Machine Age

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Period of early 20th century history of rapid technological advancement

title: "Machine Age" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["historical-eras", "history-of-technology", "second-industrial-revolution", "19th-century-in-technology", "20th-century-in-technology", "machines"] description: "Period of early 20th century history of rapid technological advancement" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Age" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Period of early 20th century history of rapid technological advancement ::

The Machine Age is an era that includes the early-to-mid 20th century, sometimes also including the late 19th century. An approximate dating would be about 1880 to 1945. Considered to be at its peak in the time between the first and second world wars, the Machine Age overlaps with the late part of the Second Industrial Revolution (which ended around 1914 at the start of World War I) and continues beyond it until 1945 at the end of World War II. The 1940s saw the beginning of the Atomic Age, where modern physics saw new applications such as the atomic bomb, the first computers, and the transistor. The Digital Revolution ended the intellectual model of the machine age founded in the mechanical and heralding a new more complex model of high technology. The digital era has been called the Second Machine Age, with its increased focus on machines that do mental tasks.

Universal chronology

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Period = from:1880 till:1950 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1880 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1880

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bar:Decades color:era from:1880 till:1890 text:1880s from:1890 till:1900 text:Gay Nineties from:1900 till:1910 text:1900s from:1910 till:1920 text:1910s from:1920 till:1930 text:Roaring Twenties from:1930 till:1940 text:Great Depression from:1940 till:1950 text:1940s bar:Movements color:era from:1880 till:1915 shift:(10,5) text:Second Industrial Revolution from:1880 till:1895 text:Gilded Age from:1895 till:1925 text:Progressive Era from:1895 till:1940 shift:(0,-10) text:Liberalism from:1915 till:1920 shift:(-5,5) text:World War I from:1925 till:1940 shift:(25,5) text:New Deal from:1925 till:1940 shift:(-25,-5) text:National Socialism from:1940 till:1950 shift:(-25,5) text:World War II from:1945 till:1950 color:filler text:Cold War bar: color:era from:1880 till:1950 text:Machine Age from:1945 till:1950 color:filler text:Atomic Age

Developments

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Poland_Ustron_-_museum.jpg" caption="Metalworking machinery"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/UP_9000_2.jpg" caption="A freight locomotive"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/BonnevilleDam.jpg" caption="[[Bonneville Dam]] (1933–1937)"] ::

[[File:Yamato battleship under fitting-out works.jpg|thumb|The [[Japanese battleship Yamato|Yamato]] and other [[battleships in World War II]] were the heaviest artillery-carrying ships ever launched. They proved inferior to aircraft carriers and missile-carrying warships.]] ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/UP_Big_Boy_4014.jpg" caption="Some [[locomotives]] built in the mid-20th century were the heaviest ever."] ::

Artifacts of the Machine Age include:

Reciprocating steam engine replaced by gas turbines, internal combustion engines and electric motors
Electrification based on large hydroelectric and thermal electric power production plants and distribution systems
Mass production of high-volume goods on moving assembly lines, particularly of the automobile
Gigantic production machinery, especially for producing and working metal, such as steel rolling mills, bridge component fabrication, and car body presses
Powerful earthmoving equipment
Steel-framed buildings of great height (skyscrapers)
Radio and phonograph technology
High-speed printing presses, enabling the production of low-cost newspapers and mass-market magazines
Low cost appliances for the mass market that employ fractional power electric motors, such as vacuum cleaners and washing machines
Fast and comfortable long-distance travel by railways, cars, and aircraft
Development and employment of modern war machines such as tanks, aircraft, submarines and the modern battleship
Streamline designs in cars and trains, influenced by aircraft design

Social influence

The rise of mass market advertising and consumerism
Nationwide branding and distribution of goods, replacing local arts and crafts
Nationwide cultural leveling due to exposure to films and network broadcasting
Mass-produced government propaganda through print, audio, and motion pictures
Replacement of skilled crafts with low skilled labor
Growth of strong corporations through their abilities to exploit economies of scale in materials and equipment acquisition, manufacturing, and distribution
Corporate exploitation of labor leading to the creation of strong trade unions as a countervailing force
Aristocracy with weighted suffrage or male-only suffrage replaced by democracy with universal suffrage, parallel to one-party states
First-wave feminism
Increased economic planning, including five-year plans, public works and occasional war economy, including nationwide conscription and rationing

Environmental influence

Exploitation of natural resources with little concern for the ecological consequences; a continuation of 19th century practices but at a larger scale.
Release of synthetic dyes, artificial flavorings, and toxic materials into the consumption stream without testing for adverse health effects.
Rise of petroleum as a strategic resource

International relations

Conflicts between nations regarding access to energy sources (particularly oil) and material resources (particularly iron and various metals with which it is alloyed) required to ensure national self-sufficiency. Such conflicts were contributory to two devastating world wars.
Climax of New Imperialism and beginning of decolonization

Arts and architecture

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Duchamp_-_Nude_Descending_a_Staircase.jpg" caption="Futurist]] characteristics."] ::

The Machine Age is considered to have influenced:

Dystopian films including Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times and Fritz Lang's * Metropolis*
Streamline Moderne appliance design and architecture
Bauhaus style
Modern art
- Cubism
- Art Deco decorative style
- Futurism
- Music

References

[https://books.google.com/books?id=RgQ3pHd1d-UC&pg=PA219 Mentality and freedom By William Armstrong Fairburn. Page 219.]
[https://books.google.com/books?id=CwxAtq3LaLkC&pg=PA601 The Playground, Volume 15 By Playground and Recreation Association of America]
[https://books.google.com/books?id=CwxAtq3LaLkC&pg=PA601 Public libraries, Volume 6]
"1944: Princeton builds the A-bomb".
"Archived copy".
"The First Transistor Invented in 1947".
"Industrialization of American Society". Engr.sjsu.edu (College of Engineering, San José State University).
"The Plan Comes Together - Encyclopedia of Chicago". Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org.

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