1920s

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Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s - 1920s - 1930s 1940s 1950s
Years: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929

The 1920s were a decade sometimes referred to as the "Jazz Age" or the "Roaring Twenties," usually applied to America. In Europe the decade is sometimes referred to as the Golden Twenties (see 1920s Berlin).

1 Events and Trends
2 Technology
3 Science
4 War, peace and politics
5 Economics
6 Culture, religion
7 People
8 References
9 External links

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Events and Trends

Image:A 1920s mddile-class British family Redvers.jpg Since the closing of the 20th Century, the 1920s has drawn close associations with the 1990s,especially in the United States. This is due to the fact both decades were considered very economically prosperous times, and a prosperity which lasted throughout almost the entire decade following a tremendous event at the closing of the previous decade (World War I and Spanish flu in the late 1910s, and the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s). In the United States, this decade was known as the Roaring Twenties.

Despite the comparisons, however, there were a number of differences. Firstly, Weimar Republic Germany, like many other European countries, had to face a severe economic downturn in the opening years of the decade, due to the enormous debt caused by the war as well as the one-sided Treaty of Versailles. Such a crisis would culminate with a devaluation of the Mark in 1923, eventually leading to severe economic problems and the rise of the Nazis.

Second, the decade was characterized by the rise of radical political movements, especially in regions that were once part of empires. Communism began attracting large numbers of followers following the success of the October Revolution and the Bolsheviks' determination to win the subsequent Russian Civil War. The Bolsheviks would eventually adopt semi-capitalist policies-- New Economic Policy-- from 1921 to 1928. The 1920s also experienced the rise of the far-right in Europe and elsewhere, starting with Fascism in world as an antidote to Communism.

The Stock Market collapsed during October 1929 (see Black Tuesday) and drew a line under prosperous 1920s.

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Technology

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John T. Thompson invents Thompson submachine gun, also known as "Tommy gun"
John Logie Baird invents the first working mechanical television system (1925)
Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean (20 May-21 May 1927)
Karl Ferdinand Braun invented the modern electronic cathode ray tube in 1897. The CRT became a commercial product in 1922.

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Science

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Insulin is discovered by Sir Frederick Grant Banting during the winter of 1921-1922
Penicillin is discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming (1928)
Great advances in quantum mechanics
- Wave mechanics and the Schrödinger equation
- Werner Heisenberg formulates the uncertainty principle
Prediction and discovery of the expanding universe
Albert Einstein wins Nobel for photoelectric effect. (1921)
Neils Bohr wins Nobel for work on atomic theory. (1922)

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Prohibition — legal attempt to end consumption of alcohol in Canada, the USA, and Finland
Youth culture of The Lost Generation; flappers, the Charleston, and bobbed hair
"The Jazz Age" — jazz and jazz-influenced dance music widely popular
F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes some of the most enduring novels characterizing the Jazz Age. This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, and The Great Gatsby, as well as three short story collections, were all published in these years.
Women's suffrage movement continues to make gains as women obtain full voting rights in the United States in 1920, in Denmark in 1921, and in England in 1928; and women begin to enter the workplace in larger numbers
In the US, gangsters and the rise of organized crime, often associated with bootleg liquor, in defiance of Prohibition.
Rum rows are established to import bootleg alcoholic beverages into U.S.
First commercial radio station in the U.S. goes on air in Pittsburgh, in 1920, and radio quickly becomes a popular entertainment medium
Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals defends alcohol prohibition in U.S.
Start of motion pictures with sound tracks in 1927
Beginning of surrealist movement
Beginning of the Art Deco movement
Fads such as dance marathons, mah-jongg, crossword puzzles and pole-sitting are popular
The height of the clip joint
The Harlem Renaissance
The Scopes Monkey Trial (1925) which questioned evolution, creationism, and the right to teach
Bishop James Cannon, Jr. becomes a U.S. temperance movement leader.
The Group of Seven (artists)
Repeal organizations organized to fight national prohibition in U.S.
Minister Daisey Douglas Barr heads Women's Ku Klux Klan (WKKK).