Orville and
Wilbur, the Wright brothers, are given credit for the first
airplane flight, in 1903, in the United States. However, inventors
in Italy and Russia also have some claim to making the first
airplane flight, due to differences in measurements and recording
techniques. Technically, the Wright brothers are credited with
the first powered, sustained, controlled flight of a heavier-than-air
machine. The first known flight by a human was by the Marquis
d'Arlandes in France in 1783 using a hot-air balloon (a lighter-than-air
craft). The first woman known to fly was Leila Marie Cody in
England in 1902, using a huge kite. (Some people, however, think
ancient nations like the Inca might have used gliders, kites
or balloons.) Otto Lilienthal of Germany was another aviation
pioneer, using gliders, and the most famous flyer of his day.
His gliders, considering the differences in construction materials,
are very similar to modern hang gliders. Lilienthal, killed
in a glider accident in 1896, made sustained flights using a
heavier-than-air craft, but as his accident showed, control
problems still had to be worked out. The Wright brothers were
much influenced by Lilienthal's work and their first craft was
essentially a glider with a small engine.
The first flight, made December 17, 1903, was not impressive
by today's standards. The aircraft barely got off the ground,
flew just ten seconds and covered 120 feet (about 40 metres).
Four flights were made that day, the final one lasting 57 seconds
and covering 852 feet. The Wright brothers' most important contributions
to airplane design was designing an effective propeller and
a workable rudder to give their aircraft more control than possible
with a balloon, kite or even a glider. However, European industry
and designers soon overtook the Americans, led by pioneers like
A.V. Roe of Britain, Louis Bleriot of France and Antony Fokker
of the Netherlands. US aircraft design and manufacture would
not catch up again until the Second World War.
Shortly after the end of the war in 1918, airline passenger
travel became established, although the numbers of people carried
were small compared to today. Of more importance, at least in
the two decades after the war, was the automobile. Henry Ford
introduced new industrial techniques, mass production and the
assembly line, which allowed automobiles to be made in large
numbers and at a low enough cost that large numbers of working
people could afford them. This was the famous Model T car. Even
during the 1920s, the horse was still the common mode of transport
for most people, but by the end of the 1930s, the automobile
had taken over the lead. The mass production revolution, just
like the micro-chip revolution of today, resulted in the elimination
of thousands of traditional skilled jobs.
In 1929, the Wall Street "Crash" happened. The Crash
was a collapse in the prices of shares on the New York stock
exchange. Large numbers of people who had bought shares, using
borrowed money, lost all their money and this led to an economic
depression that eventually spread all the way around the world.
Combined with the loss of traditional jobs due to assembly-line
mass production, unemployment and poverty grew to high levels.
Only the economic depression of the early 1990s would see levels
of unemployment match such levels again. There is a lesson here
that the advantages of technological invention are not necessarily
shared by society as a whole.
Frank Lloyd Wright designs some of the most famous buildings
of the 20th century during this time and becomes one of the
best known architects of all time. His designs stressed function
and simple lines, as opposed to the extremely ornate buildings
of the Victorian period.
80
Years Ago in Canada
Reginald
Fessenden, born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada in
1866, developed over a hundred patentable inventions including
the electric gyroscope, the heterodyne and a depth finder. He
also built the first power generating station at Niagara Falls
and invented radio, sending the first wireless voice message
in the world on Dec. 23, 1900. However, he lived most of his
life in poverty, having to fight many court battles as other
people tried to steal the credit for his inventions. He died
in 1932. Fessenden was a major innovator and pioneer in the
technical and energy revolution that saw the world become dependent
on two energy sources after 1900. The first was a shift from
coal to petroleum, but even more important was electricity.
The American Thomas Edison is usually given credit for creating
the first electric light in 1880, and this can also be seen
as the start date of the "electric revolution". Most
of Fessenden's inventions exploited new and different ways to
use electricity. Think of all the things today that need electricity,
from a simple light build to the most complex computer.
Canadian troops in the First World War fight and win the battle
for Vimy Ridge in 1917. Although viewed in Canada as a great
victory, where Canadian soldiers fought bravely, it was actually
only a small part of a larger offensive that failed with heavy
losses. Canadian losses from the campaign were more than 10,000
men. The need for replacements led to the Conscription Crisis,
which saw the province of Quebec come very close to leaving
confederation.
In Canada, under the law, women were not people. A group of
five Alberta women, Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby,
Henrietta Muir Edwards and Louise McKinney, took the issue to
court, and after a lengthy battle, finally won in 1929, with
the declaration that women are persons. This was just one step
in a long fight by women to obtain equal rights with men under
the law. Before 1850, the right to vote in democratic nations
was generally limited to men who owned land. After 1850, the
vote was gradually expanded to all adult males, but this still
effectively left women out of elections. In Britain, women calling
for the right to vote were called Suffragettes ("suffrage"
is another term for the right to vote.) Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928)
became of the most well known Suffragette, but Denmark was the
first European nation give the vote to all its citizens, women
as well as men in 1913. Most other democracies followed suit
after the First World War. The United States finally gave women
the right to vote in 1920. In Canada, the first woman elected
to the national parliament is Agnes McPhail in 1921.
The social turmoil after the First World War did not leave Canada
untouched. The rise in the cost of living during and immediately
after the war was not matched by a rise in wages, and many of
the workers who suffered the worst poverty were veterans of
the war--they had risked their lives fighting for Canada, but
were now forgotten. A general strike was called in Winnipeg
in 1919 to protest a law forbidding strikes, the largest of
460 strikes called that year, involving 149,000 workers. The
response in Winnipeg was harsh, with the government using armed
squads to attack strikers. Finally, the RCMP and army units
were called in to smash the strikers using force, killing and
injuring at least 30 workers.
Tom Thompson, Emily Carr and the Group of Seven are often seen
as the first artists with a unique Canadian vision--that is
they develop their own distinctive style and do not merely copy
trends from Europe.
Fine
art of the Group of Seven
25
years ago / 50 years ago
/ 80 years ago
/ 125 years ago / 150
years ago
250 years ago / 400
years ago / 700 years ago
/ 1,200 years ago
1,500 years ago / 2,000
years ago / 3,000 years
ago / 4,000 years ago
/ 5,000 years ago / 10,000
years ago
