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Question

How did the Roaring Twenties earn its nickname?
Put these even in the proper sequence: Linbergh's Atlantic flight, the first commercial radio station, the Nineteenth Amendment, the appearance of motels.

Answer 1

You can easily find out the answers to these questions by doing an Internet search. And you'll be sure that the answers are correct. It should not take you more than a couple of minutes.

Answer 2

Do your own homework.

Answer 3

Roaring Twenties refers to the 1920s, principally in North America, one of the most colorful decades in history. During the era, there was a turn toward normality in politics, the return of veterans from World War I, the growth of jazz music, the emergence of a new face of modern womanhood (the flapper), the peak of Art Deco, and Black Tuesday, the harbinger of the Great Depression. Moreover, the years of the Roaring Twenties were marked by several inventions and discoveries of far-reaching consequences; unprecedented industrial growth and accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, coupled with significant changes in lifestyles; and a series of events, national as well as international, which shaped a large part of the history of the 20th century. The era's affluence, however, did not include all social groups since many sharecroppers and tenant farmers (black and white) in the South continued to live in poverty.

The Roaring Twenties started in North America and spread to Europe as the effects of World War I diminished. In Europe, the years following the First World War (1919-1923) were marked by a deep recession. Europe spent these years in rebuilding and coming to terms with the vast human cost of the conflict. Unlike in the aftermath of World War II, the Government of the United States did little to try to rebuild Europe. Instead, it took an increasingly isolationist stance. In Canada, an important economic transformation accelerated as Britain was wholly supplanted by the United States as Canada's main economic partner. By the middle of the decade, economic development started to soar over in Europe, and the Roaring Twenties broke out in Germany, Britain and France, where the second half of this decade was termed the "Golden Twenties". In France and Canada, they were also called the "Crazy Years" (années folles).

The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a general feeling of discontinuity associated with modernity and a break with traditions. Everything seemed to be feasible through modern technology. New technologies, especially automobiles, movies and radio spread the idea of modernity to a large part of the population. Formal decorative frills were shed in favor of practicality, in architecture as well as in daily life. At the same time, amusement, fun and lightness were cultivated in jazz and dancing, in defiance of the horrors of World War I, which were still present in people's minds. The period is often called the "Jazz Age".The Roaring Twenties are traditionally viewed as an era of great economic prosperity driven by the introduction of a wide array of new consumer goods. Initially, the North American economy, particularly the economy of the US, took some time to convert from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy. After this dull phase, the economy boomed. The United States increased its role as the richest country in the world, with industry aligned to mass production and a society with a culture of consumerism. In Europe, the economy did not start to flourish until 1924.

In spite of the social, economic and technological advances, African Americans, recent immigrants and farmers—along with a large part of the working class population—were not much affected by this period. In fact, millions of people lived below the accepted poverty line of US$2,000 per year per family.

However, the economy set the stage for the Great Depression that dominated the 1930s.


Chart 1: GDP annual pattern and long-term trend, 1920-40, in billions of constant dollars[1]



[edit] Demobilization
At the end of World War I, soldiers returned to the United States and Canada with money in their pockets and many new products on the market to spend it on. At first, the recession of wartime production caused a brief but deep recession, known as the Post-WWI recession. Quickly, however, the U.S. and Canadian economies rebounded as returning soldiers re-entered the labor force and factories were retooled to produce consumer goods.


[edit] Republican economic policies
Various policies initiated by the Republican Party had a big impact on the boom. The government was associated with laissez faire economics, which helped create the conditions for the boom. In 1922, the Fordney-McCumber tariff was passed, allowing American businesses to flourish by protecting them from foreign competition. The Secretary to the Treasury from 1921 to 1932, Andrew Mellon, cut surtax from above 50% to 20%. This aided large corporate business, allowing them to dominate their respective markets.


[edit] New products and technologies

Advertisement for a typical Model T Ford from the 1920s, the most popular car of the decade until the introduction of the Ford Model A in 1928.The development of mass production allowed for cheaper prices of technology products. Most of the devices that became commonplace had been developed before the war but had been unaffordable to most people. The automobile, movie, radio, and chemical industries skyrocketed during the 1920s. One of the most important of these was the automobile industry. Before the war, cars were a rare luxury. In the 1920s, cheap mass-produced vehicles became common throughout the U.S. and Canada. By 1927, Henry Ford had sold 15 million Model Ts. In all of Canada, only about 300,000 vehicles were registered in 1918, but by 1929, there were 1.9 million. The automobile had effects on the economy and society, with the automobile industry becoming one of the largest; peripheral companies running gas stations, motels, and providing oil also became important.

Radio became the first mass broadcasting medium. Radios were affordable and the programs entertaining. Radio became the grandstand for mass marketing. Its economic importance led to the mass culture that has dominated society since. During the "golden age of radio", programming was as varied as TV programming today. Without the self-censorship that would later develop, editors were broadly free to entertain their audiences, setting the stage for the entrance of violent crime into film and popular culture. This relative freedom came to an end in 1927 with the establishment of the Federal Radio Commission and a new era of regulation.

Advertisement reels, shown before early films, augmented the already booming mass market. The "golden age of film", during the 1930s and 1940s, evolved from its humble 1900s beginnings of short, silent films. Like radio, film was a medium for the masses. Watching a film was cheap compared to other forms of entertainment, and it was accessible to factory and other blue-collar workers.


[edit] New infrastructure
The new technologies led to an unprecedented need for new infrastructure, mostly built by the government. New roads were crucial to the new motor vehicles. Several roads were upgraded to become highways, and numerous expressways were constructed. A class of Americans emerged with surplus money and a desire to spend more, spurring the demand for consumer goods, including the automobile.

Electrification, having slowed during the war, progressed greatly as more of the U.S. and Canada was added to the electric grid. Most industries switched from being coal powered to using electricity. At the same time, new power plants were constructed. In America, electricity production almost quadrupled.

Telephone lines also were being strung across the continent. Indoor plumbing and modern sewer systems were installed for the first time in many regions.

These infrastructure programs were mostly left to the local governments in both Canada and the United States. Most local governments went deeply into debt under the assumption that an investment in such infrastructure would pay off in the future. This caused major problems in the Great Depression. In both Canada and the United States, the federal governments did the reverse, using the decade to pay down war debts and roll back some of the taxes that had been introduced during the war.


[edit] Demographics
Urbanization was one of the most important trends. For the first time, more Americans and Canadians lived in cities than in small towns or rural areas. Mass transit systems, the first skyscrapers, and the growing importance of industry contributed to this. A growing service sector was also increasingly important, with the finance and insurance industries doubling or tripling in size. The basic pattern of the modern white collar job is often believed to have been established during this period. Many of the clerical jobs went to women, who entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers. In Canada, one in five workers were women by the end of the decade. The fastest growing cities were those in the Midwest and the Great Lakes region, including Chicago and Toronto. These cities prospered because of their vast agricultural hinterlands. Cities on the West Coast received increasing benefits from the 1914 opening of the Panama Canal.


[edit] Culture

[edit] Lost Generation
Main article: Lost Generation
The Lost Generation were young people who came out of World War I disillusioned and cynical about the world. The term usually refers to American literary notables that lived in Paris at the time. Famous members included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein.


[edit] Social criticism
Main article: Social issues of the 1920s
As the average American in the 1920s became more enamored of wealth and everyday luxuries, some began satirizing the hypocrisy and greed they observed. Of these social critics, Sinclair Lewis was the most popular. His 1920 novel, Main Street, was one of the most popular of the time. The story satirized the dull, ignorant lives of those in a Midwestern town. He followed with Babbitt, about a middle-aged businessman who rebels against his safe life and family, only to realize that the young generation is as hypocritical as his own. Lewis satirized religion with Elmer Gantry, which followed a con man who teams up with an evangelist to sell religion to a small town.


Climax of the new architectural style: the Chrysler Building in New York City was built after the European wave of Art Deco reached the United States.Other social critics included Sherwood Anderson and H.L. Mencken. Anderson published a collection of short stories titled Winesburg, Ohio, which studied the dynamics within a small town. Mencken criticized the narrow American taste and culture through various essays and articles.


[edit] Art Deco
Art Deco was the style in design and architecture that marked the era. Starting in France, it spread to the rest of western Europe and North America towards the mid-1920s. In the U.S., one of the most remarkable buildings featuring this style was constructed as the tallest building of the time: the Chrysler Building. The forms of art deco were pure and geometric, even though the artists often drew inspiration from nature. In the beginning, lines were curved, but later, rectangular designs became more and more popular.


[edit] Expressionism and Surrealism
Painting in North America during the 1920s developed into a different direction than that in Europe. In Europe, the 1920s were the era of expressionism and later, surrealism. As Man Ray stated in 1920 after the publication of a unique issue of New York Dada: "Dada cannot live in New York".


[edit] Cinema

Felix the Cat, the most popular cartoon character of the decade, exhibits his famous pace.
Movie Poster for Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929), the second all-color all-talking feature film.At the beginning of the decade films were silent and black and white. In 1922, the first all-color feature Toll of the Sea 1922 was released. In 1926, Warner Brothers released Don Juan, the first feature with sound effects and music. In 1927, Warners released The Jazz Singer, which was the first sound feature to including (limited) talking sequences.

The public went wild for talkies, and the movie studios converted to sound almost overnight. In 1928, Warners released Lights of New York, the first all-talking feature film. In the same year, the first sound cartoon, Dinner Time, was released. Warners ended the decade by unveiling, in 1929, the first all-color, all-talking feature film: On with the Show.


[edit] Harlem Renaissance
African-American literary and artistic culture developed rapidly during the 1920s under the title of the "Harlem Renaissance". In 1921, the Black Swan Corporation opened. At its height, it issued ten recordings per month. All-African-American musicals also started in 1921. In 1923, the Harlem Renaissance Basketball Club was founded by Bob Douglas. During the later 1920s, and especially in the 1930s, the basketball team became known as the best in the world.

The first issue of Opportunity was published. The African-American playwright, Willis Richardson, debuted his play The Chip Woman's Fortune, at the Frazee Theatre.[1] Notable African-American authors such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston began to achieve a level of national public recognition during the 1920s. African American culture has contributed the largest part to the rise of jazz.


Paul Whiteman and his orchestra in 1929.
[edit] Jazz Age
Main article: Jazz Age
The first commercial radio station in the United States, KDKA, began broadcasting in Pittsburgh in 1922. Radio stations subsequently proliferated at a remarkable rate, and with them spread the popularity of jazz. Jazz became associated with all things modern, sophisticated, and also decadent. Men tended to sing in a high pitched voice, typified by Harold Scrappy Lambert, who was one of the most popular recording artists of the decade. In the 1920s, the music performed by these artists was called jazz. Today, the popular music of the 1920s is usually labeled as "sweet music" by jazz purists.

The music that people consider today as "jazz" tended to be played by minorities. In the 1920s, the majority of people listen to what we would call today "sweet music" and hardcore jazz was categorized as "hot music" or "race music." Louis Armstrong marked the time with improvisations and endless variations on a single melody. Armstrong contributed largely to making scat singing popular, an improvisational vocal technique in which nonsensical syllables are sung or otherwise vocalized, often as part of a call-and-response interaction with other musicians on-stage.

Apart from the clarinet, Sidney Bechet also popularized the saxophone. Dance venues increased the demand for professional musicians and jazz adopted the 4/4 beat of dance music. Tap dancers entertained people in Vaudeville theaters, out in the streets or accompanying bands. At the end of the Roaring Twenties, Duke Ellington entered the scene to start the beginning of the big band era.


[edit] Dance
Starting in the 1920s, ballrooms across the U.S. sponsored dance contests, where dancers invented, tried, and competed with new moves. Professionals began to hone their skills in tap dance and other dances of the era throughout the Vaudeville circuit across the U.S. electric lighting made evening social entertainment more comfortable, giving rise to an era of dance halls and live music. The most popular dances were the fox-trot, waltz and tango, and the Charleston.

Harlem played a key role in the development of dance styles. With several entertainment venues, people from all walks of life, all races, and all classes came together. The Cotton Club featured black performers and catered to a rich, glamorous, and white clientele, while the Savoy Ballroom catered to an average, working-class, and mostly black clientele.

From the early 1920s, a variety of eccentric dances were developed. The first of these were the Breakaway and Charleston. Both were based upon African-American musical styles and beats, including the widely popular blues. The Charleston's popularity exploded after being featured in two Broadway shows in 1922. A brief Black Bottom craze, originating from the Apollo Theater, swept dance halls from 1926 to 1927, replacing the Charleston in popularity. By 1927, the Lindy Hop, a dance based on Breakaway and Charleston and integrating elements of tap, became the dominant social dance. Developed in the Savoy Ballroom, it was set to stride piano ragtime jazz. The Lindy Hop remained popular for over a decade, before evolving into Swing dance. However, these dances were never mainstreamed, and the overwhelming majority of people continued to dance the fox-trot, waltz and tango throughout the decade.


[edit] Suffrage
Main article: Women's Suffrage
On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the last of 36 states needed to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, granting women the right to vote. Women were thus recognized as equals of men in every state—at least at the polls.


[edit] Fashion and the changing role of women
Main article: Flapper
Because of the dreary economic situation after World War I, many American and European families needed to replace the incomes of the family fathers lost in the battlefield; women had to accept a job and move outside the home. This also gave them a new self-confidence. The change in role was also reflected in the media: the garçonne-look portrayed the ideal woman as an androgynous, working woman that had reached equality with men while simultaneously possessing the appeal of the femme fatale. Pantsuits, hats and canes gave women a sleek look without frills and avoiding the fickleness of fashion. The style was named after the novel La garçonne by Victor Margueritte. In Europe, this look featured women with short hair (Bubikopf) for the first time; in the U.S., the bob was popularized by actresses in the early 1920s. As a result of this move towards practical androgyny, corsets went out of style, and some women even bandaged their breasts to make them look flatter. Flappers, as these women were called in the U.S., wore short dresses with a straight loose silhouette. By 1927, hemlines had risen to just below the knee and they remained there until 1930 when they dropped back down again.


[edit] Minorities and homosexuals
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In urban areas, minorities were treated with more equality than they had been accustomed to previously. This was reflected in some of the films of the decade. For example, Redskin (1929) and Son of the Gods (1929) deal sympathetically with the Native Americans and Asians and openly revile social bias. On the stage and in movies, black and white players appeared together for the first time. It was possible to go to night clubs and see whites and minorities dancing and eating together.

Homosexuals also received a level of acceptance that was not seen again until the 1960s. Until the early 1930s, gay clubs were openly operated that were commonly known as "pansy clubs". The relative liberalism of the decade is shown by the fact that the actor William Haines, who was regularly named in newspapers and magazines as the number-one male box-office draw, openly lived in a gay relationship with his lover, Jimmy Shields. Other popular gay actors/actresses of the decade included Alla Nazimova and Ramon Novarro.[citation needed] In 1927, Mae West wrote a play called The Drag, about homosexuality and alluded to the work of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. It was a box-office success. West regarded talking about sex as a basic human-rights issue, and was also an early advocate of gay rights. With the return of conservatism in the 1930s, the public grew intolerant of homosexuality, and gay actors were forced to choose between retiring or agreeing to hide their sexuality.


[edit] Society

[edit] Immigration laws
The United States, and to a lesser degree Canada, became more xenophobic or, at least, anti-immigrant. The American Immigration Act of 1924 limited immigration from countries where 2% of the total U.S. population, per the 1890 census (not counting African Americans), were immigrants from that country. Thus, the massive influx of Europeans that had come to America during the first two decades of the century slowed to a trickle. Asians and citizens of India were prohibited from immigrating altogether. Alien Land Laws, such as California's Webb-Haney Act in 1913, prevented aliens ineligible for citizenship, (except Filipinos, who were subjects of U.S.) of the right to own land in California. It also limited the leasing of land by said aliens to three years. Many Japanese immigrants, or Issei, circumvented this law by transferring the title of their land to their American-born children, or Nisei, who were citizens. Similar laws were passed in 11 other states.

In Canada, the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 prevented almost all immigration from Asia. Other laws curbed immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.


[edit] Prohibition
Main article: Prohibition in the United States
In 1920, the manufacture, sale, import and export of alcohol was prohibited by the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in an attempt to alleviate various social problems that in fact brought to the country many more, unexpected problems; this came to be known as "Prohibition". It was enacted through the Volstead Act, and supported greatly by leagues such as 'The Anti Saloon League' and churches. America's continued desire for alcohol under prohibition led to the rise of organized crime, illegal smuggling of liquor and gangster associations all over the U.S., having unforeseen economic bonuses for criminal organizations. In Canada, prohibition was never imposed nationally, but the American liquor laws nonetheless had an important impact.


[edit] Rise of the speakeasy
Speakeasies became popular and numerous as the Prohibition years progressed and lead to the rise of gangsters such as Al Capone. They more commonly began to operate with connections to organized crime and liquor smuggling. While police and U.S. Federal Government agents raided such establishments and arrested many of the small figures and unimportant smugglers, they rarely managed to get the big bosses; the business of running speakeasies was so lucrative that such establishments continued to flourish throughout the nation. In major cities, speakeasies could often be elaborate, offering food, live bands, and floor shows. Police were notoriously bribed by speakeasy operators to either leave them alone or at least give them advance notice of any planned raid.


[edit] Literature
The Roaring Twenties was a period of literary creativity, and works of several notable authors appeared during the period. D.H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover was a scandal at the time because of its explicit descriptions of sex.

Books that take the 1920s as their subject include:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is often described as the epitome of the "Jazz Age" in American literature.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque recounts the horrors of WWI and also the deep detachment from German civilian life felt by many men returning from the front.
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the lives and morality of post-World War I youth.
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is about a group of expatriate Americans in Europe during the 1920s.

[edit] Solo flight across the Atlantic
Charles Lindbergh gained sudden great international fame as the first pilot to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Roosevelt Airfield (Nassau County, Long Island), New York to Paris on May 20-May 21, 1927. He had a single-engine airplane, "The Spirit of St. Louis", which had been designed by Donald Hall and custom built by Ryan Airlines of San Diego, California. His flight took 33.5 hours. The President of France bestowed on him the French Legion of Honor and, on his arrival back in the United States, a fleet of warships and aircraft escorted him to Washington, D.C., where President Calvin Coolidge awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross.


[edit] Sports
The Roaring Twenties are seen as the breakout decade for sports in America. Citizens from all parts of the country flocked to see the top athletes of the day compete in arenas and stadiums. Their exploits were loudly and highly praised in the new "gee whiz" style of sports journalism that was emerging; champions of this style of writing included the legendary writers Grantland Rice and Damon Runyon.

The most popular American athlete of the twenties was baseball player Babe Ruth. His characteristic home run hitting heralded a new epoch in the history of the sport (the "Live-ball era"), and his high style of living fascinated the nation and made him one of the highest-profile figures of the decade. Fans were enthralled in 1927 when Ruth hit 60 home runs, setting a new single-season home run record that was not broken until 1961. Together with another up-and-coming star named Lou Gehrig, Ruth laid the foundation of future New York Yankees dynasties.

A former bar room brawler named Jack Dempsey won the world heavyweight boxing title and became the most celebrated pugilist of his time. College football also captivated fans, partly because of Red Grange, running back of the University of Illinois. Grange played a role in the development of professional football in the mid-1920s by signing on with the NFL's Chicago Bears. Bill Tilden thoroughly dominated his competition in tennis, cementing his reputation as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. And Bobby Jones popularized golf with his spectacular successes on the links; the game did not see another major star of his stature come along until Jack Nicklaus. Ruth, Dempsey, Grange, Tilden, and Jones are collectively referred to as the "Big Five" sporting icons of the Roaring Twenties.


[edit] American politics

[edit] Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding ran on a promise to "Return to Normalcy", a term he coined, which reflected three trends of his time: a renewed isolationism in reaction to World War I, a resurgence of nativism, and a turning away from the government activism of the reform era. Throughout his administration, Harding adopted laissez-faire policies. Harding's "Front Porch Campaign" during the late summer and fall of 1920 captured the imagination of the country. It was the first campaign to be heavily covered by the press and to receive widespread newsreel coverage, and it was also the first modern campaign to use the power of Hollywood and Broadway stars who traveled to Marion for photo opportunities with Harding and his wife. Al Jolson, Lillian Russell, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, were among the luminaries to make the pilgrimage to central Ohio. Business icons Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone also lent their cachet to the Front Porch Campaign. From the onset of the campaign until the November election, over 600,000 people traveled to Marion to participate. His administration was plagued with scandals with which he was likely not involved. On the scandals, he commented, "My God, this is a hell of a job!" and, "I have no trouble with my enemies, but my damn friends, they're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights."

See also: U.S. presidential election, 1920

[edit] Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge was inaugurated as president after the death of President Harding. He was easily elected in 1924 when he ran on a basis of order and prosperity. Coolidge made use of the new medium of radio and made radio history several times while president: his inauguration was the first presidential inauguration broadcast on radio; on 12 February 1924, he became the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio, and only ten days thereafter, on 22 February, he also became the first to deliver such a speech from the White House. He is famous for his quotation "The chief business of the American people is business".


[edit] Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover was the final president of the 1920s, taking office in 1929. He stated in 1928, "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land." The Great Depression started the following year and marked his term in office.


[edit] Fall of labor unions
Main article: Trade union
Several labor strikes in 1918 and 1919 marked a turning point in American's view of labor unions. State militias began to be used to break up strikes and state officials started enacting criminal laws against disturbances. Labor union membership fell drastically throughout the country. Radical unionism declined as well, in large part because of Federal repression during World War I by means of the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act of 1918. Socialist Eugene V. Debs had been sentenced to prison for 10 years as a result of the latter, although he was released early by Harding.


[edit] Canadian politics
In Canada, politics were dominated federally by the Liberal Party of Canada under William Lyon Mackenzie King. The federal government spent most of the decade disengaged from the economy and focused on paying off the large debts amassed during the war and during the era of railway over expansion. After the booming wheat economy of the early part of the century, the prairie provinces were troubled by low wheat prices. This played an important role in the development of Canada's first highly successful third party, the Progressive Party of Canada that won the second most seats in the 1921 national election.


[edit] End of the Roaring Twenties

[edit] Black Tuesday
The Dow Jones Industrial Stock Index had continued its upward move for weeks, and coupled with heightened speculative activities, it gave an illusion that the bull market of 1928 to 1929 would last forever. On October 29, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, stock prices on Wall Street collapsed. The events in the United States were the final shock to an unsound economic system, leading to a worldwide depression that put millions of people out of work across the capitalist world throughout the 1930s.


[edit] Repeal of Prohibition
The 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment, was ratified on February 20, 1933. The choice to legalize alcohol was left up to the states, and many states quickly took this opportunity to allow alcohol.

The Golden Twenties, in Berlin, Germany, were an exciting and extremely vibrant time in the history of Berlin, German history, and European history in general. This "fertile culture" of Berlin extended onwards until Adolf Hitler rose to power in early 1933 and stamped out any and all resistance to the Nazi Party, which was never very popular with many Berliners. Likewise, the Nazis decried Berlin as a haven of vice. A sophisticated, innovative culture developed that was centered around Berlin and included architecture and design (Bauhaus, 1919-33), literature (Döblin, Berlin Alexanderplatz, 1929), film (Lang, Metropolis, 1927, Dietrich, Der blaue Engel, 1930), painting (Grosz), music (Weill, Threepenny Opera, 1928), criticism (Benjamin), philosophy/psychology (Jung), and fashion. This culture was generally considered as decadent and socially disruptive by rightists.

Germany's liberal Weimar constitution (1919) could not guarantee a stable government in the face of rightist violence (Rathenau assassination, 1922) and Communist refusal to cooperate with Socialists. Tremendous printing of currency to pay Reparations caused staggering inflation that destroyed middle-class savings, but economic expansion resumed after mid-decade, aided by U.S. loans.

As stated, this modern Renaissance occurred throughout the Weimar Republic where art, music, film, and other art-forms flourished, but was firmly rooted in Berlin. Berlin was the centerpiece of European culture from about 1923-1932. It caught on fully once the hyper-inflation and other economic problems of the very early 1920s were brought under control by the newly elected government.

Film especially was making huge technical and artistic strides during this period of time in Berlin, and gave rise to the influential movement called German Expressionism. "Talkies" were also becoming more popular with the general public across Europe but especially in 1920s Berlin. (see the article on UFA) See also: List of films featuring Berlin

Radical ideas on both the right and left floated through the wild and exciting streets of Berlin throughout the post-World War I years, with open-clashes between the left-wing Communists and right-wing Fascists not at all uncommon.

The heyday of Berlin began in the mid-1920s. It became the largest industrial city of the continent. People like the architect Walter Gropius, physicist Albert Einstein, painter George Grosz and writers Arnold Zweig, Bertolt Brecht, and Kurt Tucholsky made Berlin the cultural and intellectual center of Europe. Night life was blooming in 1920s Berlin.

Tempelhof Airport was opened in 1923 and a start was made on S-Bahn electrification from 1924 onwards. Berlin was also the second biggest inland harbor of the country; all of this infrastructure was needed to transport and feed the over 4 million Berliners throughout the exciting yet hectic 1920s.

The Humboldt University of Berlin (formerly The University of Berlin) became a major intellectual center in Germany, Europe, and the World. The sciences were especially favored -- from 1914 to 1933, Albert Einstein served as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin, only leaving after the anti-Semitic Nazi Party rose to power.

The so-called "mystical arts" also experienced a revival during this time-period in Berlin, with astrology, the occult, and esoteric religions and off-beat religious practices becoming more mainstream and acceptable to the masses, who were now more open-minded to spiritual alternatives after witnessing the horrors and traumas of World War I.


[edit] See also
Alexanderplatz
Bertolt Brecht
Cabaret (film)
Cinema of Germany
Erik Jan Hanussen
Friedrichstraße
German Expressionism
Glitter and Doom - German Portraits from the 1920s
History of Berlin
History of Germany
Intellectual center
Kreuzberg
List of films featuring Berlin
Metropolis (film)
Nightlife
Potsdamer Platz
UFA
Weimar Culture
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920s_Berlin"