Late modern period (mid 18th century)

The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_history" title="Contemporary history">late modern period</a> began approximately in the mid-18th century; notable historical milestones included the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years%27_War" title="Seven Years' War">Seven Years' War</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution" title="French Revolution">French Revolution</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution" title="Industrial Revolution">First Industrial Revolutions</a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Divergence" title="Great Divergence">Great Divergence</a>. It took all of human history up to 1804 for the world's population to reach 1 billion; the next billion came just over a century later, in 1927.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_history#cite_note-5">[5]</a>

Contemporary history is a subset of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_history" title="Modern history">modern history</a> which describes the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_period" class="mw-redirect" title="Historical period">historical period</a> from approximately 1945 to the present.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_history#cite_note-1">[1]</a> The term "contemporary history" has been in use at least since the early 19th century.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_history#cite_note-2">[2]</a>

Contemporary history is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_history" title="Political history">politically</a> dominated by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War" title="Cold War">Cold War</a> (1945–91) between the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> whose effects were felt across the world. In this geopolitical context, European colonial empires in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa" title="Africa">Africa</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia" title="Asia">Asia</a> fell apart between 1945 and 1975. The confrontation, which was mainly fought through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_war" title="Proxy war">proxy wars</a> and through intervention in the internal politics of smaller nations, ultimately ended with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Dissolution of the Soviet Union">dissolution of the Soviet Union</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact" title="Warsaw Pact">Warsaw Pact</a> in 1991, following the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989" title="Revolutions of 1989">Revolutions of 1989</a>. The latter stages and aftermath of the Cold War paved the way for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratisation" class="mw-redirect" title="Democratisation">democratisation</a> of much of Europe, Africa, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_America" title="Latin America">Latin America</a>. In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East" title="Middle East">Middle East</a>, the period after 1945 was dominated by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_conflict" title="Arab–Israeli conflict">conflict involving the new state of Israel</a> and the rise of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_politics" title="Petroleum politics">petroleum politics</a>, as well as the growth of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamism" title="Islamism">Islamism</a> after the 1980s. The period after 1945 saw the growth of the first supranational organisations of government, such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations" title="United Nations">United Nations</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union" title="European Union">European Union</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_history" title="Social history">Socially</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world" title="Western world">western</a> countries experienced the rise of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture" title="Counterculture">countercultures</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_revolution" title="Sexual revolution">sexual revolution</a> between the 1960s and 1980s which transformed social relations and were epitomised by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_of_1968" title="Protests of 1968">Protests of 1968</a>. Living standards rose sharply across the developed world as a result of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-World_War_II_economic_boom" class="mw-redirect" title="Post-World War II economic boom">post-war economic boom</a> which also saw the emergence of major economies such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan" title="Japan">Japan</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany" title="West Germany">West Germany</a>. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_United_States" title="Culture of the United States">culture of the United States</a>, especially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism" title="Consumerism">consumerism</a>, spread widely. By the 1960s, many western countries had begun a process of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deindustrialization" title="Deindustrialization">deindustrialization</a>. In their place, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization" title="Globalization">globalization</a> led to the emergence of new industrial centres, such as Japan, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan" title="Taiwan">Taiwan</a> and later <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China" title="China">China</a>, based on exporting consumer goods to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_countries" class="mw-redirect" title="Developed countries">developed countries</a>.

The period after 1945 was also transformative for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science" title="History of science">history of science</a>. Notable technological innovations include <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_spaceflight" title="History of spaceflight">spaceflight</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_technology" title="Nuclear technology">nuclear technology</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser" title="Laser">laser</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor" title="Semiconductor">semiconductor</a> technology, the development of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_biology" title="Molecular biology">molecular biology</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics" title="Genetics">genetics</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_physics" title="Particle physics">particle physics</a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Model" title="Standard Model">Standard Model</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_quantum_field_theory" title="History of quantum field theory">quantum field theory</a>. It also saw the creation of the first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer" title="Computer">computers</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet" title="Internet">Internet</a>, and the birth of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Age" title="Information Age">Information Age</a>.