File:1920s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade
The 3rd Tipperary Brigade () was one of the most active of approximately 80 such units that constituted the IRA during the Irish War of Independence. The brigade was based in southern Tipperary and conducted its activities mainly in mid-Munster ...
Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
; 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
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
after the 1929 stock market crash
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
, which led to the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
; Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
and Fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
Blackshirts during the March on Rome in 1922; the People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...
attacking government defensive positions in Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region.
Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
, 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., 420px, thumb
rect 1 1 298 178 Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
rect 302 1 572 178 Prohibition in the United States
In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a Constitution of the United States, nationwide constitutional law prohibition, prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtai ...
rect 1 181 194 400 Women's suffrage
rect 198 181 395 399 Babe Ruth
rect 399 182 572 401 Spirit of St. Louis
rect 1 405 250 599 Chinese Civil War
rect 255 404 416 599 March on Rome
rect 419 405 572 598 1929 stock market crash
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
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. In America, it is frequently referred to as the "
Roaring Twenties" or the "
Jazz Age", while in Europe the period is sometimes referred to as the "
Golden Twenties" because of the economic boom following World War I (1914-1918). French speakers refer to the period as the ''"
Années folles"'' ("Crazy Years"), emphasizing the era's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism.
The 1920s saw foreign oil companies begin operations in Venezuela, which became the world's second-largest oil-producing nation. 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
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
political movements in Europe. In 1922, the fascist leader
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
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
The Treaty of Lausanne (french: Traité de Lausanne) was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially settled the conflic ...
(July 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
The Ottoman Caliphate, the world's last widely recognized caliphate, was abolished on 3 March 1924 (27 Rajab 1342 AH) by decree of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The process was one of Atatürk's reforms following the replacement of the ...
. 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
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
(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 in 1921–1922 due to the combined effects of economic disturbance because of the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
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 in 1928–1930, leading to 6 million deaths. The
Spanish flu (1918–1920) and the
1918–1922 Russia typhus epidemic, 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
1920 Haiyuan earthquake () occurred on December 16 in Haiyuan County, Ningxia Province, Republic of China at 19:05:53. It was also called the 1920 Gansu earthquake because Ningxia was a part of Gansu Province when the earthquake occurred. It cause ...
(258,707~273,407 deaths), the
1922 Swatow typhoon
The 1922 Shantou Typhoon was a devastating tropical cyclone that caused thousands of deaths in the Chinese city of Shantou in August 1922. This total makes it one of the deadliest known typhoons in history.
Meteorological history
A tropical dep ...
(50,000–100,000 deaths), the
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
The struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshū at 11:58:44 JST (02:58:44 UTC) on Saturday, September 1, 1923. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. Extensive firestorms an ...
(105,385–142,800 deaths), and the
1927 Gulang earthquake
The 1927 Gulang earthquake occurred at 6:32 a.m. on 22 May (22:32 UTC on 21 May). This 7.6 magnitude event had an epicenter near Gulang, Gansu in the Republic of China. There were 40,912 deaths. It was felt up to 700 km (435 mi ...
(40,912 deaths).
Silent films were popular in this decade, with the 1925 American
silent epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements
Epic or EPIC may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
adventure-
drama film ''
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'' being the highest-grossing film of this decade, grossing $9,386,000 worldwide. Other high-grossing films included ''
The Big Parade'' and ''
The Singing Fool''.
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 "
Are You Lonesome Tonight?" and "
Stardust
Stardust may refer to:
* A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space
Entertainment Songs
* “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael
* “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974
* “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012
* ...
".
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.
Social history
The Roaring Twenties brought about several novel and highly visible social and cultural trends. These trends, made possible by sustained economic prosperity, were most visible in major cities like New York, Chicago, Paris, Berlin and London.
"Normalcy" returned to politics in the wake of hyper-emotional patriotism during World War I,
jazz blossomed, and
Art Deco peaked. For women, knee-length skirts and dresses became socially acceptable, as did bobbed hair with a
finger wave or
marcel wave. The women who pioneered these trends were frequently referred to as
flappers.
The era saw the large-scale adoption of automobiles, telephones, motion pictures, radio and household electricity, as well as unprecedented industrial growth, accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, and significant changes in lifestyle and culture. The media began to focus on celebrities, especially sports heroes and movie stars. Large
baseball stadiums were built in major U.S. cities, in addition to palatial
cinemas
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
.
Most independent countries passed
women's suffrage after 1918, especially as a reward for women's support of the war effort and endurance of its deaths and hardships.
Politics and wars
Wars

*
Turkish War of Independence
**
Greco-Turkish War (May 1919 – October 1922)
**
Turkish–Armenian War (September–December 1920)
**
Franco-Turkish War (December 1918 – October 1921)
**
Royalist and separatist revolts (1919–1923)
*
Unification of Saudi Arabia
**
Rashidi–Saudi War (1903–1921)
**
Kuwait–Saudi War (1919–1920)
**
Hejaz–Saudi War (1919–1925)
**
Transjordan-Saudi War (1922–1924)
*
Polish–Soviet War (February 1919 – March 1922)
*
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
(January 1919 – July 1921)
*
Iraqi Revolt (1920)

*
Rif War (1920–1927)
*
Second Italo-Senussi War (1923–1932)
*
Great Syrian Revolt
The Great Syrian Revolt ( ar, الثورة السورية الكبرى) or Revolt of 1925 was a general uprising across the State of Syria and Greater Lebanon during the period of 1925 to 1927. The leading rebel forces comprised fighters of the ...
(1925–1927)
*
United States occupation of Nicaragua (1912–1933)
*
United States occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)
*
United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)
Internal conflicts
*
Russian Civil War (November 1917 – October 1922)
**
Tambov Rebellion (August 1920 – June 1921)
**
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War (1918 – 1925)
*
Patagonia Rebelde (1920–1922)
*
Mahmud Barzanji revolts (1920–1922)
*
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
(June 28, 1922 – May 24, 1923)
*
Chinese Civil War (first phase 1927–1936)
*
Ararat rebellion (1927–1930)
*
Kongo-Wara rebellion (1928–1931)
*
Afghan Civil War
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC)
*Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709)
*Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...
(November 14, 1928 – October 13, 1929)
Major political changes

* Rise of radical political movements such as
communism and
fascism, amid the economic and political turmoil after World War I and after the stock market crash
*
The rise in the use of radio technology meant political campaigning no longer had to be done in person.
Decolonization and independence
*
Irish Free State gains independence from the United Kingdom in 1922.
*
Egypt officially becomes an independent country through the
Declaration of 1922, though it still remains under the military and political influence of the
British Empire.
Prominent political events
Peace and disarmament
*
Washington Naval Conference of 1922
**
followup treaties for the Limitation of Naval Armament
*
Geneva Protocol 1925, outlaws poison gas
*
Geneva Naval Conference 1927
*
Kellogg–Briand Pact (1928) signed by most nations promising not to declare war.
*
London Naval Treaty
The London Naval Treaty, officially the Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament, was an agreement between the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy, and the United States that was signed on 22 April 1930. Seeking to address is ...
, 1930
*
Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments 1932-1934
Women's suffrage
* Women's suffrage movement continues to make gains as women obtain full voting rights in the United Kingdom in 1918 (women over 30) and in 1928 (full enfranchisement), in the United States in 1920. Also : full or partial gains in Uruguay 1917; Canada, 1917–1925 except Quebec (1940); Czechoslovakia 1920; Irish Free State, 1922; Burma, 1922; Italy, 1925 (partial); Ecuador 1929.
United States

* Prohibition of alcohol occurs in the United States.
Prohibition in the United States
In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a Constitution of the United States, nationwide constitutional law prohibition, prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtai ...
began January 16, 1919, with the ratification of the
Eighteenth Amendment to the
U.S.Constitution, effective as of January 17, 1920, and it continued throughout the 1920s. Prohibition was finally repealed in 1933.
Organized crime turns to
smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
and
bootlegging of
liquor
Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard ...
, led by figures such as
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
, boss of the
Chicago Outfit.
* The
Immigration Act of 1924 places restrictions on immigration. National quotas curbed most Eastern and Southern European nationalities, further enforced the ban on immigration of East Asians,
Indians
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
and Africans, and put mild regulations on nationalities from the Western Hemisphere (Latin Americans).
* The major sport was
baseball and the most famous player was
Babe Ruth.
* The ''
Lost Generation'' (which characterized disillusionment), was the name
Gertrude Stein gave to American writers, poets, and artists living in Europe during the 1920s. Famous members of the ''
Lost Generation'' include
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
,
Gerald Murphy,
Patrick Henry Bruce,
Waldo Peirce
Waldo Peirce (December 17, 1884 – March 8, 1970) was an American painter, who for many years reveled in living the life of a bohemian expatriate.
Peirce was both a prominent painter and a well-known colorful figure in the world of the arts ...
,
Ernest Hemingway,
F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Zelda Fitzgerald,
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
,
John Dos Passos, and
Sherwood Anderson.
* A peak in the early 1920s in the membership of the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
of four to five million members (after its reemergence in 1915), followed by a rapid decline down to an estimated 30,000 members by 1930.
* The
Scopes Trial (1925), which declared that
John T. Scopes had violated the law by teaching
evolution in schools, creating tension between the competing theories of
creationism
Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 't ...
and evolutionism.
Europe
*
Polish–Soviet War (1920–21); Poland defeats Soviet expansion; Ukraine and Belarus were divided.
* Major armed conflict in Ireland including
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
(1919–1921) resulting in Ireland becoming an independent country in 1922 followed by the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
(1922–23).
*
Russian famine of 1921–22 claimed up to five million victims.
* The
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) is created in 1922.
*
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
leader of the
National Fascist Party became
Prime Minister of Italy, shortly thereafter creating the world's first
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
government. The Fascist regime establishes a
totalitarian state led by Mussolini as a dictator. The Fascist regime restores good relations between the
Roman Catholic Church and Italy with the
Lateran Treaty, which creates
Vatican City. The Fascist regime pursues an aggressive expansionist agenda in Europe such as by raiding the
Greek island of
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
in 1923, pressuring
Albania to submit to becoming a ''
de facto'' Italian
protectorate in the mid-1920s, and holding territorial aims on the region of
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
in
Yugoslavia.
* In Germany, the
Weimar Republic suffers from economic crisis in the early 1920s and
hyperinflation of currency in 1923. From 1923 to 1925 the
Occupation of the Ruhr
The Occupation of the Ruhr (german: link=no, Ruhrbesetzung) was a period of military occupation of the Ruhr region of Germany by France and Belgium between 11 January 1923 and 25 August 1925.
France and Belgium occupied the heavily industria ...
takes place. The
Ruhr
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
was an industrial region of Germany taken over by the military forces of the
French Third Republic and Belgium, in response to the failure of the Weimar Republic under Chancellor
Wilhelm Cuno to keep paying the
World War I reparations. The recently formed fringe
National Socialist German Workers' Party (a.k.a. Nazi Party) led by
Adolf Hitler attempts a coup against the Bavarian and German governments in the 1923
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and othe ...
, which fails, resulting in Hitler being briefly imprisoned for one year in prison where he writes ''
Mein Kampf
(; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...
''.
*
Turkish War of Independence (1919–23).
*
United Kingdom general strike (1926).
Asia
* The
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar dynasty (; fa, دودمان قاجار ', az, Qacarlar ) was an IranianAbbas Amanat, ''The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831–1896'', I. B. Tauris, pp 2–3 royal dynasty of Turkic peoples ...
ended under
Ahmad Shah Qajar as
Reza Shah Pahlavi founds the
Pahlavi Dynasty
The Pahlavi dynasty ( fa, دودمان پهلوی) was the last Iranian royal dynasty, ruling for almost 54 years between 1925 and 1979. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi, a non-aristocratic Mazanderani soldier in modern times, who ...
, which later became the last monarchy of
Iran.
* The
Northern Expedition (1926-1928)
* The
Chinese Civil War begins (1927–1937).
* In the
Kingdom of Afghanistan,
Amanullah Khan's reforms cause conflict with conservative factions, resulting in the
Afghan Civil War
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC)
*Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709)
*Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...
.
Africa
*
Pan-Africanist supporters of
Marcus Garvey's
Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) are repressed by colonial powers in Africa. Garvey's UNIA-ACL supported the creation of a state led by black people in Africa including
African Americans.
Economics

* Economic boom ended by "
Black Tuesday" (October 29, 1929); the
stock market crashes, leading to the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. The market actually began to drop on Thursday October 24, 1929, and the fall continued until the huge crash on Tuesday October 29, 1929.
* The
New Economic Policy is created by the Bolsheviks in the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, to be replaced by the
first five-year plan in 1928.
* The
Dawes Plan, by which U.S. funded German reparations from 1924 to 1928.
* Average annual inflation for the decade was virtually zero but individual years ranged from a high of 3.47% in 1925 to a deflationary −11% in 1921.
Natural disasters
* The
Great Kantō earthquake
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
struck the main Japanese island of
Honshū
, historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...
on 1 September, 1923. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the
moment magnitude scale.
Assassinations and attempts
Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:
*
Walther Rathenau,
Foreign Minister of Germany is assassinated by
Ernst Werner Techow, Erwin Kern, and
Hermann Willibald Fischer, all members of
Organisation Consul on June 24, 1922.
*
Francisco "Pancho" Villa, a
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
ary general is assassinated by a group of seven assassins on July 20, 1923.
Science and technology
Technology
*
John Logie Baird invents the first working
mechanical television system (1925). In 1928, he invents and demonstrates the first
color television
Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...
.
*
Warner Brothers produces the first movie with a soundtrack ''
Don Juan'' in 1926, followed by the first Part-Talkie ''
The Jazz Singer'' in 1927, the first All-Talking movie ''
Lights of New York'' in 1928 and the first All-Color All-Talking movie ''
On with the Show'', 1929.
Silent films start giving way to
sound films. By 1936, the transition phase arguably ends, with ''
Modern Times'' being the last notable silent film.
*
Karl Ferdinand Braun invents the modern electronic
cathode ray tube
A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms ( oscilloscope), pictu ...
in 1897. The CRT became a commercial product in 1922.
*
Record companies (such as
Victor
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
,
Brunswick and
Columbia
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
) introduce an electrical recording process on their phonograph records in 1925 (that had been developed by
Western Electric
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
), resulting in a more lifelike sound.
* The first
electric razor is patented in 1928 by the American manufacturer Col.
Jacob Schick
Jacob Schick (September 16, 1877 – July 3, 1937) was an American military officer, inventor, and entrepreneur who patented an early electric razor and started the Schick Dry Shaver, Inc. razor company. He is the father of electric razors.
...
.
* The first selective
Jukeboxes being introduced in 1927 by the Automated Musical Instrument Company.
*
Harold Stephen Black revolutionizes the field of applied electronics by inventing the
negative feedback amplifier in 1927.
*
Clarence Birdseye invents a process for
frozen food
Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows decompositi ...
in 1925.
*
Robert Goddard makes the first flight of a
liquid-fueled rocket in 1926.
File:Goddard and Rocket.jpg, Robert Goddard and his rocket, 1926
File:Telefon, Nordisk familjebok.png, 1920s phone
File:Campbell_Thompson.jpg, Thompson submachine gun (1921 model)
Science
*
Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (May 20–21, 1927), nonstop from
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
to
Paris.
* Howard Carter opens the innermost shrine of King
Tutankhamun's tomb near Luxor, Egypt, 1922
* In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovers
penicillin
Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...
File:Synthetic_Production_of_Penicillin_TR1468.jpg, In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
File:Tuts Tomb Opened.JPG, Howard Carter opens the innermost shrine of King Tutankhamun's tomb near Luxor, Egypt, 1922
Popular culture
Film
* Oscar winners: ''
Wings'' (1927–1928), ''
The Broadway Melody'' (1928–1929), ''
All Quiet on the Western Front
''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (german: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit=Nothing New in the West) is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma du ...
'' (1929–1930)
* First feature-length
motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
with a
soundtrack (''
Don Juan'') is released in 1926. First part-talkie (''
The Jazz Singer'') released in 1927, first all-talking feature (''
Lights of New York'') released in 1928 and first all-color all-talking feature (''
On with the Show'') released in 1929.
* The first animated short film by
Walt Disney is released in 1928, featuring
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
. Steamboat Willie was the first sound cartoon to attract widespread notice and popularity.
Fashion
The 1920s is the decade in which fashion entered the modern era. It was the decade in which
women first abandoned the more restricting fashions of past years and began to wear more comfortable clothes (such as short skirts or trousers). Men also abandoned highly formal daily attire and even began to wear athletic clothing for the first time. The suits men wear today are still based, for the most part, on those worn in the late 1920s. The 1920s are characterized by two distinct periods of fashion. In the early part of the decade, change was slow, as many were reluctant to adopt new styles. From 1925, the public passionately embraced the styles associated with the Roaring Twenties. These styles continued to characterize fashion until the worldwide depression worsened in 1931.
Music

* "
The Jazz Age"—
jazz and jazz-influenced dance music became widely popular throughout the decade.
*
George Gershwin wrote ''
Rhapsody in Blue'' and
An American in Paris.
*
Eddie Lang
Eddie Lang (born Salvatore Massaro, October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933) was an American musician who is credited as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as p ...
and
Joe Venuti
Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist.
Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie La ...
were the first musicians to incorporate the
guitar and
violin into jazz.
Radio
* First commercial radio stations in the U.S., 8MK (WWJ) in
Detroit and (
KDKA 1020 AM) in
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, go on the air on August 27, 1920.
* Both stations broadcast the election results between Harding and Cox in early November. The first station to receive a commercial license is
WBZ, then in Springfield MA, in mid-September 1921. While there are only a few radio stations in 1920–21, by 1922 the radio craze is sweeping the country.
* 1922: The
BBC begins radio broadcasting in the
United Kingdom as the ''British Broadcasting Company'', a consortium between radio manufacturers and newspapers. It became a public broadcaster in 1926.
* On August 27, 1920, regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment began in
Argentina for the first time, by a Buenos Aires group including
Enrique Telémaco Susini
Enrique Telémaco Susini (January 31, 1891 – July 4, 1972) was an Argentine entrepreneur and media pioneer.
In 1920, Susini led the effort for the first radio broadcast in Argentina, and subsequently established one of the earliest regular ra ...
. The station is soon called
Radio Argentina
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
. (See
Radio in Argentina.)
Arts
* Beginning of
surrealist movement.
*
Art Deco becomes fashionable.
* The
Group of Seven (artists).
*
Pablo Picasso paints ''
Three Musicians
''Three Musicians'' is the title of two similar collage and oil paintings by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. They were both completed in 1921 in Fontainebleau near Paris, France, and exemplify the Synthetic Cubist style; the flat planes of color ...
'' in 1921.
*
René Magritte paints ''
The Treachery of Images''.
*
Albert Gleizes paints ''
Woman with Black Glove'', 1920
*
Marcel Duchamp completes ''
The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass)''.
* The
Museum of Modern Art opens in Manhattan, November 7, 1929, nine days after the
Wall Street Crash.
* The first
science fiction comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
,
Buck Rogers, begins January 7, 1929. The first
Tarzan comic strip begins on the same date.
Literature
The best-selling books of every year in the United States were as follows:
* 1920: ''The Man of the Forest'' by
Zane Grey
* 1921: ''
Main Street'' by
Sinclair Lewis
* 1922: ''
If Winter Comes
''If Winter Comes'' is a 1947 drama film released by MGM. The movie was directed by Victor Saville and based on the 1921 novel by A.S.M. Hutchinson. The film tells the story of an English textbook writer who takes in a pregnant girl. The novel ...
'' by
A. S. M. Hutchinson
* 1923: ''
Black Oxen
''Black Oxen'' is a 1923 American silent fantasy / romantic drama film starring Corinne Griffith, Conway Tearle, and Clara Bow. Directed by Frank Lloyd, the film is based on the controversial best-selling 1923 novel of the same name by Gertrud ...
'' by
Gertrude Atherton
* 1924'':
So Big'' by
Edna Ferber
* 1925: ''Soundings'' by
A. Hamilton Gibbs
* 1926: ''
The Private Life of Helen of Troy'' by
John Erskine
* 1927: ''
Elmer Gantry'' by
Sinclair Lewis
* 1928: ''
The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' by
Thornton Wilder
* 1929: ''
All Quiet on the Western Front
''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (german: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit=Nothing New in the West) is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma du ...
'' by
Erich Maria Remarque
Architecture
*
Walter Gropius builds the
Bauhaus in
Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
*
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
published the book
Toward an Architecture serving as the
manifesto
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
for a generation of architects.
Sports highlights
1920
* January 24:
Grand Prix de Paris switches its name to
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (
horse race
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
)
* February 13:
Negro National League created (baseball)
* April:
Babe Ruth began playing for the
New York Yankees
* April–September:
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
held in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, .
* August 17:
Ray Chapman from the
Cleveland Indians is killed by
Carl Mays' pitch (baseball)
* August 20:
National Football League founded
*
Kenesaw Mountain Landis is named the first
Commissioner of Baseball.
1921
* March 26: Schooner
Bluenose launched
1923
* May 26: the
24 hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
conducts their first sports car race
* October: The New York Yankees win the
1923 World Series
The 1923 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1923 season. The 20th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion New York Yankees against the National League champion New York Giants. ...
, the first title for the team.
1924
* January–February:
First Winter Olympic Games takes place in
Chamonix France.
* May–July:
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
held in Paris, France.
* July 10–13:
Paavo Nurmi wins five gold medals in Summer Olympics (
track and field)
1925
* May 28:
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
invites non-French
tennis athletes for the first time
* Germany and Belgium in first
handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
international tournament.
1926
* August 6:
Gertrude Ederle swims
English Channel and is first woman to do so.
* September 23:
Gene Tunney wins
Jack Dempsey's world heavyweight
boxing title.
1927
* May 23:
Warwickshire end
Yorkshire's 71-match unbeaten sequence in the
County Championship – the longest unbeaten sequence in that competition.
* June 3: First
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...
golf tournaments are held in
Massachusetts
1928
* February:
Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz Switzerland.
* May–August: Women's Olympics takes place for first time, in
1928 Summer Olympics
The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...
held in Amsterdam.
*
William Ralph "Dixie" Dean wins the Football League, scores 60 goals in 39 matches for
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...
(
English Football)
1929
* The English team led by
Wally Hammond defeats Australia in
The Ashes series (
Test Cricket)
Miscellaneous trends
* Youth culture of
The Lost Generation
Lost Generation was the generation that came of age during World War I. Lost Generation may also refer to:
Japan
* Japanese generation that experienced the Employment Ice Age
Art, entertainment, and media
Comics
*'' Marvel: The Lost Generation ...
;
flappers, the
Charleston
Charleston most commonly refers to:
* Charleston, South Carolina
* Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital
* Charleston (dance)
Charleston may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Charleston, South Australia
Canada
* Charleston, Newfoundlan ...
, and the
bob cut haircut.
* Fads such as
marathon dancing,
mah-jong,
crossword puzzles and
pole-sitting are popular.
* The height of the
clip joint.
* The
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
centered in a thriving
African American community of
Harlem, New York City.
* Since the 1920s scholars have methodically dug into the layers of history that lie buried at thousands of sites across China.
* The tomb of
Tutankhamun is discovered intact by
Howard Carter
Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the K ...
(1922). This begins a second revival of
Egyptomania.
*
Twiglets are invented in December 1929 by Frenchman
Rondalin Zwadoodie, and sold by
Peek Freans
Peek Freans is the name of a former biscuit making company based in Bermondsey, London, which is now a global brand of biscuits and related confectionery owned by various food businesses. Owned but not marketed in the UK, Europe and USA by De Be ...
.
* Smoking in America was deemed socially acceptable, with the first magazine advertising women smoking for the first time in 1927.
* Newly improved latex condoms resulted in soaring condom sales in the United States.
People
Science

*
Albert Einstein
*
Sigmund Freud
*
Alexander Fleming
Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of w ...
*
Frederick Banting
*
Niels Bohr
*
Werner Heisenberg
*
Howard Carter
Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the K ...
*
Georges Lemaître
*
Edwin Powell Hubble
*
Garrett Morgan
Literature
*
Alexander Belyaev
*
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
*
Countee Cullen
*
Nancy Cunard
*
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
*
William Faulkner
*
F. Scott Fitzgerald
*
Zelda Fitzgerald
*
Ernest Hemingway
*
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...
*
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...
*
James Weldon Johnson
*
Erich Kastner
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
*
Sinclair Lewis
*
Alain Locke
*
Thomas Mann
*
Claude McKay
Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay OJ (September 15, 1890See Wayne F. Cooper, ''Claude McKay, Rebel Sojourner In The Harlem Renaissance (New York, Schocken, 1987) p. 377 n. 19. As Cooper's authoritative biography explains, McKay's family predated ...
*
Carl Sandburg
*
William Butler Yeats
Entertainers

*
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
*
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
*
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
*
Mary Astor
*
Josephine Baker
*
Tallulah Bankhead
*
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...
*
John Barrymore
*
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...
*
Clara Bow
*
Louise Brooks
*
Lon Chaney
*
Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell (February 16, 1893June 9, 1974) was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born in Berlin to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.
Dubbed "The First Lady of the Theatre" by critic A ...
*
Joan Crawford
*
Bebe Daniels
*
Betty Bronson
*
Mary Brian
*
Marion Davies
*
Douglas Fairbanks
*
Eva Le Gallienne
*
Greta Garbo
*
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor (born Laura Augusta Gainor; October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American film, stage, and television actress.
Gaynor began her career as an extra in shorts and silent films. After signing with Fox Film Corporation (later ...
*
John Gilbert
*
Dorothy Gish
*
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893February 27, 1993) was an American actress, director, and screenwriter. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", ...
*
William Haines
*
William S. Hart
*
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...
*
Emil Jannings
*
Al Jolson
*
Harold Lloyd
*
Tom Mix
*
Colleen Moore
Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped po ...
*
Mae Murray
*
Pola Negri
*
Ramón Novarro
*
Will Rogers
William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...
*
Mary Pickford
*
Norma Shearer
*
Gloria Swanson
*
Chief Tahachee
*
Norma Talmadge
*
Rudolph Valentino
Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...
*
Anna May Wong
Musicians

*
George Gershwin
*
Al Jolson
*
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
*
Richard Tauber
*
Irving Berlin
*
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...
*
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
*
Kelly Harrell
*
Jimmy Rodgers
*
Jelly Roll Morton
*
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
*
Rudy Vallée
*
Paul Whiteman
*
Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...
*
Fletcher Henderson
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musi ...
*
Eddie Lang
Eddie Lang (born Salvatore Massaro, October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933) was an American musician who is credited as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as p ...
*
Joe Venuti
Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist.
Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie La ...
*
Bix Beiderbecke
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer.
Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...
*
Art Tatum
*
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
*
Lonnie Johnson
*
Bessie Smith
*
Count Basie
*
King Oliver
*
Sidney Bechet
Film makers

*
Harry Beaumont
*
Busby Berkeley
*
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage (; April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing '' 7th Heaven'' (1927), '' Street Angel'' (1928), '' Bad Girl'' (1931), '' A Farewell to Arms'' (1932), ''Man's ...
*
Charles Chaplin
*
Alan Crosland
*
Cecil B. DeMille
*
William C. DeMille
William Churchill deMille (July 25, 1878 – March 5, 1955), also spelled de Mille or De Mille, was an American screenwriter and film director from the silent film era through the early 1930s. He was also a noted playwright prior to moving into ...
*
Sergei Eisenstein
*
Victor Fleming
Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best ...
*
John Ford
*
D. W. Griffith
David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the na ...
*
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
*
Rex Ingram
*
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
*
Fritz Lang
*
Ernst Lubitsch
*
Lewis Milestone
*
Erich von Stroheim
Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. H ...
*
King Vidor
*
Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene (; 27 April 1873 – 17 July 1938) was a film director of the silent era of German cinema. He is particularly known for directing the German silent film ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' and a succession of other German Expressionism, ...
Artists
*
Hans Arp
Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter, and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist.
Early life
Arp was born in Straßburg (now Stras ...
*
Max Beckmann
*
Georges Braque
Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...
*
André Breton
André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...
*
Patrick Henry Bruce
*
Alexander Calder
*
Carlo Carrà
Carlo Carrà (; February 11, 1881 – April 13, 1966) was an Italian painter and a leading figure of the Futurist movement that flourished in Italy during the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to his many paintings, he wrote a number ...
*
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...
*
Giorgio de Chirico
*
Salvador Dalí
*
Stuart Davis
*
Charles Demuth
*
Otto Dix
*
Theo van Doesburg
*
Arthur Dove
*
Marcel Duchamp
*
Max Ernst
*
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo to see his family and ...
*
Julio Gonzalez
*
Juan Gris
*
George Grosz
George Grosz (; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objec ...
*
Marsden Hartley
*
Wassily Kandinsky
*
Paul Klee
*
Gaston Lachaise
*
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
*
Tamara de Lempicka
*
René Magritte
*
Georges Malkine
Georges Alexandre Malkine (10 October 1898 – 22 March 1970) was the only visual artist named in André Breton’s 1924 Surrealist Manifesto among those who, at the time of its publication, had “performed acts of absolute surrealism." The ...
*
John Marin
John Marin (December 23, 1870 – October 2, 1953) was an early American modernist artist. He is known for his abstract landscapes and watercolors.
Biography
Marin was born in Rutherford, New Jersey. His mother died nine days after his birth, ...
*
André Masson
*
Henri Matisse
*
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...
*
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...
*
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...
*
Max Morise
*
Georgia O'Keeffe
*
Francis Picabia
*
Pablo Picasso
*
Man Ray
*
Morgan Russell
Morgan Russell (January 25, 1886 – May 29, 1953) was a modern American artist. With Stanton Macdonald-Wright, he was the founder of Synchromism, a provocative style of abstract painting that dates from 1912 to the 1920s. Russell's "synchromie ...
*
Kurt Schwitters
*
Charles Sheeler
Charles Sheeler (July 16, 1883 – May 7, 1965) was an American artist known for his Precisionist paintings, commercial photography, and the avant-garde film, ''Manhatta'', which he made in collaboration with Paul Strand. Sheeler is recognized ...
*
Chaïm Soutine
*
Yves Tanguy
*
Stanton Macdonald-Wright
Architects

*
Marcel Breuer
*
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
*
Walter Gropius
*
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...
*
Frank Lloyd Wright
Sports figures

*
Grover Cleveland Alexander (American
baseball player)
*
Ty Cobb, (American
baseball player)
*
Eddie Collins
Edward Trowbridge Collins Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American professional baseball player, manager and executive. He played as a second baseman in Major League Baseball from to for the Philadelphia Athlet ...
, (American
baseball player)
*
Walter Johnson (American
baseball player)
*
Rogers Hornsby (American
baseball player)
*
Babe Ruth (American
baseball player)
*
Tris Speaker, (American
baseball player)
*
Lou Gehrig (American
baseball player)
*
Kenesaw Mountain Landis (American Baseball Commissioner)
*
Gene Tunney (American boxer)
*
Jack Dempsey (American boxer)
* Francisco Guilledo (Filipino boxer)
* Warwick Armstrong (Australian cricket captain)
* Wilfred Rhodes (Yorkshire and England cricketer)
* Jack Hobbs (Surrey and England cricketer)
* Herbert Sutcliffe (Yorkshire and England cricketer)
* Maurice Tate (Sussex and England cricketer)
* Jack Gregory (cricketer), Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer
* Bert Oldfield, Australian cricketer
* Herbie Taylor, South African cricketer
* Alex Grove (American bowler)
* Red Grange (American football player)
* Knute Rockne (American football player and coach)
* Alex James (footballer), Alex James (Arsenal and Scotland soccer player)
* Gordon Coventry (Australian rules football player)
* Walter Hagen (American golfer)
* Bobby Jones (golfer), Bobby Jones (American golfer)
*
Paavo Nurmi (Finnish runner)
* Bobbie Rosenfeld, Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld (Canadian athlete)
* Earl Sande (jockey)
*
Gertrude Ederle (swimming)
* Johnny Weissmuller (swimming)
* Suzanne Lenglen (French
tennis player)
* Helen Wills Moody (American tennis player)
* Bill Tilden (American tennis player)
See also
* Interwar Britain
* 1920s in television
* Table of years in radio
* List of years in literature#1920s, 1920s in literature
*
Roaring Twenties
Timeline
The following articles contain brief timelines listing the most prominent events of the decade:
1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1924 • 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1928 • 1929
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
Further reading
* Allen, Frederick Lewis. ''Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s'' (1931), classic popular history of United States
online free* Cornelissen, Christoph, and Arndt Weinrich, eds. ''Writing the Great War - The Historiography of World War I from 1918 to the Present'' (2020
free download full coverage for major countries.
* Currell, Susan. ''American Culture in the 1920s'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2009), a British perspective.
* Dumenil, Lynn. ''The modern temper: American culture and society in the 1920s'' (Macmillan, 1995).
* Grossman, Mark. ''Encyclopedia of the Interwar Years: From 1919 to 1939'' (2000). 400pp.
* Jacobson, Jon. "Is there a New International History of the 1920s?." ''American Historical Review'' 88.3 (1983): 617–645
online* Johnson, GAynor, and Michael Dockrill eds. ''Locarno Revisited: European Diplomacy 1920-1929'' (2004)
* McAuliffe, Mary. ''When Paris Sizzled: The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends'' (2016
excerpt* Maier, Charles S. ''Recasting bourgeois Europe: stabilization in France, Germany, and Italy in the decade after World War I'' (Princeton University Press, 2015).
* Mowat, Charles Loch. ''Britain Between the Wars, 1918–1940'' (1955), 690pp; thorough scholarly coverage; emphasis on politic
also online free to read scholarly survey of the era.
* Robert Sobel, Sobel, Robert ''The Great Bull Market: Wall Street in the 1920s.'' (1968)
* Uldricks, Teddy J. "Russia and Europe: Diplomacy, Revolution, and Economic Development in the 1920s." ''International History Review'' 1.1 (1979): 55–83.
* Walters, Ryan S. ''The Jazz Age President: Defending Warren G. Harding'' (2022
excerptals
online review
{{Commons category
1920s,
Roaring Twenties
1920s decade overviews