most important historical event of past 200 years

[pinkmoon]

Hello what do you think was the most important historical event of the past 200 years I await your posts to see if you agree with what I have in mind

[Robert]

In the medium to long term : World War 2. In the extremely long term : perhaps the birth of Einstein.

[louisa]

Probably the 'invention' of harnessing and using electricity.

[sdreid]

I would say the advent of antibiotics going by what we know. If it's something that's being kept from us, it could be contact with extraterrestrial beings.

[crberger]

Indoor Plumbing

Equatorial sun plus raw sewage, enough said!

[Damaso Marte]

Hard not to say World War II. You could make a respectable argument for World War I, if your position is that WWII was a natural consequence of the outcome of WWI.

I'm not sold on things like "the birth of Einstein" - my view is that objective reality would have been discovered and described without any specific individual, merely a few years later.

[belinda]

Invention of the car and air travel and the Internet

[Phil H]

The internet has certainly revolutionised society and can be likened to the invention of writing, printing and telephonic communication etc. Very far reaching - so I would say it is certainly significant. We also do not know where the implications will lead us.

I am also wary that the internet revolution may not be sustainable - if there were to be a global issue - whether one of those bombs that takes out all electronics; a major economic disaster that affects the whole industry and its infrastructure - then this might be a relatively short term phenomenon. Unlike printing and writing (at least) individuals would find it difficult to maintain or sustain or recreate the internet, I suspect.

So I'm going to plump for the two world wars of the C20th (which I see as a single war in two parts).

Why - because they destroyed the old world (I mean what had existed for 1,000 years in the west) so there were social changes. WWI led directly to the rise of Communism (Russian revolution) and thus eventually to another significant event - the Cold War. The rise and world influence of the USA can be attributed to its intervention in the two wars in 1917 and 1941.

Technological change has its origins in (particularly) WWII - anything from computers to military and transport technology, aviation and, of course, the BOMB. The world has never been the same since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Socially, the two wars saw the eclipse of the elitist (aristocratic) societies and the rise of real democracy. For Britain, men and women saw opportunities to travel widely for the first time with the Armed Forces. Taxation rose to levels unheard of before and has never really gone down since. Again in Britain, the welfare state was created immediately after the war - affecting education, health and so on in ways that totally and fundamentally changed the lives of the vast majority of people.

WWII saw the end of the European Empires (the American empire remains) - the economic strain, the defeats imposed on the colonial powers - led inevitably to independence for India and Pakistan (as early as 1947/48), Vietnam, and then gradually a retreat from Africa and elsewhere. So for many of those countries the wars and their aftermath brought huge change. The European powers ceased to be "great powers" and the age of the Superpower was ushered in.

Finally, many of our attitudes changed irrevocably - it is less easy to be anti-Semitic in most civilised countries, racial tolerance was boosted; The UN was created and a sense that the old way of aggressive wars was wrong and dangerous came in. There was a recognition that Governments can act in an illegal way and that social policies - such as eugenics (which were widely adopted in the US and elsewhere, as well as in Germany) could be wrong and were unacceptable.

So complex reasons for believing 1914-18 and 1939-45 are IT, but there you have it.

Phil

[louisa]

But there would BE no internet if there was no electricity. See my post #3.

[Steve S]

WWI for me...Breakdown of old order,led to WWII,rise of the USA,accelerated Technology etc.etc.

[Errata]

In terms of what shapes my own life, I would have to say the Civil War, because as an American there is no more defining event in our history.

In terms of what fires my own imagination, we put a man on the effing moon. It seems routine now, and somewhat banal, but in 12 years we went from "men can't survive in space" to men spending five days working on the moon like regular joes. So to me, it's "WE PUT A MAN ON THE EFFIN MOON!!!"

As far as what shapes my thinking the most, there is a series of events. Wilberforce's abolition bill being passed (slightly earlier than exactly 200 years ago), the 14th amendment in the US, the enfranchisement of women in 1920, the Holocaust and the formation of Israel, Hernandez vs. Texas, The Freedom Rides, the Civil Rights act, the Stonewall Uprising, several others. All human rights issues. All define who it is I see around me, who my friends are, who are criminals and who are not. All of these events define my normal. So how can they not be important?

As for what affects mankind as a whole, and what could affect it the most profoundly in the future, I gotta go with Norman Borlaug and his wheat. The single greatest contributor to ending world hunger. It's not without controversy, but in the end, he fed a billion people. How can that not be the most important event in the world?

[Scott Nelson]

Wilberforce? Wasn't he the born loser?

I'd have to say..Miley Cyrus turning 21.

[Limehouse]

The internet has certainly revolutionised society and can be likened to the invention of writing, printing and telephonic communication etc. Very far reaching - so I would say it is certainly significant. We also do not know where the implications will lead us.

I am also wary that the internet revolution may not be sustainable - if there were to be a global issue - whether one of those bombs that takes out all electronics; a major economic disaster that affects the whole industry and its infrastructure - then this might be a relatively short term phenomenon. Unlike printing and writing (at least) individuals would find it difficult to maintain or sustain or recreate the internet, I suspect.

So I'm going to plump for the two world wars of the C20th (which I see as a single war in two parts).

Why - because they destroyed the old world (I mean what had existed for 1,000 years in the west) so there were social changes. WWI led directly to the rise of Communism (Russian revolution) and thus eventually to another significant event - the Cold War. The rise and world influence of the USA can be attributed to its intervention in the two wars in 1917 and 1941.

Technological change has its origins in (particularly) WWII - anything from computers to military and transport technology, aviation and, of course, the BOMB. The world has never been the same since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Socially, the two wars saw the eclipse of the elitist (aristocratic) societies and the rise of real democracy. For Britain, men and women saw opportunities to travel widely for the first time with the Armed Forces. Taxation rose to levels unheard of before and has never really gone down since. Again in Britain, the welfare state was created immediately after the war - affecting education, health and so on in ways that totally and fundamentally changed the lives of the vast majority of people.

WWII saw the end of the European Empires (the American empire remains) - the economic strain, the defeats imposed on the colonial powers - led inevitably to independence for India and Pakistan (as early as 1947/48), Vietnam, and then gradually a retreat from Africa and elsewhere. So for many of those countries the wars and their aftermath brought huge change. The European powers ceased to be "great powers" and the age of the Superpower was ushered in.

Finally, many of our attitudes changed irrevocably - it is less easy to be anti-Semitic in most civilised countries, racial tolerance was boosted; The UN was created and a sense that the old way of aggressive wars was wrong and dangerous came in. There was a recognition that Governments can act in an illegal way and that social policies - such as eugenics (which were widely adopted in the US and elsewhere, as well as in Germany) could be wrong and were unacceptable.

So complex reasons for believing 1914-18 and 1939-45 are IT, but there you have it.

Phil

Excellent post Phil. I agree totally.

[pinkmoon]

[QUOTE=Errata;273304]In terms of what shapes my own life, I would have to say the Civil War, because as an American there is no more defining event in our history.

In terms of what fires my own imagination, we put a man on the effing moon. It seems routine now, and somewhat banal, but in 12 years we went from "men can't survive in space" to men spending five days working on the moon like regular joes. So to me, it's "WE PUT A MAN ON THE EFFIN MOON!!!"

As far as what shapes my thinking the most, there is a series of events. Wilberforce's abolition bill being passed (slightly earlier than exactly 200 years ago), the 14th amendment in the US, the enfranchisement of women in 1920, the Holocaust and the formation of Israel, Hernandez vs. Texas, The Freedom Rides, the Civil Rights act, the Stonewall Uprising, several others. All human rights issues. All define who it is I see around me, who my friends are, who are criminals and who are not. All of these events define my normal. So how can they not be important?

As for what affects mankind as a whole, and what could affect it the most profoundly in the future, I gotta go with Norman Borlaug and his wheat. The single greatest contributor to ending world hunger. It's not without controversy, but in the end, he fed a billion people. How can that not be the most important event in the world?[/ANTI-

American civil war was the reply I was waiting for .Imagine if all those states split away ever state would have become a seperate country absolute chaos.Who would have come to England's aid in ww 1 and 2 we would have not been able to win either of those wars.It was a horrendous war for America it killed two per cent of its population and the outcome for the north was never really assured.When you look back the south only really got it wrong on one major battle which was gettysburg imagine if they had won that

[Phil H]

When you look back the south only really got it wrong on one major battle which was gettysburg imagine if they had won that

Do you really believe that, pinkmoon?

If so it almost deserves its own thread. I cannot conceive of a statement more wrong at every level.

Sorry to disagree, but I couldn't let that pass.

Phil