Salem Press

For more information about the other Great Events from History sets, simply click here.

	A fount of accessible, valuable material, it is a necessary purchase for libraries already owning earlier installments of this series or for institutions where curriculum has a strong focus on the early part of the twentieth century
Booklist September, 2007 Click here for the full review.

Great Events from History: The 20th Century, 1901-1940
Publisher's Note

Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940, is the eighth installment in Salem Press's ongoing Great Events from History series, which was initiated in 2004 with the two-volume Great Events from History: The Ancient World, Prehistory-476, followed by The Middle Ages, 477-1453 (2 vols., 2005), The Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600 (2 vols., 2005), The Seventeenth Century, 1601-1700 (2 vols., 2006), The Eighteenth Century, 1701-1800 (2 vols., 2006), The Nineteenth Century, 1801-1900 (4 vols., 2007), and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Events (2 vols., Fall 2007). In 2008, twelve more volumes will join the series: The 20th Century, 1941-1970 and The 20th Century, 1971-2000--bringing the total number of events covered to more than 5,000.

Expanded Coverage
Like the rest of the series, the six current volumes represent both a revision and a significant expansion of the material on the early twentieth century in the twelve-volume Great Events from History (1972-1980). The present set incorporates virtually all the essays on the early twentieth century from the Chronology of European History: 15,000 B.C. to 1997 (3 vols., 1997); Great Events from History: North American Series, Revised Edition (4 vols., 1997); and Great Events from History II (20 vols., 1991-1995). These volumes form the foundation on which the new and greatly expanded series is built. However, that foundation now forms only a fraction of the whole. Across the entire new series, more than one-third of the text will be completely new. In addition, the new series adds hundreds of illustrations, tables, primary source documents, lists, appendixes, and finding aids in the form of keyword, geographic, categorized, personage, and subject indexes.

The new content in the current installment, The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940, constitutes one-quarter of the original set: To the 830 original essays we have added 207 completely new essays--commissioned especially for the new series and appearing here for the first time--for a total of 1,037 essays. Bibliographies for all the old essays have been expanded and updated, and all essays are cross-referenced internally. A section containing maps of world regions in the early twentieth century is included, plus new appendixes, numerous sidebars, quotations from primary source documents, lists, maps, and illustrations.

Scope of Coverage
The early twentieth century receives worldwide coverage with the priority of meeting the needs of history students at the high school and undergraduate levels. The events covered include the curriculum-oriented geopolitical events of the era--from World War I (1914-1918) and the Russian Revolution (1917) to the rise of the German Nazi Party , the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and the eruption of World War II in Europe (1939). Essays also address important social and cultural developments in daily life: major literary movements, significant developments in art and music, trends in immigration, and landmark social legislation. Among the many broad subjects that receive extensive coverage are Europe's changing political divisions and shifting alliances, the struggles of women around the world to gain the right to vote, the development of trade unionism and the labor movement, and the global impacts of the Great Depression.

The early twentieth century was also a time of immense advances in science and technology--discoveries and innovations that rival those of later years for the fundamental changes they brought to daily lives. At the beginning of the century, aviation was in its infancy and the automotive industry was just beginning. By 1940, passenger air travel was safe and increasingly affordable, and automobiles had become reliable and ubiquitous. The drudgery of housework was lightened with the invention of such appliances as the vacuum cleaner and the electric washing machine, and the development of radio broadcasting and talking motion pictures changed how many people spent their leisure time. Advances in medicine during this period were groundbreaking: In addition to the discovery of penicillin, scientists learned the causes of and developed vaccines, treatments, and tests for numerous diseases, including yellow fever, diphtheria, tuberculosis, syphilis, and diabetes. Discoveries in astronomy led to a greater understanding of the universe and Earth's place within it, and physicists such as Albert Einstein developed theories that pointed the way to the nuclear age.

By category, the contents of the set include events that fall into one or more of the following areas (many essays are counted under more than one category): Agriculture (12 essays), Anthropology (8), Archaeology (6), Architecture (13), Arts (37), Astronomy (32), Atrocities and war crimes (23), Banking and finance (18), Biology (32), Business and labor (72), Chemistry (26), Civil rights and liberties (54), Colonialism and occupation (41), Communications and media (20), Computers and computer science (3), Crime and scandal (14), Dance (15), Diplomacy and international relations (100), Disasters (14), Earth science (23), Economics (38), Education (12), Energy (13), Engineering (15), Entertainment (25), Environmental issues (59), Expansion and land acquisition (26), Exploration and discovery (5), Fashion and design (12), Genetics (10), Geography (2), Geology (9), Government and politics (173), Health and medicine (58), Historiography (5), Human rights (18), Humanitarianism and philanthropy (8), Immigration, emigration, and relocation (12), Independence movements (20), Indigenous peoples' rights (20), Inventions (50), Laws, acts, and legal history (109), Literature (52), Manufacturing and industry (18), Marketing and advertising (10), Mathematics (16), Military history (28), Monuments (2), Motion pictures (41), Music (47), Natural resources (30), Organizations and institutions (102), Philosophy (15), Photography (5), Physics (52), Prehistory and ancient cultures (9), Psychology and psychiatry (8), Publishing and journalism (61), Radio and television (20), Religion, theology, and ethics (28), Science and technology (194), Social issues and reform (69), Sociology (5), Space and aviation (17), Sports (20), Terrorism (8), Theater (22), Trade and commerce (80), Transportation (32), Travel and recreation (3), Urban planning (7), Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest (100), Women's issues (33), World War I (24), and World War II (22).

The scope of this set is equally broad geographically, with essays on events associated with these modern countries and world regions: Africa (27 essays), Albania (1), Antarctica (2), Arctic (1), Argentina (1), Armenia (1), Atlantic Ocean (3), Australia (9), Austria (19), Balkans (8), Belarus (2), Belgium (4), Bohemia (1), Bolivia (1), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2), Botswana (1), Bulgaria (2), Burma (1), Cambodia (1), Canada (30), Caribbean (4), Chile (1), China (12), Congo (1), Corfu (1), Croatia (2), Cuba (2), Cyprus (1), Czechoslovakia (3), Denmark (7), Djibouti (1), East Asia (25), Egypt (5), El Salvador (1), England (104), Estonia (1), Ethiopia (1), Europe (5), Finland (5), France (92), French Guiana (1), Gambia (1), Germany (104), Ghana (1), Greece (3), Hungary (4), India (12), Indochina (1), Indonesia (1), Iran (4), Iraq (3), Ireland (12), Italy (28), Japan (12), Java (1), Kenya (1), Korea (2), Laos (1), Latin America (20), Latvia (1), Libya (1), Lithuania (2), Macedonia (2), Manchuria (2), Martinique (2), Mexico (6), Moldovia (1), Mongolia (1), Montenegro (1), Morocco (3), Namibia (1), Netherlands (11), New Zealand (5), Nicaragua (1), Nigeria (2), North Pole (1), Norway (6), Ottoman Empire (8), Palestine (4), Panama (5), Paraguay (1), Peru (2), Philippines (2), Poland (9), Portugal (3), Rhodesia (1), Romania (1), Russia (54), Saudi Arabia (2), Scotland (3), Senegal (1), Serbia (2), Sierra Leone (1), Slovenia (1), Somalia (2), South Africa (6), South Asia (12), South Pole (1), Southeast Asia (6), Soviet Union (4), Spain (7), Sweden (9), Switzerland (18), Tanganyika (1), Tibet (2), Turkey (8), Uganda (1), Ukraine (4), United States (487), Venezuela (1), Vietnam (1), Wales (4), Worldwide (2), Yugoslavia (1), and Zimbabwe (1).

Essay Length and Format
The essays have an average length of 2,000 words (2-4 pages) and adhere to a uniform format. The ready-reference top matter of every essay prominently displays the following information:

   • the most precise date (or date range) of the event
   • the common name of the event
   • a summary paragraph that identifies the event and encapsulates
      its significance
   • where appropriate, any also-known-as name for the event
   • the locale, or where the event occurred, including both early
      twentieth century and, as relevant, modern place-names
   • the categories, or the type of event covered, from Arts to
      Government and Politics to Military History to Transportation
   • Key Figures, a list of the major people involved in the event,
      with birth and death dates, brief descriptors, and regnal dates or terms
      of office where applicable

The text of each essay is divided into these sections:

   • Summary of Event, devoted to a chronological description of
      the facts of the event
   • Significance, assessing the event's historical impact
   • Further Reading, an annotated list of sources for further study
   • See also, cross-references to other essays within this Great Events set

Special Features
A section of historical maps appears in the front matter of each volume, displaying world regions in the early twentieth century to assist readers in placing the events' locales. Accompanying the individual essays are an additional 80 maps, quotations from primary source documents, lists, and time lines--as well as more than 500 illustrations: images of artworks, battles, buildings, people, and other icons of the period.

Because the set is ordered chronologically, a Keyword List of Contents appears in the front matter to each volume that lists all essays alphabetically, permuted by all keywords in the essays' titles, to assist readers in locating events by name.

In addition, several research aids appear as appendixes at the end of Volume 6:

   • The Bibliography cites major sources on the period.
   • Electronic Resources provides URLs and descriptions of Web sites
      and other online resources devoted to period studies.
   • The Chronological List of Entries organizes the contents
      chronologically in one place for ease of reference.

Four indexes round out the set:

   • The Geographical Index lists essays by regions and countries.
   • The Category Index lists essays by types of event, such as
      Agriculture, Architecture, and Arts.
   • The Personages Index includes major personages discussed throughout.
   • The Subject Index includes persons, concepts, terms, battles,
      works of literature, inventions, organizations, artworks, musical
      compositions, and many other topics of discussion.

Usage Notes
The worldwide scope of Great Events from History often results in the inclusion of names and words that must be transliterated from languages that do not use the Roman alphabet, and in some cases more than one system of transliteration exists. In many cases, transliterated words in this set follow the American Library Association and Library of Congress (ALA-LC) transliteration format for that language. However, if another form of a name or word is judged to be more familiar to the general audience, it is used instead. Pinyin transliterations are used for Chinese topics, with Wade-Giles variants provided for major names and dynasties; in a few cases, common names that are not Pinyin are used. Sanskrit and other South Asian names generally follow the ALA-LC transliteration rules, although more familiar forms of names are used when deemed appropriate for general readers.

Titles of books and other literature appear, upon first mention in each essay, with their full publication and translation data as known: an indication of the first date of publication or appearance, followed by the English title in translation and its first date of appearance in English. If no translation has been published in English, and if the context of the discussion does not make the meaning of the title obvious, a "literal translation" appears in roman type.

In the listing of Key Figures and in parenthetical material within the text, "r." stands for "reigned," "b." for "born," "d." for "died," and "fl." for flourished. Wherever date ranges, such as "1823-1877," appear appended to names with none of these designators, readers may assume that they signify birth and death dates or, where the contexts indicate, terms of office not considered "reigns."

The Contributors
Salem Press would like to extend its appreciation to all who have been involved in the development and production of this work. Special thanks go to Professor Robert F. Gorman at Southwest Texas State University, who developed the contents list and coverage notes for contributing writers to ensure the set's relevance to the high school and undergraduate curricula. The essays were written and signed by 568 historians, political scientists, and scholars of regional studies as well as independent scholars. Without their expert contributions, a project of this nature would not be possible. A full list of their names and affiliations appears in the front matter of this volume.