19001958

1900–1958 is a historical span used to describe the first half of the 20th century, during which rapid political, social, and technological transformations occurred. The period encompasses two world wars, revolutions, economic upheaval, and the emergence of new international orders that shaped global affairs for decades. As empires dissolved and colonial subjects asserted independence, new nation-states formed across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, while European powers reevaluated their roles.

Technological and cultural change were pronounced. The era saw the expansion of industrial production, mass communication, and transportation, along with breakthroughs in medicine, science, and engineering. The arts and media intensified modernist currents, with cinema, radio, and later television influencing public life. Politically, the period included the First World War (1914–1918), the Russian Revolution (1917), the interwar years, the Great Depression, and the Second World War (1939–1945). The postwar era established the United Nations and the Bretton Woods financial system, and it witnessed the early Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Decolonization and the emergence of new geopolitical blocs marked the late 1950s, alongside the beginnings of space exploration after 1957.