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Lost Generation Timeline

(1914 - 1930)

The Lost Generation refers to the cohort of writers and artists who came of age during World War I, characterized by disillusionment with traditional values. Centered largely in 1920s Paris, figures like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound produced landmark works that defined modernist literature and captured the era's sense of aimlessness and cultural upheaval. Less

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Childhood and Upbringing

Early childhood mortality declines over a century

1800 - 1950

At around one in three in 1800, the early childhood mortality rate had declined overall throughout the next hundred years but would fall most sharply during the first half of the 20th century, reaching less than one in twenty by 1950.

Image source: Child mortality

Early childhood mortality declines over a century

Child labour laws and compulsory education spread

1840 - 1900

Laws restricting child labour in factories had begun to appear from around 1840 onwards, and by the end of the 19th century compulsory education had been introduced throughout much of the Western world for at least a few years of childhood.

Image source: Compulsory education

Child labour laws and compulsory education spread

Public concern for child welfare intensifies

1890 - 1900

By the later 19th century, public concern for the welfare of children was intensifying, with laws being passed and societies formed to prevent their abuse, shaping the environment into which the Lost Generation was born.

Image source: Lost Generation

Public concern for child welfare intensifies

Sewer systems become widespread in industrial cities

1890 - 1900

Sewer systems designed to remove human waste from urban areas had become widespread in industrial cities by the late 19th century, helping to reduce the spread of diseases such as cholera during the Lost Generation's childhood.

Image source: Sanitary sewer

Sewer systems become widespread in industrial cities

Canadian children commonly leave school at nine or ten

1895 - 1900

It was not uncommon at the end of the 19th century for Canadian children to leave school at nine or ten years old, illustrating the limited formal education available to many members of the Lost Generation in their youth.

Image source: Education in Canada

Canadian children commonly leave school at nine or ten

UK childhood mortality plateaus near one in four

1895 - 1900

Figures for the United Kingdom state that during the final years of the 19th century, mortality in the first five years of childhood was plateauing at a little under one in every four births.

Secondary education remains a luxury

1900 - 1910

While elementary schooling was becoming increasingly accessible for Western children going into the 20th century, secondary education was still much more of a luxury for most families raising Lost Generation children.

Image source: Secondary education

Secondary education remains a luxury

Only 11% of American teens enrolled in high school

1900 - 1910

Only 11% of American fourteen to seventeen-year-olds were enrolled in high school in 1900, a figure which had only marginally increased by 1910, showing how limited secondary education remained for the generation coming of age.

Image source: Secondary education in the United States

Only 11% of American teens enrolled in high school

British children leave school early despite leaving age of 14

1900 - 1914

Though the school leaving age was officially meant to be 14 by 1900, until the First World War most British children could leave school through rules put in place by local authorities at 12 or 13 years old.

Image source: Education in England

British children leave school early despite leaving age of 14

Illiteracy falls across Western nations by 1900

1900

By 1900, levels of illiteracy had fallen to less than 11% in the United States, around 3% in Great Britain, and only 1% in Germany, reflecting expanding access to elementary schooling for Western children going into the 20th century.

Image source: Literacy

Illiteracy falls across Western nations by 1900

High infant mortality in America in 1900

1900

Though statistics on child mortality dating back to the beginning of the Lost Generation's lifespan are limited, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that in 1900 one in ten American infants died before their first birthday.

Image source: Infant mortality

High infant mortality in America in 1900

Culture and Society

Magazines gain popularity among the general public

1850 - 1900

Beginning around the middle of the 19th century, magazines of various types which had previously mainly targeted the few that could afford them found rising popularity among the general public, shaping the media landscape of the Lost Generation's youth.

Image source: Magazine

Magazines gain popularity among the general public

Rise of magazines aimed at boys and girls

1890 - 1900

The latter part of the century not only saw rising popularity for magazines targeted specifically at young boys but also the development of a relatively new genre aimed at girls, providing reading material tailored to the generation's childhood.

Image source: Children's literature

Rise of magazines aimed at boys and girls

William Britain revolutionizes toy soldier production

1893

In 1893, the British toy company William Britain revolutionized the production of toy soldiers by devising the method of hollow casting, making soldiers that were cheaper and lighter than their competitors' products for children of the era.

First projected films shown to paying audience in Paris

1895

A significant milestone was reached in the development of cinema when, in 1895, projected moving images were first shown to a paying audience in Paris, introducing a new form of entertainment during the Lost Generation's formative years.

Image source: History of film

First projected films shown to paying audience in Paris

Surge in public park building in the West

1895 - 1905

The turn of the 20th century saw a surge in public park building in parts of the west to provide public space in rapidly growing industrial towns, offering new spaces for leisure for the young Lost Generation.

Image source: Urban park

Surge in public park building in the West

Origins and Definition

Lost Generation birth years defined as 1883 to 1900

1883 - 1900

The Lost Generation is generally defined as people born from 1883 to 1900, those who came of age in the 1900s and 1910s and fought in World War I. Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe define the cohort the same way, noting they came of age during World War I and the Roaring Twenties.

European name: the Generation of 1914

1914

In Europe, the cohort is mostly known as the 'Generation of 1914', named for the year World War I began, reflecting how deeply the war shaped this generation's identity on the continent.

Gertrude Stein credited with coining the term

1920

Gertrude Stein is credited with coining the phrase 'lost generation'. According to Hemingway's memoir A Moveable Feast (1964), published after both their deaths, Stein heard the phrase from a French garage owner who serviced her car.

Image source: Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein credited with coining the term

Hemingway popularizes term in The Sun Also Rises

1926

The 1926 publication of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises popularized the term, which he used in the epigraph: 'You are all a lost generation.' The novel serves to epitomize the post-war expatriate generation, with 'lost' referring to the disoriented, wandering, directionless spirit of many of the war's survivors in the early interwar period.

Image source: The Sun Also Rises

Hemingway popularizes term in The Sun Also Rises

War and Later Life

Britain delays conscription until 1916

1916

Britain, which traditionally relied primarily on the Royal Navy for its security, was a notable exception among major powers and did not introduce conscription until 1916, well into World War I, which many members of the Lost Generation fought in.

Image source: Conscription in the United Kingdom

Britain delays conscription until 1916

Russia's turmoil after the 1917 revolution

1917 - 1922

For Russia, the years after its revolution in 1917 were plagued by disease, famine, terror, and civil war, eventually concluding in the establishment of the Soviet Union, profoundly affecting Russian members of the Lost Generation.

Image source: Russian Civil War

Russia's turmoil after the 1917 revolution

Great Depression begins in 1929

1929 - 1939

The more optimistic period after World War I was short-lived, however, as 1929 saw the beginning of the Great Depression, which would continue throughout the 1930s and become the longest and most severe financial downturn ever experienced in Western industrialized history.

Image source: Great Depression

Great Depression begins in 1929

Imperial Japan's empire-building in the Far East

1931 - 1939

Additionally, the 1930s saw the less badly damaged Imperial Japan engage in its own empire-building, contributing to conflict in the Far East, where some scholars have argued the Second World War began as early as 1931.

Image source: Empire of Japan

Imperial Japan's empire-building in the Far East

World War II breaks out in 1939

1939 - 1945

When World War II broke out in 1939, the Lost Generation faced a major global conflict for the second time in their lifetime, and now often had to watch their sons go to the battlefield.

Image source: World War II

World War II breaks out in 1939

Claude Choules, last combat veteran, dies

2011

Claude Choules, the last veteran to have been involved in combat in World War I, died in 2011. Born in 1901, he fell just outside the usual birth years for the Lost Generation.

Image source: Claude Choules

Claude Choules, last combat veteran, dies

Florence Green, last WWI veteran, dies

2012

The final remaining veteran to have served in World War I in any capacity was Florence Green, who died in 2012. Born in 1901, she too fell outside the usual birth years for the Lost Generation.

Image source: Florence Green

Florence Green, last WWI veteran, dies

Nabi Tajima, last member of the Lost Generation, dies

2018

Nabi Tajima, the last known member of the Lost Generation and the last surviving person known to have been born in the 19th century, died in 2018 at the age of 117, marking the end of the generation.

Image source: List of Japanese supercentenarians

Nabi Tajima, last member of the Lost Generation, dies

Key Facts

  1. The term 'Lost Generation' was popularized by Gertrude Stein and famously quoted by Ernest Hemingway in the epigraph to his novel 'The Sun Also Rises' (1926).
  2. World War I (1914-1918) profoundly shaped the group, leaving many members disillusioned with patriotism, religion, and traditional social values.
  3. Many Lost Generation writers lived as expatriates in Paris during the 1920s, drawn by affordable living, artistic freedom, and a vibrant literary community.
  4. Key works of the movement include Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises,' Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' (1925), and Dos Passos's 'U.S.A.' trilogy.
  5. The movement declined after the Great Depression began in 1929, as economic crisis shifted writers' focus from expatriate disillusionment to social and political concerns.

Source

This Lost Generation timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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