Portal:1920s

The 1920s Portal

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...)

More about the 1920s...

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

Main front

The I.G. Farben Building – also known as the Poelzig Building and the Abrams Building, formerly informally called The Pentagon of Europe – is a building complex in Frankfurt, Germany, which currently serves as the main structure of the Westend Campus of the University of Frankfurt. Construction began in 1928 and was complete in 1930 as the corporate headquarters of the I.G. Farben conglomerate, then the world's largest chemical company and the world's fourth-largest company overall.

The building's original design in the modernist New Objectivity style was the subject of a competition which was eventually won by the architect Hans Poelzig. On its completion, the complex was the largest office building in Europe and remained so until the 1950s. The I.G. Farben Building's six square wings retain a modern, spare elegance, despite its mammoth size. It is also notable for its paternoster elevators. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

edit

Featured picture

Credit: American Colony, Jerusalem

Sultan al-Atrash was a prominent Arab Druze leader, Syrian nationalist and Commander General of the Syrian Revolution (1925–1927). He fought against the Ottomans, French, and even against the Syrian government in days of dictatorship. One of the most influential figures in Syrian and Druze history, he played a major role in deciding the destiny of Jabal ad-Duruz and of Syria in general.

More selected images

More...

edit

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?

More Did you know

More...

edit

Related portals

Selected biography - show another

Dempsey in 1920

William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey (June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983), nicknamed Kid Blackie and The Manassa Mauler, was an American boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. One of the most iconic athletes of his era, Dempsey is ranked sixth on The Ring magazine's list of all-time heavyweights and fourth among its Top 100 Greatest Punchers, while in 1950 the Associated Press voted him as the greatest fighter of the past 50 years. He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and was in the previous Boxing Hall of Fame. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Topics

edit

WikiProjects

You are invited to participate in WikiProject Years, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about years, decades, centuries, and millennia.

edit

List articles

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

More Did you know (auto generated)

... 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 the Union of Assyrians's mishandling of shoe-polishing stations led to violent conflicts in 1920s Moscow?
... 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 a 1920s reviewer considered Hammond's Hard Lines "dangerously experimental ground for boys' fiction"?
... that in the 1920s, Australian journalist E. George Marks predicted military conflict in the Pacific between Japan and the United States?
... that much of Archcliffe Fort was demolished in the 1920s to allow for expansion of a railway?

edit

General images

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

Image 1Prohibition agents emptying barrels of alcohol (from 1920s)
Image 2Map of the world from 1920, two years after World War I (from 1920s)
Image 3Palacio Barolo, designed by Mario Palanti. (from 1920s)
Image 4Crowd gathering after the Wall Street crash of 1929 (from 1920s)
Image 5D. W. Griffith at a rolltop desk, c. 1925 (from 1920s)
Image 6Thompson submachine gun (1921 model) (from 1920s)
Image 7The most memorable fashion trend of the Roaring Twenties was undoubtedly "the flapper" look. (from 1920s)
Image 8Adolf Hitler (standing) delivers a speech in February 1925. (from 1920s)
Image 9Michael Collins (Irish leader) (from 1920s)
Image 10Paavo Nurmi in 1924 Summer Olympics (from 1920s)
Image 11From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to 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 12Dow Jones Industrial, 1928–1930 (from 1920s)
Image 13Georgia O'Keeffe in 1920, photographed by Alfred Stieglitz (from 1920s)
Image 14Albert Einstein, 1921 (from 1920s)
Image 15The British and French colonial empires in 1920 (from 1920s)
Image 16The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) is created in 1922. (from 1920s)
Image 17George Grosz in 1921 (from 1920s)
Image 18Frank Lloyd Wright, 1926 (from 1920s)
Image 192 out of 10 best-selling American books in the 1920s were written by Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951). (from 1920s)
Image 20Irving Berlin (left) and Al Jolson, c. 1927 (from 1920s)
Image 21Spanish troops in San Sebastián, prior to their departure to the Rif War (from 1920s)
Image 22Charlie Chaplin during the 1920s (from 1920s)
Image 23Gabriel Narutowicz (from 1920s)
Image 24Babe Ruth in 1920 (from 1920s)
Image 25Benito Mussolini and Fascist Blackshirts during the March on Rome in 1922 (from 1920s)
Image 26F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1929 (from 1920s)
Image 27The 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 281920s phone (from 1920s)
Image 29Robert Goddard and his rocket, 1926 (from 1920s)
Image 30Buster Keaton in the 1922 short film The Frozen North (from 1920s)
Image 31Pancho Villa (from 1920s)