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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...)

In the United States, the Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and then spread worldwide. The nadir came in 1931–1933, and recovery came in 1940. The stock market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, famine, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth as well as for personal advancement. Altogether, there was a general loss of confidence in the economic future.

The usual explanations include numerous factors, especially high consumer debt, ill-regulated markets that permitted overoptimistic loans by banks and investors, and the lack of high-growth new industries. These all interacted to create a downward economic spiral of reduced spending, falling confidence and lowered production. Industries that suffered the most included construction, shipping, mining, logging, and agriculture. Also hard hit was the manufacturing of durable goods like automobiles and appliances, whose purchase consumers could postpone. The economy hit bottom in the winter of 1932–1933; then came four years of growth until the recession of 1937–1938 brought back high levels of unemployment. (Full article...)

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1920s Berlin 1920s in Western fashion 1923 FA Cup Final 1924 Rose Bowl 1924 Winter Olympics medal table 1926 World Series 1928 Okeechobee hurricane 1st Academy Awards Amazing Stories Quarterly Années folles Art Deco Battle of Radzymin (1920) Chartwell Chinese Civil War Depression of 1920–21 Flapper Fountain of Time Harlem Renaissance IG Farben Building Irish Civil War Jazz Age List of 1920s jazz standards List of 1928 Winter Olympics medal winners Lost Generation March on Rome Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar Palmer Raids Progressive Era Prohibition in the United States Rif War Roaring Twenties Russian Civil War Scopes Trial Speakeasy Subway Sadie The Cat and the Canary (1927 film) The Great Gatsby The Jazz Singer The Sun Also Rises Wall Street Crash of 1929 Yankee Stadium (1923) Yorkshire captaincy affair of 1927 League of Nations

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Did you know...

... that the colorfully-painted common room of the Jazz Age Naniboujou Club Lodge (pictured) has been called "a psychedelic marriage of Art Deco and traditional Cree Indian patterns"?
... that Charlie Bowman was a major influence on the distinctive fiddle sound that helped shape and develop early country music in the 1920s and 1930s?
... that Margie (ABC, 1961–1962) is one of the few network programs set during the Roaring Twenties, complete with jalopies, raccoon coats, period music, and references to flappers?

John Calvin Coolidge Jr. ( KOOL-ij; July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously served as the 29th vice president from 1921 to 1923 under President Warren G. Harding, and as the 48th governor of Massachusetts from 1919 to 1921. Coolidge gained a reputation as a small-government conservative with a taciturn personality and dry sense of humor that earned him the nickname "Silent Cal".

Coolidge began his career as a member of the Massachusetts State House. He rose up the ranks of Massachusetts politics and was elected governor in 1918. As governor, Coolidge ran on the record of fiscal conservatism, strong support for women's suffrage, and vague opposition to Prohibition. His prompt and effective response to the Boston police strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight as a man of decisive action. The following year, the Republican Party nominated Coolidge as the running mate to Senator Warren G. Harding in the 1920 presidential election, which they won in a landslide. Coolidge served as vice president until Harding's death in 1923, after which he assumed the presidency. (Full article...)

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Louis Armstrong Josephine Baker Bix Beiderbecke Niels Bohr Louise Brooks Stanley Bruce Al Capone Coco Chanel Jack Dempsey Albert Einstein Duke Ellington F. Scott Fitzgerald Zelda Fitzgerald George V Warren G. Harding Ernest Hemingway Rogers Hornsby William Randolph Hearst Al Jolson Kenesaw Mountain Landis Charles Lindbergh Józef Piłsudski Babe Ruth Gloria Swanson Anna May Wong Woodrow Wilson Herbert Hoover Charles G. Dawes Gillis Grafström

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More Did you know (auto generated)

... that in the 1920s, a guard was posted outside the New York City Subway's Clark Street station to prevent sailors from using it at night?
... that in the 1920s, Australian journalist E. George Marks predicted military conflict in the Pacific between Japan and the United States?
... 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 in the 1920s, Hickson Inc. had the "most elegant and expensive specialty shop" on New York's Fifth Avenue?
... that a 1920s reviewer considered Hammond's Hard Lines "dangerously experimental ground for boys' fiction"?
... that Ruth M. Anderson recorded a "timeless" Spain in her photographs of the 1920s?

General images

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

Charlie Chaplin during the 1920s (from 1920s)
2 out of 10 best-selling American books in the 1920s were written by Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951). (from 1920s)
Spanish troops in San Sebastián, prior to their departure to the Rif War (from 1920s)
Map of the world from 1920, two years after World War I (from 1920s)
Babe Ruth in 1920 (from 1920s)
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) is created in 1922. (from 1920s)
From 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)
D. W. Griffith at a rolltop desk, c. 1925 (from 1920s)
The 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)
Crowd gathering after the Wall Street crash of 1929 (from 1920s)
Prohibition agents emptying barrels of alcohol (from 1920s)
Robert Goddard and his rocket, 1926 (from 1920s)
The most memorable fashion trend of the Roaring Twenties was undoubtedly "the flapper" look. (from 1920s)
1920s phone (from 1920s)
Adolf Hitler (standing) delivers a speech in February 1925. (from 1920s)
Irving Berlin (left) and Al Jolson, c. 1927 (from 1920s)