The History of the Twentieth Century

Roosevelt was re-elected in 1936 by an historic margin, but the years 1937-38 saw him stumble.

Over the course of the 1930s, entertainment on radio evolved into a mix of drama, situation comedy, soap opera, and kids' programming that would serve as the model for broadcast entertainment for the rest of the century.

Advertising agencies as we know them today came into existence at the dawn of the twentieth century. These agencies were reluctant to move into radio advertising, but in the US, the medium was soon dominated by them.

In Germany in the 1930s, modern science was exploring the limits of what can be known, at the same time the Nazi political movement was claiming absolute knowledge.

Just weeks after the Munich Agreement avoided a war, Germany was wracked by a spasm of internal anti-Semitic violence.

Adolf Hitler was gearing up for an invasion of Czechoslovakia. Then Neville Chamberlain intervened.

Hitler's first step on his plan to expand Germany to the east was to annex Austria.

Hitler wanted closer relations with both Britain and Italy. He got half his wish.

Fairy tales date back at least to medieval Europe, and probably further back than that. The 19th century demoted them to children's entertainment, but the twentieth century will find new uses for them.

Chiang Kai-shek has had enough. When the Japanese provoke a confrontation, Chiang and his new Communist allies do not back down, and the result is war.

Dissenting generals kidnap Chiang Kai-shek and force him to negotiate with the Chinese, while in Japan, right-wing radicals in the military consolidate their power.

The generals tried to end the war in a matter of months by moving on the capital. Madrid held, but the Republic couldn't hold its crucial northern enclave.

English language literature of the Jazz Age disdained the old conventions and went off in a new direction, emphasizing the subjectivity of experience and rejecting established authority.

Franklin Roosevelt was very popular in 1936, but he and his campaign had concerns, not only about the Republicans, but about potential challenges from the left.

The Spanish government was aware that a coup was coming and had taken steps against it, though these precautions would prove inadequate. Still, the coup would likely have failed without intervention from Germany and Italy.

King Alfonso XIII fled Spain in 1931 following the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic. But monarchists, the Catholic Church, and other right-wing forces in Spain were not ready to submit.

King George V died in January 1936, leaving the crown to his eldest son, who became Edward VIII. But Edward just didn't seem to take his responsibilities seriously.

By all appearances, Adolf Hitler was enormously popular in the early years of his rule over Germany. The Germans named streets, squares, even their own children, after him. They sold beer steins with his face on them. The Nazis created the "Strength through Joy" program to create leisure activities for working people. The 1936 Olympics was staged to celebrate Nazi accomplishments.

Whatever its domestic policies, in international relations, Fascist Italy remained reasonable in its international relations. Then it invaded Ethiopia.

Under Nazi rule, German officials had to create a legal system that would define who was and wasn't "Aryan," because you can't oppress the "non-Aryans" until you know who they are.

After the vindication of the 1934 mid-terms, Franklin Roosevelt further enlarges his agenda.

In the early twentieth century, sovereignty over the Chaco Boreal in central South America was still unsettled. Bolivia and Peru went to war over their conflicting claims.

Animated short films were already popular during the 1920s, but the rise of sound and color in motion pictures, pioneered by Walt Disney, revolutionized the form.

Animated drawings, in the form of flip books and zoetropes, already existed at the beginning of the twentieth century, but the rise of motion pictures also made possible the beginning of animated motion pictures.

After the Night of the Long Knives, and with his domestic position secure, Hitler turned to foreign policy. German violations of the Treaty of Versailles were publicly acknowledged by 1935, and in spring of 1936, German soldiers entered the Rhineland.