Contemporary history

Contemporary history is a subset of modern history which describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. The term "contemporary history" has been in use at least since the early 19th century.

Contemporary history is politically dominated by the Cold War (1945–91) between the United States and Soviet Union whose effects were felt across the world. In this geopolitical context, European colonial empires in Africa and Asia fell apart between 1945 and 1975. The confrontation, which was mainly fought through proxy wars and through intervention in the internal politics of smaller nations, ultimately ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact in 1991, following the Revolutions of 1989. The latter stages and aftermath of the Cold War paved the way for the democratisation of much of Europe, Africa, and Latin America. In the Middle East, the period after 1945 was dominated by conflict involving the new state of Israel and the rise of petroleum politics, as well as the growth of Islamism after the 1980s. The period after 1945 saw the growth of the first supranational organisations of government, such as the United Nations and European Union. Socially, western countries experienced the rise of countercultures and the sexual revolution between the 1960s and 1980s which transformed social relations and were epitomised by the Protests of 1968. Living standards rose sharply across the developed world as a result of the post-war economic boom which also saw the emergence of major economies such as Japan and West Germany. The culture of the United States, especially consumerism, spread widely. By the 1960s, many western countries had begun a process of deindustrialization. In their place, globalization led to the emergence of new industrial centres, such as Japan, Taiwan and later China, based on exporting consumer goods to developed countries.

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