Portal:1920s

The 1920s Portal

Babe Ruth becomes the most iconic baseball player of the time

The 1920s (pronounced "nineteen-twenties"; often shortened to the "'20s" or the "Twenties") was a decade that began on January 1, 1920, and ended on December 31, 1929. Primarily known for the economic boom that occurred in the Western World following the end of World War I (1914–1918), the decade is frequently referred to as the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Jazz Age" in America and Western Europe, and the "Golden Twenties" in Germany, while French speakers refer to the period as the "Années folles" ('crazy years') to emphasize the decade's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism.

The devastating Wall Street crash in October 1929 is generally viewed as a harbinger of the end of 1920s prosperity in North America and Europe. In the Soviet Union, the New Economic Policy was created by the Bolsheviks in 1921, to be replaced by the first five-year plan in 1928. The 1920s saw the rise of radical political movements, with the Red Army triumphing against White movement forces in the Russian Civil War, and the emergence of far-right political movements in Europe. In 1922, the fascist leader Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy. Other dictators that emerged included Józef Piłsudski in Poland, and Peter and Alexander Karađorđević in Yugoslavia. First-wave feminism made advances, with women gaining the right to vote in the United States (1920), Albania (1920), Ireland (1921), and with suffrage being expanded in Britain to all women over 21 years old (1928).

In Turkey, nationalist forces defeated Greece, France, Armenia, and Britain in the Turkish War of Independence, leading to the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), a treaty more favorable to Turkey than the earlier proposed Treaty of Sèvres. The war also led to the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate. Nationalist revolts also occurred in Ireland (1919–1921) and Syria (1925–1927). Under Mussolini, Italy pursued a more aggressive domestic and foreign policy, leading to the nigh-eradication of the Sicilian Mafia and the Second Italo-Senussi War in Libya respectively. In 1927, China erupted into a civil war between the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China (ROC) and forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Civil wars also occurred in Paraguay (1922–1923), Ireland (1922–1923), Honduras (1924), Nicaragua (1926–1927), and Afghanistan (1928–1929). Saudi forces conquered Jabal Shammar and subsequently, Hejaz.

A severe famine occurred in Russia (1921–1922) due to the combined effects of economic disturbance because of the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War, exacerbated by rail systems that could not distribute food efficiently, leading to 5 million deaths. Another severe famine occurred in China (1928–1930), leading to 6 million deaths. The Spanish flu pandemic (1918–1920) and Russian typhus epidemic (1918–1922), which had begun in the previous decade, caused 25–50 million and 2–3 million deaths respectively. Major natural disasters of this decade include the 1920 Haiyuan earthquake (258,707~273,407 deaths), 1922 Shantou typhoon (50,000–100,000 deaths), 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (105,385–142,800 deaths), and 1927 Gulang earthquake (40,912 deaths).

Silent films were popular in this decade, with the highest-grossing film of this decade being either the American silent epic adventure-drama film Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ or the American silent war drama film The Big Parade, depending on the metrics used. Sinclair Lewis was a popular author in the United States in the 1920s, with his books Main Street and Elmer Gantry becoming best-sellers. Best-selling books outside the US included the Czech book The Good Soldier Švejk, which sold 20 million copies. Songs of this decade included "Mack the Knife" and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips".

During the 1920s, the world population increased from 1.87 to 2.05 billion, with approximately 700 million births and 525 million deaths in total. (Full article...)

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Theatrical release poster

The Cat and the Canary is a 1927 American silent comedy horror film directed by Paul Leni. An adaptation of John Willard's 1922 black-comedy play of the same name, the film stars Laura La Plante as Annabelle West, Forrest Stanley as Charlie Wilder, and Creighton Hale as Paul Jones. The plot revolves around the death of Cyrus West, who is Annabelle, Charlie, and Paul's uncle, and the reading of his will twenty years later. Annabelle is revealed as the heir, but she and the other guests must still face a night in his haunted mansion. The plot thickens when they are informed that a lunatic known as the Cat has escaped from an asylum and is hiding in the house.

The film is part of the genre of comedy horror films inspired by 1920s Broadway stage plays. Leni's adaptation of Willard's play blended expressionism with humor, a style for which Leni was notable and recognized by critics as unique. His directing style made The Cat and the Canary influential in the "old dark house" genre of films popular from the 1930s through the 1950s. The film was one of Universal's early horror productions and is considered "the cornerstone of Universal's school of horror". The play has been filmed five other times, most notably in 1939, starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. (Full article...)

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Siegmund "Zishe" Breitbart (1893–1925), shown here pulling a heavy weight using only his teeth, was a Polish strongman and circus performer who was known as the "Strongest Man in the World" during the 1920s. He was widely popular in both Europe and the U.S., but died at the age of 32 after an accident during a performance.

Did you know...

...that bead crochet (pictured) was a popular method of creating women's fashion accessories during the 1920s?
... that in the 1920s and '30s, various countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Chile issued Art Deco stamps?
... that in 1926, Albert Einstein solved the tea leaf paradox, which states that if the tea in a teacup is stirred, the tea leaves will collect in the middle rather than at the edges?

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Hearst, c. 1910

William Randolph Hearst (/hɜːrst/; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician. He laid the foundation for the Hearst family's mass media empire via his control of the Hearst Corporation. His extravagant methods of yellow journalism influenced the nation's popular media by emphasizing sensationalism and human-interest stories. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887 with Mitchell Trubitt after being entrusted with The San Francisco Examiner by his wealthy father, Senator George Hearst.

After moving to New York City, Hearst acquired the New York Journal and fought a bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. Hearst sold papers by printing giant headlines over lurid stories featuring crime, corruption, sex, and innuendos. Hearst acquired more newspapers and created a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He later expanded to magazines, creating the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world. Hearst controlled the editorial positions and coverage of political news in all his papers and magazines, and thereby often published his personal views. He sensationalized Spanish atrocities in Cuba while calling for war in 1898 against Spain. Historians reject his subsequent claims to have started the war with Spain as exaggerated. (Full article...)

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1920s politics-related lists

More Did you know (auto generated)

... that 1920s belles-lettres books published by the State Publishing House of Ukraine sold out more rapidly than similar books published elsewhere in the Soviet Union, despite the higher average price?
... that the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District has 102 properties within 12 blocks and contains "excellent examples of the predominant architecture styles of the 1920s and 1930s"?
... that despite being rivals since the 1920s, the 2010 NFC Championship Game was only the second time the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers had ever met in the playoffs?
... that a 1920s reviewer considered Hammond's Hard Lines "dangerously experimental ground for boys' fiction"?
... that much of Archcliffe Fort was demolished in the 1920s to allow for expansion of a railway?
... that Masoud El Amaratly, one of Iraq's most popular folk singers in the 1920s (recording featured), was a mustarjil?

General images

The following are images from various 1920s-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) is created in 1922. (from 1920s)
Image 2Palacio Barolo, designed by Mario Palanti. (from 1920s)
Image 3Charlie Chaplin during the 1920s (from 1920s)
Image 42 out of 10 best-selling American books in the 1920s were written by Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951). (from 1920s)
Image 5Irving Berlin (left) and Al Jolson, c. 1927 (from 1920s)
Image 6Thompson submachine gun (1921 model) (from 1920s)
Image 7Adolf Hitler (standing) delivers a speech in February 1925. (from 1920s)
Image 81925 Ford Model T. A typical 1920s car. (from 1920s)
Image 9Albert Einstein, 1921 (from 1920s)
Image 10Gabriel Narutowicz (from 1920s)
Image 111920s phone (from 1920s)
Image 12Crowd gathering after the Wall Street crash of 1929 (from 1920s)
Image 13The British and French colonial empires in 1920 (from 1920s)
Image 14The period from the end of the First World War until the start of the Depression in 1929 is known as the "Jazz Age". (from 1920s)
Image 15George Grosz in 1921 (from 1920s)
Image 16Georgia O'Keeffe in 1920, photographed by Alfred Stieglitz (from 1920s)
Image 17Spanish troops in San Sebastián, prior to their departure to the Rif War (from 1920s)
Image 18Robert Goddard and his rocket, 1926 (from 1920s)
Image 19Benito Mussolini and Fascist Blackshirts during the March on Rome in 1922 (from 1920s)
Image 20Frank Lloyd Wright, 1926 (from 1920s)
Image 21Paavo Nurmi in 1924 Summer Olympics (from 1920s)
Image 22D. W. Griffith at a rolltop desk, c. 1925 (from 1920s)
Image 23Buster Keaton in the 1922 short film The Frozen North (from 1920s)
Image 24Dow Jones Industrial, 1928–1930 (from 1920s)
Image 25Pancho Villa (from 1920s)
Image 26An Autochrome of the pavilion of Poland in Paris in 1925, during the World Expo. (from 1920s)
Image 27Map of the world from 1920, two years after World War I (from 1920s)
Image 28Prohibition agents emptying barrels of alcohol (from 1920s)
Image 29F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1929 (from 1920s)
Image 30Babe Ruth in 1920 (from 1920s)
Image 31Michael Collins (Irish leader) (from 1920s)
Image 32From left, clockwise:
- Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence, 1920;
- Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol, 1921, in accordance with the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States throughout the entire decade;
- In 1927, Charles Lindbergh embarks on the first solo nonstop flight from New York to Paris on the Spirit of St. Louis;
- A crowd gathering on Wall Street after the 1929 stock market crash, which led to the Great Depression;
- Benito Mussolini and fascist Blackshirts during the March on Rome in 1922;
- The People's Liberation Army attacking government defensive positions in Shandong, during the Chinese Civil War;
- The women's suffrage campaign leads to numerous countries granting women the right to vote and be elected;
- Babe Ruth becomes the most famous baseball player of the time.
(from 1920s)
Image 33The most memorable fashion trend of the Roaring Twenties was undoubtedly the "flapper" look. (from 1920s)