Timeline of the Roaring 20s

1920

Women won the right to vote in 1920 with the adoption of the 19th Amendment, the first commercial radio broadcast aired, the League of Nations was established, and the Harlem Renaissance began.

There was a bubonic plague in India, and Pancho Villa retired.

Prohibition began in the United States, and though it was intended to eliminate the use of alcoholic beverages, it resulted in an abundance of speakeasies, bathtub gin, and the rise of the bootleggers.

1921

In 1921, the Irish Free State was declared after a five-year fight for independence from Britain, Bessie Coleman became the first female African-American pilot, there was extreme inflation in Germany, and the lie detector was invented.

The "Fatty" Arbuckle scandal caused a sensation in the newspapers. The comedian was acquitted, but his career as a comedian was destroyed.

1922

Michael Collins, a prominent soldier and politician in the Irish fight for independence, was killed in an ambush. Benito Mussolini marched on Rome with 30,000 men and brought his fascist party to power in Italy. Kemal Ataturk founded modern Turkey, and the tomb of King Tut was discovered. And The Reader's Digest was first published, all in 1922.

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A Timeline of the 20th Century

By Jennifer Rosenberg

1923

The Teapot Dome scandal dominated front-page news in the United States, the Ruhr region of Germany was occupied by French and Belgian forces, and Adolf Hitler was jailed after a failed coup in Germany.

The Charleston swept the nation, and Time magazine was founded.

1924

In 1924, the first Olympic Winter Games took place in Chamonix and Haute-Savoie, France; J. Edgar Hoover was appointed the first director of the F.B.I.; Vladimir Lenin died, and the trial of Richard Leopold and Nathan Loeb shocked and riveted the country.

1925

The Scopes (Monkey) Trial was 1925's top news story. Flapper dresses were all the rage for modern women, and those women were called flappers; the American entertainer Josephine Baker moved to France and became a sensation; and Hitler's "Mein Kampf" was published, as was F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby."

1926

In this year mid-decade, actor Rudolph Valentino died suddenly at the age of 31, Henry Ford announced the 40-hour work week, Hirohito became the emperor of Japan, Houdini died after being punched, and mystery writer Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days.

Richard Byrd and Roald Amundsen began their legendary race to be the first to fly over the North Pole, Gertrude Ederle swam the English Channel, Robert Goodard fired off his first liquid-fueled rocket, and Route 66, the Mother Road, was established across the United States.

Last but certainly not least,​ A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" was published, which brought the adventures of Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Christopher Robin to generations of children.

1927

The year 1927 was a red-letter one: Babe Ruth set a home run record that would stand for 70 years; the first talkie, "The Jazz Singer," was released; Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean in the "Spirit of St. Louis"; and the BBC was founded.

Crime news of the year: Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed for murder.

1928

That great thing, sliced bread, was invented in 1928, along with bubble gum. If that wasn't enough, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon was shown, penicillin was discovered, and the first Oxford English Dictionary was published.

Chiang Kai-shek became the leader of China, and the Kellogg-Briand Treaty outlawed war.

1929

In the last year of the '20s, Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett flew over the South Pole, the car radio was invented, the Academy Awards made their debut, and the murder of seven members of the Moran Irish gang in Chicago became infamous as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

But this was all dwarfed by the October crash of the stock market, which marked the beginning of the Great Depression.