/1 https://twitter.com/karengeier/status/1341429856047927302

First, content alert:

There will be images in this thread that are disturbing. Historical images including acts of violence, Klan activity, etc.

/2

Don’t get me wrong; there’s a lot to love about the 1920s (as an industrial historian, I’m guilty of plenty of that love), but it was also a HORRIFIC time *unless* you were, as was the case for much of modern history, white, primarily male, & wealthy /3

Think Gilded Age, but now we’ve had a generation obliterated by global war on a technologically destructive scale hitherto unheard of (hence all that “War to End All Wars” phrasing). So everyone is a lot more cynical. /4 https://twitter.com/adroitlyabsurd/status/1233491542737858560

Racism is hitting strides not seen since before the Civil War in America alone. 25,000 Klan members in full regalia march through DC. The Greenwood District (“Black Wall Street”) of Tulsa is burned in an orgy of violence. Anti-semitism flourishes as nativism rises. /5

The Middle East is becoming the powder keg we stereotype it, in big part thanks to Britain & France going Sykes–Picot & saying “screw ethic borders, we want OIL”

Big takeaway from WWI? We need that oil for National Defense. King Coal was being dethroned. /6

This is also when a wave of looting in the Middle East that fed a wave of Egyptian Revival a’ la Napoleon in 1798-1801; military presence opened up the area to mostly unscrupulous “collectors”

Some genuinely good archaeologists, but even then their methods were... problematic /7

Everyone is suspicious AF but no one wants to *actually* cooperate so big diplomatic entities like League of Nations are pretty impotent.

Isolationism & Nationalism about; the US gives the world the diplomatic finger. Just in time for things to get hotter in the East... /8

Japan looks back at the Russo-Japanese War, WWI, & how the West has acted since Perry in 1853 & says “F-it; these gaijin screw w/ us enough; time to get respect the only way they appreciate: militarily”

This Imperialism would lead to the bloody 1930s in that hemisphere. /9

1st, tho, Japan had to deal w/ a devastating earthquake & national economic crisis. They weren’t alone.

Our idea of glittering 1920s decadism is wholly American, thanks to not having war waged across farmland & factories. Everyone else was basically broke. Especially Germany /10

When the war ended, Germany lost the most so they naturally had to pay “reparations.” Not just money. Land, armaments, machinery; hell, I’ve driven a tiny steam locomotive in the White Mountains of NH pinched from a Münster concrete plant

Their currency was devalued to hell /11

Literally barrel-loads of cash were required for basic provisions like bread. Bricks of Marks.

A disgruntled failed artist began running around w/ a group of folks spouting some *very* concerning ideas using rousing tactics inspired by the Fascists in Italy... /12

Between the Palmer Raids & the wartime acts, anti-union action is finding new teeth, as are anti-radical. Unions were being vilified like it was the late 1800s all over again.

Pollution was hitting new levels as regulations failed to keep up or were actively removed. /13

1920 entered w/ a literal bang: the Wall Street Bombing.

A good chunk of the decade followed through w/ it’s aftermath in the form of the Sacco-Vanzetti Trial, a sordid tale of racism, anarchist fear, & worldwide attention culminating in their 1927 execution. /14

Then there was the Scopes “Monkey Trial” & battles over science vs. religion. Battles that got heated, sometimes violently.

Many state legislatures took up the question of what could or couldn’t be banned in public schools, while others questioned humanity as a whole. /15

In the heartland of America, the breadbasket, it was open season. The Russian Revolution & WWI disrupted the global wheat & agricultural supplies, & the West had been “tamed” but a decade ago, opening new land as fast as the indigenous tribes “occupying” it could be “moved.” /16

This *sounds* great, but between an onslaught of petrol-powered agricultural equipment & zero understanding of the prairie ecosystem topsoil was being depleted in an astonishing amount. Soon it would start to blow about. Not rich earth, but dust. A continental bowlful. /17

Meanwhile, crime was doing just fine. Prohibition was laughably ineffective. Organizations formed to handle hooch diversified, ensuring that they’d have plenty to fight over even when liquor was legal again. Corruption was rampant, as was blood in the streets. /18

Bank robberies were taken to new heights thanks to improved roads & automobiles (not to mention weaponry) & poor interstate, rural ability to respond.

Corporations got in the act w/ increasingly creative and cutthroat methods that would make a Robber Baron blush. /19

All the mergers & stock speculating & overproduction ended up w/ the mother of all crashes: “The Great Crash,” “Black Tuesday,” Wall Street tanking shortly after the London Stock Exchange’s own crash.

The dream was over.

/20

The 1920s saw unprecedented advances in technology, science, art, & culture. But also turmoil on a scale that followed the end of the “Long Century” in horrific ways

Our vision of a glittering, decadent 1920s is rose-tinted, a fantasy; some genuinely lived thus, but not most /21

There’s a reason 2020 feel so eerily familiar to us historians. It’s a time of great social upheaval, geopolitical crisis, vitriol, & income inequality.

Wait’ll you hear how a decade of THAT turned out... oh. Oh.

Oh yeah.

The 1930s.

/22

As an aside, if you find this sort of topic interesting or want to learn more about the lessons we can learn by confronting the ugly parts of our past, you may also enjoy threads like the Gilded Age one I linked to in part 4 of this , or threads like this:

/23 https://twitter.com/adroitlyabsurd/status/1122275265915310081

I’m also indebted to resources like the @amhistorymuseum, @librarycongress, etc., from whom many of the images in this are from

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