Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties refers to the North American historical period of the 1920s, which has been described as "one of the most colorful decades in American history." The decade encapsulates a fascinating story, beginning with the return of young soldiers from the fronts of the First World War and emergence of a new and confident face of the modern womanhood, and ending with the sad note of the Black Tuesday, harbinger of the Great Depression. The years of the Roaring Twenties are marked by several inventions and discoveries of far reaching consequences; emergence of unprecedented industrial boom and accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, coupled with significant changes in the lifestyle; and a series of events, national as well as the international, which shaped a large part of the history of the 20th century.

Economy of the 1920s

The Roaring Twenties were 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 USA, took sometime to convert from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy. After this dull phase, the economy was booming. The decade saw North America becoming the richest region on the earth, 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. At the same time the 1920s were setting the stage for the Great Depression that would dominate the 1930s.

Related Topics:
Consumer goods - The North American economy - Economy of the USA - A wartime economy - Booming - Consumerism - Great Depression

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Demobilization

At the end of World War I, soldiers returned to the United States and Canada with money in their pockets and a great many new products on the market on which to spend it. At first, the cessation of wartime production caused a brief, but deep recession. Quickly the North American economy rebounded as the returning soldiers entered the labor force and factories were retooled to produce consumer goods.

Related Topics:
World War I - Soldier - United States - Canada - Brief, but deep recession

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These soldiers formed a tremendous market force. As they were still very young, in their twenties, all things youthful were now increasingly idealized and highly marketable.

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New products and technologies

During the 1920s, mass production developed which allowed for cheaper prices of technology. Most of the devices that became commonplace in this decade had been developed before the war, but had been unaffordable to the majority. 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 North America. By 1927, Henry Ford had sold 15 million Model T. In all of Canada, there were only about 300,000 vehicles registered in 1918, but by 1929 there were 1.9 million. The automobile had wide effects on the economy and society. The automobile industry rapidly became one of the largest and a number of peripheral companies running gas stations, motels, and providing oil also became important.

Related Topics:
Mass production - Automobile - Movie - Radio - Chemical industries - Henry Ford - Model T

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During the Roaring Twenties, radio became the media of the masses, the first mass broadcasting medium. Radios were affordable and entertaining. Before the days of Hollywood, radio was the grandstand for mass marketing with a massive listening audience. Its economic importance led to the mass culture that has dominated society since its introduction near the turn of the century. Radio entertainment was as varied as programming in modern day. Without the self-censorship that is in place today, editors were free to entertain an audience in any and every way. This set the stage for the entrance of violent crime into film and popular culture.

Related Topics:
Media - Hollywood - Mass marketing - Mass culture - Programming

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Film reels and advertisement reels, showed before cheap showings of early films, augmented the already booming mass market. The golden age of films was to be born from its humble beginnings in short, silent film reels. Like radio, film was a media for the masses. A view of a film was cheap and accessible for factory and other blue-collar workers.

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New infrastructure

The new technologies led to an unprecedented need for new infrastructure, mostly built by the government. Crucial to the new vehicles were new roads. Several roads were upgraded to become highways, and a number of expressways were constructed. There emerged a class of Americans with surplus money and a desire to spend the same, spurring the demand for consumer goods, including the automobiles.

Related Topics:
Infrastructure - Government - Road - Highway - Expressway - Money - Automobile

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Electrification, having slowed during the war, saw huge progress during the 1920s as most of North America was added to the electric grid. Most industries switched from being coal powered to using electricity. At the same time, vast new power plants were constructed. In Canada during this decade electricity production almost quadrupled.

Related Topics:
Electrification - Electric grid - Coal - Electricity - Power plant

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Telephone lines also were now being strung across the continent. Another important technology that went from rare to common in the 1920s was indoor plumbing, and modern sewer systems were installed for the first time in many regions.

Related Topics:
Telephone - Plumbing

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These infrastructure programs were mostly left to the local governments in both Canada and the United States. During the 1920s, most local governments went deeply into debt, under the assumption that an investment in such infrastructure would pay off in the future. This would cause 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 rollback some of the taxes that had been introduced during the war.

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Demographics

Urbanization was one of the most important trends during the Roaring Twenties. For the first time, more North Americans 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 due to their vast agricultural hinterlands. Cities on the West Coast saw increasing benefits from the 1914 opening of the Panama Canal.

Related Topics:
Urbanization - Mass transit - Skyscraper - Service sector - Finance - Insurance - White collar - Midwest - Great Lakes - Chicago - Toronto - Hinterland - West Coast - Panama Canal

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