Salem Press

Great Events from History: The 20th Century

Great Events from History: The 20th Century
Publisher's Note

Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century, 1941-1970, is the ninth installment in Salem Press's ongoing Great Events from History series, which was initiated in 2004 with the two-volume Great Events from History: The Ancient World, Prehistory-476, followed by The Middle Ages, 477-1453 (2 vols., 2005), The Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600 (2 vols., 2005), The Seventeenth Century, 1601-1700 (2 vols., 2006), The Eighteenth Century, 1701-1800 (2 vols., 2006), The Nineteenth Century, 1801-1900 (4 vols., 2007), The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 (6 vols., 2007), and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Events: 1848-2006 (2 vols., 2007). When completed, the series will extend through the twentieth century and contain more than 5,000 essays covering the milestones of world history.

Expanded Coverage
The present set incorporates material from Salem’s previously published events series, including heavily updated revisions of all the mid-twentieth century events covered in Chronology of European History: 15,000 B.C. to 1997 (3 vols., 1997), Great Events from History: North American Series, Revised Edition (4 vols., 1997), and Great Events from History II (20 vols., 1991-1995). These volumes form the foundation on which the new and greatly expanded series is built. However, that foundation now forms only a fraction of the whole. Across the entire new series, more than one-third of the text is completely new. In addition, the new series adds hundreds of maps, photographs, illustrations, tables and lists, primary source documents, appendixes, and finding aids in the form of keyword, geographic, categorized, personage, and subject indexes.

The new content in the current installment, The Twentieth Century, 1941-1970, constitutes more than one-quarter of the set: To the 799 original essays we have added 313 completely new essays--commissioned especially for the new series and appearing here for the first time--for a total of 1,112 essays. Bibliographies for all the old essays have been expanded and updated, and all essays are cross-referenced internally. A section containing maps of world regions in the mid-twentieth century is included, plus new appendixes, sidebars, time lines, tables, quotations from primary source documents, lists, maps, photographs, and illustrations.

Scope of Coverage
In this set, the mid-twentieth century receives worldwide coverage that prioritizes the needs of students at the high school and undergraduate levels. The events covered include the curriculum-oriented geopolitical events of the era--from World War II (1939-1945) and the Holocaust to the formation of the United Nations and the start of the Cold War in 1945, from the Korean War (1950-1953) to the war in Vietnam (1959-1975). Essays also address important social and cultural developments in literature, the arts, music, law, and social and civil rights legislation. Among the many broad subjects receiving extensive coverage are the emerging environmental movement and the growing awareness of pollution; Europe's changing political divisions and shifting alliances; global human rights struggles, including those of women, children, minority groups, and political refugees; the nuclear age; space exploration; postcolonial struggles and revolutionary political movements; dictatorships; and famine and natural disasters.

This set also covers major advances in medicine and in science and technology, including those discoveries and innovations that brought fundamental changes to daily life beginning in the early 1940’s. Medical scientists learned that DNA carries hereditary information and that its structure is in the form of a double-helix; they developed the polio vaccine and determined the structure of insulin and penicillin; and they advanced x-ray photography for medical purposes. Milestones were reached in computer technology, aviation, physics, astronomy, geology, and telecommunications.

No history would be complete without discussion of the everyday objects that became commonplace in the mid-twentieth century. The period between 1941 and 1970 saw the invention of aerosol containers, disposable diapers, Tupperware, the bikini and the miniskirt, and birth control pills, among other things. Further coverage looks at the growth of the film and television industries, and radio’s consequent demise as the medium of choice for family entertainment, especially in the United States.

By category, the contents of the set include events that fall into one or more of the following areas: Agriculture (22 essays), Animals and endangered species (2), Anthropology (8), Archaeology (8), Architecture (17), Arts (13), Astronomy (34), Atrocities and war crimes (29), Banking and finance (16), Biology (26), Business and labor (67), Chemistry (16), Civil rights and liberties (66), Cold War (86), Colonialism and occupation (42), Communications and media (24), Computers and computer science (14), Crime and scandal (8), Cultural and intellectual history (22), Dance (14), Diplomacy and international relations (128), Disasters (27), Earth science (13), Economics (40), Education (14), Energy (30), Engineering (47), Entertainment (5), Environmental issues (109), Expansion and land acquisition (14), Exploration and discovery (7), Fashion and design (6), Genetics (7), Geography (11), Geology (5), Government and politics (189), Health and medicine (66), Historiography (5), Human rights (50), Humanitarianism and philanthropy (15), Immigration, emigration, and relocation (25), Independence movements (40), Indigenous peoples' rights (11), Inventions (25), Language, linguistics, and philology (6), Laws, acts, and legal history (131), Literature (63), Manufacturing and industry (47), Marketing and advertising (11), Mathematics (1), Military history (40), Monuments (1), Motion pictures and video (49), Music (42), Mythology and folklore (1), Natural resources (27), Organizations and institutions (109), Philosophy (19), Photography (3), Physics (21), Political science (8), Popular culture (22), Prehistory and ancient cultures (3), Psychology and psychiatry (10), Publishing and journalism (28), Radio and television (44), Religion, theology, and ethics (43), Science and technology (170), Social issues and reform (121), Sociology (4), Space and aviation (46), Sports (22), Terrorism (11), Theater (40), Trade and commerce (52), Transportation (22), Travel and recreation (9), United Nations (43), Urban planning (13), Vietnam War (15), Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest (127), Women's issues (33), World War II (92).

The scope of this set is equally broad geographically, with essays on events associated with the following countries and world regions: Afghanistan (1 essay), Africa (57), Albania (2), Algeria (4), Antarctica (1), Argentina (6), Asia (39), Atlantic (4), Australia (8), Austria (9), Bangladesh (2), Belgium (9), Benin (1), Bolivia (4), Botswana (1), Brazil (5), Bulgaria (5), Burkina Faso (2), Burma (3), Cambodia (3), Cameroon (1), Canada (31), Caribbean (13), Central African Republic (2), Ceylon (3), Chad (2), Chile (4), China (14), Colombia (4), Congo, Democratic Republic of the (4), Congo, Republic of the (1), Costa Rica (2), Cuba (7), Cyprus (3), Czechoslovakia (6), Denmark (4), Dominican Republic (2), East Germany (5), Ecuador (3), Egypt (10), El Salvador (1), Eritrea (1), Ethiopia (3), Europe (265), Finland (1), France (48), Gabon (1), Germany (36), Ghana (2), Greece (6), Guatemala (1), Guinea (1), Haiti (2), Honduras (1), Hungary (6), Iceland (4), India (11), Indochina (1), Indonesia (6), Iran (3), Iraq (4), Ireland (1), Israel (14), Italy (28), Ivory Coast (1), Japan (20), Jordan (3), Kenya (1), Laos (2), Latin America (29), Lebanon (1), Libya (2), Luxembourg (6), Madagascar (1), Malawi (2), Malaysia (1), Mali (1), Mauretania (1), Mediterranean (1), Melanesia (3), Mexico (3), Micronesia (6), Middle East (35), Morocco (3), Myanmar (1), Namibia (1), Nepal (2), Netherlands (12), New Zealand (3), Niger (1), Nigeria (3), North Africa (2), North America (645), North Atlantic (2), North Korea (3), Norway (14), Nyasaland (3), Pacific (15), Pakistan (5), Palestine (14), Panama (1), Paraguay (2), Peru (3), Philippines (10), Poland (7), Polynesia (6), Portugal (4), Rhodesia (4), Romania (5), Rwanda (1), Senegal (1), Singapore (1), Somalia (2), South Africa (7), South Asia (15), South Korea (5), South Pacific (5), South-West Africa (1), Southeast Asia (32), Soviet Union (44), Spain (3), Sri Lanka (3), Sudan (2), Sweden (12), Switzerland (12), Syria (3), Tanganyika (3), Tanzania (4), Thailand (5), Tibet (2), Togo (1), Trinidad and Tobago (1), Tunisia (1), Turkey (1), Turkmenistan (1), Uganda (1), United Arab Republic (1), United Kingdom (77), United States (634), Upper Volta (2), Uruguay (1), Venezuela (1), Vietnam (10), West Germany (15), West Indies (13), Western Europe (3), Western Samoa (1), World (5), Yugoslavia (3), Zambia (3), Zimbabwe (3).

Essay Length and Format
The essays have an average length of 1,850 words (3-4 pages) and adhere to a uniform format. The ready-reference top matter of every essay prominently displays the following information:

the most precise date (or date range) of the event

the common name of the event

a summary paragraph that identifies the event and encapsulates its
significance

where appropriate, any also-known-as name for the event

the locale where the event occurred, including both mid-twentieth
century and, as relevant, modern place-names

the categories, or the type of event covered, from Arts to
Government and Politics to Military History to Transportation

Key Figures, a list of the major people involved in the event,
with birth and death dates, brief descriptors, and regnal dates or
terms of office where applicable

The text of each essay is divided into these sections:

Summary of Event, devoted to a chronological description
of the facts of the event

Significance, assessing the event's historical impact

Further Reading, an annotated list of sources for further study

See also, cross-references to other essays within this
Great Events set

Special Features
A section of historical maps appears in the front matter of each volume, displaying world regions in the mid-twentieth century to assist readers in placing events, including events with a clear global reach (such as political divisions wrought by the Cold War). Accompanying individual essays are an additional 84 maps, as well as 235 quotations from primary source documents, lists, and time lines. Also included are more than 500 photographs and illustrations: images of buildings, people, battles, and other icons of the period.

Because the set is ordered chronologically, a Keyword List of Contents appears in the front matter to each volume, listing all essays alphabetically, permuted by all keywords in the essays' titles, to assist readers in locating events by name.

In addition, research aids appear as appendixes at the end of Volume 6:

The Bibliography cites major sources on the period.

Electronic Resources provides URLs and descriptions of Web sites and
other online resources devoted to period studies.

The Chronological List of Entries organizes the contents chronologically
in one place for ease of reference.

Four indexes round out the set:

The Geographical Index lists essays by regions and countries.

The Category Index lists essays by types of event, such as Agriculture,
Architecture, and Arts.

The Personages Index includes major personages discussed throughout.

The Subject Index includes persons, concepts, terms, battles, works
of literature, inventions, organizations, artworks, musical compositions,
and many other topics of discussion.

Usage Notes
The worldwide scope of Great Events from History often results in the inclusion of names and words that must be transliterated from languages that do not use the Roman alphabet, and in some cases more than one system of transliteration exists. In many cases, transliterated words in this set follow the American Library Association and Library of Congress (ALA-LC) transliteration format for that language. However, if another form of a name or word is judged to be more familiar to the general audience, it is used instead. Pinyin transliterations are used for Chinese topics, with Wade-Giles variants provided for major names and dynasties; in a few cases, common names that are not Pinyin are used. Sanskrit and other South Asian names generally follow the ALA-LC transliteration rules, although more familiar forms of names are used when deemed appropriate for general readers.

Titles of books and other literature appear, upon first mention in each essay, with their full publication and translation data as known: an indication of the first date of publication or appearance, followed by the English title in translation and its first date of appearance in English. If no translation has been published in English, and if the context of the discussion does not make the meaning of the title obvious, a “literal translation” appears in roman type.

In the listing of Key Figures and in parenthetical material within the text, “r.” stands for “reigned,” “b.” for “born,” “d.” for “died,” and “fl.” for flourished. Wherever date ranges, such as “1920-1997,” appear appended to names with none of these designators, readers may assume that they signify birth and death dates or, where the contexts indicate, terms of office not considered “reigns.”

The Contributors
Salem Press would like to extend its appreciation to all who have been involved in the development and production of this work. Special thanks go to Professor Robert F. Gorman at Texas State, who developed the contents list and coverage notes for contributing writers to ensure the set's relevance to the high school and undergraduate curricula. The essays were written and signed by 629 historians, political scientists, scholars of regional studies, and other experts. Without their contributions, a project of this nature would not be possible. A full list of their names and affiliations appears in the front matter of this volume.