history:h_c20d
The 20th Century - 4th Quarter
Overview:
the age of computerisation, space travel, rock & roll, genetics, shopping malls, feminism
the generation Y:
Western people born 1976-1991 (some use 1982-2001)
also known as the net/millenial/thumb generation (use of thumbs for computers/mobile phones) or “ferals”
grew up with the internet, mobile phones, SMS phone text messaging & generally well educated
rebel against baby boomers - bare mid-riffs emphasises their youthfulness that the boomers have lost
get on well with their grandparents - the “silent generation”, valuing their values of marriage & kids at an earlier age, but perhaps are not ready to commit themselves
defining movies: The Matrix trilogy
icons: Prince William; Reese Witherspoon; Britney Spears;
motto: “I'll email you my digital wedding photos”
fashion faux pas: satin cargo pants
tendency to become “parasite singles” (aka the kangaroo generation, nestlings, boomerang children & adulescents) who in their 20's & 30's earn a salary but still live with their parents.
term 1st coined by Japanese professor Masahiro Yamada as 10 million salaried singles in Japan live with parents in 2000, with 70% of all single women living with parents
in Italy in 2000, 58% of men aged 18-33yrs still live at home “mama's boys”, but in Australia only 7% of 30-34yr olds lived with parents.
causes include:
increased reluctance to marry young, women seeking wealthier men, women preferring careers over marriage
prohibitive rent, high tertiary education costs, less job security
unwilling to give up lifestyle of travel, dining out, & luxury goods that marriage & kids usually end
ramifications include:
late 1970's:
the era of rock gradually taken over by more hard core anti-establishment sentiment with punk rock as many adolescents rebelled against high unemployment, high inflation, increasing divorce rates of their parents and cynicism of authority figures following the perceived follies of the Vietnam war, Middle East crises & the many political scandals such as Watergate, the Whitlam dismissal as well as Thatcherism.
1980's:
a decade of high inflation, high interest rates, high unemployment, increasing divide between the have-nots and the employed, materialism, selfishness, sexual promiscuity, corporate takeovers culminating in the outbreak of HIV/AIDS then the 1987 stock market crash, massive corporate losses, anti-HIV fear campaigns, homophobia and subsequent recession
1990's:
dominated by global recession and sexual conservatism in the first half, the 1991 Iraq war, grunge, “political correctness”, the growth of home computers, mobile phones & the internet which led to a dot net internet technology share boom and crash and subsequent real estate price boom as investors feared the volatility of stock markets, distrusting corporate accounting ethics and preferred the perceived safety of bricks and mortar in a low interest rate environment.
literature:
best English language novels of the 20th century:
best English novels ever:
chronology of English literature:
1975: Salman Rushdie Grimus;
1977: Stephen King The Shining; Barbara Pym Quartet in Autumn; John Tolkien Silmarillion;
1979: Nadine Gordimer The Burgher's Daughter;
1980: Salman Rushdie Midnight's Children;
1981: Molly Keane Good Behaviour;
1984: John Updike The Witches of Eastwick;
1990: Antonia Byatt Possession;
1997-2007: J.K.Rowling Harry Potter series;
art:
music:
“classical music” -
musicals - Blues Brothers; Rocky Horror;
rock & roll
dance - disco, rap, breakdance, rave
film:
Britain:
1975:
1976: James Callaghan becomes PM (1976-9);
1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes PM (1979-90);
1988: Lockerbie air terrorism disaster kills 270;
1990: John Major becomes PM (1990-97);
1994: English Channel tunnel opened;
1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in car accident; Tony Blair becomes PM;
Europe:
-
1975:
1979: Soviets invade Afghanistan;
1980: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev begins program of glastnost, or openness that allowed people to speak freely resulting in Soviet system beginning to unravel.
1981: attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II fails;
1982: Monaco's Princess Grace dies in car accident; Spain joins NATO;
1983: after 19mths, martial law is lifted in Poland;
1986: Chernobyl nuclear reactor partial meltdown in Ukraine;
1989:
demonstrators in E.Germany, Bulgaria & Czechoslovakia bring down their communist governments leading to the Berlin Wall being dismantled after 28yrs and end of Communism in 1990-1 in these regions.
Yugoslavia state starts to disintegrate.
Gorbachev decides to withdraw Soviet troops from fruitless campaign in Afghanistan
1990: Lech Walesa elected president of Poland; 35,000 killed in Iranian earthquake;
1991:
after failed coup attempt by hard-line communists, Gorbachev resigns & soon Pres. Boris Yeltsin temporarily bans the Communist Party, ending the Bolshevik Revolution as constituent states begin to declare their independence resulting in the USSR falling into disarray and easing of East-West tensions.
Bosnian war commences:
after break up of Federal Republic, fighting breaks out in Yugoslavia between Serbs, Croats & Muslims when Serb leader Milosovic conjures fear in minority Serb groups in Croatian dominated areas and with the rise of nationalism, commences fire on Croat towns and then starts the massacres of minorities, yet another genocide. The Serbs were reminded of persecution by muslims 600yrs previously and the Serbian genocide by Hitler in WWII, the propaganda engendered hatred and ensured the war would be one of the most bloody in the century & allowed ethnic cleansing to be attempted once again, this time, against the muslims in particular. UN tried to create safe areas and economic sanctions to no avail, and in 1995, under military pressure the UN soldiers left a town to the mercy of Serbs who killed 8,000 men in the town and dumped them in mass graves. Serbs expelled all muslims & Croats from serb-held regions.
1994: Russian troops invade Republic of Chechnya in unsuccessful attempt to oppose its independence movement
1995: Chechen fighters seize hospital in Russia, more than 100 hostages killed in botched rescue. Russians forced to let hostage takers go.
1996: Chechen commandos seize hundreds of hostages in village in neighbouring Dagestan, before escaping Russian seige.
1997: Pres. Yeltsin signs formal peace treaty, leaving unresolved question of independence. Chechnya sinks into anarchy & under influence of militant Arab Wahhabi fighters.
1999: Chechen fighters stage incursion into Dagestan, residential blocks blown up in Moscow & Volgadonsk killing 300. Chechen insurgents blamed. War breaks out again.
America:
1975: Gerald Ford (Pres. 1974-7); Watergate cover-up trial;
1976: US Bicentennial;
1977: Jimmy Carter (Pres. 1977-81); Elvis Presley dies;
1979: Hurricanes David & Frederick hit southern Florida causing $45m damages;
1980: Mt St Helens volcano erupts; John Lennon killed;
1981: Ronald Reagan (Pres. 1981-9);
1983: terrorist bombs in Beirut kill 237 US marines;
1986: Space Shuttle Challenger explodes soon after take-off;
1987: nuclear treaty with USSR to ban medium-range weapons;
1989: George Bush Snr (Pres. 1989-93); Gen. Colin Powell becomes 1st black to become Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff; oil tanker Exxon Valdez spills 11m gallons crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound;
1991: US under Pres.Bush invade Iraq to free Kuwait;
1992:
1993: Bill Clinton (Pres. 1993-2000?);
1995: Oklahoma terrorist bombing;
South America:
1976: Argentinian President Isabel Peron is deposed in bloodless coup;
1979: Sandinistas seize power in Nicaragua;
1980: Nicaragua's deposed President Somoza is assassinated;
1983: US & Caribbean troops invade Grenada;
Asia:
China:
India:
Pakistan:
Japan:
Indonesia:
1975: Indonesia annexes East Timor without UN support.
1991: Indonesian army massacres civilians in East Timor captured on film for western media.
1998: President Suharto resigns, finally freeing Indonesian's from 30yrs of tyrannical rule. He is replaced by Pres. Sukarno's daughter, Megawati.
2002: Nov. - Bali nightclub bombings by muslim extremists kill many tourists esp. Australians.
Other Asian:
1979: Vietnam, along with the Cambodian insurgents it backs announce fall of Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime.
1984: NZ declares it a nuclear-free zone;
1986: corrupt Philippine President Marcos (r.1966-86) flees and replaced by Corazon Aquino;
1987: Bangladesh monsoon leaves 24 million homeless;
1991: a military junta headed by Gen. Kongsompong takes power in Thailand;
1992: US forces leave Phillipines after nearly 100yrs presence;
1993: President of Sri Lanka assassinated;
Australia:
New Zealand:
Africa:
Science & Technology:
1978: 1st test tube baby;
1979: Sony Walkman;
1981: 1st space shuttle; IBM PC desktop computer;
1984: HIV discovered;
1986: desktop computers start to become widespread;
1990: Hubble space telescope launched; MS Windows 3.0 provides a graphical interface;
1992:
1994: Intel's Pentium chips;
1995: MS Windows 95; most new software now on CD ROM;
1996: internet usage starts to revolutionise society;
1997: DVD players; Bose-Einstein condensate created - a new form of matter;
1998: Viagra;
digital cameras start to become popular; MS Windows 98; USB interfaces in computers; re-writable CD drives enables CD burning of audio CDs, etc. “Slow light” - Light slowed down using Bose-Einstein condensates and then an impulse of light was able to be trapped for 1msec.
1999:
see also: History of computing
history/h_c20d.txt · Last modified: 2021/06/13 18:00 by gary1