I trust you all had a Merry Christmas

Years ago someone asked on Quora if anyone could sum up each of the decades of the 20th century in 10 words or less. I took up the challenge. I will now offer you those ten concise summaries plus two more, one for each of the first two decades of the twentieth century. My apologies for the America-centered taste of the result. But have another glass of eggnog and enjoy it.

1. A canal in Panama shows off Yankee power to awe.

2. The Great War smashes sunny Edwardian optimism.

3. Stock prices can go up forever, can they not?

4. Trade barriers destroy the industrial base, introduce years of depression.

5. Another war, even worse than the last, splits the atom.

6. Two superpowers face off: no one presses the button.

7. Mao reasserts himself in China: Americans go to the moon.

8. The demise of gold and currency fixes: all values float.

9. Amid the demise of Lenin's experiment, Germany re-unites.

10. You say "internet" a lot: what does it mean?

NEW CENTURY

1. From attack on New York: open-ended "war on terror"

2. The rise of cryptocurrencies brings blockchain tech along. Fun!

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