The twentieth-century world

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

HintThe heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, shot by a Bosnian Serb nationalist.

The whyOne murder became a European war because of the alliance system: Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, Russia backed Serbia, Germany backed Austria-Hungary, and France and Britain were pulled in.

No man's land

HintCratered, wired and swept by machine guns, it belonged to neither side.

The whyIt could be a few hundred metres wide or barely thirty. Attacking meant crossing it in the open against machine guns and artillery, which is why the front line barely moved for years.

The Treaty of Versailles

HintIt was signed in the hall of mirrors at a French palace just outside Paris.

The whyGermany lost territory, was held to an army of 100,000 men, and had to accept blame and pay reparations. Historians still argue whether it was too harsh, too soft or simply unenforceable.

1918

HintIt came right at the end of the First World War, and only women over thirty who met a property test qualified.

The whyThe same Act gave the vote to all men over 21. Women got it on equal terms with men ten years later, in 1928.

1933

HintHe was appointed to the post rather than elected to it, weeks before the Reichstag fire.

The whyThe Nazis were the largest party but never won a majority in a free election. President Hindenburg appointed him, and the Enabling Act soon afterwards let him rule by decree.

The Battle of Britain

HintFought in the skies over southern England that summer, with radar giving the defenders vital warning.

The whyControl of the air was the precondition for any invasion by sea. Failing to win it forced the invasion to be postponed and then abandoned.

The Blitz

HintFrom a German word for lightning; London was bombed on 57 nights in a row.

The whyAround 43,000 civilians were killed. Coventry, Liverpool, Hull and Glasgow were hit hard as well, though London took by far the most raids.

Six million

HintAbout two thirds of the Jewish population of Europe was killed.

The whyRoma people, disabled people, political prisoners and others were murdered too. Historians study the early stages closely because persecution escalated in steps rather than all at once.

1948

HintThree years after the war ended, Aneurin Bevan launched it on 5 July.

The whyIt grew out of the Beveridge Report and its promise of care from cradle to grave: free at the point of use, paid for through taxation.

curtain

HintSomething heavy you draw across a window so that nobody can see through.

The whyThe wartime allies had fallen out over the future of eastern Europe. Because both sides came to hold nuclear weapons, the Cold War was fought through arms races, spying and proxy wars instead.

The Empire Windrush

HintIt docked at Tilbury carrying hundreds of Caribbean passengers who had answered a call for workers.

The whyIt arrived in June 1948, and its passengers were British citizens under the Nationality Act of that year, invited to fill labour shortages in transport, building and the new NHS. Many met colour bars in housing and work when they arrived.

India

HintThe largest colony of all, partitioned at independence into two states along religious lines.

The whyPartition created Pakistan alongside it and displaced perhaps 15 million people. Most of the rest of the empire followed within twenty-five years, especially across Africa after 1957.