The epoch of television and computer owes its name, of course, to the fact that the mass media grew enormously during this period thanks to these new inventions. We still live in this era. It started around 1950. With all the events in this period, we can write history books full of. Below is a short summary.
The Netherlands was liberated from the German occupiers on May 5, 1945. After the Second World War, the Netherlands was in ruins. The new Dutch government had a tough task. There was a housing shortage, because many houses had been destroyed. People had to work. Jobs had to be created for the unemployed. Many people had spent the war in poverty. The Dutch economy had to grow again. One of the people who arranged this was Willem Drees. He was prime minister from 1948 to 1958. His cabinet not only ensured that the Dutch economy returned to health, it also introduced important laws. These were, for example, the Unemployment Act and the General Age Law.
The port of Rotterdam was also an important subject of reconstruction. At the beginning of the Second World War, Rotterdam was largely bombed flat. The ports had also suffered major damage. In order to make the Dutch economy healthy again, the Netherlands had to ensure that it could act. A lot of trading happened through the water. The port was thus restored at a rapid pace. Trade grew and the port had to grow. In 1962, the port of Rotterdam became the largest port in the world. And it remained the largest until the year 2004.
The Second World War was clearly a huge disaster in the history of the Netherlands. There's nothing to compare. Unfortunately, the Netherlands was hit by disaster again in 1953. It had a very different cause and size, but it also cost 1800 people the lives. In one night, the lives of thousands of people were turned upside down. On January 31st we had real severe weather. No one expected that severe weather would cost a huge amount of lives. On the night of 31 January to 1 February 1953, the dikes broke in Zeeland. The storm prevented them from stopping the high water. We call this disaster the flood disaster.
The Dutch have always been in a fight with the water. But after the flood disaster, they built one of the biggest projects ever: the Delta Works. This huge network of dams and barriers would ensure that the Seagulls would keep their feet dry in the future.
Another large project took place in Slochteren, Groningen. Gas was found here in 1959. At first they didn't realize that this was going to be a huge amount of gas. It is thought that it will probably take until 2030 before this gas bubble is empty.
In a short summary about the time of television and computer, I must certainly also mention Srebrenica. The whole world thought they had learned a good lesson from World War II. Such a terrible thing should never happen again. But it happened anyway.
Srebrenica was the scene of a heinous genocide. This means that there was a mass murder of people of one particular race. It happened in 1995, in the civil war of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this war, Muslims and Christians fought for independence. The UN had designated Srebrenica as a safe haven for refugees. But this was a big mistake. Many Muslims who had fled here were killed when the city was captured by Bosnian Serb forces.
- Nationalist movements in the colonies and the pursuit of independenceMany countries in history have experienced that they were ruled by foreigners. What would you do? There is often only one answer: nationalism.
- Cold War and the block-making between East and WestThe cold war. After the Second World War we have always been afraid of a 3rd world war. For years there was a real threat of a world war.
- European integrationImportant decisions are being made in Brussels. But who does that? What's the name of that organization? Europe has only started working together in this period.
- Socio-cultural changes and increasing pluralism from the 1960s onwardsDo you ever think about the fact that the TV was only recently invented? It's changed history. Some people can't live without it now.
