The document provides an overview of major events from 1900-1945, including World War I and II, the rise of modernism, and key modernist writers and works. Some of the main events discussed are the start of WWI due to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Germany's surrender in 1918, the Treaty of Versailles, the stock market crash of 1929 beginning the Great Depression, and the US dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The document also summarizes features of modernism such as its pessimistic viewpoint and focus on language and style over content or morality in art.

1. The Modern Era
the disillusionment period
(1900-1940s)

2. 1901: Queen Victoria dies
1902: London Treaty—Japan okay in
Korea, Britain okay in China
1903: Suffragette movement founded
1903: First controlled, sustained flight at
Kitty Hawk, N.C.
1908: First Model T and the assembly line
1908: Britain and Germany engage in
“naval race”
1908: F.B.I. established in United States
1912: Titanic sinks in Atlantic

3. World War I
o Franz Ferdinand: heir to Austro-Hungarian
throne killed by Black Hand, a Serbian
nationalist group
o Austria-Hungry crushed Nationalist movement
in Serbia and gained authority
o Austria-Hungry wanted the assassins brought
forth and if they weren’t then war with Serbia
would take place

4. World War I (cont.)
o Serbia had ties with Russia
o Austro-Hungarian government was allied to
Germany
o Austria-Hungry declared war on Serbia
July 28, 1914
o Russia announced mobilization of troops
o Germany declared war on Russia Aug. 1st

5. World War I (cont.)
o France, bound by a treaty with
Russia, declared war on Germany and Austria-
Hungry on Aug. 3rd
o Germany invaded neutral Belgium in order to
reach Paris faster
o Britain, allied with France, declared war on
Germany Aug. 4th
o Britain’s colonies and dominions joined:
Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and
South Africa

6. World War I (cont.)
o United States declared absolute neutrality—
Germany announced unrestricted submarine
warfare in 1917 and on German subs sank the
British passenger liner Lusitania and killed
128 Americans.
o Japan honored military agreement with Britain
and declared war on Germany on Aug. 23rd.
Austria-Hungry declared war on Japan on Aug.
25th

7. World War I (cont.)
o Italy avoided obligations to Germany and
Austria-Hungry by citing that their alliance for
defense was in the event of a defensive war.
Joined the war in May 1915
o Germany surrendered on Nov. 11, 1918
o Treaty of Versailles: signed June 28, 1919 and
it separated Germany’s and Austria-Hungry’s
land ownership, forced payment for losses, and
put restrictions on Germany and Austria-
Hungry

8. 1912: Britain and France sign a naval treaty
to fend off threat of Germany
1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of
Austria-Hungry was assassinated
1918: Germany surrenders
1918: Spanish Flu—20 million dead
worldwide, US 500,000
1919: United States institutes prohibition
with 18th amendment—repealed in 1933
1919: Treaty of Versailles
1921: Ireland becomes independent—
Northern Ireland still under British rule
1922: BBC begins broadcasting

9. 1928: Universal women’s suffrage
1928: Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming
discovers penicillin, first antibiotic
1929: Stock market crash in U.S.
1934: Whites in South Africa begin
apartheid
1933: Beginning of Great Depression in
U.S.
1939: Germany, led by WWI veteran
Adolph Hitler, invaded Poland in an attempt
to regain territory taken by the Treaty of
Versailles

10. France and England honored defensive pact
with Poland and declared war on Germany
December 7th 1941: United States declared
war on Japan and all Axis powers after Japan
bombed Pearl Harbor
Japan wanted to invade territories in Southeast
Asia and Pacific Island
Wanted to knock out U.S. fleet
Aug 6th 1945: United States drops bomb on
Hiroshima—over 60,000 die
October 24th 1945: United Nations was
established

11. Death Totals for World War I

12. Modernism
• The term modernism refers to the radical shift
in aesthetic and cultural sensibilities evident in
the art and literature of the post-World War I
period. (Typically 1901-1940)
• Modernism rejects 19th century optimism, and
it presents a pessimistic picture of a culture in
disarray. This despair often results in an
apparent apathy and moral relativism.

13. Modernism
• Modernism is often derided for abandoning
the social world in favor of its narcissistic
interest in language and its processes.
• Vision and viewpoint became an essential
aspect of the modernist novel. The way the
story was told became as important as the
story itself.

14. Features of Modernism
• The superiority of art to nature
• The concept of the artist as hero
• The autonomy of art and its divorce from
truth and morality
• The depersonalization and “objectivity” of art
• A-logical structure
• Verbal ambiguity and complexity
• The emphasis on the divided self
• The alienated self in the urban world

15. Modernist Writers and Works
• A.E. Houseman (poet)
• Thomas Hardy (poet and novelist): Tess of the
d'Urbervilles
• James Joyce (poet and novelist): Ulysses
• Joseph Conrad (novelist): Heart of Darkness
• Virginia Woolf (essayist and novelist): A Room of One’s
Own, Mrs. Dalloway
• P.G. Wodehouse (novelist): Jeeves stories
• E.M. Forster (novelist): A Passage to India
• T.S. Eliot (expat, playwright, and poet): The
Wasteland, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
• Gertrude Stein (expat and poet)