Texts in Context:
Timeline of the Postmodern Age

As the period we have to cover is comparatively small, we have returned to our single-column format for this post. For the most part, we have not ventured to make judgments about the salient dates of twenty-first century history, closing our timeline with the year 2001.

• 1946-1984—Latin American Training Center-Ground Division (later School of the Americas, later Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation [WHINSEC]) operates in Panama Canal Zone.
• 1946-1991—Cold War: undeclared, unofficial contest between US, USSR for global hegemony, frequently expressed via “proxy wars.”
• 1947—Partition of British India: India, Pakistan (then consisting in East [modern Bangladesh], West [modern Pakistan]) achieve independence from Great Britain, thanks in part to swaraj movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. Dorothy Sayers delivers essay “The Lost Tools of Learning.”
• 1947-1954—Height of McCarthyism (anti-Communist mania) in US.
• 1948—State of Israel established.
• 1948-1949—Berlin Blockade, attempt by USSR to gain control of West Berlin; non-Soviet Allies organize Berlin Airlift to supply city.
• 1949—Effective end of Chinese Civil War (mainland China, Hainan under Communist control, Taiwan only under Nationalist control): Communist victory. Establishment of divided governments of East Germany (Communist), West Germany (Liberal). Founding of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), alliance of liberal democracies aimed at defense against Soviets. George Orwell publishes Nineteen Eighty-Four. Jorge Luis Borges publishes The Aleph.
• 1951—Trial, conviction of Julius, Ethel Rosenberg for espionage on behalf of USSR.
• 1950-1953—Korean War between Republic of Korea (supported by UN), Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (supported by China, USSR): ceasefire signed without permanent treaty.
• 1952—Accession of Queen Elizabeth II (longest-reigning British monarch, queen regnant in history). Fulgencio Batista leads coup against Cuban government, achieves dictatorial power. Flannery O’Connor publishes first novel, Wise Blood. John Steinbeck publishes East of Eden.
• 1953—Death of Joseph Stalin. Coup in Iran (backed by Britain, US) overthrows democratically-elected government, transforms ceremonial office of Shah, pro-Western Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, into practical head of government. Julius, Ethel Rosenberg executed.
• 1954—Books I-IV of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien published, under the titles The Fellowship of the Ring (I-II) and The Two Towers (III-IV). Army-McCarthy hearings in US see public sentiment turn against McCarthyism.
• 1955—Warsaw Pact founded (alliance of Eastern European Communist states), originally consisting in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, USSR. Beginning of Vietnam War between North Vietnam (Communist), South Vietnam and US (part of US policy of containment of Communism). Beginning of civil rights movement in US under leadership of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr (MLK). Last two books of The Lord of the Rings (V-VI) published as The Return of the King.
• 1955-1958—Cuban Revolution, Communist rebellion against Batista led by Fidel Castro: Communist victory. Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of USSR.
• 1956—Khrushchev denounces Stalin in “Secret Speech”; beginning of “Khrushchev thaw,” relaxation of laws restricting freedom of speech, press. Hungarian Revolution against Communist government, quickly crushed by Soviet invasion.
• 1957—Sputnik, first artificial satellite, put in orbit by Soviet space program.
• 1958-1962—”Great Leap Forward” in China (major industrialization, collectivization campaign): problems in planning, implementation result in Great Chinese Famine.
• 1958-1968—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn composes The Gulag Archipelago.
• 1959—Apex of Khrushchev thaw: Khrushchev visits US, meets with President Dwight Eisenhower.
• 1959-1960—Sino-Soviet alliance breaks down.
• 1959-1961—Great Chinese Famine: casualties range between 15M, 55M.
• 1960—Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel publishes Night, memoir of time spent in Auschwitz, Buchenwald. O’Connor publishes second, final novel, The Violent Bear It Away.
• 1960-1970—Career of British rock band The Beatles.
• 1961—Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space.
• 1962—Cuban Missile Crisis: diplomatic crisis between US, USSR nearly erupts into nuclear war, narrowly averted by President John F. Kennedy, Khrushchev. James Baldwin writes essay “Down at the Cross,” letter “My Dungeon Shook” (published together following year as The Fire Next Time).
• 1962-1965—Second Vatican Council, Catholic council on pastoral issues in modern world.
• 1963—Assassination of President Kennedy. Adolf Eichmann (former member of Nazi government) apprehended, kidnapped by Israeli agents in Argentina, extradited to Israel, tried for participation in Holocaust, convicted, executed; Hannah Arendt‘s coverage for The New Yorker afterward published as Eichmann in Jerusalem.
• 1964—Roman Rite Mass begins to be said in vernacular rather than in Latin. Romania effectively withdraws from Warsaw Pact.
• 1965—Without re-establishing full communion, Pope Paul VI, Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople both lift anathemas mutually proclaimed in 1054.
• 1968—Prague Spring (liberalization movement in Czechoslovakia), quickly suppressed by invasion from Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, USSR; Albania leaves Warsaw Pact in protest.
• 1969—Apollo 11 mission successfully places first humans (Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin) on moon. ARPANET, immediate forerunner of internet, created. MLK assassinated.
• 1970—Apollo 13 mission forced to resolve multiple technical failures while already spaceborne: averts disaster, returns all three crew members to earth alive. Toni Morrison publishes first novel, The Bluest Eye.
• 1971—Bangladesh Liberation War of West Pakistan against East Pakistan, India: Indo-Bengali victory; East Pakistan becomes independent country of Bangladesh.
• 1972-1974—Watergate scandal leads to impeachment, resignation of President Richard Nixon.
• 1973—The Gulag Archipelago published in Paris. US Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade effectively legalizes abortion at federal level.
• 1975—US withdraws from Vietnam: North Vietnamese victory.
• 1977—Posthumously completed by Christopher Tolkien, The Silmarillion published.
• 1978—Election of Pope John Paul II, third longest-serving pontiff of the Catholic Church.
• 1979—Iranian Revolution overthrows Shah, institutes Islamic Republic. Election of Saddam Hussein as President of Iraq. Wiesel publishes The Trial of God.
• 1979-1989—Soviet-Afghan War, Soviet attempt to preserve Communist rule in Afghanistan against rebellion of Mujahideen (unofficially supported by Iran, Pakistan, US): Mujahideen victory.
• 1979-1990—Margaret Thatcher serves as Prime Minister of Great Britain.
• 1980—Landslide triggers unexpected lateral eruption of Mount St. Helens (located in Washington state, US): 57 casualties, over $1B in damage (over $3.4B today). Assassination of John Lennon, former Beatle.
• 1980-1988—Iran-Iraq War: no clear victor. Presidency of Ronald Reagan introduces neo-liberalism to US politics: significant deregulation of US industries.
• 1981—Attempted assassination of John Paul II. Attempted assassination of Reagan. First cases of AIDS reported in New York City.
• 1982—Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP), communication standards serving as groundwork of modern internet, established. Falklands War between Argentina, Great Britain: British victory.
• 1984—Following expulsion from Panama, School of the Americas relocates to Fort Benning, Georgia, US.
• 1986—Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) isolated. 
• 1989—Breach of Berlin Wall signals weakening of Warsaw Pact.
• 1990—Reunion of East, West Germany; withdrawal of East Germany from Warsaw Pact. WorldWideWeb (first web browser), HTTP 0.9 (HyperText Transfer Protocol), HTML (HyperText Markup Language) created by Tim Berners-Lee.
• 1990-1991—Iraqi invasion of Kuwait triggers Gulf War between Iraq and Kuwait, Egypt, France, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, US, international coalition of signatories to UN Sec. Council Res. 678: Kuwaiti victory.
• 1991—Eruption of Mount Pinatubo in Philippines: 847 casualties, two-year drop of 0.5 C° in average worldwide temperatures, increase in depletion of ozone layer. Soviet Union collapses: former USSR becomes independent nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan; dissolution of Warsaw Pact.
• 1992—Breakup of Yugoslavia into Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia (now North Macedonia), Serbia, Slovenia.
• 1992-1995—Bosnian War, largely ethnic conflict among Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs: no clear victor; Bosnia maintains independence from Croatia, Serbia.
• 1993—School of the Americas (later WHINSEC) exposed to scrutiny in US Congress due to extensive training of known dictators, war criminals in Latin America; proposals, bills to defund and/or close school begin (movement ongoing).
• 2001—Terrorist attacks in New York City, Virginia; major shift triggered in US, international politics.