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 culmination 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.[a] 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
Armenian genocide during and just after World War I. It was characterized by the use of
massacres and
deportations involving
forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of Armenian deaths generally held to have been between one and one-and-a-half million.[1][2][3]
Latvian War of Independence (1918–1920) – a military conflict in Latvia between the Republic of Latvia and the Russian SFSR.
Internal conflicts
The
October Revolution in
Russia results in the overthrow of
capitalism and the establishment of the world's first self-proclaimed
socialist state; political upheaval in Russia culminating in the establishment of the
Russian SFSR and the assassination of Emperor
Nicholas II and the royal family.
The
Mexican Revolution (1910–1920)
Francsico Madero proclaims the elections of 1910 null and void, and calls for an armed revolution at 6 p.m. against the illegitimate presidency/dictatorship of
Porfirio Díaz. The revolution leads to the ousting of Díaz (who ruled from 1876 to 1880 and since 1884) six months later. The revolution progressively becomes a civil war with multiple factions and phases, culminating with the
Mexican Constitution of 1917, but combat would persist for three more years.
The
Balfour Declaration was a declaration by the British Government that announced the British desire to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This declaration has often been characterized as a betrayal of the Arabs and the agreement between the British and
Sharif Hussein of Mecca in the
McMahon-Hussein Correspondence which promised freedom to all Arab lands from the
Ottoman Empire.[4][5][6]
This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (January 2010)
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 7, 1915, the British ocean liner
RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by
U-20, a German
U-boat, off the
Old Head of Kinsale in Ireland, sinking in 18 minutes. 1,199 lives were lost.
On November 21, 1916, the
HMHS Britannic was holed in an explosion while passing through a channel which 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 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 first
jazz music is recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band for Victor (#18255) in late February, 1917.
The
Salvation Army has a new international leader, General
Bramwell Booth who served from 1912 to 1929. He replaces his father and co-founder of the Christian Mission (the forerunner of the Salvation Army),
William Booth.
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).[17]
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.
^Dictionary of Genocide, by Samuel Totten, Paul Robert Bartrop, Steven L. Jacobs, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008,
ISBN0-313-34642-9, p. 19
^Intolerance: a general survey, by Lise Noël, Arnold Bennett, 1994,
ISBN0773511873, p. 101
^Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, by Richard T. Schaefer, 2008, p. 90
^“The Mcmahon Correspondence of 1915-16.” Bulletin of International News, vol. 16, no. 5, 1939, pp. 6–13. JSTOR,
JSTOR25642429. Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.
^Sole, Kent M. “THE ARABS, A PEOPLE BETRAYED.” Journal of Third World Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, 1985, pp. 59–62. JSTOR,
JSTOR45197139. Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.
^"Bread-toaster"(Patent #1,387,670 application filed May 29, 1919, granted August 16, 1921). Google Patents. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
^Brinkley, Douglas (2004). Wheels for the world : Henry Ford, his company, and a century of progress, 1903-2003. Penguin Books.
ISBN9780142004395.
OCLC796971541.
Cornelissen, Christoph, and Arndt Weinrich, eds. Writing the Great War - The Historiography of World War I from 1918 to the Present (2020)
free download; advanced coverage of major countries.
Sharman, Margaret. 1910s (1991) European history for middle schools.
online
Uschan, Michael V. The 1910s (1999) a cultural history of USA, for secondary schools.
online
Whalan, Mark. American Culture in the 1910s (Edinburgh University Press, 2010).