short twentieth century

The story

The concept underlying the proper noun was developed by the Hungarian historian Iván Tibor Berend (born 1930), and the term itself was popularized by the British historian Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) in his book The Age of Extremes (1994). Like the corresponding terms long eighteenth century and long nineteenth century, it aims to define historical eras by significant events rather than by the arbitrary beginnings and ends of centuries. The common noun was probably derived from the proper noun.

First known use, by meaning

• from 1990s The period between 1914 and 1991, from the beginning of World War I to the fall of the Soviet Union.