A Decade of Change

The 1910s, the decade of T.S. Eliot’s publication of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, saw vast changes in the Western world’s collective ethos, which both stemmed from and lead to new political, cultural, scientific, and social attitudes. Politically, the 5-year-long World War I, which involved most of Europe and the United States, caused a massive overhauling of various nations’ boundaries and governments (the repercussions of which would have lasting effects and set the stage for a second world war). Culturally, the field of visual arts began to flourish with the development of cubism, a style for which its purveyors such as Picasso and Georges Braque would later become famous. In science and technology, Ford’s Model T was released and began to set the standard for assembly line production in the industrial world. Socially, the women’s suffrage movement would come to a head as the right of women to vote was approved in 1920.

Politics: World War I

The militarism of late 19th century Europe, along with its resulting vast array of military alliances, culminated in 1914 with the breakout of World War I. Involving around 30 nations and new, modern weaponry, World War I served to create an ethos of disillusionment and cynicism in the hearts of many who fought and observed such a war of unprecedented proportions. Moreover, at the end of the war, as nations were being divided as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, the last modern empires collapsed and governmental reforms were initiated throughout Europe.

Culture: Cubism and Burgeoning Visual Arts

The Cubism movement, influenced by late works of Cezanne and pioneered by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the early 20th century, completely revolutionized the art of painting in its disjointedness and solidified defining attributes of the distinct form of modern art.

Cezanne, “The Garden at Les Lauves,” 1906

Georges Braque, “Violin and Candlestick,” 1910

Science and Technology: The Model T

In 1908 Henry Ford introduced the Model T, the first mass-produced automobile of its kind. In 1914 it would come to dominate the stock market, selling more stock than all other markets of that year combined. Though not the first automobile ever to be made, it was the first to be made on moving assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts, making automobiles available and affordable for the first time to the middle class.

Social Change: Women’s Suffrage

The Women’s Suffrage Movement began in the late 19th century but found real legal grounding in the 1910s. Gradually, at state and local levels bills were passed allowing women the right to vote. With the activism of the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association, the cause had gained enough momentum to pass the 19th Amendment in 1920, giving women the right to vote.