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Old 07-16-2014, 04:55 PM
 
Location: Eastwood, Orlando FL
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I think the big shifts in attitide, culture and technology started with WW1. I'll go with the shooting of Archduke Ferdinand
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Old 07-16-2014, 04:57 PM
 
Location: Cushing OK
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Given that WW1 was the last war fought like they were before modern technology, but was ended quickly after years of dead by the beginnings of it, I'd say the WW1 period marks the beginning of the twentith century. It was accompanies by a huge social change as well, with women taking roles they had not before, as reflected in the great change in dress. Young people began to move toward their own culture, and the shift from rural to urban became a cultural norm.

The twentyth century was marked by some of the most horrific moments and slaughters, and some of the most remarkable, and yet those changes in 1914 and on were the beginnings of the split away from a long long legacy.

The thing is, they probably couldn't see it just as we may be in a deep state of transition between the 20th and 21st century culture but we're too close to know.
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Old 07-16-2014, 05:01 PM
 
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I'd go with 1918.

WW1 was ending, with the Treaty of Versailles setting the stage for WW2. The Austro-Hungarian empire was over and done with. The Revolution was sweeping the future Soviet Union. Lots of political changes went through Europe. Also, the Model T was doing well in the U.S. by then, and air travel was becoming realistic. Women were getting the vote in most major Western countries at the end of WW1 (1919 or so). Radios were selling briskly. Telephones and electricity were more widespread by the end of WW1. Cinemas were opening up everywhere, and movies weren't just a weird novelty anymore. Women's hemlines had even started creeping northward, so fashions were changing quickly.

Politics, transportation, mass media were all more "20th century"-style than "19th century" by the time WW1 ended.
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Old 07-16-2014, 05:08 PM
 
Location: Poshawa, Ontario
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Quote:
Originally Posted by suzy_q2010 View Post
Q. When do you think the 20th century started?

A. A whisker after midnight, January 1, 1901.
</thread>

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Old 07-16-2014, 06:56 PM
 
Location: Iowa, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spicymeatball View Post
It seems to me like the 1900s and 1910s, and indeed even as late as the '40s was very similar to the 19th century in most parts of the world. Cars and electricity were only for the rich prior to 1920 and even as late as 1970 only about half of the world's population had any kind of access to the grid.

As for when they ended, I would say probably in the mid to late 1990s with the last vestiges of colonialism and the Cold War disappearing and the rise of the Internet and cell phones. Though in much of the world this probably happened more around the years 2005-2010.
I'd say it started when WWI began in 1914 and ended when the Soviet Union fell in 1991. Much like the centuy before started in 1776 and ended in 1913. That was an era of enlightenment and people liberating themselves from tyranny. It was an era of relative peace and prosperity, aside form the American Civil war, which to this day is America's bloodiest war.

In comparison to the long 19th century, the short 20th century was a time of unwarranted violence and bloodshed, destruction, and tyranny. The Cold War was a golden age in this era, and that's not saying a lot.

As far as this century, I'd say it's defined by the 'War on Terror' and (debatably) the end of classical western civilization. This began Sept. 11, 2001 and is ongoing. 1991-2001 was overall pretty unexciting.
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Old 07-16-2014, 08:40 PM
 
Location: Myrtle Creek, Oregon
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Continuous chlorination of drinking water started in London in 1905 in response to a typhoid epidemic. The first continuous system in the USA started up in Jersey City in 1908.

The Activated sludge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia process for treating sewage was invented in 1912.
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Old 07-16-2014, 11:56 PM
 
Location: Maryland about 20 miles NW of DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spicymeatball View Post
It seems to me like the 1900s and 1910s, and indeed even as late as the '40s was very similar to the 19th century in most parts of the world. Cars and electricity were only for the rich prior to 1920 and even as late as 1970 only about half of the world's population had any kind of access to the grid.

As for when they ended, I would say probably in the mid to late 1990s with the last vestiges of colonialism and the Cold War disappearing and the rise of the Internet and cell phones. Though in much of the world this probably happened more around the years 2005-2010.

From the standpoint of Europe, the 20th Century began between 1914-1919 with the destruction of the monarchies rulling Germany Austria, Russia, and Turkey. At the same time the Chinese Republic was founded by Sun Yat-Sen in 1912 and a few years later a group of students led by Mao Zedong in Shanghai founded the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Empire that had lasted in some form for about 4000 years was abolished. One can say the 20th Century came earlier to Japan with the Meiji Emperor in the 1870s. In Latin America the Mexican Revolution in 1922 ended the the age of Dictators there.
But Dictators rose in Venezula, Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Paraguay and Argentina. A patern that lasted in South America until the 1980s. In South Africa the 20th Century began with the Boer War and the rise of Jan Smuts. For India it was the return of Mahatma Gandhi to India in the 1910s. For the United States I would say the election of 1896 and the Spanish American War of 1898 and 1892 when the American Frontier ceased to be a contiuous boundary as shown by the 1890 census maps .
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Old 07-17-2014, 12:18 AM
 
Location: White House, TN
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I would say it started in 1914 and ended around 1997.
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Old 07-17-2014, 12:25 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spicymeatball View Post
It seems to me like the 1900s and 1910s, and indeed even as late as the '40s was very similar to the 19th century in most parts of the world. Cars and electricity were only for the rich prior to 1920 and even as late as 1970 only about half of the world's population had any kind of access to the grid.

As for when they ended, I would say probably in the mid to late 1990s with the last vestiges of colonialism and the Cold War disappearing and the rise of the Internet and cell phones. Though in much of the world this probably happened more around the years 2005-2010.
As World War II ended.
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Old 07-17-2014, 12:39 AM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JennyMominRI View Post
I think the big shifts in attitide, culture and technology started with WW1. I'll go with the shooting of Archduke Ferdinand
Yup. But the full effects of the war, especially all the technological changes, weren't apparent here in the U.S. until 1918-1919. The effects were more drastic and developed earlier in Europe. The major impact of the war here was it's exposure of young American men to a wider world than they ever imagined.

The Spanish flu interrupted the 20th century everywhere at the same time, and slowed things down for at least 1 or 2 more years.

The turn of a century very seldom matches societal changes. Stuff that a following generation takes for granted always takes 20 years or so by their elders to accept, and the 20th century was no different except for the viciousness of the first World War. No society was prepared for that, and it escalated everything that followed.

The 21st century has proved to the the same for the United States. 9/11 and the following wars held us trapped in the 20th century for well over a decade. It was 1995 here for many years, and that's part of our problems now. Europe managed to make the transit into a new century easier than we did, even though they weren't immune to the great societal shifts that have happened in the past 14 years.

Decades are no different. Most 10 year spans spend the first 5 years lingering in what happened in the previous decade and the second 5 years in change that comes much more rapidly. The calendar doesn't make much of a difference when it comes to human affairs.
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