We explain what the Contemporary Age is, its origins and its characteristics. Also, its stages and its most important contributions.
During the Contemporary Age, the First and Second World Wars occurred.
What is the Contemporary Age?
The Contemporary Age is the historical period spanning from the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789 to the present. During the Contemporary Age, industrial revolutions occurred that transformed the forms of production, work relationships and the way of life of a large part of the population. Since the end of the 18th century, liberal revolutions occurred that sought to implement political regimes in accordance with the new capitalist economic system that, in turn, was consolidated worldwide. In this framework, the revolutions of the 1820s and 1830s, the American independence movements and the so-called “Spring of the People” of 1848 stand out.
Since the beginning of the 19th century, Colonial American societies fought for their independence, which they achieved in almost the entire continent. The new Latin American nations consolidated themselves as independent states through wars, periods of political instability and authoritarian regimes.
In Asia, new economic relations and liberal ideas promoted different movements. Japan modernized its production system during the Meiji Era and managed to establish itself as a world power. In 1857 the Indian Rebellion began and in 1871 the Young Turks dealt their first blow to the sultanate of the Ottoman Empire.
China experienced numerous conflicts such as the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864), the Yihetuan uprisings (1898-1901) and the Xinhai Revolution (1911) that finally ended the ancient empire and replaced it with the Republic of China.
The rise of Western imperialism led to European powers in search of more territories and more resources useful to their own industrialization processes. During the 19th century, colonial empires moved from promoting exploration voyages into African territory to conquering and consolidating their power territorially. By the end of the century, only four independent African nations remained: Liberia, the Ethiopian Empire, Orange and Transvaal.
European imperialism unleashed an unprecedented competition for power between the different powers, many of which had already established themselves as world empires. This led to successive First and Second World Wars during the 20th century. In addition, communism, the Russian Revolution, and the formation of two large economic blocs that competed for political and economic hegemony worldwide during the Cold War developed.
Democracies emerged as the predominant political forms and the masses became the axis of the policies of national states and international organizations. Respect for human rights was established as a global demand from which different types of entities were formed; movements, institutions, organizations, etc.
Feminist movements managed to visualize the conditions of inequality and injustice that women suffer in the different societies of the world.
In the last decades, Technological, digital and virtual development marked a drastic change in the globalized world. Mass media, the Internet and mobile phones transformed politics, the economy, society and culture worldwide.
See also: Modern Age
Stages of the Contemporary Age
In the Contemporary Age the following periods can be identified:
- 1789-1848: Revolution and restoration. Since the French Revolution, liberalism spread throughout Europe. The monarchies repressed the revolutions but had to adapt to the new era.
- 1848-1914: Capitalism and ImperialismWith the Second Industrial Revolution, capitalism was consolidated in Europe and States began to compete for control of resources, territories and markets.
- 1914-1918: World War I. The war between the European powers became a global conflict, with consequences in unprecedented deaths and destruction.
- 1918-1939: Interwar period. Mechanization and new forms of energy generated a productive boom that translated into the economic prosperity of the “twenties.” However, the decade of the 1930s was marked by the Great Depression, a great economic crisis that affected the new powers.
- 1939-1945: World War IIMost of the world’s countries were aligned under one of the sides that fought in the conflict, with battles and fronts on all continents.
- [1945-1989:ColdWar. The opposition between the Western-capitalist bloc (led by the United States) and the Eastern-communist bloc (led by the USSR) marked the development, history and economy of the different countries of the world.
- 1989-Present: Globalization. The incorporation of different countries into a global economy generated a process of political, social and cultural integration of different societies. Technological advances in communications and computing revolutionized daily life.
History of the Contemporary Age
Among the main historical events of the Contemporary Age, we can highlight:
- French Revolution (1789-1799)
- Industrial revolutions (1750-1820 and 1870-1914)
- Spanish American Wars of Independence (1809-1829)
- Period of the monarchical Restoration (1815-1830)
- Cycle of liberal revolutions of the 19th century:
- First wave (1820-1825)
- Second wave (1829-1830)
- Colonial Imperialism and the Armed Peace (1870-1914)
- Mexican Revolution (1910-1917)
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Armenian genocide (1915-1923)
- Russian Revolution (1917)
- Soviet Stalinism (1922-1952)
- The Roaring Twenties (1920s)
- The Great Depression (1930s)
- Benito Mussolini’s government (1922-1943)
- Adolf Hitler’s government (1933-1945)
- World War II (1939-1945)
- Chinese Revolution (1949)
- Holocaust (1941-1945)
- Indochina War (1946-1954)
- Cold War (1947-1991)
- Formation of international organizations: UN, NATO, Warsaw Pact, UR, OPEC, MERCOSUR
- Arab-Israeli conflict (1948-present)
- Decolonization of Asia and Africa (1950-1975)
- Korean War (1950-1953)
- Cuban Revolution (1953-1959)
- Vietnam War (1955-1975)
- Military dictatorships in Latin America (1960-1990)
- Oil Crisis (1973)
- Sandinista Revolution (1979-1990)
- Lebanon War (1982-1985)
- Gulf War (1990-1991)
- Dissolution of the USSR (1991)
- Yugoslav wars (1991-2001)
- Congo Wars (1996-1997 and 1998-2003)
- Afghanistan War (2001-2021)
- Drug Wars (1970-present)
- Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present)
- War against the Islamic State (2014-present)
- Persian Gulf Crisis (2019-2022)
Political changes in the contemporary age
The UN was created in 1948 to prevent future wars and improve international relations.
During the Contemporary Age, political ideals, forms of government and the different local and international powers were transforming through revolutions, armed conflicts and wars of unprecedented territorial scope.
A fundamental characteristic of this period is the spread of the republic and democracy as forms of government preferred in Western culture.
With the economic and social transformations of the 18th and 19th centuries, the absolutist monarchies that limited the power and political participation of the bourgeoisie began to be harshly criticized. The French Revolution and the liberal revolutions of the 19th century sought profound political changes and allowed access to political participation by larger portions of the population.
On the other hand, The development of capitalism led the great European powers to become colonial empires. Their desire to control natural resources (raw materials), labor for industries and markets, led them to compete to obtain territories worldwide. During the 19th century, colonialism developed that at the beginning of the 20th century led to the First World War (1914-1918) and, later, the Second World War (1939-1945).
After the Second World War, with the hegemony of the United States and some European powers, democratic ideals were promoted in the West, in contrast to the totalitarianism of Nazism and fascism, and the totalitarianism of the Soviet regime in the USSR and the Eastern bloc.
However, In different countries around the world, dictatorships were established through coups d’étatIn Latin America, under the pretext of fighting communist groups, military groups rose to power in the 1960s and 1970s, eliminating parliamentary and democratic institutions and governing through terror. Such were the cases of Paraguay (1954-1989), Brazil (1964-1985), Argentina (1976-1983) and Chile (1973-1990), among others.
On the other hand, the creation of the United Nations (UN) also represented a decisive step in political relations between the different States of the world. Given the terrible consequences of the First and Second World Wars, It sought to avoid future wars and protect human rights worldwide..
The Second World War left the United States and the USSR as the main protagonists on the international scene. During the Cold War, different countries fell under the influence or direct control of one of these two powers and The world was divided into two large blocks: the western-capitalist (led by the United States) and the eastern-communist (led by the USSR).
Although this confrontation did not lead to wars or battles between both powers directly, the competition for their control and influence in the rest of the countries of the world had severe consequences. Both powers financed or intervened directly in the Korean War (1950-1953), the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and the Afghanistan War (1978-1992), among other armed conflicts.
In the Western bloc, under the banner of the fight against communism, the United States intervened in the national politics of different countries, sometimes covertly and other times with explicit support for coups d’état and military dictatorships. In the Eastern bloc, the USSR directly intervened in the politics of the countries aligned under the Warsaw Pact through the establishment of popular democracies, led by communist parties that responded directly to the Soviet regime.
The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the disintegration of the communist Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War.. However, international conflicts continued over the control and influence of resources and markets. In the Middle East, the conflict…