History - The Twentieth Century
In our time
The Edwardian era (1901-1910) was followed by the Geogrian period, which lasted until 1936 and saw The Great War, where much of Europe fell into conflict. The result plunged the country into a deep economic depression, with many regions suffering high unemployment, especially in the north and in Wales, where the decline of the coal industry, left many communities destitute. The depression was interrupted by another World War which lasted until 1945. Politics has played a central role in our country for many hundreds of years, but from the middle part of the twentieth century, government policies were especially apparent, as the country sought to recover from the terrible war. This period saw the decline in Britain's power over its colonies, the creation of national organisations such as the Health Service, and the creation of a European Common Market, which became the European Union.
The study topics for the twentieth century are wide ranging, perhaps due to changes in lifestyle and technology that took place. If the Industrial Revolution was a big leap forward, the Technological Revolution with its rapid pace of change has been equally profound. The two World Wars dominate the early part of the twentieth century, but art, industry, media, exploration, transport and politics all offer great ways to study this period of history.