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MAKING THE MODERN WORLD
Stories about the lives we've made
 

period:  1914-1939 Age of the Mass

Assembly line at the Model T Ford factory at Highland Park in 1913. © Science Museum / Science and Society

By 1914 Henry Ford's huge car lines in Detroit showed the world that production and machine repetition had moved up a gear. Mass production generated mass employment and mass consumption. World War One showed that perfection of machinery could also bring about mass killing.
1914-1939
Age of the Mass
Studying work
In the twentieth century, studying workers became part of 'scientific management'.
World War One
Nations committed their entire populations and all their industries to the fight.
Mass consumption
New manufacturing techniques drove down the price of everyday objects.
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Produced in partnership with mwr and Peter Symonds College, Winchester.