19001955

19001955 refers to the historical span from 1900 to 1955. Used in overviews and data ranges, it highlights a half-century of rapid change, including the late industrial era, two world wars, the Great Depression, and the early Cold War. The term is not a formal epoch but a convenient bracket for comparative analysis across regions and disciplines.

At the century's start, industrialization, urbanization, and imperial rule shaped politics and economies worldwide. World War I (1914–1918) caused political upheaval, revolutions in some countries, and redrawn borders. The interwar period saw economic volatility, social reform movements, and the rise of extremist ideologies in some places.

World War II (1939–1945) remade geopolitics and society. The postwar era saw the founding of the United Nations in 1945, the start of the Cold War, the division of Europe, and early decolonization. The late 1940s and early 1950s also included the Marshall Plan, NATO (1949), and rapid economic growth in some regions.

Science and technology advanced rapidly: aviation and motor transport expanded mobility; radio and cinema shaped mass culture; medicine yielded penicillin (1930s–1940s); the structure of DNA was described in 1953; early computing devices emerged. These advances influenced daily life and global power dynamics.

Social change accompanied technical progress: increased participation of women in public life, urbanization, migrations, and cultural shifts in art, music, and film. The period laid the groundwork for mid‑20th century politics, science, and culture, with effects lasting into the second half of the century.