The Twentieth Century Part I Clip art from © North Carolina Community College System

The century begins with amazing new things. The Wright brothers build and fly the first airplane in 1903.

Henry Ford sells the first mass-produced car in It is the Model T Ford.

In 1914, World War I starts in Europe. Woodrow Wilson is President of the United States.

America tries to stay neutral, but Germany uses submarines to attack merchant ships. America fights on the side of the Allies—Russia, France, England, Italy, and Serbia. (Serbia no longer exists.) In 1918, Germany surrenders.

After World War I, Americans are happy. The 1920s bring short skirts, short hair, jazz,

the first talking movies, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, and the start of daily radio broadcasts.

Then in 1929, the stock market crashes, and the Great Depression begins.

Banks, stores, and factories close. Millions of Americans are jobless, homeless, and penniless. Times are hard around the world in the 1930s.

Franklin Roosevelt is President of the United States during the Great Depression and World War II.

World War II begins when Germany invades Poland in America enters the war after Japan bombs Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) in 1941.

In World War II The Axis Powers Germany Japan Italy fight the Allies. United States Great Britain Russia France

To help win the war, Americans ration food, metal, and rubber. Women enter the workforce. Men enter the military.

And the Navajo Indians use their native language to communicate American battle plans. Soldiers use code so enemies can’t understand. Navajo is an unwritten language. The Navajo Code Talkers’ “code” is never broken.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower is Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. He later becomes the 34 th President of the United States.

The next lesson begins with the end of World War II and covers the last half of the Twentieth Century. You probably were born during these years.