The modern era here covers 1914 to 1945: the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the influenza pandemic of 1918-1920, the Great Depression and the Second World War.
It was also a time of rapid technical change, with radio, aviation, antibiotics and the first nuclear weapons.
Explore this era on the timeline
Key events of the Modern era
22,751 events are on the timeline for this era; these are among the most notable, in date order.
- 21 July 1914Discovery of Sinope
- from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918World War I
- 15 August 1914Construction of Panama Canal
- 1 September 1914Martha, the last passenger pigeon, dies
- 1915Armenian Genocide
- from 25 April 1915 to 9 January 1916Gallipoli Campaign
- October 1915Publication of The Metamorphosis
- 1916General relativity
- 1916Construction of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
- 16 May 1916Sykes–Picot Agreement
- 9 July 1916Founding of CONMEBOL
- 1917Discovery of protactinium
- 1917Russian Revolution
- from 8 March 1917 to 16 March 1917February Revolution
- 4 June 1917Pulitzer Prize
- 17 July 1917Rise of House of Windsor
- from 25 October 1917 to 25 December 1991Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
- from 25 October 1917 to 26 October 1917October Revolution
- from 7 November 1917 to 25 October 1922Russian Civil War
- 1918Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i volia
- 1918Publication of Mer Hayrenik
- from January 1918 to December 19201918–1920 flu pandemic
- from 28 October 1918 to 31 December 1992Czechoslovakia
- from 9 November 1918 to 1 January 1933Weimar Republic
- from 1 December 1918 to 27 April 1992Yugoslavia
- 1919Paris Peace Conference
- from 1919 to 1946Founding of League of Nations
- 1919Founding of International Labour Organization
- 1919Founding of International Astronomical Union
- from February 1919 to March 1921Polish–Soviet War
- 28 June 1919Treaty of Versailles
- 1920Origins of National Football League
- 1920Discovery of the Hoba meteorite
- c. 1920sRise of surrealism
- 1920Christ the Redeemer
- 1921Publication of İstiklâl Marşı
- 1922Discovery of hafnium
- 11 January 1922Insulin is first used to treat diabetes
- 2 February 1922Publication of Ulysses
- 4 November 1922Howard Carter finds the tomb of Tutankhamun
- from 30 December 1922 to 26 December 1991Soviet Union
- 1923Construction of Forbidden City
- 3 March 1923Time
- 24 July 1923Treaty of Lausanne
- 7 September 1923Founding of Interpol
- October 1923Hubble shows that Andromeda is a separate galaxy
- 16 October 1923Founding of The Walt Disney Company
- 1924Internal combustion engine
- 1924Origins of Allsvenskan
- 20 July 1924Founding of FIDE
- 28 November 1924Discovery of Taung Child
- 1925Rise of Art Deco
- 1925Establishment of Virunga National Park
- 1925Discovery of rhenium
- 1925Quantum mechanics is formulated
- 10 April 1925Publication of The Great Gatsby
- 18 July 1925Publication of Mein Kampf
- 19 September 1926Construction of Giuseppe Meazza Stadium
- 19 November 1926Origins of Caodaism
- 1927Founding of Federal University of Minas Gerais
- 1927Hubble–Lemaître law
- 1927Origins of Super League Greece
- 1927Uncertainty principle
- 1927Lemaitre proposes an expanding universe
- 21 May 1927Lindbergh flies the Atlantic alone
- from 1 August 1927 to 1 May 1950Chinese Civil War
- 1928Introduction of Estonian kroon
- 1928Construction of Maginot Line
- 1928Construction of Madrid-Barajas Airport
- 22 March 1928Founding of Muslim Brotherhood
- 1929Origins of Serie B
- from 29 October 1929 to 1 January 1941Great Depression
- 7 November 1929Construction of Museum of Modern Art
- 4 July 1930Origins of Nation of Islam
- from 13 July 1930 to 30 July 1930The first FIFA World Cup is played in Uruguay
- 1931Big Bang theory proposed
- 1 May 1931Construction of Empire State Building
- 27 May 1931Construction of Chrysler Building
- 11 December 1931Founding of Commonwealth of Nations
- from 1932 to 1933Holodomor
- 1932Rise of socialist realism
- 1932Construction of Dong Hoi Airport
- 1932Construction of Tan Son Nhat International Airport
- 1932First edition of Venice Film Festival
- 18 June 1932Founding of International Basketball Federation
- 23 September 1932Founding of Saudi Arabia
- 4 November 1932Construction of Stadio Olimpico
- from 1933 to 1945The Holocaust
- 1933Construction of Heydar Aliyev International Airport
- 30 January 1933Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
- 4 March 1933Roosevelt's New Deal begins
- from 15 March 1933 to 23 May 1945Nazi Germany
- 1934Publication of March of the Volunteers
- 1935Construction of Da Nang International Airport
- 1935Construction of Cà Mau Airport
- 1936Alan Turing defines the universal machine
- 8 July 1936Construction of Frankfurt Airport
- from 18 July 1936 to 1 April 1939Spanish Civil War
- 1 August 1936Construction of Berlin Olympic Stadium
- from 3 August 1936 to 9 August 1936Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in Berlin
- 1937Discovery of technetium
- 1937Guernica
- 1937Nanjing Massacre
- April 1937Construction of Ben Gurion Airport
- 28 May 1937Founding of Volkswagen
- 28 May 1937Construction of Golden Gate Bridge
- from 7 July 1937 to 9 September 1945Second Sino-Japanese War
- 28 August 1937Founding of Toyota
- 21 September 1937Publication of The Hobbit
- 1938Founding of Samsung Group
- 1938Establishment of Mount Olympus
- 6 July 1938Discovery of Lysithea
- 30 July 1938Discovery of Carme
- 30 September 1938Munich agreement
- November 1938Kristallnacht
- from 1939 to 1946Manhattan Project
- 1939Discovery of francium
- 1939The Sutton Hoo ship burial is excavated
- 23 August 1939Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
- from 1 September 1939 to 6 October 19391939 Invasion of Poland
- from 1 September 1939 to 2 September 1945World War II
- from 30 November 1939 to 13 March 1940Winter War
- 1940Discovery of neptunium
- 1940Establishment of Serengeti National Park
- 1940Katyn massacre
- c. 1940sRise of abstract expressionism
- c. 1940sRise of Postmodernism
- 1940Discovery of astatine
- 15 May 1940Founding of McDonald's
- 20 May 1940Construction of Auschwitz
- 12 September 1940Lascaux
- 1941Discovery of plutonium
- 1941Rise of Vietnamese Independence League
- from 22 June 1941 to 7 May 1945Eastern Front
- from 22 June 1941 to 5 December 1941Operation Barbarossa
- from 7 December 1941 to 2 September 1945Pacific War
- 7 December 1941Attack on Pearl Harbor
- 1942Publication of The Stranger
- from June 1942 to February 1943Rise of White Rose
- 15 January 1943Construction of The Pentagon
- 6 April 1943Publication of The Little Prince
- 1944Golden Globes
- 1944Bella ciao
- 1944Discovery of americium
- 1944Discovery of curium
- 1 January 1944Publication of State Anthem of the Soviet Union
- from 6 June 1944 to 29 August 1944Normandy landings
- 22 July 1944Founding of International Monetary Fund
- 5 September 1944Founding of Benelux
- 7 December 1944Founding of International Civil Aviation Organization