Random history events within the decade. (1)

Mona Lisa is stolen

1911

 On August 21, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, one of the most famous paintings in the world, was stolen right off the wall of the Louvre. The crime was inconceivable and the police had no leads. The Mona Lisa turned up in Italy two years later.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/qt/monalisa.htm

Triangle shirtwaist factory catches on fire

1911

On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the eighth floor of the Triangle Waist Company's factory in New York City. The fire spread quickly. Of the approximately 500 workers, 146 died.

http://raymondpronk.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/american-history-triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire-videos/

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/qt/trianglefire.htm

Oreo cookie first introduced

1912

In 1912, Nabisco had a new idea for a cookie - two chocolate disks with a creme filling in between. The first Oreo cookie looked very similar to the Oreo cookie of today, with only a slight difference in the design on the chocolate disks.

http://historyspaces.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/oreo-cookie-is-100-years-old-some.html

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/qt/oreos.htm

The sinking of the Titanic

1912

The world was shocked when the Titanic sank. The "unsinkable" shipTitanic sank on its maiden voyage, losing at least 1,517 lives (some accounts say even more), making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history. After the Titanic sank, safety regulations were increased to make ships safer, including ensuring enough lifeboats to carry all on board and making ships staff their radios 24 hours a day. (more about this on separate page)

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/titanic-group

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/p/titanic.htm

First crossword puzzle

1913

Newspaperman Arthur Wynne was looking for something new to place in the eight-page "Fun" supplement that appeared in the Sunday edition of the New York World when he created what he at first called a "word-cross."

This first crossword puzzle was in a diamond shape, with a hole in the center, and had no black filler spaces. The very top square was numbered "1" and then numbers ran along the sides and along the inside of the puzzle, creating numbers for both the beginning and end of each word. Thus, each clue was labeled with two numbers, such as "10-11" (for an across clue) or "24-31" (for a down clue). However, there was an interesting exception to this particular puzzle; since Wynne had placed the word "FUN" in the top three spaces, a few clues referenced these letters (for example, clue "F-7")

The First Clues

For this first puzzle, Wynne included instructions: "Fill in the small squares with words which agree with the following definitions." A sampling of these clues include "a written acknowledgment," "a daydream," and "an aromatic plant." (The answers are receipt, reverie, and nard.). Unlike newer crossword puzzles, the clues of the very first crossword were not separated into "across" and "down" sections but just given in one list.

A Success!

When this first crossword puzzle appeared on that Sunday in 1913, it became an instant success. Although it was popular right after its introduction, in the 1920s, crosswords became a very popular fad.

Despite the extreme popularity of crossword puzzles in the 1920s, the New York Times waited until 1942 to publish its first crossword puzzle.

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/emotions/volunteering/print_crossword.html

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/qt/firstcrossword.htm

The Ford motor company

1913

Cars changed the way people lived, worked, and enjoyed leisure time; however, what most people don’t realize is that the process of manufacturing automobiles had an equally significant impact on industry. The creation of the assembly line by Henry Ford at his Highland Park plant, introduced on December 1, 1913, revolutionized the automobile industry and the concept of manufacturing worldwide.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/a/Ford--Assembly-Line.htm

http://www.scholarshipstimes.com/2012/03/24/ford-motor-company-international-fellowship-new-york-2013/

Personal income tax introduced in the US

1913

 At first, income taxes were considered a temporary tax to help raise money for war. The first time an income tax was enacted was in 1799 in Great Britain to help the British pay for troops and supplies to defeat the French forces led by Napoleon.

In the War of 1812, the U.S. first considered enacting an income tax, but the war ended before the tax was officially created. Yet, during the American Civil War, the first U.S. income tax was created, but this one was meant only as a temporary measure to help pay for the war. It was repealed in 1872.

By the 1890s, the U.S. government was hoping to find a way to more evenly distribute the federal tax burden and thus looked at creating a permanent income tax. However, until the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified n 1913, the federal government was forced to collect taxes based on state population.

Once the 16th Amendment was passed, the U.S. government passed its first, permanent income tax law in October 1913.

http://www.factmonster.com/states.html

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/qt/incometax.htm

World war 1 begins

1914

World War I was an extremely bloody war that engulfed Europe from 1914 to 1919, with huge losses of life and little ground lost or won. Fought mostly by soldiers in trenches, World War I saw an estimated 10 million military deaths and another 20 million wounded. While many hoped that World War I would be "the war to end all wars," in actuality, the concluding peace treaty set the stage for World War II.

(more on separate page)

http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwari/p/World-War-I.htm

Lusitania sunk by German U-boat

1915

 At 1:40 p.m. on May 7, 1915, the German U-boat,U-20 launched a torpedo at the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania, off the coast of Southern Ireland. Within 18 minutes, the Lusitania had sunk. The sinking of the Lusitania heightened tensions between the U.S. and Germany and helped sway American opinion in favor of joining World War I.

http://www.teachpeace.com/teachpeacemoment9.htm

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/qt/lusitania.htm

The Easter rising, Ireland

1916

The Easter Rising (Irish: Éirí Amach na Cásca),^[1] also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland, seceding from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and establishing an independent Irish Republic at a time when the United Kingdom was heavily engaged in World War I. It was the most significant uprising in Ireland since the rebellion of 1798.^[2]

(more on separate page)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising

http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1910timeline.htm

Mata Hari executed for being a 'spy'

1917

Mata Hari was a Dutch exotic dancer whose frequent border crossings and international companions caused the French to suspect her of spying. She was arrested on February 13, 1917. Early in the morning of October 15, 1917, Mata Hari was led from her cell in the Saint-Lazare prison and driven to the Caserne de Vincennes. After requesting to not be blindfolded, Mata Hari was executed by a 12-man firing squad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/qt/matahari.htm

The Russian revolution

1917

In 1917, two revolutions completely changed the fabric of Russia. First, the February Russian Revolution toppled the Russian monarchy and established a Provisional Government. Then in October, a second Russian Revolution placed the Bolsheviks as the leaders of Russia, resulting in the creation of the world's first communist country.

http://libcom.org/history/unknown-revolution-1917-1921-voline

http://history1900s.about.com/od/Russian-Revolution/a/Russian-Revolution.htm

Spanish Flu Pandemic

1918

The Spanish Flu Pandemic (1918): In 1918, the garden-variety flu mutated into a deadly virus. This new, lethal virus, which became known as the Spanish flu, swept around the world in three waves, killing an estimated 50 million to 100 million people (the equivalent to 2.7 to 5.5 percent of the world's population).

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1910s/qt/spanishfluqt.htm

The Versailles treaty

1919

The Versailles Treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, was the peace settlement between Germany and the Allied Powers that officially ended World War I. However, the conditions in the treaty were so punitive upon Germany that many believe the Versailles Treaty laid the groundwork for the eventual rise of Nazis in Germany and the eruption of World War II.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwari/p/Versailles-Treaty.htm

Many REFERENCES above
 - Paul Fussell (1975). The Great War and Modern Memory. New York: Oxford University Press. p191-270.
 - John H. Morrow JR. (2004). The Great War: An Imperial History. Oxon: Routledge . p1-40.
 - Jessica Gunderson (1976). The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Minnesota: Capstone publishers. p4-30.

Reflection of research

Even though i have only used a couple of books and the research i have done is mainly from the internet, i do feel reflecting back, i have found some useful events that i can begin researching into a bit more detail and then develop a main idea from this to research in full.