# data[].attributes.body
The Neolithic Revolution impacted Mesopotamia, and later the entire world.

It also marked the transition from Hunter-Gatherer to agriculture.

This revolution changed the way humans get food forever.

source: https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/neolithic-revolution

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Neolithic Revolution, also called the Agricultural Revolution, marked the transition in human history from small, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilization. The Neolithic Revolution started around 10,000 B.C. in the Fertile Crescent, a boomerang-shaped region of the Middle East where humans first took up farming. Shortly after, Stone Age humans in other parts of the world also began to practice agriculture. Civilizations and cities grew out of the innovations of the Neolithic Revolution.

Neolithic Age

The Neolithic Age is sometimes called the New Stone Age. Neolithic humans used stone tools like their earlier Stone Age ancestors, who eked out a marginal existence in small bands of hunter-gatherers during the last Ice Age.

Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe coined the term "Neolithic Revolution" in 1935 to describe the radical and important period of change in which humans began cultivating plants, breeding animals for food and forming permanent settlements. The advent of agriculture separated Neolithic people from their Paleolithic ancestors.

Many facets of modern civilization can be traced to this moment in history when people started living together in communities.

Causes of the Neolithic Revolution

There was no single factor that led humans to begin farming roughly 12,000 years ago. The causes of the Neolithic Revolution may have varied from region to region.

The Earth entered a warming trend around 14,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. Some scientists theorize that climate changes drove the Agricultural Revolution.

In the Fertile Crescent, bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea and on the east by the Persian Gulf, wild wheat and barley began to grow as it got warmer. Pre-Neolithic people called Natufians started building permanent houses in the region.

Other scientists suggest that intellectual advances in the human brain may have caused people to settle down. Religious artifacts and artistic imagery-progenitors of human civilization-have been uncovered at the earliest Neolithic settlements.

The Neolithic Era began when some groups of humans gave up the nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle completely to begin farming. It may have taken humans hundreds or even thousands of years to transition fully from a lifestyle of subsisting on wild plants to keeping small gardens and later tending large crop fields.

Neolithic Humans

The archaeological site of Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey is one of the best-preserved Neolithic settlements. Studying Çatalhöyük has given researchers a better understanding of the transition from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering to an agriculture lifestyle.

Archaeologists have unearthed more than a dozen mud-brick dwellings at the 9,500 year-old Çatalhöyük. They estimate that as many as 8,000 people may have lived here at one time. The houses were clustered so closely back-to-back that residents had to enter the homes through a hole in the roof.

The inhabitants of Çatalhöyük appear to have valued art and spirituality. They buried their dead under the floors of their houses. The walls of the homes are covered with murals of men hunting, cattle and female goddesses.

Some of the earliest evidence of farming comes from the archaeological site of Tell Abu Hureyra, a small village located along the Euphrates River in modern Syria. The village was inhabited from roughly 11,500 to 7,000 B.C.

Inhabitants of Tell Abu Hureyra initially hunted gazelle and other game. Around 9,700 B.C. they began to harvest wild grains. Several large stone tools for grinding grain have been found at the site.

Agricultural Inventions

Plant domestication: Cereals such as emmer wheat, einkorn wheat and barley were among the first crops domesticated by Neolithic farming communities in the Fertile Crescent. These early farmers also domesticated lentils, chickpeas, peas and flax.

Domestication is the process by which farmers select for desirable traits by breeding successive generations of a plant or animal. Over time, a domestic species becomes different from its wild relative.

Neolithic farmers selected for crops that harvested easily. Wild wheat, for instance, falls to the ground and shatters when it is ripe. Early humans bred for wheat that stayed on the stem for easier harvesting.

Around the same time that farmers were beginning to sow wheat in the Fertile Crescent, people in Asia started to grow rice and millet. Scientists have discovered archaeological remnants of Stone Age rice paddies in Chinese swamps dating back at least 7,700 years.

In Mexico, squash cultivation began about 10,000 years ago, while maize-like crops emerged around 9,000 years ago.

Livestock: The first livestock were domesticated from animals that Neolithic humans hunted for meat. Domestic pigs were bred from wild boars, for instance, while goats came from the Persian ibex. Domesticated animals made the hard, physical labor of farming possible while their milk and meat added variety to the human diet. They also carried infectious diseases: smallpox, influenza and the measles all spread from domesticated animals to humans.

The first farm animals also included sheep and cattle. These originated in Mesopotamia between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago. Water buffalo and yak were domesticated shortly after in China, India and Tibet.

Draft animals including oxen, donkeys and camels appeared much later-around 4,000 B.C.-as humans developed trade routes for transporting goods.

Effects of the Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution led to masses of people establishing permanent settlements supported by farming and agriculture. It paved the way for the innovations of the ensuing Bronze Age and Iron Age, when advancements in creating tools for farming, wars and art swept the world and brought civilizations together through trade and conquest.

Sources

The Development of Agriculture; National Geographic.
The Seeds of Civilization; Smithsonian Magazine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Neolithic Revolution, also called the Agricultural Revolution, marked the transition in human history from small, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilization. It started around 10,000 B.C.

# data[].attributes.body
Gunpowder impacted China when it was first used for fireworks, It later impacted the whole world.

The invention of gunpowder was an accident, Taoist pharmacists created it. It was a byproduct of their research into the so-called "elixir of life".

Gunpowder changed the way warfare would be fought for the rest of human history. Cannons, rifles, and pistols come out of this invention.

source: https://www.thecollector.com/history-of-gunpowder/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ever since it was developed in 10th century China, gunpowder has been used for both war and peace. It served as a propellent for firearms, artillery, and rockets on battlefields around the world, which is how we often think of it. However, it has just as often been used for pyrotechnics such as fireworks and as a blasting agent for quarrying, mining, and building roads. As such, gunpowder is one of humanity's greatest inventions. Yet, for all its importance, the history and development of gunpowder remains poorly understood.

Gunpowder is a mixture of sulfur, carbon (charcoal), and potassium nitrate (saltpeter) that is also commonly known as "black powder" due to its color. Compared to other chemical explosives, gunpowder is relatively simple to produce. Each of its three ingredients plays an important role in the reaction. Sulfur lowers the ignition temperature required to start the reaction, while charcoal provides carbon and other fuel for the reaction, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate) provides the oxygen for the combustion reaction. Over the centuries, the exact proportion of each ingredient in the mixture has varied, but generally, it is something like the following: 75% Potassium Nitrate (KNO ₃), 15% Charcoal (C), and 10% Sulfur (S).

Since gunpowder has a relatively slow decomposition rate and a low brisance ( the shattering capability of an explosive) it is classified as a low explosive. Unlike a high explosive, which detonates, a low explosive will deflagrate or burn quickly at subsonic speeds. This means that gunpowder is a better propellant than explosive. Gunpowder is not a particularly efficient chemical explosive as combustion converts less than half of the gunpowder's mass into gas. Most of the mass is converted into particulates, as either smoke or soot. After combustion, the gunpowder is converted into 56% solid products, 43% gaseous products, and 1% water. A simplified chemical equation for the burning of gunpowder would look something like the following: 10KNO ₃ +8C+3S -2K₂CO₃+3K₂SO₄+6CO₂+5N₂.

The Origins of Gunpowder

Though gunpowder is an invention of undeniable importance, its origins and history are poorly understood. In the West, there was a centuries-long debate around gunpowder's exact point of origin. Thanks to the pioneering work of Joseph Needham in the 1960s and 1970s, we can now say that gunpowder was developed in China at some point during the 10th century CE. There is some evidence that gunpowder was developed earlier, so at some point, this date may be pushed further back. Medieval Europeans had a very limited knowledge of China so they assumed that gunpowder must have been invented in Europe, though occasionally they credited the Islamic World with its invention. Today, some will still credit Europeans with the invention of gunpowder, but this is no more than cultural chauvinism and has no basis in fact.

The earliest references to gunpowder are found in Taoist texts of the Tang Dynasty. According to these texts, which include the earliest known recipe for gunpowder, Taoist pharmacists or alchemists were the first to create gunpowder. It was a byproduct of their research into the so-called "elixir of life," which would cure all disease and imbue one with eternal life and youth. In China, gunpowder was often referred to as the "fire drug" in reference to its origin. Over the course of the following centuries, the recipe was further refined. This was, as can be imagined, a dangerous process. The texts make many references to houses burning down and people suffering horrible burns from experiments gone wrong.

By the 11th Century CE texts of the Song Dynasty record the first chemical recipe for gunpowder. Many early gunpowder recipes include ingredients besides sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter, which were included for a variety of purposes. Some were included for functional reasons; dung for example was believed to create more noxious smoke. Others included because it was believed that they possessed special properties; garlic and honey were often added for this reason. Much of this experimentation also centered around establishing what proportions of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter would produce the best results. There is a bit of wiggle room in the recipe.

It was also around the 11th Century that Song engineers worked to develop various gunpowder weapons. In the past it was common for scholars in the West to claim that the Chinese never used gunpowder as a weapon of war, but this assertion is completely untrue. Song engineers used gunpowder to create all manner of incendiary and explosive weaponry, as well as being the first to harness its capabilities as a propellent. They developed gunpowder fueled fire arrows, bombs thrown by hand and trebuchet, fire lances (spears that could launch projectiles), rockets, and most importantly, the first guns and cannons. These were, of course, far more primitive than their modern counterparts and their impact on the battlefield was limited. Tactics had to be developed before these weapons could have a real impact on the battlefield, and they were not yet available in great enough numbers for their power to be felt. So initially, gunpowder technology remained unknown outside of Song China. This changed in the 12th Century CE with the arrival of the Mongols.

Gunpowder Spreads across Eurasia and Africa

Over the course of the 12th and 13th Centuries CE, the Mongols conquered the largest land empire the world has ever known. In doing so they facilitated the spread of gunpowder technology across Eurasia and Africa. Exactly how this occurred is unclear, but there are some theories. The Mongols are known to have made use of Chinese engineers in their Western campaigns, who employed gunpowder weapons in both Europe and the Middle East. In the 13th and 14th Centuries, "Tartar" or Mongol/Chinese captives were sold as slaves in Europe and the Middle East during the Mongol civil wars. Merchants and scholars traveled freely across Eurasia, bringing with them technology and ideas. Or perhaps the transfer of gunpowder technology from China to the rest of Eurasia and Africa occurred across several different vectors.

The greatest debate over the spread of gunpowder technology focuses on how it was brought to Medieval Europe. For centuries, it was thought that gunpowder was developed in Europe first or possibly at the same time and independently of China. Today we know that this is not the case. However, the question remains, how did it arrive in Medieval Europe? Some have favored a theory of direct transfer. That is to say, Medieval Europeans learned of gunpowder directly from the Mongols or Chinese, either through war, trade, diplomacy, or observations and interaction between scholars. While there is some merit to this theory, it is more likely that the Islamic World served as a middleman, facilitating the transfer. Despite centuries of conflict, there were many established avenues of contact between Christian Europe and the Islamic World in the 13th Century CE. Additionally, the regions of Medieval Europe where the earliest possible evidence of gunpowder being used were Spain and Italy. Both were areas with long and extensive contact with the Islamic World, which would have facilitated the transfer of gunpowder technology.

The Manufacturing of Gunpowder

Gunpowder was initially manufactured by grinding all three ingredients together with a mortar and pestle for a period of about 24 hours. This resulted in a very fine powder that was referred to as "serpentine" powder in Medieval Europe. Besides being labor intensive and limiting the amount of powder that could be made at a time, serpentine powder was difficult to store or transport. The powder had a tendency to separate into its ingredients when subjected to vibration, which required remixing. It was also very susceptible to humidity, meaning that it also often required redrying. Thus, in the 14th century, a new process known as "corning" was developed in Europe and China.

Corning involves adding liquids to the grinding process to create a moist paste. This wet mixing prevented the gunpowder's ingredients from separating. Additionally, it was discovered that if the past was rolled into balls, the gunpowder would absorb less moisture from the air and travel better. However, the soldiers would still have to grind up the balls into powder before battle. This resulted in uneven sized grains, which made the powder burn unpredictably. By about 1800, the damp balls or mill cakes were being pressed in molds to increase their density and remove excess moisture. The powder was then fed through sieves to create uniform sized grains. From the late 19th century onwards the manufacture of gunpowder focused on standardizing the grains for specific purposes. For example, Fg (Fine grade) powder was made for large bore weapons and shotguns, while FFFFg powder was made for small bore weapons, pistols, and as priming powder.

Attitudes Towards Gunpowder

When gunpowder was first discovered, it was a new technology that no one had ever encountered before. As such, it inspired a variety of different reactions from observers all over the world. Many of the most oft repeated reactions are those that regarded it as something demonic or diabolical. In many ways gunpowder fits this mold quite well. Its ingredients, the smoke and noise it makes, and its ability to wreak death and destruction are certainly quite demonic. It was condemned by military leaders, religious authorities, philosophers, writers, and average citizens on every continent. However, it is important not to overemphasize the influence of these negative reactions and it is questionable just how pervasive such views actually were.

Gunpowder and gunpowder technology spread fast and far. Whenever it became available it was quickly adopted by those living in that area. Even those societies which are described as having "given up the gun" never completely abandoned it. The utilitarian aspect of gunpowder was just too great to ignore and if you did not use it, there was always the chance that someone else would use it against you. Moreover, many of the objections to gunpowder should perhaps be interpreted as condemnation of war in general and not any reaction specifically to gunpowder. The Catholic Church for example, never attempted to ban gunpowder but it did name St. Barbara the patron saint of artillerymen. As with most things then, historical attitudes towards gunpowder were complex and wide ranging, and generalizations should be avoided.

With the development of new chemical explosives and propellants over the course of the late 19th Century, the use of gunpowder began to decline. There were several drawbacks to the use of gunpowder which eventually led to its obsolescence. In particular its hydroscopic nature made it susceptible to moisture, which reduced its effectiveness. Nor did it produce a particularly efficient chemical reaction. The left-over products created fouling which reduced the effectiveness of firearms and artillery while also causing corrosion. At the same time, the smoke that was created by burning gunpowder gave away the soldiers' position on the battlefield exposing them to the enemy. These issues limited the effectiveness of gunpowder as both a weapon of war and as a tool for civilian projects.

In response to these limitations, in the late 19th century chemists developed nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose (gun cotton), and smokeless powders. These materials gradually replaced gunpowder as both an explosive and a propellant. They were more powerful, safer to manufacture and transport, and produced a far more efficient chemical reaction. As a result of these alternatives, the production and usage of gunpowder dropped dramatically. By 1900, gunpowder had been completely replaced for all intents and purposes, except for fireworks and other pyrotechnic displays.

Gunpowder's Legacy

Any list of humanity's greatest inventions that does not include gunpowder, would be incomplete. Gunpowder changed the way in which we both built and destroyed. While its use as a weapon of war and the way in which it changed warfare is obvious, its impact on construction, mining, and entertainment should not be overlooked. It would be impossible to list all of the secondary affects and changes that it unleashed as well. Yet, we must remember that gunpowder in and of itself was not responsible for all of this change. It merely provided the means through which these changes could occur. Technological determinism is a trap that should be avoided. Much like attitudes towards gunpowder, the full affect of gunpowder is complicated.

For all its importance the history of gunpowder and exactly how it works is poorly understood. In part this is because just as truly scientific processes and tools were being developed, gunpowder became obsolete. As such, there was less incentive to study it in the way that other chemical explosives have been studied. Luckily, that has changed in recent years, and we now know far more about gunpowder than in the past. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for our understanding of gunpowder's early history. In many ways, this simple mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter remains as mysterious as it was back in the Middle Ages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
History of Gunpowder: An In-Depth Overview

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Developed during the 10th century CE in China, gunpowder has been used for a wide variety of purposes and is the earliest known chemical explosive.

# data[].attributes.body
Created in China, the printing press revolutionized society there before being further developed in Europe in the 15th century

The worldwide spread of the printing press meant a greater distribution of ideas that threatened the ironclad power structures of Europe.

By 1605, the first official newspaper, Relation, was printed and distributed in Strasbourg. Newspapers appeared all across Europe, formalizing the printing press’ contribution to the growth of literacy, education and the far-reaching availability of uniform information for ordinary people.

source: https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press#section_10

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When Was the Printing Press Invented?

No one knows when the first printing press was invented or who invented it, but the oldest known printed text originated in China during the first millennium A.D.

The Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist book from Dunhuang, China from around 868 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty, is said to be the oldest known printed book.

The Diamond Sutra was created with a method known as block printing, which utilized panels of hand-carved wood blocks in reverse.

Some other texts have survived from Dunhuang as well, including a printed calendar from around A.D. 877, mathematic charts, a vocabulary guide, etiquette instruction, funeral and wedding guides, children's educational material, dictionaries and almanacs.

It was during this period of early printing that rolled-up scrolls began to be replaced by book-formatted texts. Woodblock printing was also used in Japan and Korea at the time, and metal block printing was also developed at some point during that period, typically for Buddhist and Taoist texts.

Bi Sheng

Moveable type, which replaced panels of printing blocks with moveable individual characters that could be reused, was developed by Bi Sheng, from Yingshan, Hubei, China, who lived roughly from 970 to 1051 A.D.

The first moveable type was carved into clay and baked into hard blocks that were then arranged onto an iron frame that was pressed against an iron plate.

The earliest mention of Bi Sheng's printing press is in the book Dream Pool Essays, written in 1086 by scientist Shen Kuo, who noted that his nephews came into possession of Bi Sheng's typefaces after his death.

Shen Kuo explained that Bi Sheng did not use wood because the texture is inconsistent and absorbs moisture too easily, and also presents a problem of sticking in the ink. The baked clay cleaned-up better for reuse.

By the time of the Southern Song Dynasty, which ruled from 1127 to 1279 A.D., books had become prevalent in society and helped create a scholarly class of citizens who had the capabilities to become civil servants. Massive printed book collections also became a status symbol for the wealthy class.

Wang Chen

Woodtype made a comeback in 1297 when Ching-te magistrate Wang Chen printed a treatise on agriculture and farming practices called Nung Shu.

Wang Chen devised a process to make the wood more durable and precise. He then created a revolving table for typesetters to organize with more efficiency, which led to greater speed in printing.

Nung Shu is considered the world's first mass-produced book. It was exported to Europe and, coincidentally, documented many Chinese inventions that have been traditionally attributed to Europeans.

Wang Chen's method of woodblock type continued to be used by printers in China.

Johannes Gutenberg

In Europe, the printing press did not appear until 150 years after Wang Chen's innovation. Goldsmith and inventor Johannes Gutenberg was a political exile from Mainz, Germany when he began experimenting with printing in Strasbourg (then part of the Holy Roman Empire) in 1440. He returned to Mainz several years later and by 1450, had a printing machine perfected and ready to use commercially: The Gutenberg press.

Gutenberg Press

Integral to Gutenberg's design was replacing wood with metal and printing blocks with each letter, creating the European version of moveable type.

In order to make the type available in large quantities and to different stages of printing, Gutenberg applied the concept of replica casting, which saw letters created in reverse in brass and then replicas made from these molds by pouring molten lead.

Researchers have speculated that Gutenberg actually used a sand-casting system that uses carved sand to create the metal molds. The letters were fashioned to fit together uniformly to create level lines of letters and consistent columns on flat media.

Gutenberg's process would not have worked as seamlessly as it did if he had not made his own ink, devised to affix to metal rather than wood. Gutenberg was also able to perfect a method for flattening printing paper for use by using a winepress, traditionally used to press grapes for wine and olives for oil, retrofitted into his printing press design.

Gutenberg Bible

Gutenberg borrowed money from Johannes Fust to fund his project and in 1452, Fust joined Gutenberg as a partner to create books. They set about printing calendars, pamphlets and other ephemera.

In 1452, Gutenberg produced the one book to come out of his shop: a Bible. It's estimated he printed 180 copies of the 1,300-paged Gutenberg Bible, as many as 60 of them on vellum. Each page of the Bible contained 42 lines of text in Gothic type, with double columns and featuring some letters in color.

For the Bible, Gutenberg used 300 separate molded letter blocks and 50,000 sheets of paper. Many fragments of the books survive. There are 21 complete copies of the Gutenberg Bible, and four complete copies of the vellum version.

Gutenberg's Later Years

In 1455, Fust foreclosed on Gutenberg. In an ensuing lawsuit, all of Gutenberg's equipment went to Fust and Peter Schoffer of Gernsheim, Germany, a former calligrapher.

Gutenberg is believed to have continued printing, probably producing an edition of the Catholicon, a Latin dictionary, in 1460. But Gutenberg ceased any efforts at printing after 1460, possibly due to impaired vision. He died in 1468.

Peter Schoffer

Schoffer made use of Gutenberg's press as soon as it was acquired, and he is considered to be a technically better printer and typographer than Gutenberg. Within two years of seizing Gutenberg's press, he produced an acclaimed version of The Book of Psalms that featured a three-color title page and varying types within the book.

One notable detail about this edition is the inclusion of a colophon for the very first time in history. A colophon is the section of a book that details publication information. Ten copies of this edition of The Book of Psalms are known to still exist.

Printing Spreads Through Europe

The spread of printing as a trade benefited from workers in Germany who had helped Gutenberg in his early printing experiments and then went on to become printers who taught the trade to others.

After Germany, Italy became the next recipient of Gutenberg's invention when the printing press was brought to the country in 1465. By 1470, Italian printers began to make a successful trade in printed matter.

German printers were invited to set up presses at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1470, and the librarian there chose books to be printed, mostly textbooks, for the students. By 1476, other German printers had moved to Paris and set up private companies.

Spain welcomed German printers in 1473 in Valencia, spreading to Barcelona in 1475. In 1495, Portugal invited printers to Lisbon.

Gutenberg's invention was brought to England in 1476 by William Caxton, an Englishman who had lived in Bruges, in what is now Belgium, for years. Caxton went to Cologne to learn to print in 1471 in order to set up a press in Bruges and publish his own translations of various works.

After returning to England, he set up a press in Westminster Abbey, where he worked as a printer for the monarchy until his death in 1491.

Printing Press Changes the World

The worldwide spread of the printing press meant a greater distribution of ideas that threatened the ironclad power structures of Europe.

In 1501, Pope Alexander VI promised excommunication for anyone who printed manuscripts without the church's approval. Twenty years later, books from John Calvin and Martin Luther spread, bringing into reality what Alexander had feared.

Furthering that threat, Copernicus published his On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, which was seen as heresy by the church.

By 1605, the first official newspaper, Relation, was printed and distributed in Strasbourg. Newspapers appeared all across Europe, formalizing the printing press' contribution to the growth of literacy, education and the far-reaching availability of uniform information for ordinary people.

HISTORY Vault: 101 Inventions That Changed the World

Sources

The Invention of Printing. Theodore Low De Vinne.
500 Years of Printing. S.H. Steinberg.
Printer's Error: An Irreverent History of Books. Rebecca Romney.
Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Paper and Printing. Joseph Needham, Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin.
Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Patricia Buckley Ebrey.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Printing Press ‑ Invented, Gutenberg, Significance | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The printing press, which allows for the mass production of printed matter, originated in China before Johannes Gutenberg perfected his version around 1450.

# data[].attributes.body
The aeolipile is the first known device to transform steam into rotary motion. The earliest steam engines were the scientific novelties of Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century CE, such as the aeolipile, but not until the 17th century were attempts made to harness steam for practical purposes.

The steam engine enabled mass production

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
steam engine, machine using steam power to perform mechanical work through the agency of heat.
(Read James Watt's 1819 Britannica essay on the steam engine.)
A brief treatment of steam engines follows. For full treatment of steam power and production and of steam engines and turbines, see Energy Conversion: Steam engines.

In a steam engine, hot steam, usually supplied by a boiler, expands under pressure, and part of the heat energy is converted into work. The remainder of the heat may be allowed to escape, or, for maximum engine efficiency, the steam may be condensed in a separate apparatus, a condenser, at comparatively low temperature and pressure. For high efficiency, the steam must fall through a wide temperature range as a consequence of its expansion within the engine. The most efficient performance-that is, the greatest output of work in relation to the heat supplied-is secured by using a low condenser temperature and a high boiler pressure. The steam may be further heated by passing it through a superheater on its way from the boiler to the engine. A common superheater is a group of parallel pipes with their surfaces exposed to the hot gases in the boiler furnace. By means of superheaters, the steam may be heated beyond the temperature at which it is produced by boiling water.

In a reciprocating engine, the piston and cylinder type of steam engine, steam under pressure is admitted into the cylinder by a valve mechanism. As the steam expands, it pushes the piston, which is usually connected to a crank on a flywheel to produce rotary motion. In the double-acting engine, steam from the boiler is admitted alternately to each side of the piston. In a simple steam engine, expansion of the steam takes place in only one cylinder, whereas in the compound engine there are two or more cylinders of increasing size for greater expansion of the steam and higher efficiency; the first and smallest piston is operated by the initial high-pressure steam and the second by the lower-pressure steam exhausted from the first.

In the steam turbine, steam is discharged at high velocity through nozzles and then flows through a series of stationary and moving blades, causing a rotor to move at high speeds. Steam turbines are more compact and usually permit higher temperatures and greater expansion ratios than reciprocating steam engines. The turbine is the universal means used to generate large quantities of electric power with steam.

The earliest steam engines were the scientific novelties of Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century ce, such as the aeolipile, but not until the 17th century were attempts made to harness steam for practical purposes. In 1698 Thomas Savery patented a pump with hand-operated valves to raise water from mines by suction produced by condensing steam. In about 1712 another Englishman, Thomas Newcomen, developed a more efficient steam engine with a piston separating the condensing steam from the water. In 1765 James Watt greatly improved the Newcomen engine by adding a separate condenser to avoid heating and cooling the cylinder with each stroke. Watt then developed a new engine that rotated a shaft instead of providing the simple up-and-down motion of the pump, and he added many other improvements to produce a practical power plant.

A cumbersome steam carriage for roads was built in France by Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot as early as 1769. Richard Trevithick in England was the first to use a steam carriage on a railway; in 1803 he built a steam locomotive that in February 1804 made a successful run on a horsecar route in Wales. The adaptation of the steam engine to railways became a commercial success with the Rocket of English engineer George Stephenson in 1829. The first practical steamboat was the tug Charlotte Dundas, built by William Symington and tried in the Forth and Clyde Canal, Scotland, in 1802. Robert Fulton applied the steam engine to a passenger boat in the United States in 1807.

Though the steam engine gave way to the internal-combustion engine as a means of vehicle propulsion, interest in it revived in the second half of the 20th century because of increasing air-pollution problems caused by the burning of fossil fuels in internal-combustion engines.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Steam engine | Definition, History, Impact, & Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Steam engine, machine using steam power to perform mechanical work through the agency of heat. In a steam engine, hot steam, usually supplied by a boiler, expands under pressure, and part of the heat energy is converted into work. Learn more about steam engines in this article.

# data[].attributes.body
The Industrial Revolution began in earnest by the 1830s and 1840s in Britain, and soon spread to the rest of the world, including the United States

Modern historians often refer to this period as the First Industrial Revolution, to set it apart from a second period of industrialization that took place from the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

The Industrial Revolution was a period of scientific and technological development in the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies—especially in Europe and North America—into industrialized, urban ones. Goods that had once been painstakingly crafted by hand started to be produced in mass quantities by machines in factories, thanks to the introduction of new machines and techniques in textiles, iron making and other industries.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Industrial Revolution: Definition, Inventions & Dates - HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, a time of great growth in technologies and inventions, transformed rural societies into industrialized, urban ones.

# data[].attributes.body
The French Revolution was a watershed event in world history that began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. During this period, French citizens radically altered their political landscape, uprooting centuries-old institutions such as the monarchy and the feudal system.

The French Revolution helped to shape modern democracies by showing the power inherent in the will of the people.

As the 18th century drew to a close, France’s costly involvement in the American Revolution, combined with extravagant spending by King Louis XVI, had left France on the brink of bankruptcy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
French Revolution: Timeline, Causes & Dates | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The French Revolution began in 1789. Soon, the Bastille was stormed and the monarchy eliminated. After the Reign of Terror, France established a new government.

# data[].attributes.body
The Haitian Revolution, a series of conflicts between 1791 and 1804, was the overthrow of the French regime in Haiti by the Africans and their descendants who had been enslaved by the French and the establishment of an independent country founded and governed by former slaves. It was, however, complex, involving several countries and groups.

The Haitian Revolution started because "the vast majority of the population of Haiti, then the extremely financially successful French colony of Saint-Domingue, consisted of African slaves. The rest consisted of white plantation owners, white artisans and shopkeepers, and affranchis (free people of mixed or African descent), some of them wealthier than some of the white artisans and shopkeepers. The causes of the Haitian Revolution included the affranchis’ frustrated aspirations, the brutality of slave owners, and inspiration from the French Revolution."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What was the Haitian Revolution?

Why did the Haitian Revolution start?

How is the Haitian Revolution related to the French Revolution?

Who did the Haitian Revolution involve?

Why is the Haitian Revolution important?

This article was most recently revised and updated by

Haitian Revolution, series of conflicts between 1791 and 1804 between Haitian slaves, colonists, the armies of the British and French colonizers, and a number of other parties. Through the struggle, the Haitian people ultimately won independence from France and thereby became the first country to be founded by former slaves.

Colonial rule and slavery

The Spanish began to enslave the native Taino and Ciboney people soon after December 1492, when Italian navigator Christopher Columbus sighted the island that he called La Isla Española ("The Spanish Island"; later Anglicized as Hispaniola.) The island's indigenous population, forced to mine for gold, was devastated by European diseases and brutal working conditions, and by the end of the 16th century the people had virtually vanished. Thousands of slaves imported from other Caribbean islands met the same fate.

After the main gold mines were exhausted, the Spanish were succeeded by the French, who established their own permanent settlements, including Port-de-Paix (1665) in the northwest, and the French West Indies Corporation took control of the area. Landowners in western Hispaniola imported increasing numbers of African slaves, who totaled about 5,000 in the late 17th century. By 1789, on the eve of the French Revolution, the estimated population of Saint-Domingue, as the French called their colony, was 556,000 and included roughly 500,000 African slaves, 32,000 European colonists, and 24,000 affranchis (free mulattoes [people of mixed African and European descent] or blacks).

Haitian society was deeply fragmented by skin colour, class, and gender. The affranchis, most of them mulattoes, were sometimes slave owners themselves and aspired to the economic and social levels of the Europeans. They feared and spurned the slave majority but were generally discriminated against by the white European colonists, who were merchants, landowners, overseers, craftsmen, and the like. The aspirations of the affranchis became a major factor in the colony's struggle for independence. A large part of the slave population was African-born, from a number of West African peoples. The vast majority worked in the fields; others were household servants, boilermen (at the sugar mills), and even slave drivers. Slaves endured long, backbreaking workdays and often died from injuries, infections, and tropical diseases. Malnutrition and starvation also were common. Some slaves managed to escape into the mountainous interior, where they became known as Maroons and fought guerrilla battles against colonial militia.

Factional conflict and the rise of Toussaint Louverture

Against this background arose a revolution, beginning as a series of conflicts from the early 1790s. Among the causes of the conflicts were the affranchis' frustrations with a racist society, turmoil created in the colony by the French Revolution, nationalistic rhetoric expressed during Vodou ceremonies, the continuing brutality of slave owners, and wars between European powers. Vincent Ogé, a mulatto who had lobbied the Parisian assembly for colonial reforms, led an uprising in late 1790 but was captured, tortured, and executed.

In May 1791 the French revolutionary government granted citizenship to the wealthier affranchis, but Haiti's European population disregarded the law. Within two months isolated fighting broke out between Europeans and affranchis, and in August thousands of slaves rose in rebellion. The Europeans attempted to appease the mulattoes in order to quell the slave revolt, and the French assembly granted citizenship to all affranchis in April 1792. The country was torn by rival factions, some of which were supported by Spanish colonists in Santo Domingo (on the eastern side of the island, which later became the Dominican Republic) or by British troops from Jamaica. In 1793 a commissioner, Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, was sent from France to maintain order and offered freedom to slaves who joined his army; he soon abolished slavery altogether, a decision confirmed the following year by the French government.

In the late 1790s Toussaint Louverture, a military leader and former slave, gained control of several areas and earned the initial support of French agents. He gave nominal allegiance to France while pursuing his own political and military designs, which included negotiating with the British. In January 1801 Toussaint conquered Santo Domingo, and in May of that year, he had himself named "governor-general for life." He put the peasants back to work on the plantations under military rule and encouraged many of the French proprietors to return. In December 1801 Napoléon Bonaparte (later Napoleon I), wishing to maintain control of the island, attempted to restore the old regime (and European rule) by sending his brother-in-law, Gen. Charles Leclerc, with an experienced force from Saint-Domingue that included Alexandre Sabès Pétion and several other exiled mulatto officers. Toussaint struggled for several months against Leclerc's forces before agreeing to an armistice in May 1802; however, the French broke the agreement and imprisoned him in France. He died on April 7, 1803.

Independent Haiti

Some of Toussaint's lieutenants-most notably Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry Christophe- resumed the war against the French in 1802. They were soon joined by Pétion and other mulatto leaders, who were infuriated by the restoration of the restrictions on their caste. Both the blacks and the mulattoes were enraged by reports that France had reestablished slavery in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and the struggle was carried on with great desperation. The French were weakened by an epidemic of yellow fever-Leclerc succumbed to the disease in November 1802-and the conclusion of the Louisiana Purchase in May 1803 signaled Napoleon's intention to withdraw from North America. Less than three weeks later, the French position in Haiti became truly hopeless with the renewal of hostilities between France and Britain on May 18, 1803.

On November 18 the Armée indigène (French: "Indigenous Army") under Dessalines defeated the French at the Battle of Vertières, and French Gen. Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, surrendered Cap-Français (now Cap-Haïtien), the last significant French stronghold. Under the terms of the surrender, the French were given 10 days to evacuate, but Rochambeau showed no haste in embarking his troops. Dessalines responded by threatening to turn his cannons on the French ships at anchor in Cap-Français harbour. Ironically, it would fall to the Royal Navy, which had been blockading Saint-Domingue since the resumption of the Napoleonic Wars, to carry out the evacuation. British Capt. John Bligh treated with both Rochambeau and Dessalines, and the French garrison finally departed Cap-Français as British prisoners. While this marked the end of French military action on Haiti, France continued to maintain a presence in the eastern part of the island until 1809.

On January 1, 1804, the entire island was declared independent under the Arawak-derived name of Haiti. Many European powers and their Caribbean surrogates ostracized Haiti, fearing the spread of slave revolts, whereas reaction in the United States was mixed; slave-owning states did all they could to suppress news of the rebellion, but merchants in the free states hoped to trade with Haiti rather than with European powers. More important, nearly the entire population was utterly destitute-a legacy of slavery that has continued to have a profound impact on Haitian history.

In October 1804 Dessalines assumed the title of Emperor Jacques I, but in October 1806 he was killed while trying to suppress a mulatto revolt, and Henry Christophe took control of the kingdom from his capital in the north. Civil war then broke out between Christophe and Sabès Pétion, who was based at Port-au-Prince in the south. Christophe, who declared himself King Henry I in 1811, managed to improve the country's economy but at the cost of forcing former slaves to return to work on the plantations. He built a spectacular palace (Sans Souci) as well as an imposing fortress (La Citadelle Laferrière) in the hills to the south of the city of Cap-Haïtien, where, with mutinous soldiers almost at his door, he committed suicide in 1820. It was not until 1825 that France recognized Haiti's independence, and then only in exchange for a large indemnity of 100 million francs, with a repayment period until 1887.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Michael Ray.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Haitian Revolution | Causes, Summary, & Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), series of conflicts between Haitian slaves, colonists, the armies of the British and French colonizers, and a number of other parties. Through the struggle, the Haitian people ultimately won independence from France and thereby became the first country to be founded by former slaves.

# data[].attributes.headline
Internal combustion engine invented 1860

# data[].attributes.subject
Internal combustion engine invented 1860

# data[].attributes.body
In the twentieth century, few inventions had as enduring an influence on the economy and environment, as well as on the daily lives of millions of people, as the internal combustion engines developed by Nikolaus Otto (1832-1891) in the 1860s and Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913) in the 1890s. While Otto’s engines required spark plugs for fuel combustion, Diesel’s engine achieved this with high compression. These inventions could power automobiles, locomotives, ships, and airplanes, and paved the way for mass mobility and the steadily rising exchange of people and goods worldwide. At the same time, this has caused massive changes to the landscape and the environment through the building of countless roads, global air pollution, and the increasing resource and energy consumption of high-energy societies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Invention of the Internal Combustion Engine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the twentieth century, few inventions had as enduring an influence on the economy and environment, as well as on the daily lives of millions of people, as the internal combustion engines developed by Nikolaus Otto (1832-1891) in the 1860s and Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913) in the 1890s. While Otto’s engines required spark plugs for fuel combustion, Diesel’s engine achieved this with high compression. These inventions could power automobiles, locomotives, ships, and airplanes, and paved the way for mass mobility and the steadily rising exchange of people and goods worldwide. At the same time, this has caused massive changes to the landscape and the environment through the building of countless roads, global air pollution, and the increasing resource and energy consumption of high-energy societies.

# data[].attributes.body
First invented in 1884 by Hiram Maxim (1840-1916), the modern machine gun came into use in the late 19th Century in such conflicts as the Boer War and the Spanish American War. It saw use in many other places and became notorious for its use by European nations in their pursuit of colonies.

The first combat use of the Maxim occurred on October 25, 1893 in modern-day Zimbabwe when 700 police troops of the British South Africa Company's Police (BSAP) were attacked by 3,500 Matabele warriors as British adventurers invaded their kingdom. Five Maxim guns killed about 1,500 warriors.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Research Guides: The Machine Gun: Its History, Development and Use: A Resource Guide: Introduction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The invention of a military firearm that could produce rapid, repeating fire had been sought for nearly 900 years. This guide comprises digital resources and print materials related to the history of the machine gun.

# data[].attributes.body
Corruption and inefficiency were widespread in the imperial government, and ethnic minorities were eager to escape Russian domination. Peasants, workers, and soldiers finally rose up after the enormous and largely pointless slaughter of World War I destroyed Russia’s economy as well as its prestige as a European power.

This revolution led to the Russian Civil War.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Date:

November 6, 1917 - November 7, 1917 October 24, 1917 - October 25, 1917(Anniversary in 3 days)

What caused the Russian Revolution of 1917?

Why is it called the October Revolution if it took place in November?

How did the revolution lead to the Russian Civil War?

What happened to the tsar and his family?

Russian Revolution, also called Russian Revolution of 1917, two revolutions in 1917, the first of which, in February (March, New Style), overthrew the imperial government and the second of which, in October (November), placed the Bolsheviks in power.
(Read Leon Trotsky's 1926 Britannica essay on Lenin.)

World War I and the decline of the Russian Empire

Centuries of virtually unchecked Russian expansion in Asia ended with an embarrassing defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05). This military reverse shattered Russia's dreams of establishing hegemony over the whole of Asia, but it also contributed to a wave of domestic unrest. The Revolution of 1905 compelled Nicholas II to issue the October Manifesto, which ostensibly transformed Russia from an unlimited autocracy into a constitutional monarchy. The tsar's reactionary policies, including the occasional dissolution of the Duma, or Russian parliament, the chief fruit of the 1905 revolution, had spread dissatisfaction even to moderate elements of the nobility. The Russian Empire 's many ethnic minorities grew increasingly restive under Russian domination.

Despite some reforms that followed the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian army in 1914 was ill-equipped to fight a major war, and neither the political nor the military leadership was up to the standard required. Nevertheless the army fought bravely in World War I, and both soldiers and junior officers showed remarkable qualities. The Russian invasion of East Prussia in August 1914 was defeated by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff at Tannenberg, but it required the Germans to send reinforcements from the Western Front and so saved France from defeat and made possible the victory on the Marne. The campaigns of 1915 and 1916 on the Eastern Front brought terrible casualties to the Russian forces, which at times did not even have sufficient rifles. As late as July 1916, however, the Russian army was capable of making a successful offensive under Gen. Aleksey Brusilov in Volhynia and Bukovina.

Plots and Revolutions Quiz

The Russian people did not respond to the war with real enthusiasm. The government could not overcome its traditional distrust of any public initiative, even in the organization of medical supplies or munitions for the forces at the front. In the Fourth Duma a majority of the centre and moderate right formed a Progressive bloc and proposed the creation of a national coalition government "possessing the confidence of the country" and a program of reforms which could be carried out even in wartime. The emperor rejected the proposal and prorogued the Duma on September 3 (September 16, New Style), 1915. Eleven days earlier Nicholas had decided to assume personal command of the armies in the field. The result was that in Petrograd (as the capital had been renamed at the beginning of the war, in place of the German-sounding St. Petersburg) the empress Alexandra was in fact in control. She herself was under the influence of the self-styled "holy man" Grigori Rasputin, whose hold over her was because of his ability to arrest the bleeding of the hemophiliac tsarevich, Alexis. Thus to the massive casualties at the front, the retreat of the armies, and the growing economic hardships was added the knowledge, widespread in the capital and among the upper classes, that the government was in the hands of incompetents. Rumours of treason in high places were widely believed, though the historical evidence does not suggest that they were true. On the night of December 16-17 (December 29-30, New Style), 1916, Rasputin was murdered by a group of conservative nobles, but by then the system was beyond salvation. There was no hand at the helm, and the ship was drifting onto the rocks.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Russian Revolution | Definition, Causes, Summary, History, & Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Russian Revolution, two revolutions in 1917, the first of which, in February (March, New Style), overthrew the imperial government and the second of which, in October (November), placed the Bolsheviks in power, leading to the creation of the Soviet Union. Learn more about the Russian Revolution in this article.

# data[].attributes.body
The Green Revolution was a transformative 20th-century agricultural project that utilized plant genetics, modern irrigation systems, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase food production and reduce poverty and hunger in developing countries.

The Green Revolution began in Mexico, where scientists developed a hybrid wheat variety that dramatically expanded yields. Following its introduction, hunger and malnutrition there dropped significantly.

The Green Revolution transformed rural economies using industrial food production systems already widespread in wealthy western countries, but with new plant varieties.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Green Revolution: History, Technologies, and Impact

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Green Revolution decreased hunger for millions, but its legacy has been complicated by serious social and environmental impacts.

# data[].attributes.body
The shift from mechanical and analogue electronic technology to digital electronics as a means of storing, transferring and utilising information is credited as the starting point of what we refer to as the digital revolution.

It began in the second half of the 20th century with the adoption and proliferation of digital computers and digital storage of information, which in turn led to the development of more advanced computer systems able to digitally replicate and automate previously manually performed mathematical calculations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The shift from mechanical and analogue electronic technology to digital electronics as a means of storing, transferring and utilising information is credited as the starting point of what we refer to as the digital revolution.

# data[].attributes.body
On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920’s. The creation of the PRC also completed the long process of governmental upheaval in China begun by the Chinese Revolution of 1911. The “fall” of mainland China to communism in 1949 led the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with the PRC for decades.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920's. The creation of the PRC also completed the long process of governmental upheaval in China begun by the Chinese Revolution of 1911. The "fall" of mainland China to communism in 1949 led the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with the PRC for decades.

The Chinese Communist Party, founded in 1921 in Shanghai, originally existed as a study group working within the confines of the First United Front with the Nationalist Party. Chinese Communists joined with the Nationalist Army in the Northern Expedition of 1926-27 to rid the nation of the warlords that prevented the formation of a strong central government. This collaboration lasted until the "White Terror" of 1927, when the Nationalists turned on the Communists, killing them or purging them from the party.

After the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931, the Government of the Republic of China (ROC) faced the triple threat of Japanese invasion, Communist uprising, and warlord insurrections. Frustrated by the focus of the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek on internal threats instead of the Japanese assault, a group of generals abducted Chiang in 1937 and forced him to reconsider cooperation with the Communist army. As with the first effort at cooperation between the Nationalist government and the CCP, this Second United Front was short-lived. The Nationalists expended needed resources on containing the Communists, rather than focusing entirely on Japan, while the Communists worked to strengthen their influence in rural society.

During World War II, popular support for the Communists increased. U.S. officials in China reported a dictatorial suppression of dissent in Nationalist-controlled areas. These undemocratic polices combined with wartime corruption made the Republic of China Government vulnerable to the Communist threat. The CCP, for its part, experienced success in its early efforts at land reform and was lauded by peasants for its unflagging efforts to fight against the Japanese invaders.

Japanese surrender set the stage for the resurgence of civil war in China. Though only nominally democratic, the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek continued to receive U.S. support both as its former war ally and as the sole option for preventing Communist control of China. U.S. forces flew tens of thousands of Nationalist Chinese troops into Japanese-controlled territory and allowed them to accept the Japanese surrender. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, occupied Manchuria and only pulled out when Chinese Communist forces were in place to claim that territory.

In 1945, the leaders of the Nationalist and Communist parties, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, met for a series of talks on the formation of a post-war government. Both agreed on the importance of democracy, a unified military, and equality for all Chinese political parties. The truce was tenuous, however, and, in spite of repeated efforts by U.S. General George Marshall to broker an agreement, by 1946 the two sides were fighting an all-out civil war. Years of mistrust between the two sides thwarted efforts to form a coalition government.

As the civil war gained strength from 1947 to 1949, eventual Communist victory seemed more and more likely. Although the Communists did not hold any major cities after World War II, they had strong grassroots support, superior military organization and morale, and large stocks of weapons seized from Japanese supplies in Manchuria. Years of corruption and mismanagement had eroded popular support for the Nationalist Government. Early in 1947, the ROC Government was already looking to the island province of Taiwan, off the coast of Fujian Province, as a potential point of retreat. Although officials in the Truman Administration were not convinced of the strategic importance to the United States of maintaining relations with Nationalist China, no one in the U.S. Government wanted to be charged with facilitating the "loss" of China to communism. Military and financial aid to the floundering Nationalists continued, though not at the level that Chiang Kai-shek would have liked. In October of 1949, after a string of military victories, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the PRC; Chiang and his forces fled to Taiwan to regroup and plan for their efforts to retake the mainland.

The ability of the PRC and the United States to find common ground in the wake of the establishment of the new Chinese state was hampered by both domestic politics and global tensions. In August of 1949, the Truman administration published the "China White Paper," which explained past U.S. policy toward China based upon the principle that only Chinese forces could determine the outcome of their civil war. Unfortunately for Truman, this step failed to protect his administration from charges of having "lost" China. The unfinished nature of the revolution, leaving a broken and exiled but still vocal Nationalist Government and Army on Taiwan, only heightened the sense among U.S. anti-communists that the outcome of the struggle could be reversed. The outbreak of the Korean War, which pitted the PRC and the United States on opposite sides of an international conflict, ended any opportunity for accommodation between the PRC and the United States. Truman's desire to prevent the Korean conflict from spreading south led to the U.S. policy of protecting the Chiang Kai-shek government on Taiwan.

For more than twenty years after the Chinese revolution of 1949, there were few contacts, limited trade and no diplomatic ties between the two countries. Until the 1970s, the United States continued to recognize the Republic of China, located on Taiwan, as China's true government and supported that government's holding the Chinese seat in the United Nations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Milestones: 1945-1952 - Office of the Historian

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920's.

# data[].attributes.body
The Cuban Revolution was an armed uprising led by Fidel Castro that eventually toppled the brutal dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The revolution began with a failed assault on Cuban military barracks on July 26, 1953, but by the end of 1958, the guerrilla revolutionaries in Castro’s 26th of July Movement had gained the upper hand in Cuba, forcing Batista to flee the island on January 1, 1959.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Cuban Revolution - 1959, Timeline & Summary | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Cuban Revolution was an armed uprising led by Fidel Castro that eventually toppled the brutal dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista by 1959.

# data[].attributes.headline
Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon 1969

# data[].attributes.subject
Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon 1969

# data[].attributes.body
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed their moon module on a broad dark lunar lava flow, called the Sea of Tranquility. And six hours later, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to walk on the surface of a world beyond Earth.

Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth as pilot Michael Collins flew the Command Module Columbia in lunar orbit, and were on the Moon's surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes, before lifting off to rejoin Columbia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
July 20, 1969. On this date, Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed their moon module on a broad dark lunar lava flow, called the Sea of Tranquility. Six hours later, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to walk on the surface of a world beyond Earth.

Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 1/2 hours on the moon's surface. They collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of moon rocks for return to Earth. Then they blasted off in their module from the lunar surface to meet up with Michael Collins in the command module orbiting overhead.

They returned safely to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969.

In the video below, you can hear the excitement in Armstrong's voice at the successful landing of Eagle on the moon's surface as he says:

Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

An early concern of space engineers had been that the lunar regolith, the fine soil covering the moon, would be soft like quicksand. There was some fear that the Eagle lunar module would sink after landing. Hence Armstrong's comment about the depth of the footpads in the lunar soil as he descended the ladder before stepping onto the moon.

Experience the Apollo 11 landing site as it appears today, in this video:

Bottom line: This week is the 50th anniversary of humanity's historic first steps on the moon. The story in pictures, here.
Experience the Apollo 11 landing in video and actual sound at this cool site. Don't believe it? Try this video: Why the Apollo moon landings could not have been faked. A complete Apollo 11 timeline from NASA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
50th apollo moon landing anniversary in pictures

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
July 20, 1969. On this date, Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed their moon module on a broad dark lunar lava flow, called the Sea of Tranquility. Six hours later, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to walk on the surface of a world beyond Earth.