Early 20th century

The first half of the 20th century is a time of extraordinary inventions and immense tragedies. Aeroplanes take to the skies, radio and cinema become part of everyone's life, and medicine discovers insulin and penicillin. But two world wars drag in much of the planet and cause millions of deaths. In Europe dictatorships arise that take away freedom and persecute whole peoples, leading to the extermination of the Jews. After 1945 Italy becomes a democratic republic and gives itself a Constitution.

The era on a line: 25 events

1. 1903 The first powered flight
2. 1905 Special relativity
3. 1907 Maria Montessori's Children's House
4. about 1910 Abstract art
5. 1911 Marie Curie and her two Nobel Prizes
6. 1914–1918 The First World War
7. 1917 The Russian Revolution
8. about 1920 Radio for everyone
9. about 1920 Jazz spreads
10. 1922 Insulin against diabetes
11. 1922 Totalitarian regimes in Europe
12. 1927 Talking pictures
13. 1928 The discovery of penicillin
14. 1929 The Great Depression
15. 1937 Picasso's Guernica
16. 1939–1945 The Second World War
17. about 1941–1945 The Shoah
18. 1942 Anne Frank writes her diary
19. 1942 Fermi and the first atomic pile
20. 1943–1945 The Italian Resistance
21. 1946 The Italian Republic and votes for women
22. 1946 The first general-purpose electronic computer
23. 1948 The Italian Constitution
24. about 1948 Post-war rebuilding
25. about 1950 Television spreads

Did you know?

• The Wright brothers' first flight lasted 12 seconds and covered about 36 metres: less than the wingspan of a large airliner today.
• Penicillin was discovered almost by chance: Fleming came back from holiday and found a mould growing on a dish of bacteria left on his laboratory bench.
• In 1946 Italian women voted across the whole country for the first time, and 21 of them became members of the Assembly that wrote the Constitution.

storiascopio.com/en/era/early-20th-century/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class

1. Put in order: write 1 next to the oldest and 5 next to the most recent.

• Anne Frank writes her diary
• The discovery of penicillin
• Maria Montessori's Children's House
• The Italian Constitution
• Radio for everyone

2. Choose the right answer.

1. What did the Wright brothers do for a living before building their aeroplane?

   • They worked in a shipyard
   • They built cars
   • They ran a bicycle shop
   • They were miners

2. What kind of furniture was there in Maria Montessori's Children's House?

   • Light, child-sized furniture
   • Fixed desks nailed to the floor
   • No furniture, just rugs
   • Only big tables for adults

3. Why is polonium called polonium?

   • In honour of a French king
   • Because it shines like the Pole Star
   • Because it is found at the North Pole
   • In honour of Poland, Marie Curie's homeland

4. What did Fleming notice around the mould growing on the dish?

   • That the bacteria had stopped growing
   • That the mould was giving off light
   • That the bacteria were growing twice as fast
   • That the dish was getting hot

3. Match each person to what they did: write the right letter.

Storiascopio · texts by Ciro Simone Irmici, written with the help of AI and checked · sources in the online cards