A timeline of the century

Historians build a chronology — events in the order they happened — before asking why they happened. Here is the skeleton of the whole unit:

Skill — chronology: putting events in order helps you spot causes (what came first) and consequences (what followed).

Why did war break out in 1914?

The First World War (1914–1918) had long-term causes that built up for years, and a trigger that finally set them off:

• Militarism — an arms race; countries built huge armies and navies.
• Alliances — Europe was split into two armed camps that promised to defend each other.
• Imperialism — rival empires competed for land and power.
• Nationalism — intense pride and tension between nations.

The trigger was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo, June 1914. Alliances then dragged the great powers into war one after another.

Misconception buster: the war was not caused by one assassination alone. The murder was the spark; the deeper causes (militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism) were the gunpowder that had been piling up for years.

Spark vs long-term cause

The Treaty of Versailles, 1919

When the war ended in 1918, the winners met to decide the peace. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) punished Germany harshly:

• Germany had to accept blame for the war (the "war guilt" clause).
• It paid huge reparations (money) and lost land and its armed forces were shrunk.

Many Germans felt humiliated and angry — a resentment that leaders like Hitler would later exploit.

Reading the treaty

Votes for women

In 1901 no woman in Britain could vote in general elections. Campaigners fought to change this:

• Suffragists (led by Millicent Fawcett) used peaceful methods — petitions and meetings.
• Suffragettes (led by Emmeline Pankhurst) used direct action — protests, and some broke the law.

In 1918 women over 30 (who met a property rule) won the vote; in 1928 women got the vote on equal terms with men at age 21.

Interpretation skill: historians debate how much the suffragettes helped versus women's vital work during the First World War. Both mattered — weighing them is part of the historian's job.

Suffragists vs suffragettes

Match the date to the event

Tap the year, then tap the event it belongs to.

Democracy under threat

In the 1920s and 1930s, hard times — mass unemployment and the Great Depression — pushed several countries away from democracy and towards dictators:

• Hitler in Germany (Nazi Party), Mussolini in Italy (Fascists), Stalin in the Soviet Union.
• Dictators promised order and pride but crushed freedom, banned opposition and controlled the news.

Hitler's aggression — rearming Germany and invading neighbours — led Britain and France to declare war in September 1939 after he invaded Poland.

Your turn — explain a cause

A truly global war

The Second World War (1939–1945) was fought across Europe, Africa, Asia and the oceans. Key moments Britain remembers:

• Dunkirk (1940) — the evacuation of British troops from France.
• The Battle of Britain (1940) — the RAF stopped a German invasion.
• The Blitz — German bombing of British cities; civilians on the "Home Front".
• D-Day (1944) — the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. War in Europe ended in 1945.

Britain's wartime leader was Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Home Front facts

The Holocaust

The Holocaust was the deliberate, systematic murder of around six million Jewish people by the Nazi state and its collaborators during the Second World War. The Nazis also persecuted and murdered Roma and Sinti people, disabled people, and others they targeted.

It was not a sudden event. It grew in stages: from prejudice and propaganda, to laws that stripped Jewish people of their rights, to ghettos, and finally to mass killing in death camps such as Auschwitz.

Handle with care and accuracy: the Holocaust was a planned, state-organised genocide — not random wartime violence. We study it respectfully so its victims are remembered and so we understand where hatred, left unchallenged, can lead.

Understanding the Holocaust

How do we know? Sources and interpretations

Historians build the story of the past from evidence:

• Primary sources come from the time — letters, photos, diaries, official records, survivor testimony.
• Secondary sources are written later — history books and documentaries.

We must ask about a source's reliability: who made it, when, and why? A government propaganda poster is useful evidence of what people were told, even if it is one-sided.

Interpretations are different explanations historians reach from the same evidence — they can disagree, and that is normal in history.

Using a source well

A war that stayed "cold"

After 1945 the two superpowers — the capitalist USA and the communist USSR (Soviet Union) — became rivals. This tense stand-off (roughly 1947–1991) is called the Cold War.

Europe was split by an "Iron Curtain", symbolised by the Berlin Wall (built 1961, fell 1989). Both sides built nuclear weapons, spied on each other, and fought through allies rather than each other directly.

Misconception buster: the Cold War was a rivalry and stand-off, not a direct war between the USA and USSR. The two superpowers never fought each other face-to-face — the danger of nuclear weapons kept it "cold".

Why "cold"?

The British Empire shrinks

In 1901 Britain ruled the largest empire in history. After 1945 it could no longer hold on, and one by one its colonies became independent — this is called decolonisation:

• India gained independence in 1947 (a huge turning point).
• Across the 1950s–60s, many African and Caribbean nations became independent too.

Naming the process

Building modern, multicultural Britain

After 1945, Britain needed workers to rebuild and to staff its new National Health Service (NHS, founded 1948). It invited people from across the Commonwealth to come and help.

• In 1948 the ship HMT Empire Windrush brought passengers from the Caribbean — often called the "Windrush generation".
• Later, people arrived from South Asia, Africa and elsewhere, helping to make Britain the diverse, multicultural society it is today.

Change over time: post-war Britain also saw huge social, cultural and technological change — the Welfare State, television, computers and new music and fashion.

Your turn — explain a consequence

Finding a new role

With the empire gone, Britain looked for a new place in the world:

• It helped set up the United Nations (1945) and joined the military alliance NATO (1949).
• It joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, which became the European Union (EU).
• After a referendum in 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU ("Brexit"), formally leaving in 2020.

These choices show a country still debating how closely to work with Europe and the wider world.

Put the events in order

Use the arrows to arrange these events from earliest (top) to latest (bottom), then check.

Joining the dots

The century in a nutshell

You've travelled through a whole century of challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world. Press Finish to see your score.