Our Twentieth Century World

The milestones of the twentieth century have been of two sorts: first, scientific or technological changes that have revolutionized the lives of ordinary people; second, moments when the leaders of the nation states of the world have attempted to grapple with the direct political consequences and the long-term effects of those innovations.

This epoch will doubtless be recalled as one during which the pace of scientific change outran the capacity of political society to organize these developments within viable, humane and predictable systems.

Hugh Thomas, editor
(from the introduction)

1903: Wings over Kitty Hawk – Charles Gibbs-Smith

Orville Wright’s brief flight over North Carolina sand dunes realizes one of man’s oldest dreams and revolutionizes transportation

1908: An Automobile for the Masses – Mervyn Kaufman

An innovative mechanic from Detroit perfects an unlovely, inexpensive motorcar – the Model T – and puts America on wheels

1914: Assassination Sparks the Great War – Brian Grogan

In the diplomatic confusion following the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s heir-presumptive, Europe moves irrevocably to war

1917: “Peace, Bread, and Land” – Joel Carmichael

Lenin returns from exile to lead a Bolshevik coup that topples Russia’s Provisional Government and establishes a new, Communist state

1922: The Blackshirts March on Rome – Christopher Hibbert

An ill-organzied but highly effective march on Italy’s capital brings Benito Mussolini and his Blackshirts to powerful

1929: Panic on Wall Street – George Bull

Amid wild trading and wilder rumors, the speculative bubble of the late 1920s finally bursts, and America is plunged into a decade of depression

1933: The Burning of the Reichstag – Paul Preston

Germany’s ambitious Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, seizes upon a highly suspicious incident to consolidate his control of the country

1936: The Spanish Civil War – Brian Crozier

Assisted by the Axis powers, General Francisco Franco lands an invasion army in his native Spain and overthrows the Second Republic

1940: The Battle of Britain – Nigel Nicolson

The skill and valor of a handful of British pilots saves the island kingdom from imminent invasion

1942: Midway to Victory – Stephen W. Sears

Six months after Pearl Harbor, an outclassed American fleet wreaks dramatic revenge upon the Japanese Navy, and turns the tide in the Pacific

1943: Surrender at Stalingrad – Antony Brett-James

The German juggernaut meets its match at Stalingrad where, amid awesome slaughter, the Eastern Front collapses

1945: Fireball over Hiroshima – David Divine

America’s top-secret Manhattan Project produces warfare’s “ultimate weapon”, whose use hastens Japan’s collapse and ushers in the Atomic Age

1948: Murder of the Mahatma – Louis Fischer

Mohandas K. Ghandi, father of Indian independence and living symbol of non-violence, meets violent death – and the whole world mourns

1948: Israeli Independence – Michael Bar-Zohar

The State of Israel becomes a fact of life – and guerilla warfare a way of life – in the Middle East

1949: Red Victory in China – Jacques Marcuse

Chiang Kai-shek’s embattled Kuomintang regime abandons its capital to the Communists, acknowledging MaoTse-Tung’s triumph on the mainland

1958: De Gaulle Retuns to Power – Edouard Sablier

Divided and dying, the luckless Fourth Republic calls upon “the greatest of all Frenchmen” to form a new government

1962: Pope John’s Vatican Council – Michael Foss

A compromise candidate for the Church’s highest office astonishes the world by calling the first Ecumenical Council in nearly a century

1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis – Anthony Howard

High-altitude reconnaissance photographs reveal the existence of Russian missile bases on Cuba and force a young American President into bold action

1969: Man on the Moon – Adrian Berry

Achieving a centuries-old dream, two American astronauts step out of their spacecraft on onto the surface of the moon