World History in our time or before

[Jinxter13]

I've been on this rock for almost 65 years and I've seen events that IMHO have changed the course of human/world history. Probably the one that has or had the most affect would be Martin L. King and the march in Wash. DC, and how it affected civil rights not only for Black/Minority America, but set in motion a change that has gone world wide. Before my arrival on planet Earth; I would give a nod to the (1)Battle of Britain - halting the Nazi advance in Europe. (2) The Battle at Midway - from which the IJN never recovered (3) American Civil War - Where America would be had it not occurred, one can only guess. (4) The American Revolutionary War - I can imagine the British Empire with America as one of its colonies. (5) LBJ signing the Civil Rights Act in 1964 - A giant leap for civil and voting rights that went past America's boundaries. It would be remiss of me too omit Apartheid falling in South Africa,but I'm not sure if that has any affect beyond South Africa. Israel becoming a state in the late 40's has implications that go beyond world history, but also has a Biblical aspect to it, how far that goes I have no idea.

What major events did I miss, that changed the course of World History?.

[chuck540z3]

Geez Cliff, without a time cutoff you could go on and on with literally hundreds of major events that changed the world. I'm no history buff, but the Greeks and Romans alone probably have dozens of major world changing events within their long histories.

If you limit this to more recent events, I think the invention of the personal computer and the resultant evolution to the internet and smart phones, etc., has been biggest game changer of all.

[Janissary]

Well, seems you are focusing on relatively very recent events (maybe that was your intention). Since the advent of writing, I tend to think much more significant events have happened.

- Transition from multi-god religions to single-god religions

- Discovery of time measuring devices

- Discovery of farming technologies transforming humans from hunter-gatherers to land-based economies (hence civilizations, empires)

- Rise of the slavery system

- Battle of Kadesh

- The Roman Empire declaring Christianity as the official religion

- Magna Carta

- Rise of the feudal system

- Renaissance

- Ottoman's (hence Islamic culture) advance into the heart of Europe > today's clash of civilizations.

- Advances in maritime technologies > colonization > re-emergence of slavery > discovery of America

- Internal combustion engine

- French revolution > transition from empires to nation states

- Internet

Most of these are not an isolated event per se, but are tremendously influential given the relatively short time window they took place in.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Janissary

[toadwbg]

Beer was invented/discovered somewhere in the middle-east thousands of years ago. This may one of the roots of civilization.

[Exhausted]

I consider 20th century western history a hobby of mine, so I'll give it a go:

The terms ending World War I -- Reparations set the path to the breakup of large Eastern European republics today. First, US President Wilson recommended rebuilding German industry, but France wanted to avenge what the German states did to post-Napoleon France. European tradition was that the victor of a war in Europe charged the cost of the war to the loser and France and the UK intended to collect, against the US's insistence.

Reparations created a couple of very large problems. First, the US was sending economic aid for Germany to rebuild, but Germany used the money to pay reparations to France and the UK. France and the UK sent that money back to the United States to repay war debts.

Wilson oversaw the US economy change from heavy wartime industry to heavy commercial industry. To encourage Americans to buy local products, succeeding president Warren Harding raised tariffs, which in effect limited economic growth France and the UK; both of which struggled to recover from World War I. Since the wealthiest nations in the world at the time discouraged imports, Europe struggled to recover from the war while the United States prospered. This set the pattern for the 1920s that eventually produced the global economic depression.

In response to the to internal and external threats, Germany, Italy, and the USSR adopted totalitarian military-dictatorships which led the world toward war once more.

If you don't know how this leads to our current situation then I would recommend brushing up on your mid-late twentieth century history.

Caio!

Edited August 12, 2014 by Exhausted

[Jinxter13]

By no means am I focusing on recent history.....unless in the context of the grand time line....the Revolutionary War is not recent. Think in terms of Columbus's voyage; though he didn't reach the shores of mainland North America. Magellan's voyage, Lucky Lindys flight, etc. Things that had a profound affect on the future. We cannot forget A. Graham Bell's invention he made the world a much smaller place, ever Orville and Wilbur, as their invention not only changed the weapons of war, but ultimately transportation and it's still evolving. We have only recorded history to go on, who knows what happened before the first communications medium was used. Like the first human to use a boat on water.

Germany, Italy, and the USSR adopted totalitarian military-dictatorships which led the world toward war once more.

Things like this is what I'm thinking of.

Edited August 13, 2014 by #1 Greywolf

[markmarples]

few things that come to mind

the Atomic Bomb

going into space

on a more personal level and as im british

Faklands war

cold war

interwebby

[Horrido]

Hannibal's inability to defeat Rome.

The invention of the Gutenberg press.

The invention of aircraft.

The untimely death of Genghis Khan.

The Battle of Tours.

Edited the press to reflect intent.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Horrido

[Neptune48]

Well, seems you are focusing on relatively very recent events (maybe that was your intention). Since the advent of writing, I tend to think much more significant events have happened.

- Transition from multi-god religions to single-god religions

- Discovery of time measuring devices

- Discovery of farming technologies transforming humans from hunter-gatherers to land-based economies (hence civilizations, empires)

- Rise of the slavery system

- Battle of Kadesh

- The Roman Empire declaring Christianity as the official religion

- Magna Carta

- Rise of the feudal system

- Renaissance

- Ottoman's (hence Islamic culture) advance into the heart of Europe > today's clash of civilizations.

- Advances in maritime technologies > colonization > re-emergence of slavery > discovery of America

- Internal combustion engine

- French revolution > transition from empires to nation states

- Internet

Most of these are not an isolated event per se, but are tremendously influential given the relatively short time window they took place in.

You missed, in my opinion, the most significant event in all of western history: the invention of movable type.

[Neptune48]

Hannibal's inability to defeat Rome.

The invention of the printing press.

The invention of aircraft.

The untimely death of Genghis Khan.

The Battle of Tours.

The printing press had been around for a considerable amount of time, essentially going nowhere, until Gutenberg invented movable type. Historians often give credit to the wrong invention in this instance.

Regards,

Bruce

Edited August 14, 2014 by Neptune48

[Horrido]

Edited to reflect specific intent.

[Exhausted]

In case you don't know, the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 gave us the modern map of the Middle East. The map was drawn without regard to groups of people that identified commonly and had more to do with deals the victors of WWI made. First, think Lawrence of Arabia. Then think of modern Iraq. The Mid East wasn't always a hot-zone, not until the 20th century did the real fighting begin. Why would the Middle East want war? In the past they made so much money from being in the middle of the Silk Road.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Exhausted

[Don]

Human history has quite often been shaped by medicine, or lack thereof. The invention of medical vaccines and the discovery and use of penicillin has had a profound affect on humanity. Prior to vaccines entire villages and cities could be ravaged by what we now deem to be a common cold. Before penicillin people died or had appendages removed for such simple things as stepping on a nail or getting a cut.

Conversely (and sadly), as our knowledge of how diseases spread advanced over 1000's of years, so to did the sinister idea of using disease as a weapon advance. I have always found it ironic that some of the greatest advances in medicine can trace their origins to the darker side of the science.

[Pete]

How about the Anglo-Saxons crossing the North Sea to southern England, with their language, along with old Norge influences, evolving into modern English. If they stayed on mainland Europe, I might have been typing this in some version of a Celtic language.

Or how about the reign of Charles V, during his time on the Spanish throne, the conquistadores went to South America, which led to the end of the Inca and Aztec empires and eventually to the colonization of almost South America, Central America and a big portion of North America.

Or the forced opening of Japan by the US Navy commodore Matthew Perry and his ships in 1853.

[CorsairMan]

As a civilization, have made the most 'advancements' relatively recently (when you compare the 1000s of years of us being here). Its also been a relatively recent thing to have personal freedoms as well as the right to the fruits of our labours. I like to think the recent explosion of advancement is directly linked to the idea that people can now personally benefit from their studies and work.

[Slartibartfast]

Instead of a specific event, I'm going to say "The Industrial Revolution". Which of course wouldn't have happened without "The Renaissance"

[niart17]

One word "FIRE" Case closed.

Seriously though, I guess travel advances (ship, train, auto, plane) and then internet would rank to me as the most game changing events. It made the world increasingly smaller with every new step up.

Bill

[mingwin]

Astronomy...telescope...science...Atheism...

also, modern medecine, genetics...

Edited August 13, 2014 by mingwin

[Pete]

Another one

Money, especially when coins started to have symbols of power and/or government minted on it. And later banknotes. A piece of paper that is worthless in itself, but it represents a guaranteed value.

[fulcrum1]

Death of Christ and the revelation Muhammad saw in the cave....oh, and this little thing about us going to the moon.

[john53]

Big Bang! No universe, no world, MLK, JFK , Old MacDonald, or beer, without it. The rest is irrelevant.---John

[Exhausted]

That's a no brainer :)

[gonzalo]

I think 9/11 was probably the most significant historical event in very recent history. I'm willing to argue that 9/11 had as a big an impact on history as WWII. That date in history has had and will have far reaching consequences for many more years to come.

[Hajo L.]

As much as I love the events of first manned space flights and the Apollo 11, I have no idea how that events changed the world in a political way. As civilizational event (first step "off the planet"), yes, but in a political way like 9/11 or the economic crisis in the late 20ies...? No. They didn´t changed the course of the world, at least not in a way we all can see and feel.

Maybe we will talk about the moon landing later in the same way we talk about the journey of Columbus now, but until then we need to discover some other planets first... ;)

HAJO

[niart17]

As much as I love the events of first manned space flights and the Apollo 11, I have no idea how that events changed the world in a political way. As civilizational event (first step "off the planet"), yes, but in a political way like 9/11 or the economic crisis in the late 20ies...? No. They didn´t changed the course of the world, at least not in a way we all can see and feel.

Maybe we will talk about the moon landing later in the same way we talk about the journey of Columbus now, but until then we need to discover some other planets first... ;)/>

HAJO

That depends. Are we talking about the actual event of walking on the moon or the process and effort put into that event? The event probably did little to change anything other than pride, world community etc...BUT the effort and process (and various spin off processes had a HUGE impact. Some could argue that a great many technological advances wouldn't have come about (or at least not in the same fashion) had it not been for the space race. But then again, how do you measure something that happened as if it didn't? You can't really know for certain what would have changed.