1910s#Science and technology

{{short description|Decade of the Gregorian calendar (1910–1919)}}

File:1910s montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Ford Model T is introduced and becomes widespread; The sinking of the RMS Titanic causes the deaths of nearly 1,500 people and attracts global and historical attention; CONTEXT: 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 Russian Revolution, beginning in 1917; The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 kills tens of millions worldwide.|335px|thumb

rect 1 1 199 155 Ford Model T

rect 203 1 497 187 Sinking of the Titanic

rect 201 188 497 207 World War I

rect 1 159 199 297 Spanish flu

rect 203 208 341 365 Western Front (World War 1)

rect 346 207 497 367 Eastern Front (World War I)

rect 1 302 197 488 Russian Revolution

rect 203 370 497 488 Battle of the Somme

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The 1910s (pronounced "nineteen-tens" often shortened to the "'10s" or the "Tens") was the decade that began on January 1, 1910, and ended on December 31, 1919.

The 1910s represented the climax 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, were forever changed by the June 28, 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The archduke's 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 and one-sided Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919.

The war's end triggered the abdication of various monarchies and the collapse of four of the last modern empires of Russia, Germany, 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 Bessarabia.{{Efn|See {{Slink|Dissolution of Austria-Hungary|Successor states}} for better description of composition of names of successor countries following the splinter.}} However, each of these states (with the possible exception of Yugoslavia) had large German and Hungarian minorities, creating some unexpected problems that would be brought to light in the next two decades.

The decade was also a period of revolution in many countries. The Portuguese 5 October 1910 revolution, which ended the eight-century-long monarchy, spearheaded the trend, followed by the Mexican Revolution in November 1910, which led to the ousting of dictator Porfirio Díaz, developing into a violent civil war that dragged on until mid-1920, not long after a new Mexican Constitution was signed and ratified. The Russian Empire had a similar fate, since its participation in World War I led it to a social, political, and economical collapse which made the tsarist autocracy unsustainable and, succeeding the events of 1905, culminated in the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, under the direction of the Bolshevik Party, later renamed as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Russian Revolution of 1918, known as the October Revolution, was followed by the Russian Civil War, which dragged on until approximately late 1922. China saw 2,000 years of imperial rule ended with the Xinhai Revolution, becoming a nominal republic until Yuan Shikai's failed attempt to restore the monarchy and his death started the Warlord Era in 1916.

File:Treaty of Versailles, English version.jpg

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. Best-selling books of this decade include The Inside of the Cup, Seventeen, Mr. Britling Sees It Through, and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

During the 1910s, the world population increased from 1.75 to 1.87 billion, with approximately 640 million births and 500 million deaths in total.

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Politics and wars

{{See also|List of sovereign states in the 1910s}}

File:World 1914 empires colonies territory.PNGs and colonies in 1914, just before World War I.]]

= Wars =

= Internal conflicts =

= Major political change =

File:Lenin.gif

= Decolonization and independence =

= Assassinations =

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|image1=Franz Ferdinand d'Este, Erzherzog.jpg|caption1=Archduke Franz Ferdinand|width1=128|image2=Nicolas_II_photographie_couleur.jpg|caption2=Nicholas II of Russia|width2=130

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Prominent assassinations include:

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Disasters

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File:Stöwer Titanic (colorized).jpg.]]

File:Halifax Explosion blast cloud.jpg

  • The RMS Titanic, a British ocean liner which was the largest and most luxurious ship at that time, struck an iceberg and sank two hours and 40 minutes later in the North Atlantic during its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. 1,517 people perished in the disaster.
  • On May 29, 1914, the British ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland collided in thick fog with the SS Storstad, a Norwegian collier, near the mouth of Saint Lawrence River in Canada, sinking in 14 minutes. 1,012 people died.
  • On May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by {{SMU|U-20|Germany|2}}, a German U-boat, off the Old Head of Kinsale in Ireland, sinking in 18 minutes. 1,199 people died.
  • On November 21, 1916, HMHS Britannic was holed in an explosion while passing through a channel that had been seeded with enemy mines and sank in 55 minutes.
  • From 1918 through 1920, the Spanish flu killed from 17.4 to 100 million people worldwide.
  • In 1916, the Netherlands was hit by a North Sea storm that flooded the lowlands and killed 19 people.
  • From July 1 to 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.
  • On January 11, 1914, Sakurajima erupted which resulted in the death of 35 people. In addition, the surrounding islands were consumed, and an isthmus was created between Sakurajima and the mainland.
  • In 1917, the Halifax Explosion killed 2,000 people.
  • In 1919, the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, Massachusetts killed 21 people and injured 150.

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Other significant international events

Science and technology

= Technology =

Image:British Mark V-star Tank.jpg]]

  • In 1912, articulated trams, were invented and first used by the Boston Elevated Railway.{{cite web|url=http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/history/?id=964|title=About the MBTA-The "El"|author=MBTA|year=2010|publisher=MBTA|access-date=8 December 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126204041/http://mbta.com/about_the_mbta/history/?id=964|archive-date=26 November 2010}}
  • In 1913, the Haber process was first utilized on an industrial scale.{{Cite journal |last=Philip |first=Phylis Morrison |year=2001 |title=Fertile Minds (Book Review of Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production) |url=http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/from-fertile-minds |journal=American Scientist |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702093415/http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/from-fertile-minds |archive-date=2 July 2012}}
  • The Model T Ford dominated the automobile market, selling more than all other makers combined in 1914.{{Cite book|title=Wheels for the world : Henry Ford, his company, and a Century of progress, 1903–2003|last=Brinkley|first=Douglas|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2004|isbn=9780142004395|oclc=796971541}}
  • In 1916, Jan Czochralski invented the Czochralski process.{{Cite web |title=Czochralski Process and Silicon Wafers |url=https://www.waferworld.com/post/czochralski-process-and-silicon-wafers |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=www.waferworld.com |language=en}}
  • In 1917, Alexander M. Nicholson invented the crystal oscillator using a piece of Rochelle salt.Nicholson, Alexander M. Generating and transmitting electric currents {{US patent|2212845}}, filed April 10, 1918, granted August 27, 1940
  • In 1919, Alice Parker invented the first system of natural gas-powered central heating for homes
  • Gideon Sundback patented the first modern zipper.{{Cite book|title=Zipper : an Exploration in Novelty|last=Friedel|first=Robert D|publisher=Norton|year=1996|isbn=0393313654|location=New York|pages=94|oclc=757885297}}
  • Harry Brearley invented stainless steel.{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/01/31/301779222.pdf|title=A Non-Rusting Steel: Sheffield Invention Especially Good for Table Cutlery.|date=1914-01-31|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-05-11}}
  • Charles Strite invented the first pop-up bread toaster.{{cite web|title=Bread-toaster|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US1387670A/en?inventor=strite&assignee=Charles+P+Strite|website=Google Patents|access-date=30 January 2018|format=Patent #1,387,670 application filed May 29, 1919, granted August 16, 1921}}
  • The army tank was invented. Tanks in World War I were used by the British Army, the French Army and the German Army.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-25109879|title=World War One: The tank's secret Lincoln origins|last=Watson|first=Greig|date=2014-02-24|publisher=BBC News|access-date=2017-05-11}}

= Science =

  • In 1911, the cloud chamber was invented by Charles Thomson Rees Wilson.{{Cite web |title=Nobel Prize in Physics 1927 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1927/wilson/facts/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}
  • Victor Hess’s daring balloon experiments in 1912 led to the discovery of cosmic rays.{{Cite web |title=Victor Hess discovers cosmic rays {{!}} timeline.web.cern.ch |url=https://timeline.web.cern.ch/victor-hess-discovers-cosmic-rays-0 |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=timeline.web.cern.ch}}
  • In 1912, Alfred Wegener puts forward his theory of continental drift.{{Cite journal |last=Demhardt |first=Imre |date=2012 |orig-year=1912 |title=Alfred Wegeners Hypothesis on Continental Drift and its Discussion in Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen |url=http://epic.awi.de/Publications/Polarforsch2005_1_3.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Polarforschung |volume=75 |pages=29–35 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004001150/http://epic.awi.de/Publications/Polarforsch2005_1_3.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-04}}
  • In 1913, Niels Bohr introduced the Bohr model his revolutionary model of the atom.{{cite web |title=Bohr Atomic Theory |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Bohr-model |access-date=13 March 2025 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica}}
  • In 1916, Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.{{Cite web|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/HistTopics/General_relativity.html|title=General relativity|last1=O'Conner|first1=J.J.|last2=Robertson|first2=E.F.|date=May 1996|website=st-andrews.ac.uk|publisher=University of St. Andrews|access-date=2017-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307231005/https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/General_relativity/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 March 2021}}
  • Noether's first theorem was proven by mathematician Emmy Noether in 1915 and was published in 1918
  • Max von Laue discovers the diffraction of x-rays by crystals.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/biografie/max-laue|title=Gerade auf LeMO gesehen: LeMO Bestand: Biografie|date=2014-09-14|website=dhm.de|publisher=Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum|language=de|access-date=2017-05-11}}

Economics

  • In the years 1910 and 1911, there was a minor economic depression known as the Panic of 1910–1911, which was followed by the enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
  • The outbreak of World War I caused the Financial Crisis of 1914, leading to the closure of the New York Stock Exchange for four months. U.S. Treasury Secretary William McAdoo implemented measures to stabilize the economy, marking the United States' transition from a debtor to a creditor nation.{{cite book |last=Silber |first=William L. |title=When Washington Shut Down Wall Street: The Great Financial Crisis of 1914 and the Origins of America's Monetary Supremacy |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-691-13876-3}}
  • Following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Russia experienced severe hyperinflation due to economic disarray and war. By 1924, three currency redenominations occurred, culminating in the introduction of the "gold ruble," stabilizing the economy.{{Cite journal |last=Efremov |first=Steven |date=2012-08-15 |title=The Role of Inflation in Soviet History: Prices, Living Standards, and Political Change |url=https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1474/ |journal=Electronic Theses and Dissertations}}
  • The United States emerged as a global economic power during World War I, benefiting from industrial expansion and increased consumerism. Wartime loans to Allied nations further strengthened its financial position.{{cite book |last=Brinkley |first=Douglas |title=Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress, 1903–2003 |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2004}}
  • The British government implemented extensive controls during World War I under the Defense of the Realm Act, nationalizing key industries and introducing food rationing. Postwar economic challenges included high debt and unemployment.{{cite book |last=Marwick |first=Arthur |title=The Deluge: British Society and the First World War |publisher=Bodley Head |year=1965}}
  • Germany's wartime mobilization strained its economy, leading to shortages and inflation. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 imposed reparations that further destabilized its postwar economy.{{cite book |last=Keynes |first=John Maynard |title=The Economic Consequences of the Peace |publisher=Macmillan & Co. |year=1919}}
  • Italy faced significant economic challenges during World War I, including a 40% devaluation of its currency relative to the British pound. Allied intervention stabilized its currency in 1918.{{cite journal |last=Sarti |first=Roland |year=2004 |title=Italy: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present |journal=Facts on File Library of World History}}
  • Japan experienced rapid industrialization during World War I, driven by increased demand for exports such as textiles and machinery. This period saw significant growth in heavy industries like steel and shipbuilding, concentrated in urban centers along the Tōkaidō industrial belt.{{cite web |title=Japanese Industrialization and Economic Growth |url=https://eh.net/encyclopedia/japanese-industrialization-and-economic-growth/ |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=eH.net}}

Popular culture

= Sports =

=Literature and arts=

{{See also|List of years in literature#1910s|Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1910s}}

Below are the best-selling books in the United States of each year, as determined by The Bookman, a New York-based literary journal (1910–1912) and Publishers Weekly (1913 and beyond).{{Cite web|date=2006|title=Annual Bestsellers, 1910–1919|url=http://www3.isrl.illinois.edu/~unsworth/courses/bestsellers/best10.cgi|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016093451/http://www3.isrl.illinois.edu/~unsworth/courses/bestsellers/best00.cgi|archive-date=2011-10-16}}

=Visual Arts=

Image:Picasso Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler 1910.jpg|Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, 1910, The Art Institute of Chicago. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque co-invent Cubism, revolutionizing the art of painting and advancing the concepts of Modern art and Modernism.

File:Atelier rouge matisse 1.jpg|Henri Matisse, L'Atelier Rouge, 1911, oil on canvas, 162 × 130 cm., The Museum of Modern Art, New York City

File:Duchamp Fountaine.jpg|Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917, Duchamp introduces his Readymades, as an example of Dada and Anti-art. Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz

Image:ArmoryShow poster.jpg|Armory Show poster, 1913, Internationally groundbreaking exhibition of Modern art

{{See also|Armory Show|History of painting}}

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==

===Other movements and techniques===

=Influential artists=

People

=Business=

=Inventors=

=Politics=

=Authors=

=Entertainers=

=Sports figures=

{{Globalize|section|US|date=November 2023}}

==Baseball==

File:Babe Ruth by Paul Thompson, 1915.jpg, 1915]]

{{See also|History of baseball in the United States}}

==Olympics==

{{See also|Art competitions at the Summer Olympics}}

==Boxing==

See also

= Timeline =

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

1910191119121913191419151916191719181919

Notes

{{Notelist}}

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

{{Commons category}}

  • Blanke, David. The 1910s (Greenwood, 2002); popular culture in USA [https://archive.org/details/1910s0000blan online].
  • Craats, Rennay. 1910s (2012) for Canadian middle schools [https://archive.org/details/1910s0000craa online]
  • {{cite book |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000527027 |title= Britannica Year-book 1913 |pages= 1 v |year= 1913 |last1= Chisholm |first1= Hugh }} (worldwide coverage for 1910–1912)
  • Cornelissen, Christoph, and Arndt Weinrich, eds. Writing the Great War – The Historiography of World War I from 1918 to the Present (2020) [https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/CornelissenWriting free download]; advanced coverage of major countries.
  • Sharman, Margaret. 1910s (1991) European history for middle schools. [https://archive.org/details/1910s0000shar_m4e4 online]
  • Uschan, Michael V. The 1910s (1999) a cultural history of USA, for secondary schools. [https://archive.org/details/1910s0000usch_u7m7 online]
  • Whalan, Mark. American Culture in the 1910s (Edinburgh University Press, 2010).

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{{20th century}}

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Category:20th century