Wikipedia
decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In 1927, Charles Lindbergh embarks on the first solo nonstop flight from New York to Paris on the Spirit of St. Louis; A crowd gathering on Wall Street after the 1929 stock market crash, which led to the Great Depression; Benito Mussolini and Fascist Blackshirts during the March on Rome in 1922; the People's Liberation Army attacking government defensive positions in Shandong, during the Chinese Civil War; The Women's suffrage campaign leads to the ratification of the 19th amendment in the United States and numerous countries granting women the right to vote and be elected; Babe Ruth becomes the most iconic baseball player of the time.|420px|thumb rect 1 1 298 178 Irish War of Independence rect 302 1 572 178 Prohibition in the United States rect 1 181 194 400 Women's suffrage rect 198 181 395 399 Babe Ruth rect 399 182 572 401 Spirit of St. Louis rect 1 405 250 599 Chinese Civil War rect 255 404 416 599 March on Rome rect 419 405 572 598 1929 stock market crash The 1920s (pronounced “nineteen-twenties”, commonly abbreviated as the "“Twenties”") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1920 and ended on December 31, 1929. In North America, it is frequently referred to as the “ Roaring Twenties” or the “ Jazz Age”, while in Europe the period is sometimes referred to as the “Golden Age Twenties” because of the economic boom following World War I. French speakers refer to the period as the “années folles” (“Crazy Years”), emphasizing the era’s social, artistic, and cultural dynamism.
The economic prosperity experienced by many countries during the 1920s (especially the United States) was similar in nature to that experienced in the 1950s and 1990s. Each period of prosperity was the result of a paradigm shift in global affairs. These shifts in the 1920s, 1950s, and 1990s, occurred in part as the result of the conclusion of World War I and Spanish flu, World War II, and the Cold War, respectively.
The 1920s saw foreign oil companies begin operations throughout South America. Venezuela became the world’s second largest oil producing nation.
Prosperity in the 1920s was not ubiquitous, however. The German Weimar Republic experienced a severe economic downturn as a result of the enormous debts it agreed to repay as part of the Treaty of Versailles. The economic crisis that resulted led to a devaluation of the Mark in 1923 and to severe economic problems. The economic hardships experienced by Germans during this period resulted in an environment conducive to the rise of the Nazi Party.
The 1920s were also characterized by the rise of radical political movements, especially in regions that were once part of empires. Communism spread as a consequence of the October Revolution and the Bolsheviks’ victory in the Russian Civil War. Fear of the spread of Communism led to the emergence of far right political movements and fascism in Europe. Economic problems contributed to the emergence of dictators in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, to include Józef Piłsudski in the Second Polish Republic, and Peter and Alexander Karađorđević in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The devastating Wall Street Crash in October 1929 is generally viewed as a harbinger of the end of 1920s prosperity in North America and Europe.