1910s

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Model T Ford R.M.S. Titanic World War I Spanish flu Western Front (World War I) Eastern Front (World War I) October Revolution Battle of the Somme
From left, clockwise: The Model T Ford is introduced and becomes widespread; The sinking of the Titanic causes the deaths of nearly 1,500 people and attracts global and historical attention; Title bar: All the events below are part of World War I (1914–1918); French Army lookout at his observation post in 1917; Russian troops awaiting a German attack; A ration party of the Royal Irish Rifles in a communication trench during the Battle of the Somme; Vladimir Lenin addresses a crowd in the midst of the October Revolution of 1917; A flu pandemic in 1918 kills tens of millions worldwide.
Millennium: 2nd millennium
Centuries: 19th century20th century21st century
Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s1910s1920s 1930s 1940s
Years: 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1910s-related
categories:
BirthsDeathsBy country
EstablishmentsDisestablishments

The 1910s (pronounced "nineteen-tens", also abbreviated as the "teens") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1910, and ended on December 31, 1919. The 1910s represented the culmination of European militarism which had its beginnings during the second half of the 19th century. The conservative lifestyles during the first half of the decade, as well as the legacy of military alliances, was forever changed by the assassination, on June 28, 1914, of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The murder triggered a chain of events in which, within 33 days, World War I broke out in Europe on August 1, 1914. The conflict dragged on until a truce was declared on November 11, 1918, leading to the controversial, one-sided Treaty of Versailles, which was signed on June 28, 1919.

The war's end triggered the abdication of various monarchies and the collapse of five of the last modern empires of Russia, Germany, China, Ottoman Turkey and Austria-Hungary, with the latter splintered into Austria, Hungary, southern Poland (who acquired most of their land in a war with Soviet Russia), Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, as well as the unification of Romania with Transylvania and Moldavia. However, each of these states (with the possible exception of Yugoslavia) had large German and Hungarian minorities, there creating some unexpected problems that would be brought to light in the next two decades. (See Dissolution of Austro-Hungarian Empire: Successor States for better description of composition of names of successor countries/states following the splinter.)

The decade was also a period of revolution in a number of countries. The Mexican Revolution spearheaded the trend in November 1910, which led to the ousting of dictator Porfirio Diaz, developing into a violent civil war that dragged on until mid-1920, not long after a new Mexican Constitution was signed and ratified. Russia also had a similar fate, since World War I led to a collapse in morale as well as to economic chaos. This atmosphere encouraged the establishment of Bolshevism, which was later renamed as communism. Like the Mexican Revolution, the Russian Revolution of 1917, known as the October Revolution, immediately turned to Russian Civil War that dragged until approximately late 1922.

Much of the music in these years was ballroom-themed. Many of the fashionable restaurants were equipped with dance floors. Prohibition in the United States began January 16, 1919, with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Politics and wars[edit]

Wars[edit]

Internal conflicts[edit]

Major political changes[edit]

Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin and Kamenev at the Second Party Congress of the Communist Party of Russia in 1919.

Decolonization and independence[edit]

Assassinations[edit]

The 1910s were marked by several notable assassinations:

Disasters[edit]

Sinking of the Titanic.
  • The RMS Titanic, a British ocean liner which was the largest and most elegant ship at that time, strikes an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic during its maiden voyage on 15 April 1912. 1,517 people perished in the disaster.
  • On 7 May 1915, the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania is torpedoed by U-20, a German U-boat, off the Old Head of Kinsale in Ireland and sinks in 18 minutes. 1,198 lives are lost, including 128 Americans. The sinking proves to be a factor in the American decision to enter World War I two years later.
  • From 1918 through 1920, the Spanish flu killed 20 to 100 million people worldwide.
  • In 1916, the Netherlands is hit by a North Sea storm that floods the lowlands and kills 10,000 people.
  • From July 1-July 12, 1916, a series of shark attacks, known as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 occurred along the Jersey Shore killing four and injuring one
  • 1914, Sakurajima erupted. 35 people died and the surrounding islands were consumed. Also an isthmus was created between Sakurajima and the main land.

Other significant international events[edit]

Science and technology[edit]

Technology[edit]

British World War I Mark V tank

Science[edit]

Economics[edit]

Popular culture[edit]

Sports[edit]

Literature and arts[edit]

Visual Arts[edit]

The 1913 Armory Show in New York City was a seminal event in the history of Modern Art. Innovative contemporaneous artists from Europe and the United States exhibited together in a massive group exhibition in New York City, and Chicago.

Art movements[edit]

Geometric abstraction and related movements[edit]
Other movements and techniques[edit]

Influential artists[edit]

People[edit]

World leaders[edit]

Politics[edit]

  • John Barrett, Director-general Organization of American States
  • Georges Louis Beer, Chairman Permanent Mandates Commission
  • Henry P. Davison, Chairman International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • Sir James Eric Drummond, Secretary-general League of Nations
  • Emil Frey, Director International Telecommunication Union
  • Christian Louis Lange, Secretary-general Inter-Parliamentary Union
  • Baron Louis Paul Marie Hubert Michiels van Verduynen, Secretary-general Permanent Court of Arbitration
  • William E. Rappard, Secretary-general International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • Eugène Ruffy, Director Universal Postal Union
  • William Napier Shaw, President World Meteorological Organization
  • Albert Thomas, Director International Labour Organization
  • Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev, Chairman of the Executive Committee Communist International

Entertainers[edit]

Sports figures[edit]

Baseball[edit]

Olympics[edit]

Boxing[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

James Connolly - 12 May 1916

See also[edit]

Timeline[edit]

The following articles contain brief timelines which list the most prominent events of the decade:

1910191119121913191419151916191719181919

References[edit]

  1. ^ Dictionary of Genocide, by Samuel Totten, Paul Robert Bartrop, Steven L. Jacobs, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008, ISBN 0-313-34642-9, p. 19
  2. ^ Intolerance: a general survey, by Lise Noël, Arnold Bennett, 1994, ISBN 0773511873, p. 101
  3. ^ Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, by Richard T. Schaefer, 2008, p. 90

Further reading[edit]