language=en}}</ref>

In the beginning of the 2000s, there was a global rise in prices in [[Commodity|commodities]] and housing, marking an end to the [[2000s commodities boom]]. 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 [[food prices]]. The collapse of the American [[housing bubble]] caused the values of [[Security (finance)|securities]] tied to [[real estate pricing]] to plummet thereafter, damaging financial institutions.<ref>{{cite web |author=This American Life |url=http://www.pri.org/business/giant-pool-of-money.html |title=NPR-The Giant Pool of Money-April 2009 |publisher=Pri.org |access-date=1 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415153017/http://www.pri.org/business/giant-pool-of-money.html |archive-date=15 April 2010 }}</ref> The [[Great Recession]], a severe economic [[recession]] which began in the United States in 2007,<ref>In December 2008, the [[National Bureau of Economic Research]] (NBER) declared that the United States had been in recession since December 2007. See {{Cite news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2008/12/01/news/economy/recession/index.htm?postversion=2008120112|title=It's official: Recession since December '07 |last=Isidore |first=Chris |date=1 December 2008 |publisher=CNN|access-date=10 April 2009}} for more information.</ref> was sparked by the outbreak of the [[2008 financial crisis]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/SB50001424052970203983104575367471896032724 |title=It's Dippy to Fret About a Double-Dip Recession |last=Hulbert|first=Mark|date=15 July 2010}}</ref> The [[2008 financial crisis]] was linked to earlier lending practices by financial institutions and the trend of [[securitization]] of American real estate mortgages.<ref>{{Cite speech|first=Fredric S. |last=Mishkin|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/mishkin20080515a.htm|title=How Should We Respond to Asset Price Bubbles?|date=15 May 2008|access-date=18 April 2009}}</ref>

The [[Great Recession]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303591204575169693166352882 |work=The Wall Street Journal |title=Did 'Great Recession' Live Up to the Name? |first=David |last=Wessel |date=8 April 2010}}</ref> spread to much of the [[developed country]], and has caused a pronounced deceleration of economic activity. The [[global recession]] occurred in an economic environment characterized by various imbalances. This global recession has resulted in a sharp drop in [[international trade]], rising unemployment and slumping commodity prices. The recession [[2008–2009 Keynesian resurgence|renewed interest in Keynesian economic ideas]] on how to combat recessionary conditions. However, various industrial countries continued to undertake [[austerity]] policies to cut [[Government budget deficit|deficits]], reduced [[Government spending|spending]], as opposed to following Keynesian theories.

[[File:Countries by Real GDP Growth Rate (2014).svg|300px|thumb|Countries by real GDP growth rate in 2014. (Countries in brown were in recession.)]]
From late 2009 [[European debt crisis]], 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&nbsp;billion aimed at ensuring financial stability across Europe. The [[European Financial Stability Facility]] (EFSF) was a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the [[eurozone]] 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 agreed to a €10&nbsp;billion economic bailout for Cyprus due to the [[2012–2013 Cypriot financial crisis]]. The 2020 coronavirus pandemic caused economic disruption, with wide-ranging [[Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic|economic impacts of COVID-19]] such as supply chain changes and an increase in working-from-home, along with the [[COVID-19 recession]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Juliana Kaplan |author2=Lauren Frias |author3=Morgan McFall-Johnsen |date=14 March 2020 |title=A third of the global population is on coronavirus lockdown – here's our constantly updated list of countries and restrictions |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-on-lockdown-coronavirus-italy-2020-3 |access-date=15 April 2020 |work=Business Insider Australia}}</ref>

==Social history==
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 [[globalization]].  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 [[magnetophon]], 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 [[Elvis Presley]] and [[The Beatles]].  The spread of home [[television set]]s allowed people across the globe to easily watch the same show, rather than requiring viewers to attend a local theater.  [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] 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.

Language usage in the contemporary era has seen a rise in [[English as a lingua franca]], where people across the world learn the English language as a [[second language]].  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 [[Americanization]], 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 [[global language]]s decline after World War II.

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 [[secularization]] that deprioritized the role of religion, even among people who still identified as adherents.  The [[decline of Christianity in the Western world]] has been perhaps the most notable of these trends, although many non-Western cultures have been affected as well, such as the rise of [[irreligion in China]] (buttressed by [[Antireligious campaigns in China|antireligious campaigns]]).  As an example of how localized this process can be, during the Cold War both the [[Polish People's Republic]] and the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]] endorsed [[state atheism]].  However, after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989&ndash;1990, the people of these bordering states had radically different cultural attitudes toward religion; [[Religion in Poland|Poland was one of the more religious states]] in Europe, with 96% of its population espousing a belief in Catholic Christianity in 2011, while the [[Religion in the Czech Republic|Czech Republic was one of the most stridently irreligious]], with only 15% of its population espousing any religious beliefs at all by 2011.  In the [[Islamic world]], a notable trend has been the spread of international schools of thought into regions where belief was previously localized, such as the [[International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism]] funded by the government of [[Saudi Arabia]].  While regional Islamic groups remain strong, they are more contested than in the past.

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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pritchett |first=Lant |author-link=Lant Pritchett |date=2006 |title=Brookings Trade Forum |chapter=Boom Towns and Ghost Countries: Geography, Agglomeration, and Population Mobility |url= |location= |publisher= Brookings Institution Press|pages=1&ndash;56 |isbn= |jstor=25063204 }}</ref>  In Eastern Africa, the urban population soared from 11 million in 1920 to 77&nbsp;million in 2010.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hope |first1=Kempe Ronald |title=Urbanisation in Kenya |url= |journal=African Journal of Economic and Sustainable Development |year=2012 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages= 4–26 |doi=10.1504/AJESD.2012.045751 |access-date=}}</ref>  Many [[Migration in China|rural Chinese people moved to large coastal cities]] such as Shenzhen to work in the 1990s and 2000s, leading to a sharp increase of [[Urbanization in China]].  Rural parts of Japan have seen stark population declines, especially among the young, with only the [[Greater Tokyo area]] continuing to grow.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Soble|first1=Jonathan|title=A Sprawl of Ghost Homes in Aging Tokyo Suburbs|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/world/a-sprawl-of-abandoned-homes-in-tokyo-suburbs.html|access-date=27 February 2016|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=23 August 2015}}</ref>  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.

A major trend in many industrialized nations was the [[sexual revolution]], an adoption of publicly more tolerant attitudes toward sex and [[pre-marital sex]].  "[[Combined oral contraceptive pill|The pill]]" was first approved for use in 1960 in the United States, and spread rapidly around the world.  The pill made [[birth control]] easier and more reliable than earlier methods.  This made sex for pleasure less likely to result in unintended children.  It also allowed for easier [[family planning]], where couples could choose more specifically when to have kids compared to earlier eras.  Some analysts credit this as one reason behind a [[Population decline|decline in birth rates]] 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; [[List of sovereign states and dependencies by total fertility rate|many  nations continue to have high birth rates]], and the world's overall population is still growing as of 2022.

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 [[personal web page]]s 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 [[Cyber-utopianism|digital utopianism]] of the 1990s is less common.  Pessimistic assessments worry about the effects on children such as enabling [[cyberbullying]]; [[filter bubble]]s where Internet users are not challenged by outsider views; "[[cancel culture]]" where people are pilloried online but sometimes disproportionately; and [[slacktivism]] as an appealing but ineffective replacement for older forms of community work.

==Contemporary science and technology==
===Energy===
{{main|Energy development}}
The growing world population and rising standards of living has caused a vast increase in demand for [[energy development]], both to power vehicles such as personal cars as well as on public [[electrical grid]]s. In particular, [[Petroleum|petroleum oil]] 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 "[[petrostate]]s" 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 [[1970s energy crisis]] and various adaptations in [[energy conservation]] to better conserve oil, such as more efficient engines and better insulation.  It has also led to concerns of "[[peak oil]]," 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 [[aviation fuel]]), although oil continues to be one of the most popular sources of energy.

Other [[fossil fuel]]s have continued a prominent role in the world's energy production.  [[Coal energy]], usually credited as helping kickstart the [[Industrial Revolution]], 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 [[Coal in India|India's power grid]] from 1945 to the present, for example.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63513278 |title=COP27: Why South Africa will struggle to wean itself off coal |work=BBC News |date=8 November 2022 |access-date=14 December 2022 |archive-date=14 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214084112/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63513278 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 [[mountaintop removal mining]]), have caused setbacks for the coal industry.  Natural gas has grown in its proportion of the market, especially as [[Liquefied natural gas]] (LNG) has enabled it to be transported over longer distances than was previously feasible.

An entirely new form of energy creation dawned in the 1950s and 1960s: [[nuclear power]] for peaceful purposes and the construction of [[nuclear power plant]]s. Hopes that atomic energy would be "[[too cheap to meter]]" in the 1950s proved overly optimistic, however. Atomic energy grew to be a large part of several nations energy generation strategies, especially [[nuclear power in France]].  Nuclear power continues to be controversial. Concerns include its association with [[nuclear weapon]]s, [[Economics of nuclear power plants|financial cost]], disposal of radioactive [[nuclear waste]], and fears of safety from [[Nuclear meltdown|reactor meltdown]]s, especially after the 1986 [[Chernobyl disaster]]. An [[anti-nuclear movement]] 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 [[Russia in the European energy sector|supply of Russian natural gas disrupted in 2022]], France is looking to reactivate some of its older decommissioned nuclear plants, for example.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/15/business/nuclear-power-france.html | title=As Europe Quits Russian Gas, Half of France's Nuclear Plants Are Off-Line | work=The New York Times | date=15 November 2022 | last1=Alderman | first1=Liz }}</ref>

Various forms of [[renewable energy]] have grown in prominence in the contemporary era.  [[Wind energy]], while used on a small scale for centuries, has seen growth with large distributed groups of [[windmill]]s used to produce energy for the grid. [[Solar power]] 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 [[fossil fuels]], concerns have been raised over the various [[rare earth metal]]s used in the production of batteries and solar, which can require destructive mining techniques to gather.

===Computing and the Internet===
{{Main|Information Age|History of the Internet}}
[[File:Internet map 1024.jpg|thumb|right|A visualization of the various routes through a portion of the Internet. Partial map of the Internet based in 2005.]]
The [[Information Age]] 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 [[Digital Age]] or [[Digital Revolution]], and carries the ramifications of a shift from traditional industry that the [[Industrial Revolution]] 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.

During the late 1990s, both [[Internet directory|Internet directories]] and [[search engine]]s were popular—[[Yahoo!]] and [[Altavista]] (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 [[relevance (information retrieval)|relevancy ranking]]. 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.

"[[Web 2.0]]" is characterized as facilitating communication, [[information sharing]], [[interoperability]], [[User-centered design]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.techpluto.com/web-20-services/|title=Core Characteristics of Web 2.0 Services|date=28 November 2008}}</ref> and [[collaboration]] on the [[World Wide Web]]. It has led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, [[Web service|hosted services]], and [[web application]]s. Examples include [[Social network service|social-networking sites]], [[video sharing|video-sharing sites]], [[wiki]]s, blogs, [[Mashup (digital)|mashup]]s and [[Folksonomy|folksonomies]]. [[Social networking]] emerged in the early 21st century as a popular social communication, largely replacing much of the function of email, [[message board]]s and [[instant messaging]] 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 [[mobile interaction]] and [[Internet access]] 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.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2005/05/18/mobile-subcribers-worldwide
 |title=Total mobile subscribers top 1.8&nbsp;billion
 |access-date=31 December 2008
|date=18 May 2005
|work=[[MobileTracker Cell Phone News and Reviews]]
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119070741/http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2005/05/18/mobile-subcribers-worldwide
 |archive-date=19 January 2008
}}
</ref> Marking the rise of [[mobile computing]], worldwide sales of personal computers fall 14% during the first quarter of 2013. The [[Semantic Web]] (dubbed, "Web 3.0") begins the inclusion of [[semantics|semantic]] content in web pages, converting the current web dominated by unstructured and semi-structured documents into a "web of data".

With the rise of information technology, [[computer security]], and [[information security]] 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 [[Internet privacy]] and [[personal privacy]] globally.

===Space exploration===
{{main|Space exploration}}
The [[Space Race]] was one of the rivalries of the Cold War, with both the United States space program ([[NASA]]) and the [[Soviet space program]] launching [[satellite]]s, probes, and planning missions. While the Soviets put the first human into space with [[Yuri Gagarin]], the Americans soon caught up, and the US was the first to launch a successful Moon landing mission with [[Apollo 11]] in 1969, followed by [[Apollo program|five more landings]] in the next few years.

In the 1970s and 80s, the US took a new approach with the [[Space Shuttle program]], hoping to reduce the cost of launches by creating a re-usable Space Shuttle. The first fully functional [[Space Shuttle orbiter]] was [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Columbia]] (designated OV-102), launched into [[low Earth orbit]] in April 1981. In 1996, Shuttle mission [[STS-75]] conducted research in space with the [[electrodynamic tether]] generator and other tether configurations. The program suffered from two incidents that destroyed a shuttle: the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|''Challenger'' disaster]] and the [[Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|''Columbia'' disaster]]). The program ultimately had 135 missions. The [[Space Shuttle retirement|retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet]] took place from March to July 2011.

The end of the Cold War saw a new era of international cooperation with the [[International Space Station]] (ISS).  [[Commercial spaceflight]] also became possible as governments loosened what had previously been their firm control over satellites, opening new possibilities, but also new risks such as [[Satellite flare|light pollution from satellites]]. The [[Commercial Orbital Transportation Services]] (COTS) program began in 2006.

There are [[list of spaceports|various spaceports]], including [[spaceport]]s of [[human spaceflight]] and other [[launch system]]s ([[space logistics]]). [[Private spaceflight]] is flight beyond the [[Kármán line]]<ref>This is above the nominal [[edge of space]] at 100 km (62 mi) Earth's altitude. See also: [[Turbopause]]; [[Low Earth orbit|Low]], [[Medium Earth orbit|Medium]], and [[High Earth orbit]].</ref> that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. [[Commercialization of space]] 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. [[Space trade]] plans and predictions began in the 1960s. [[Spacecraft propulsion]]<ref>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 [[rocket engine nozzle|supersonic de Laval nozzle]]. This sort of engine is called a [[rocket engine]].</ref> is any [[propulsion|method used to accelerate]] [[spacecraft]] and artificial [[satellite]]s.

NASA announced in 2011 that its [[Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter]] captured photographic evidence of possible liquid [[water on Mars]] during warm seasons. On 6 August 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory [[Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity]], the most elaborate Martian exploration vehicle to date, landed on Mars. After the [[WMAP]] observations of the [[cosmic microwave background]], information was released in 2011 of the work done by the [[Planck Surveyor]], estimating the [[Age of the universe]] to 13.8&nbsp;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 [[Higgs boson]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18702455 |title=Higgs boson-like particle discovery claimed at LHC |work=BBC News |date=4 July 2012 |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=31 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731153930/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18702455 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Challenges and problems==
===Climate change===
{{Main|Climate change|Effects of global warming}}
[[Climate change]] and [[global warming]] reflects the notion of the modern [[climate]]. The changes of climate over the past century, have been [[attribution of recent climate change|attributed to various factors]] which have resulted in a global warming. This warming is the increase in the [[Instrumental temperature record|average temperature]] of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Some effects on both the [[natural environment]] and [[civilization|human life]] are, at least in part, already being attributed to global warming. A 2001 report by the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] suggests that [[Retreat of glaciers since 1850|glacier retreat]], [[Ice shelf#Ice shelf disruption|ice shelf disruption]] such as that of the [[Larsen Ice Shelf]], [[sea level rise]], changes in rainfall patterns, and increased intensity and frequency of [[extreme weather]] events are attributable in part to global warming.<ref name="tar_wg2">{{Cite web|title=Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change|url=http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/index.htm|publisher=IPCC|date=16 February 2001|access-date=14 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303133040/http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/index.htm|archive-date=3 March 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other expected effects include [[water scarcity]] in some regions and increased precipitation in others, changes in mountain snowpack, and adverse health effects from warmer temperatures.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=McMichael AJ, Woodruff RE, Hales S |title=Climate change and human health: present and future risks|journal=Lancet|volume=367|issue=9513|pages=859–69|year=2006|pmid=16530580|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68079-3|s2cid=11220212}}</ref>

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 [[Glacier mass balance|glacial retreat]], [[Arctic shrinkage]], and worldwide [[sea level rise]]. Other effects may include changes in [[crop yields]], addition of new trade routes,<ref>{{Cite news|first=Jennifer|last=Macey|title=Global warming opens up Northwest Passage|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/19/2037198.htm?section=business|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113070306/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/19/2037198.htm?section=business|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 January 2008|work=ABC News|date=19 September 2007|access-date=11 December 2007}}</ref> species [[extinction risk from climate change|extinctions]],<ref name="ar4syn">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf|title=Climate Change 2007: Synthesis report|access-date=3 February 2009|date=5 February 2007|publisher=IPCC}}</ref> and changes in the range of [[Vector (epidemiology)|disease vectors]]. Until 2009, the Arctic ''[[Northwest Passage]]'' [[Arctic ice pack|pack ice]] prevented regular [[ship transport|marine shipping]] throughout most of the year in this area, but climate change has reduced the pack ice, and this [[Arctic shrinkage]] made the waterways more navigable.<ref>European Space Agency, "News: Satellites Witness Lowest Arctic Ice Coverage in History," 14 September 2007.</ref><ref>"Warming 'opens Northwest Passage'". BBC News. 14 September 2007.</ref><ref>BBC News "Plain Sailing on the Northwest Passage"</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_top_10_stories_you_missed_in_2009|title=The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2009: A few ways the world changed while you weren't looking|first=Joshua E.|last=Keating|work=[[Foreign Policy]]|date=December 2009|access-date=6 March 2017|archive-date=7 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907221245/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_top_10_stories_you_missed_in_2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Health and pandemics===
Several [[disease outbreak]]s, epidemics, and [[pandemic]]s have occurred during contemporary history. Some of these include the [[1957–1958 influenza pandemic]], the [[Hong Kong flu]] of 1968–1969, the [[1977 Russian flu|1977–1979 Russian flu]], the [[Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS|HIV/AIDS epidemic]] (1981–present), the [[2002–2004 SARS outbreak|SARS outbreak of 2002–2004]], the [[2009 swine flu pandemic|swine flu pandemic]] of 2009–2010, and the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] (2019–2022).

====COVID-19 pandemic====
{{Main|COVID-19 pandemic|Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic|Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic}}
In 2020, an outbreak of the [[COVID-19]] disease, first documented in late 2019 in [[Wuhan]], China, spread to other countries becoming a [[COVID-19 pandemic|global pandemic]], which caused a major socio-economic disruption all over the world. Many countries ordered mandatory [[COVID-19 lockdowns|lockdowns]] on movement and closures of non-essential businesses.<ref>[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] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127230853/https://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/the-global-crisis-of-our-time-the-long-term-impacts-of-covid-19 |date=27 January 2021 }}, ''Oxford Research Group''</ref>  The threat of the disease caused the [[COVID-19 recession]], although the distribution of vaccines has since eased the economic impact in many countries.

More generally, COVID-19 has been held up as an example of a [[global catastrophic risk]] 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; [[pandemic prevention]] is one resulting field to ensure that if this happens with a sufficiently deadly virus, humanity can take measures to stop its spread.

==Charts==
===Timeline===
{{main|Timelines of modern history#Contemporary period}}
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:1024 height:auto barincrement:27
PlotArea   = top:10 bottom:20 right:130 left:70
AlignBars = justify
Colors = 
    id:time value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # 
    id:period value:rgb(1,0.7,0.5) # 
    id:age value:rgb(0.95,0.85,0.5) # 
    id:era value:rgb(1,0.85,0.5) # 
    id:eon value:rgb(1,0.85,0.7) # 
    id:filler value:gray(0.8) # background bar
    id:black value:black

Period     = from:1940 till:2025.255
TimeAxis   = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1940 
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1940

PlotData =
  align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:11 shift:(0,-5)
 
  bar:Tech color:era 
  from:1945.667 till:1948.5 text:[[Vacuum tube|Tube]]
  from:1948.5 till:1958.7 text:[[Transistor]]
  from:1958.7 till:1970 shift:(0,2) text:[[Integrated circuit|Integrated]]
  from:1958.7 till:1970 shift:(0,-8) text:[[Integrated circuit|circuit]]
  from:1970 till:end text:[[Information Age]]
  from:2010 till:end text:[[Big Data]]
  bar:War color:era 
  from:1940 till:1945.667 text:[[WWII]]
  from:1947 till:1991.98 text:[[Cold War]]
  from:2001.69 till:2021.56 text:[[War on Terror]]
  bar:Decade color:era 
  from:1940 till:1946 shift:(0,5) text:[[Modernity|Late Modernity]]
  from:1946 till:end shift:(0,5) text:[[Postmodernity]]
  from:1940 till:1950 text:1940s
  from:1950 till:1960 text:1950s
  from:1960 till:1970 text:1960s
  from:1970 till:1980 text:1970s
  from:1980 till:1990 text:1980s
  from:1990 till:2000 text:1990s
  from:2000 till:2010 text:2000s
  from:2010 till:2020 text:2010s
  from:2020 till:end text:2020s
</timeline>

===Contemporary world map===
{{See also|World map}}
{{Earth Labelled Map}}
{{wide image|World Map (political).svg|750px|Political map of country and territory boundaries}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Current events|Modern history}}
'''General''':
* [[Modern history]], [[Timelines of modern history]], [[Anthropocene]]

'''Generations''':
* [[Generation]], [[List of generations]], [[Baby Boom Generation]], [[Generation X]], [[Xennials]], [[Generation Y]], [[Generation Z]], [[Generation Alpha]]

'''Music and arts''':
* [[Contemporary art]], [[Contemporary dance]], [[Contemporary literature]], [[Contemporary music]], [[Contemporary hit radio]], [[Adult contemporary music]], [[Contemporary Christian music]], [[Contemporary R&B]], [[Urban contemporary]], [[History of video games|Video games]]

'''Future''':
* [[Future history]], [[Futurology]], [[Timeline of the near future]]], [[Third millennium]], [[21st century]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Bell, P. M. H. and Mark Gilbert. ''The World Since 1945: An International History'' (2nd ed. 2017), 584pp [https://www.amazon.com/World-Since-1945-International-History/dp/1472524756/  excerpt]
* Boyd, Andrew, Joshua Comenetz. '' An atlas of world affairs'' (2007) [https://books.google.com/books?id=P1dly1ikblUC excerpt]. {{ISBN|0-415-39169-5}}
* Briggs, Asa, and Peter Burke. ''A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet'' (2002) [https://books.google.com/books?id=kIhzo0ze7vsC excerpt].
* {{cite book |last=Gaddis |first=John Lewis |author-link=John Lewis Gaddis |date=2005 |title=The Cold War: A New History |url= |location= |publisher=Penguin Books |page= |isbn=}}
* Hunt, Michael H. ''The World Transformed: 1945 to the Present'' (2nd ed. 2015) 624pp [http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199371020/ website]
* Hunt, Michael H. ed., ''The World Transformed, 1945 to the Present: A Documentary Reader'' (2nd ed. 2001) primary sources [https://www.amazon.com/World-Transformed-1945-Present-Documentary/dp/0199371032/ excerpts]
* McWilliams, Wayne C. and Harry Piotrowski. ''The World Since 1945: A History of International Relations'' (8th ed. 2014), 620pp

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Contemporary history}}
* [http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/modsbook.asp Internet Modern History Sourcebook] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009014126/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.asp |date=9 October 2014 }} at [[Fordham University]]
* [http://jch.sagepub.com/ ''Journal of Contemporary History'']. SAGE Publications. {{ISSN|1461-7250}}  (Print {{ISSN|0022-0094}})
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090321072022/http://www.ohiou.edu/conhist/ Contemporary History Institute (CHI)]. ohiou.edu (ed., Analyzes the contemporary period in world affairs—the period from World War II to the present—from an interdisciplinary historical perspective.)
* [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17858981 Soviet Union Timeline] on ''[[BBC]]''

{{Western world}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Contemporary history| ]]
[[Category:Historiography]]
[[Category:Historical eras]]
[[Category:Articles which contain graphical timelines]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]