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These decades changed everything. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be looking at the most significant ten-year spans throughout all of human history.
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00:00With the president's decision made and millions of lives on the line,
00:04the two most powerful countries in the world stared each other down at point-blank range.
00:11Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be looking at the most significant 10-year spans throughout all of human history.
00:17They may think this is a young general, an upstart, a child, a boy.
00:22He's a force to be reckoned with.
00:24Alexander!
00:27Number 10. The 1450s.
00:29Starting off, it's the last decade of the medieval period.
00:321453 marked the end of the Hundred Years' War, stabilizing France and England,
00:36allowing them to focus on exploration and technological advancement.
00:39In July 1453, the English were overwhelmed and defeated at the Battle of Castillon in Gascony.
00:48Bordeaux fell a second time into French hands, this time for good.
00:53And the Hundred Years' War effectively drew to a close.
00:57The printing press also came into prominence, revolutionizing how we spread information.
01:01Alongside this, the Renaissance gained significant momentum,
01:04encouraging major artistic and scientific developments.
01:07Perhaps most important, 1453 also saw the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire.
01:13In fact, here in the East, the Christian Roman Empire lasted right up to 1453,
01:19when the Ottomans conquered Byzantium.
01:22It was the Roman capital for almost 11 centuries, even longer than Rome itself.
01:26This event ended the medieval era, ushering in an age of exploration.
01:30Without Roman trade routes to Asia, Columbus would never have sailed west for India,
01:34and might never have discovered the New World.
01:36Believing himself to be in the Far East, Columbus calls the islands the Indies.
01:42In fact, he is on the edge of a new continent, the Americas.
01:48Number 9. The 310s.
01:50The 310s were the first time Christianity became a mainstream religion.
01:53Constantine played every game in the book.
01:56He was an extremely ambitious person, and there was no avenue to power that he was going to leave open.
02:04In York 306, Constantine the Great was proclaimed Roman Emperor,
02:08and his rule would be arguably the most important of all Roman Emperors.
02:11Most importantly, he converted to and decriminalized Christianity,
02:14making it Europe's primary religion for the foreseeable future.
02:18Constantine also unified a divided and fractured empire and founded Constantinople.
02:42This shifted the empire's capital, signifying the end of Rome's importance as a city.
02:46The empire's primary culture then became Greek rather than Italian,
02:49and because of him, the Eastern Roman Empire long outlasted its western counterpart by almost a thousand years.
02:55Constantine was tremendously successful as an emperor, tremendously successful as a military leader.
03:01This was a man who clawed his way into power using raw ambition,
03:07and at every turn, he used that same ambition in order to win the day.
03:13Number 8. 1990s.
03:15The last decade of the 20th century was an interesting one, packed with historical significance.
03:19In 1991, the Soviet Union fell, ending the Cold War and bringing democracy to Eastern Europe.
03:24On the 21st of December, 1991, the document that ends the Cold War is signed.
03:31The Alma-Ata Protocol.
03:35The latest crisis, the signing of an historic agreement between the three mighty republics,
03:39Ukraine, Russia, and Byelorussia, effectively marked the formal death of the USSR.
03:44In 1994, Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first black president, signaling the end of apartheid.
03:50This was a major step forward for the global struggle for racial equality, and its effects are still felt today.
03:55In May 1994, Nelson Mandela, the man white South Africa had imprisoned for nearly 30 years,
04:01was sworn in as the country's first black president.
04:04Through his dignified and courageous leadership,
04:07the African National Congress had broken the stranglehold of apartheid
04:11and transformed South Africa into a multiracial democracy.
04:15The internet and mobile phones became easily accessible to the public,
04:18setting the stage for the smartphone revolution.
04:20Countless influential pieces of music, movies, and television also emerged,
04:24which had lasting impacts on pop culture.
04:33The 1960s.
04:35The swinging 60s were an amazing decade for human achievements.
04:38Not only did we land on the moon, but the civil rights movement abolished legal segregation in the United States.
04:43The country was at the crest of a movement that would cascade into the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
04:49Called a second emancipation by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
04:52the Civil Rights Act ended segregation in all public places
04:56and ended employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
05:01Martin Luther King Jr.'s landmark I Have a Dream speech will forever be remembered for its enduring impact on humanity.
05:07Women's and LGBTQ rights movements also hit their stride, and the counterculture movement blossomed.
05:12There was revolutionary music with artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and Bob Dylan defining the era.
05:23Unfortunately, the Cold War and the Vietnam War escalated heavily,
05:26with the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 bringing us to the brink of nuclear war.
05:31It was a period of profound change and upheaval, which laid substantial groundwork for future generations.
05:42We have set out. Many months of sacrifice and self-discipline lie ahead.
05:49Months in which both our patience and our will will be tested.
05:54Number 6. The 1770s.
05:56Barely three months into the 1770s, British soldiers killed five civilians in Boston in an event called the Boston Massacre.
06:03For the first time, real blood has been shed.
06:07There have been fistfights before, knocked heads, but now there's an actual martyr.
06:12Five years later, the American Revolutionary War began, leading to the birth of the United States.
06:17The struggle for American independence had far-reaching implications,
06:20setting an impressive precedent for other colonies seeking independence.
06:24The question is no longer whether there shall be independence, but when.
06:28One of the most important documents in history, the Declaration of Independence, was signed in 1776.
06:33It emphasized individual rights and shaped America for centuries to come.
06:37It majorly influenced the French Revolution, with France being inspired by America's emphasis on liberty, equality, and democracy.
06:43At the time, nobody knew where they were going, and they certainly didn't know how everything would turn out.
06:49But without intending it, they came up with the most revolutionary idea of the modern world.
06:55The idea that without kings and noblemen, ordinary people could govern themselves.
07:015. The 1790s
07:03The French Revolution kicked off in 1789 due to a complex combination of societal, political, and economic factors.
07:10The revolutionaries had challenged the might and arrogance of the French court in Versailles.
07:15They'd executed their king and created a republic, whose watchwords were liberty, equality, and the rights of man.
07:24A government whose sovereignty was based in the people.
07:28King Louis XVI was notoriously indecisive, and the ruling nobility opposed reformation.
07:33Consequently, the French Revolution dominated this decade.
07:36The reign of terror lasted from 1793 to 1794, characterized by frequent mass executions perpetuated by the Jacobin government.
07:44It ended in 1799 with Napoleon's coup d'etat setting the stage for his rise to emperor.
07:49The most august Napoleon, emperor of the French, is crowned and enthroned. Long live the emperor!
08:00Long live the emperor!
08:02Beyond France, U.S. democracy was solidified, with the Bill of Rights ratified in 1791 and the formation of the first political parties.
08:09The Haitian Revolution, history's most successful slave rebellion, also began in 1791.
08:14This transformative period was characterized by global movements for independence and change.
08:18Haitian tradition says the slaves of Saint-Domingue planned that night to revolt.
08:23They timed their uprising to start on multiple plantations in two weeks' time.
08:28Many conflicts of the 20th century have their roots in the 1910s, making it a decade of profound global importance.
08:36The First World War is fought on a scale never before seen in the whole of human history.
08:41World War I dominated the decade, involving most major powers across the globe.
08:46It introduced trench warfare, chemical weapons, and aerial combat.
08:49The Russian Revolution also established the Soviet Union, eventually leading to the Cold War.
08:54In 1917, the Romanov dynasty fell, and Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks had managed to seize power in the Russian Revolution.
09:03Not only the Russian Empire fell, but also the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and German empires.
09:08The League of Nations, the predecessor to the UN, was established in 1919.
09:12It was a tumultuous decade, but it transformed the world and shaped international relations for the remainder of the century.
09:18Out of it comes votes for every citizen, the foundation of modern democracy.
09:22It is a war between empires that destroys empires.
09:27It is a war in which the old rulers pay scant regard for the lives of ordinary people.
09:35This pivotal decade significantly transformed cultures across the globe.
09:38The American Civil War dominated the first half, ending with a Union victory, thus abolishing most forms of slavery in the U.S.
10:00In 1861, Italy was unified for the first time since 476, 1400 years prior.
10:06Serfdom was abolished in Russia, initiating a series of social reforms modernizing the empire.
10:11In Japan, the Meiji Restoration began, beginning Japan's transformation from a feudalist nation to an imperial power.
10:17Newly installed in power, the emperor was renamed Meiji, or Enlightened Rule.
10:23He became the symbol for a new Japan that would transform itself in 40 years,
10:28from a country of rice paddies to a modern military and economic power that could stand up to the West.
10:35Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution transformed societies globally, with steel and railroads laying the groundwork for decades of economic growth.
10:42It's easy to see this decade played a crucial role in shaping the modern world.
10:46It's about finding out about the stuff of life that feeds into technological change.
10:52New engines, new techniques, canals, tunnels, steamships, factories develop.
10:59It's an enormous span where science and technology and industry all go together.
11:08World War II engulfed most of the world in conflict.
11:11It brought with it major military campaigns, technological advancements, and the devastating Holocaust.
11:29To this day, the Holocaust remains one of the most horrific atrocities in history.
11:33The abhorrent genocide had profound implications following the war, and will be remembered forever.
11:38The conflict ended with the U.S. dropping the two most destructive bombs in history on Japan.
11:43In the ashes of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Fujita realized that the rubble told a story beyond the tragedy of death and destruction.
11:51These devastated the small nation and highlighted the U.S.'s status as a superpower.
11:55It also set the stage for the Cold War, a conflict beginning immediately after World War II.
12:00This was a decade of intense upheaval which ushered in the end of colonialism and shaped the 20th century's geopolitical landscape.
12:07In 1945, a continent emerged from the war bloody but unbowed and full of hope.
12:15Four years later, a new era is beginning, one in which peace and prosperity must live alongside the fear of a nuclear apocalypse.
12:38Number 1. The 320s BCE
12:41This decade was defined by the extraordinary conquests of Alexander the Great and the subsequent spread of Hellenistic culture throughout the ancient world.
13:01Alexander's military tactics and strategies set new standards and still influence military thinking today.
13:06He established one of the grandest empires in history and founded numerous cities.
13:10Alexandria and Egypt became a hub for learning in this period.
13:24The cultural exchange facilitated by his campaigns laid the foundation for sharing ideas, technologies, and trade across Eurasia.
13:30His monumental reign influenced countless historical figures such as Julius Caesar, Hannibal Barca, Charlemagne, and Napoleon Bonaparte.
13:38His legacy left an enduring mark on history and his influence is still felt today over 2300 years later.
13:54Let us know which decade you would want to live through the most.
14:00In the shadow of the most powerful and terrible weapons ever created.
14:07In fear of total annihilation.
14:10Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
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