The Roaring Twenties

For people in America and Europe, the 1920s were years of recovery and fun after the horrors of World War I. it was a time of new ideas, jazz music, radio and ‘talking pictures’ (cinema films with sound). Women enjoyed greater freedom. So did gangsters, in the lawless years that followed the ban in the US on alcoholic drinks.

In the ‘Roaring Twenties’ society became more free and easy. For the first time, women cut their hair short and wore short skirts. The heroes of the age included the lone flyer Charles Lindbergh and the film star Rudolf Valentino.

In 1920, the US government brought in Prohibition, a law to ban the making and selling of alcoholic drinks. Many people broke the law by visiting illegal drinking clubs or buying ‘bootleg’ alcohol made in backstreet workshops. Gangsters fought to control this illegal trade. Prohibition was ended in 1933.

The 1920s brought a false sense that all was well. Problems left by World War I had not been solved. In Germany, the economy collapsed. In Britain, there was the first General Strike by workers. The bubble burst in October 1929, when millions of people lost their savings in the Stock Market Crash. The party of the ‘Jazz Age’ was over; the Depression was beginning.