The History of the Twentieth Century

We take a brief look at the world as it is on 1 January 1901--the birthday of the twentieth century.

The failure of the French counteroffensive has the Allies in retreat across the front, and it now appears there is no stopping the Germans short of Paris.

Following Scott's acclaimed Discovery Expedition, he and Ernest Shackleton plan competing expeditions to the South Pole, along with a surprise appearance by Roald Amundsen.

Mata Hari earned internationally acclaim as a dancer during the Belle Époque by trading on her exotic (and mostly invented) origins. But during the Great War, being mysterious and not entirely honest can get you killed.

In the autumn of 1917, the Germans lend the Austrians a hand in their losing struggle with Italy. The result is the Battle of Caporetto, which undoes all of Italy's previous gains and brings the Central Powers within 20 miles of Venice.

After the failure of the Nivelle Offensive, and with Russia collapsing into chaos, the British Cabinet unleashes Haig, who begins his latest offensive.

By autumn of 1917, the Russian Provisional Government had failed. It lost popular support, the Army was collapsing, and the Germans were advancing on Petrograd. Lenin determined it was time for the Bolsheviks to make their move.

Following the July Days, Alexander Kerensky became convinced that the biggest threat to his government now loomed on the political right, and he became increasingly suspicious of the new army commander-in-chief, Lavr Kornilov.

The Kerensky Offensive was supposed to prove that the Russian Provisional Government was in control and that Russia could still field an effective army. Instead, it demonstrated that neither of these were true.

The Kerensky Offensive provoked discontent among soldiers in Petrograd which triggered a Bolshevik uprising against the Provisional Government. The uprising was put down and evidence was made public that the Bolsheviks were being supported and funded...Show More

With the Bolsheviks relentlessly criticizing the Russian government, the question of war aims came to the fore. When the liberals in the government couldn't give a straight answer, a cabinet shuffle followed, giving socialists more power than before.

The Russian Provisional Government had declared a political amnesty that allowed political exiles to return home, notably Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin, who got an assist from the German government.

The US entered the war in early 1917, but it would take time for her to have an impact on the war. Brazil also joined the war in 1917, and in Canada, the political fight over conscription leads to a divisive general election.

By 1917, many in German and Austrian official and military circles had given up hope of winning the Great War on the battlefield and were ready to discuss peace terms. Hindenburg and Ludendorff, however, insisted that victory was at hand.

With Russia in disarray, and the Eastern Front in a de facto armistice, we shift our attention to the West, where the French begin the latest "final" offensive.

Russia's allies--The United Kingdom, France, Italy, and now the United States--were pleased that Russia was taking a more liberal and democratic direction, but they also expected Russia to honor the commitments the czar had made to them, even though ...Show More

Even the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by the Germans was not enough to push Woodrow Wilson into supporting war, but the Zimmerman Telegram made it impossible to oppose war any further. Additionally, the Russian Revolution eliminated a...Show More

The revolutionary upheavals in Petrograd lead to the formation of a Provisional Government. Emperor Nikolai II abdicates, ending the 304-year old Romanov dynasty.

With political resentments already high, the deprivations of the harsh winter of 1916-17 cause them to boil over. The Russian Revolution has begun.

When the Great War began, Russian political factions mostly united in a common front to support the war effort, as political parties did in the other belligerent nations. But when Russia's military reversals and shortcomings in leadership became too ...Show More

With the Mexican Revolution winding down and the prospects of war between Mexico and the USA seeming increasingly remote, the German Foreign Secretary explores the idea of inviting Mexico to declare war on the United States.

Germany was already rationing food when the bad harvests of 1916 made the situation far worse. Running out of options, the German military decides to resume unrestricted U-boat warfare.

The European powers refused to negotiate, but private groups, including women's groups, socialists, and Henry Ford, pressed ahead with campaigns to bring the belligerents to the negotiating table.

The automobile and the airplane, both recent inventions that make use of the internal combustion engine, become weapons of war.

With four years of peace and progressive reform and a booming economy (due to the strong French and UK wartime demand for US imports), you would think Woodrow Wilson would cruise to an easy re-election. You would be wrong.

In the wake of Pancho Villa's attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, the US Army sends an expeditionary force into Mexico in pursuit of Villa and his fighters, commanded by Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing.

German East Africa was the last holdout among German colonial possessions. Neighboring Portuguese and Belgian soldiers, as well as South Africans, joined in to help the British, although the British were not always happy to accept their assistance.

The Rising begins.

Irish nationalist extremist plot an armed uprising against British rule and reach out to Germany for assistance.

We take a break from the historical narrative this week as listener Brent asks the questions that (hopefully) you wanted answered.

We conclude the four-part series on military moves in 1916 in the Great War with Brusilov's Offensive and the Battle of the Somme.

Austria begins an offensive against Italy, Russia gears up a counteroffensive in Galicia, and the British and German Navies have it out in the Skagerrak.

The fighting continued at Verdun as the Russians prepare an offensive of their own to relieve the pressure on France. A German U-boat mistakenly sinks a passenger ferry in the English Channel, triggering another controversy over submarine rules of en...Show More

The third year of the war opens with Britain and Germany as the mainstays of their respective alliances. The German Chief of Staff tries a bank shot: cripple Britain by wounding France.

Turkish forces defeat a British force attempting to take Baghdad, but that doesn't stop the British and the French from divvying up the postwar Middle East. Also, the Russians advance, the Italians don't.

Venustiano Carranza is gaining momentum in the struggle over the future of Mexico, but Pancho Villa is not ready to give up. The Germans hope to lure the US into intervening, then Pancho Villa decides provoking the US is also in his interests.

In the neutral United States, the economy is booming and so is the motion picture business. And the most famous name in pictures is Charles Chaplin.

Allied commanders on the Western Front spent 1915 developing new strategies for the Great War, and attempted to implement them in their autumn offensive.

With numbers of new volunteers declining every month, the British government wrestles with the issue of conscription. Across Europe, all the Great Powers are feeling the manpower and other shortages created by the war.

After the overthrow of Victoriano Huerta, the revolutionary forces in Mexico begin fighting among themselves, and Huerta himself conspires with the Germans to return to power.

Albert Einstein needed ten years to flesh out his special theory of relativity into a general theory of relativity, but when he finished, he changed our understanding of the nature of reality itself.

German East Africa stood strong against British attempts to capture the territory. The key to capturing the German colony was to contest German control of Lake Tanganyika.

Political instability and mounting foreign debts lead to US military intervention on the island of Hispaniola.

By the summer of 1915, both the Central Powers and the Allies were keen to get Bulgaria to join the war on their side. The Central Powers won the bidding war, and Bulgaria became the fourth (and last) member of the Central Powers.

By the spring of 1915, it was clear that the war would last for a long time and that it would be taking an economic toll on all the nations involved, and there would likely be political consequences as well. In Britain, the debate centered on whether...Show More

In early 1915, with the Western Front in a stalemate, Winston Churchill becomes the leading voice behind a plan to do an end run around the Germans and knock the Turks out of the war.

In the spring of 1915, just before the sinking of Lusitania and in international women's conference aimed at ending the war through private diplomacy, Germany uses poison gas on the Western Front.

The sinking of Lusitania and the deaths of 128 Americans was a shock. While there was little support in the US for war against Germany, there was a strong feeling that *some* kind of response was necessary. It was up to Woodrow Wilson to figure out w...Show More

Germany searches for a way to break the British blockade; Britain looks for a decisive battle.

In 1914, Germany and Britain held adjacent colonial territories in East Africa. When the Great War began, Britain attempted to seize German East Africa.

Another look at race relations in the USA. The formation of the NAACP and the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League and the re-founding of the Ku Klux Klan. And the release of D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation."

Germany claimed Southwest Africa as a colony in 1884. This episode reviews the history of the colony through the Great War, when it was seized by South Africa.

In 1914, the war in the West ground down to a stalemate. There seemed no sign that 1915 would be any different. Allied commanders experimented with new tactics to deal with this new warfare.

The beginning of 1915 sees the Central Powers under something like a giant siege. What can be done to break out?

The Great War was by no means restricted to Europe. In this episode, we begin an occasional series examining the war in Africa.

When the Ottoman Empire joined the war, it opened new strategic possibilities for the Central Powers. It also led to a declaration of jihad against the Allies.

The phrase "shackled to a corpse" is often used to describe Germany's dilemma in the Great War. Surrounded by enemy nations that collectively have a greater population and larger economies, she also finds herself stuck with a disappointing alliance p...Show More

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the USA was the major market for Central American coffee, cotton, sugar, and especially bananas, leading to US investment in the region, leading in turn to US involvement in Central American affairs.

German soldiers committed numerous war crimes against civilians in the initial offensive, especially in Belgium. The Allies made use of this for propaganda purposes, while adding lurid embellishments.

When the Great War began, Germany had a number of naval units stationed around the world. These ships attempted to disrupt British shipping.

The murder of Francisco Madero and the iron-fisted rule of Victoriano Huerta that followed might seem like the end of constitutional democracy in Mexico, but in fact the revolutionaries like the ones who had overthrown Díaz took up arms once again, a...Show More

The UK and Japan had an alliance agreement, and when the Great War began, Japan was eager to enter the conflict. Aiding their ally was nice, but the Japanese were also eyeing German colonial possessions in the Pacific.

Kaiser Wilhelm told the troops they would be "home before the leaves fall." By autumn of 1914, it was clear they would not.

Germany invested heavily in building itself a great navy, including paying the price of a strained relationship with the United Kingdom. Now that the world is at war, how is this navy going to be used?

The Great War began as a confrontation between Austria and Russia. It soon became about a lot more than that, but for Austria, job one is defeating the Russians, or at least holding them at bay. The Austrian Army will prove incapable of accomplishing...Show More

President Wilson pushes through more reform legislation, including the Federal Reserve Act. The outbreak of the Great War creates a financial panic in the US, and Vice President Marshall pines for the days of a really good five-cent cigar.

The German First Army was only thirty miles from Paris, and the final victory was tantalizingly close. But the German Army was weakening, and the French and British not so beaten as the Germans believed.

In response to pleas from the French, the Russian Army undertakes an invasion of East Prussia in the hope of taking some of the pressure off of France.

The Great War started as a conflict between Austria and Serbia. Now, amid all the other conflicts emerging as the war goes continental, Austria makes its bid to punish Serbia for the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand.

The French plan to respond to a German offensive was a counteroffensive into the German center. The French attempted this on August 21-23; it was an utter failure.

The outbreak of the Great War saw one of the German Navy's newest and most powerful battlecruisers in the Mediterranean. She was a threat to the Entente and had to be stopped. Only...what exactly is she trying to do?

The German war plan called for a massive offensive against France that would pass through Belgium, but one of the big unknowns in German war planning was whether the Belgians would resist, and if so, how fiercely.

French strategists emphasized the importance of offense and planned to respond to a German invasion with an offensive of their own. British strategy increasingly revolved around joining with France in a ground war.

A look at how Germany and Russia planned to fight the Great War.

A survey of the most important reasons why the Great War happened and why the international order failed to prevent it.

Germany mobilizes and declares war on Russia and France. As German troops move into Luxembourg and Belgium, the British Cabinet comes around and joins the war.

Russia finds the Austrian ultimatum unacceptable. Austria, egged on by Germany, pursues war with Serbia anyway.

In the four weeks following the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the Austrian government slowly pondered its response. Meanwhile, in the rest of Europe, the murders were already being forgotten.

In the final days of peace, many European leaders were preoccupied with domestic problems as others debated whether war was inevitable, or obsolete.

Despite warnings of possible violence, the Austrian Crown Prince travels to Bosnia to observe military maneuvers. During a visit to Sarajevo, he and his wife are assassinated.

In 1914, with victory against the Turks secured, Serb nationalist extremists look north toward Austria.

The airplane means that the English Channel may no longer be all the defense Britain needs. Women's suffrage and Irish Home Rule remain contentious issues in British politics.

Just weeks after the First Balkan War ended, the Second Balkan War broke out over the spoils. When it was over, Serbia was Russia's only remaining diplomatic asset in the Balkans, and was spoiling for a fight with Austria.

As the small Balkan states redraw the map of their region, Austria-Hungary is largely a spectator, tied up in her own scandals.

The small Balkan states have been coming together in alliance. Originally defensive, the allies came to a secret agreement to attack the Ottoman Empire together, while it was preoccupied by the war with Italy.

After the difficult 1912 US Presidential election, Woodrow Wilson takes office, but the women's suffrage movement upstages him with a huge demonstration the day before.

Alfred Binet invents IQ testing, Picasso cheers up, the Mona Lisa is stolen, and Jim Thorpe wins two gold medals at the 1912 Olympics.

Italy has been angling to secure Libya as a colonial possession for some time now. But war fever broke out in 1911, partly because of the Agadir crisis, prompting Italy to declare war on the Ottoman Empire over control of the province.

The year 1910 was relatively quiet in Europe, except in the turbulent Ottoman Empire. But 1911 saw another crisis in Morocco, and renewed tensions.

One of the greatest, and certainly the most famous, of disasters at sea occurred the night of April 14, 1912, when the passenger liner Titanic sank, taking with her about 2/3 of those aboard.

1912 saw a Presidential election campaign unlike anything Americans had known before or since. It was America's only true three-way race, with the added drama of a grudge match between two men who had recently been friends and allies.

The early twentieth century saw the exploration of the remotest land on Earth: Antarctica.

William Howard Taft and Wilfrid Laurier negotiate a US-Canada free trade agreement, but it blows up when the Canadians get the idea that it is a step toward US annexation. The Standard Oil Company is broken up, US Senator "Fighting Bob" La Follette m...Show More

Explorers came to the far north first, in search of a route to the Far East, and later in search of the North Pole itself. The question of who got there first is surprisingly complicated.

After years of unrest, an accidental revolution breaks out on October 10, 1911, that will end the Empire and establish a Republic. Japan annexes Korea.

Self-propelled vehicles that can carry passengers on roads are not exactly new; people have been experimenting with them since the late 18th century. But in the early years of the twentieth century, the automobile finally becomes a practical mode of ...Show More

The year 1910 saw a fierce debate in the UK, including two general elections, over the role of the House of Lords in a modern, democratic state. The British King Edward VII passed away in the middle of the crisis, moving some Tories to blame his deat...Show More

Mexico began the century under the rule of the now elderly Porfirio Diaz. But Diaz was not able to keep up with changing times, and the fall of his rule is the opening chapter of the Mexican Revolution.

The early years of the century saw two  important comets and the biggest meteorite strike on the Earth in recorded history. There was also a lot of attention paid to the planet Mars, amid speculation that Mars might be home to life. Maybe even intell...Show More

Roosevelt had pledged not to seek another term as President, and was concerned that his successor preserve and build upon his Progressive legacy. He chose William Howard Taft as his political heir, but after Taft's election, the two men would part wa...Show More

The development of radio and related technologies at the beginning of the century heralded the birth of what we now call electronics, and with it, mass media.

In 1908, Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia, which she had been governing for 30 years. For the first time in Franz Josef's 60-year reign, Austria was gaining, rather than losing, territory. A cause for celebration, right?

We take a look at the convoluted ethnic makeup of Austria-Hungary as well as some of the principal Austrian cultural figures of the time.

The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary struggles to remain relevant in the quickly changing nineteenth century.

Wilbur and Orville Wright, working out of the limelight, succeed in developing the first heavier-than-air craft capable of carrying a human being on a controlled flight.

This 1870-ish American poem shows us something of the public attitude toward those who were working to build a flying machine during this period.

Surprisingly, small-scale flying machines have been around for centuries. It was not a question of theory, but an engineering problem: finding the right materials and designs to build a craft capable of carrying a human being through the air.

Despite the Liberals winning a landslide election in 1906, the political situation in the UK was turbulent. Liberal constituencies were jockeying for favor. The new Labour Party and the working classes were increasing in power. The women's suffrage m...Show More

Sergei Diaghilev's most enduring influence on twentieth century art was the Ballets Russes, a modern ballet company he created, starring the greatest male ballet dancer of the twentieth century and Diaghilev's lover, Vaslav Nijinsky.

In the early twentieth century, the Russian Sergei Diaghilev was the "bad boy" of the Russian art world. It's safe to say he was the most important figure in twentieth century art who was not himself an artist.

The United States intervenes militarily in Cuba and elsewhere in Latin America. A great earthquake strikes San Francisco, triggering racial discrimination and an economic downturn. The Brownsville Affair. And Roosevelt takes "In God We Trust" off the...Show More

After breaking the Vice Presidents' curse, Roosevelt begins his second (and last) term as President. 1906 proves to be a good year, as Roosevelt gets much of his legislative agenda through Congress.

The launch of HMS Dreadnought sparked multiple naval arms races, most notably in South America. It also intensified the existing race between the United Kingdom and Germany. At the same time, British and Russian diplomats hammer out their own entente...Show More

France has been angling to turn Morocco into a protectorate. The German government decides to interfere, hoping to drive a wedge between France and Britain.

The Entente Cordiale smoothed relations between Britain and France, but created complications for Britain's relations with Russia and with Germany. Britain makes overtures toward both of those countries, in the hope of repeating its diplomatic succes...Show More

After nearly 20 years in power, the Conservatives can no longer keep a lid on changing British society. But the Liberals have to contend with the rise of the Labour Party.

Albert Einstein published four papers in 1905 that turned modern physics upside down and established him as the greatest scientist of the century.

A review of what lessons we can take away from the war, with an emphasis on what lessons were not learned, to the grief of many.

Russia's Second Pacific Squadron finally reaches the western Pacific, and meets a catastrophic end. US President Theodore Roosevelt brokers a peace agreement between Japan and Russia.

The Japanese fund dissenters in  Russia. A peaceful protest in St. Petersburg becomes "Bloody Sunday." Admiral Rozhdestvensky struggles against the odds to bring his fleet into the Pacific, and the Japanese win the Battle of Mukden, possibly the larg...Show More

Japanese forces move north and oust Kuropatkin and his armies from Liaoyang. Port Arthur falls after a six-month siege and a bloody assault on 203 Hill.

The Japanese First Army defeats the Russians at the Battle of the Yalu River and advances from Korea into Russian-occupied Manchuria. The Japanese Second Army lands on the Liaodong Peninsula and advances north, while the Japanese Third Army moves sou...Show More

Russia has 100,000 soldiers in Manchuria, and is pressuring Japan's interests in Korea. When diplomacy fails, Japan launches as surprise attack on the Russian Pacific Squadron at Port Arthur (Liushunkou).

Europe has managed to keep the peace (more or less) for some 85 years now. Remarkably, she has done that with no formal peacekeeping structure; just a willingness among the great powers to come to the negotiating table when necessary. But how long ca...Show More

There has not been a general war in Europe since Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. But military technology has grown frighteningly effective. Is war now obsolete? Is it time to find other ways of resolving differences, or else perish?

A look at Russia during the late 19th century, during the reign of Emperor Alexander III, with a special emphasis on the coming of age of the crown prince and his wedding to Alexandra.

Slavic people occupy half the land area of Europe, and Slav nationalism is going to be a driving force in the history of the 20th century. This episode explains the history of the Slavs, with a special emphasis on the most important Slav nation: Russ...Show More

The 1904 World's Fair helped define America in the 20th century.

Pablo Picasso begins his career in Paris, the city of the 1900 Exposition and Olympic Games. Turmoil in Morocco gives the French an opportunity to move in, but first they need to come to an understanding with the British.

Finley Peter Dunne's Mr. Dooley expounds on international courts, and argues that what we really need is an international police force.

Roosevelt tours America and runs for re-election. Ugly racial violence erupts in the South. An American citizen is kidnapped in Morocco, and somebody thought, "This would make a great movie."

The remarkable unification of Italy in the nineteenth century was complete, but the problem of uniting these disparate peoples of the peninsula, who over the course of centuries had grown accustomed to thinking of themselves as different nationalitie...Show More

La nascita della Italia moderna

We return to the USA to take a look at some more issues facing President Roosevelt. Possible war crimes in the Philippines. Cuban independence. The Colombia Panama Canal. A major coal strike. And, most important, Roosevelt's prospects in the 1904 ele...Show More

After securing international recognition of his claim to the Congo, King Leopold sets to work to extract as much wealth as he can from the Congo in the most brutal ways imaginable. He is eventually exposed, but walks away a billionaire.

King Leopold II of Belgium, having decided his ambitions are far greater than the "small nation of small people" he reigns over, sets out to swindle for himself a colony in Africa.

As working class conditions seem to be getting worse instead of better, a new political movement emerges, advocating intervention on behalf of the poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised.

Theodore Roosevelt becomes President and at once begins turning everything upside down. Scott Joplin writes an opera about it.

Theodore Roosevelt becomes a war hero, and Vice President of the United States. An anarchist assassin takes the life of the President, William McKinley.

Reinforcements from the Western nations turn the tide in the fight against the Boxers. But will they get to Beijing in time?

A grassroots uprising against foreigners develops in China in 1900, a result of outrage over Chinese territorial concessions and foreign missionary activity.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a fault line develops in Protestantism, especially in the USA, over the role of ancient Scriptures in a modern church.

Frustrated on all fronts, the British mobilize the enormous resources of their Empire in a bid to defeat the Boers once and for all.

There will be no new episode this week. Check back next week for the conclusion to the Boer War.

The British get the war they want with the Boer republics in South Africa, but the Boers turn out to be more than the British can handle. At first.

Britain is still very much a class-bound society at home and a military power abroad. A look at the state of the Empire in the late 19th century, with a special emphasis on Ireland and South Africa.

What are cathode rays? X-rays? Radioactivity? How old is the Earth? Inquiring minds want to know. Also, in an age when only men can vote, the greatest scientist of the time is a woman. And Polish. Take that, haters!

France at the turn of the century was rocked by the Dreyfus Affair, where an innocent soldier was convicted of treason, and the Army went to incredible lengths in its refusal to acknowledge what became increasingly obvious.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

As relations between the Americans and the Filipinos degenerate into open combat, the war to liberate Cuba becomes a war to subjugate the Philippines.

...and imbued with firm confidence in Divine Providence, we hereby mutually bind ourselves to support this Declaration with our lives, our fortunes, and with our most sacred possession, our Honor....

So, are the US and the Filipino rebels allies or not? When the US and Spain start doing deals, there are no Filipinos at the table.

Three documents referenced in this week's podcast on the Spanish-American War: The letter from the Spanish ambassador, McKinley's message to Congress, Joint Congressional Resolution.

The United States intervenes in the Cuban revolt against Spain. But what does this mean for the Philippines?

This episode looks at the history of the Philippines through the start of the Spanish-American War.

Germany is pretty much a world leader in everything at the beginning of the 20th century. 13 Nobel Prizes in 10 years. Top that, everyone else!