Five 20th-century shocks
Two world wars, the end of an empire, the end of an era, and the steam that made it all possible.
5 questions. Pick an answer to see the explanation. Share your result at the end.
Whose assassination triggered the start of World War I?
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was shot in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia, and the alliance system turned the Balkan crisis into a continental war within five weeks. The Tsar, the Kaiser, and President Wilson all survived 1914 unharmed (although Nicholas II was eventually executed in 1918, after the Russian Revolution).
What event is conventionally regarded as the start of World War II in Europe?
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939; France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany two days later. Pearl Harbor (December 1941) brought the United States in; Operation Barbarossa (June 1941) opened the Eastern Front; Munich (1938) was the failed appeasement agreement that preceded the war. The Asian theatre had begun earlier, with Japan's invasion of China in July 1937.
Between which two events is the Belle Époque conventionally dated?
The Belle Époque covers the European peace and cultural flourishing between 10 May 1871 (the Treaty of Frankfurt ending the Franco-Prussian War) and 28 July 1914 (Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia, opening World War I). The term — 'Beautiful Era' in French — was applied retrospectively after the trauma of the First World War made the pre-war years appear, by contrast, as a lost golden age.
In what year was the Ottoman Empire formally abolished?
The Ottoman sultanate was formally abolished by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 1 November 1922. The last sultan, Mehmed VI, left Constantinople on a British warship two weeks later. The Republic of Turkey was proclaimed on 29 October 1923 (1923 is a common but slightly wrong answer). 1918 is the Mudros armistice; 1908 the Young Turk revolution.
Where did the Industrial Revolution begin?
Britain in the late 18th century combined cheap coal, colonial markets, scientific culture, property rights, and high labour costs — together creating the conditions for industrialisation. The textile, steam, and iron industries transformed first. Germany, the United States, and Japan industrialised in the second half of the 19th century; Italy and Russia followed.