1900 C.E. to Present - AP World History: Modern

Simon Bolivar succeeded in defeating Spanish forces on August 10, 1820 in Bogota, marking the first independent nation called Gran Colombia. While uprisings against Spanish presence in South America occurred earlier in the 19th century, the taking of Bogota marked the first time that the viceroyalty capital and control was in the hands of South Americans. In the subsequent years, other nations in South America followed suite and gained independence.

In 1824, Simon Bolivar led decisive victories against the Spanish forces in Peru in Junin and Ayacucho. In August of 1825, the Congress of Upper Peru, the Republic of Bolivia was established with Bolivar as its first president. After a brief several months as President, Bolivar was succeeded by Antonio Jose de Sucre in December of 1825.

In 1822, forces led by General Antonio Jose de Sucre defeated Spanish forces near Quito, which guaranteed Ecuador's independence. Although Guayaquil gained independence before the Battle of Pichincha, it was this battle that saw the whole country become independent. After the battle, Ecuador joined Gran Colombia until separating in 1830.

Simon Bolivar was from a wealthy Creole family and he was one of the major leaders in the revolutions that created all of the above nations, so he would be the best choice. Moctezuma II was the ruler of the Aztecs when the Spanish arrived, so he would not be a good answer to this question. George Washington was a revolutionary general but he was only active in the modern United States, so he would not be a good answer here. King Ferdinand II was an Old World monarch and sponsored Christopher Columbus's voyage, so he would not be the best choice here. Lastly Pablo Escobar was an infamous 20th century drug smuggler, so he would not be a correct answer.

Juan Peron was a champion of the working class and his platform exemplified this. He was in favor of ridding the country of multinational corporations and giving the jobs, that he believed they had taken, back to the Argentinian people. He therefore was in favor of organized labor and wished to keep foreign investors out of the country. He also did not believe in giving tax cuts to the wealthy.

Due to Napoleon's conquest, the Portuguese royal family had already moved to Brazil, setting up the path towards independence with the establishment of the Empire of Brazil in 1822.

Venezuela declared its independence from Spain on July 5, 1811. It was the first country to do so during the general Spanish American Wars for Independence that occurred between 1810 to 1823. The collapse of the Spanish Monarchy in 1808 led to a power vacuum in South America that allowed several colonies to move to independence. Even though Venezuela declared its independence in 1811, the last Spanish Loyalist forces did not stop fighting until 1823.

The Battle of Pichincha was the final battle on the Ecuadorian rebels' advance to Quito. It was the culmination of Ecuador's struggle for independence that started in 1820. Even before conflict began, Spanish Loyalist forces were already on the retreat throughout the continent. Thus, Ecuador's fight for independence was shorter and less bloody than other conflicts on the continent. The Battle itself occurred over 3,500 meters above sea level on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano. Victory by General Antonio Jose de Sucre allowed the rebels to enter Quito, in effect guaranteeing the formation of Ecuador as an independent country.

The Battle of Ayacucho was the last great battle of the South American wars for independence. Peruvian rebels led by Jose Antonio de Sucre (the same general from the Battle of Pichincha crushed the remnants of Royalist control of Peru. Although the battle occurred in Peru, it also resulted in the formation of the nation of Bolivia, which incorporated parts of Upper Peru that had been led by Simon Bolivar.

Bolivar began his efforts to encourage revolution a year after the Peninsular War began in 1807. The Peninsular War was a conflict between France, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and the Bourbon and Bonapartist Spanish forces. By 1821, Bolivar had helped Venezuela secure its independence.

In the years leading up to World War One, the world witnessed great advances in technology that could be used to defend and fortify positions (most notably the machine gun), but far fewer advances in technology that aided mobility and attacking. In such a situation as existed on the Western front of Europe during World War One, the advantage was firmly in the hands of those in a defensive position. This lead to a massive stalemate in which the Allied and Central powers faced off across a few miles of unmanned terrain (“No Man’s Land”), and traded suicidal attacks over the top.

Sputnik was a Soviet-built and operated satellite that was the first man-made object to orbit the Earth. The voyage of Sputnik set off alarms in the United States and began the decades-long Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Green Revolution took place during the 1950s and 1960s and is one of the primary causes behind the rapid growth in population seen around the world since the end of the Second World War. The Green Revolution involved wholesale changes and technological innovations in the area of agriculture that have allowed farms to be far more productive and efficient than they were previously. The Green Revolution, by some estimates, is credited with allowing an additional one to two billion people to survive on Earth.

Moore's Law is a law of computer engineering that states that the power of computers will double roughly every two years. Specifically, it states that the number of transistors (part of a circuit that controls the precise flow of current through circuit boards) doubles in an integrated circuit every two years. So far, Moore's Law has proved extremely prescient.

Prior to the invention of penicillin and other antibiotics, a significant proportion of battlefield deaths occurred from diseases that we now consider preventable. Antibiotics allow doctors to treat bacterial infections very effectively. Penicillin was invented in 1928, and the difference between the number of people who died from infections in World War One compared to those who perished from the same causes in World War Two is nothing short of miraculous. Of course, penicillin has also had a massive impact on the number of people around the world who die from infectious diseases. By some estimates, penicillin has saved over a hundred million lives since its first usage in the early 1930s.

Penicillin was invented by Alexander Fleming in 1928. The story goes that Fleming was experimenting with bacterial molds when he went away on vacation; upon returning, he discovered that one of his bacterial cultures was contaminated with a fungus and that the cultures surrounding it had been destroyed. So, completely by accident, Fleming discovered one of the most important medicines in human history—the antibacterial penicillin.

Prior to the mid-1950s, when Salk's vaccine for polio was first provided for the public to use, polio had been one of the most devastating diseases in the Western world. It affected mostly children and caused death in many cases and paralysis in many others. In 1952, America experienced the worst epidemic of polio in the nation's history as many tens of thousands of children died or were paralyzed, so when Salk announced that he had developed a completely effective vaccine for polio, he was greeted as a national hero and a miracle worker. Today, the disease has been completely eradicated in the Western world and eradication efforts have been ongoing throughout the rest of the world. It is hoped that before 2020, the disease will have been completely isolated to human history.

Marie Curie was a Polish scientist who in the first decade of the twentieth century did pioneering work on the nature of radioactivity in elemental matter. She discovered, among other things, two new elements and has received two Nobel prizes.

Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) is the belief that two nuclear powers will not launch a nuclear attack on one another because such an attack would ensure the complete annihilation of both the initial attacker and the defender. Essentially, each country can thought to be saying, "If you nuke me, I will nuke you back." This concept acted as a deterrent during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The full list of countries who possessed nuclear weapons in 2014, in the order they acquired them, reads as follows: The United States (1945), Russia (1949), The United Kingdom (1952), France (1960), China (1964), India (1974), Pakistan (1998), North Korea (suspected 2006), Israel (unknown).