Born in 1883 into a passionate socialist blacksmith's family, Benito Mussolini was named after the Mexican revolutionary Benito Juarez.  Although expelled from several schools for bullying and defying authority, he obtained a teaching certificate at age 18 and worked as a schoolmaster for a short time. In 1902, after gaining a reputation for his socialist rhetoric in  Switzerland, he was expelled from the country. In 1904, after brief imprisonment in Italy for promoting socialism, he became editor of the socialist newspaper Avanti. After early opposition to Italy's entrance into WWI, he reversed his position and joined the Italian army - bringing about his expulsion from the Italian Socialist Party. Wounded on the front lines, he was promoted to corporal and honorably discharged. In 1919 Mussolini founded the National Fascist Party, (Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) promising to increase employment, build public works and return Italy to the glory of ancient Rome. A paramilitary force of Black Shirts  (Voluntary Militia for National Security - MVSN), was organized to suppress opposition as Mussolini assumed increased power during a period of political chaos in Italy. In 1925 Mussolini declared himself Il Duce (leader).

Born in Austria in 1889, Adolf Hitler, moved to Germany when he was three years old. Following the early death of his father, with whom he had frequent conflict, he dropped out of school at age 16 and moved to Vienna where he worked as a laborer and a watercolor painter. After rejection by the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, and homeless for several years, he enlisted in the German Army at the outbreak of WWI in 1914. He was wounded in the Battle of the Somme and was awarded the Iron Cross and the Black Wound Badge. Embittered by Germany’s collapse in 1918 and the inequitable Treaty of Versailles, Hitler became a passionate German nationalist and joined the anti-Semitic, anti-communist German Workers Party (DAP) in 1919. Soon after, the DAP changed its name to Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) and Hitler became party chairman in 1921. In 1923 Hitler and his Sturmabteilung (SA) tried to initiate a revolution with the infamous failed Munich beer hall putsch that landed him in jail for a year. During that time, he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), a diatribe that outlined his plan for an ethnically pure German society. With an ineffectual government during the Weimar Republic and the Great Depression, Hitler’s extremist views made large political gains. Although he came in second, behind WWI hero Paul von Hindenburg in the 1932 presidential elections, he was appointed chancellor, a position from which he subsequently launched his dictatorship. By the end of 1933, Hitler had achieved complete control over both legislative and executive branches of government, and was systematically eliminating all opposition. In July of 1933, the Nazi Party was declared the only legal political party in Germany. In 1934 the rising power of Ernst Röhm's SA was purged on the bloody night of the long knives. After President von Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler enacted a law abolishing the office of president, leaving absolute power in the hands of the chancellor. Hitler then became supreme commander of the armed forces, Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, and Hitler announced a massive expansion of Germany’s armed forces.

  Hirohito, the Emperor Shōwa (昭和天皇) of Japan, was a controversial figure. Some historians claim he was inherently pacifist and tried to prevent war. Others say he was neither a proponent of war nor peace, but an opportunist who governed in a pluralistic decision-making process.  At the start of Hirohito's reign in 1926, Japan had the ninth-largest economy in the world, the third-largest naval power, and was a member of the council of the League of Nations. During the first part of Hirohito's reign, marked by financial crisis and extreme political violence, military extremists gained increased power through both legal and extralegal means.  Although some apologists insist he was a pacifist, it appears that Hirohito made no objection in 1937 to the Japanese aggression in the China.   In the fall of 1941, breaking tradition at an imperial conference, Hirohito directly questioned the chiefs of the Army and Navy general staff about the advisability of their war plans. However, since all speakers at the conference were united in favor of war rather than diplomacy, it's said that Hirohito gradually began leaning in that direction. On November 5, 1941, Hirohito approved the operations plan for a war against the West.  During the war, the Emperor took a keen interest in military progress and appears to have made significant interventions in some military operations. In June 1944, as Saipan fell, Hirohito sent an imperial order encouraging all Japanese civilians to commit suicide rather than be taken prisoner. In June of 1945, as a final Japanese victory seemed very unlikely, the cabinet reassessed the war strategy. The upshot of the meeting, a decision to fight to the end, was not challenged by Hirohito.   In June 1942, the Hirohito met with his ministers, saying "I desire that concrete plans to end the war, unhampered by existing policy, be speedily studied and that efforts be made to implement them." In July 1945, the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding the unconditional surrender of Japan. The Emperor decided not to surrender. On August 10, 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a belated Soviet declaration of war, the Japanese cabinet drafted an "Imperial Rescript ending the War" providing it did not compromise the prerogatives of Hirohito as the sovereign leader of Japan. Although fanatics attempted a coup and suppression of the document of surrender, a hidden recording of Hirohito's speech was broadcast and the coup was quickly crushed. After the war, Hirohito, without prosecution for war crimes, was kept in place as a figurative head of state.   

After opening to the West in the late 19th century, Imperial Japan created a public school system based closely on the American model with additional emphasis on traditional Japanese values. Reflecting Confucian principles, a social hierarchy, with the Meiji state at its pinnacle, was prescribed. Centralized government control, as defined in the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education, remained in place until the end of WWII. In 1907 compulsory education was extended to six years. Middle schools were established as preparatory institutions for students aspiring admission to Imperial Universities. And Imperial Universities were charged with developing leaders to direct the modernization of Japan. Only textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education were allowed in a curriculum centered on moral education and patriotism, mathematics, design, reading and writing, composition, Japanese calligraphy, Japanese history, geography, science, drawing, singing and physical education. As Japan's government became increasingly militaristic from 1912-1937, protest movements by teachers and students were vigorously suppressed and the Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors became compulsory reading for students. In 1941, elementary schools were renamed National People's Schools and students were required to attend Youth Schools for basic military and vocational training upon graduation. Shinto textbooks such as the Kokutai no Hongi became required reading and emphasis was placed on teaching traditional political values, religion and morality. Emperor worship and loyalty to the nation were promoted as ancient military virtues. After the war, U.S. occupation authorities abolished the old educational system and established a new one. Read more: Education in the Empire of Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The America poet Ezra Pound's contributions to the arts in the early 20th century have been widely acknowledged. A Girl The tree has entered my hands, The sap has ascended my arms, The tree has grown in my breast - Downward, The branches grow out of me, like arms. Tree you are, Moss you are, You are violets with wind above them. A child - so high - you are, And all this is folly to the world. In 1925, Pound moved to Italy where he became an admirer of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. When World War II broke out, Pound stayed in Italy, speaking as a “patriotic American” on a series of controversial radio commentaries that were openly anti-semitic and often included personal attacks on President Roosevelt. At war's end Pound was arrested by the U.S. Army and kept imprisoned for several weeks in a small, outdoor wire cage near Pisa, Italy. Eventually judged insane, he was returned to the U.S. and incarcerated in St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C.  until 1958 when the poet Robert Frost led a successful effort to free him. Ironically, while imprisoned by the U.S., Army in Italy, Pound completed the Pisan Cantos which won the Bollingen Prize for poetry in 1949.

  Lauren Bacall has died at age 89.  Born Betty Joan Perske to Jewish parents in the Bronx, as a teenager she took the Romanian surname of her mother and became the actress Lauren Bacall.  Known for her sultry looks, green eyes and husky voice, she was extremely successful in modeling, the theater and movies. Her breakthrough into movie stardom occurred in the waning years of WWII when she acted with Humphrey Bogart and subsequently married him.      

The Great Depression, started with the American stock market crash of 1929 and soon spread around the world. In the USA, heavy industry, construction and farming were hit the hardest. Crop prices fell by 60% and unemployment rose to 25%. Some countries, including Japan, were recovering by the mid-1930s. However, in the USA the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the the country’s entry into World War II.  

In the first part of the 20th Century, Japan rapidly achieved Western-style industrialization and a high level of literacy. The gulf between the great metropolitan centers and rural Japan widened.

Modeled after the BBC, the Japanese NHK Radio Network began broadcasting  in 1926. In 1935, NHK  began an overseas service  known as Radio Japan. Along with all public news agencies, NHK was nationalized in 1941.     During the war, Radio Japan broadcast in 23 different languages.

In the early 20th Century, crystal radios were immensely popular until most were replaced by vacuum tube receivers in the mid-1920s.

During the 1920s ultranationalist beliefs, expressed by writers such as Kitta Ikki and Shumei Okawa, were increasingly embraced by the military and many citizens in Japan. Ancient mystical beliefs regarding Japan's unique relationship with the divine were rejuvenated along with a perceived obligation to lead Asia into the light.

In the early years of the fascist regime in Italy, several Italian-American immigrant organizations united to form the Fascist League of North America.The League's use of violent tactics soon alienated the general public and it was disbanded in 1929.  

This fascinating video appears to have images from China and Japan.

While the USA demobilized after WWI and Congress resisted increased armament requests by the military, Japan sailed full speed ahead in the 1920s. The  Fubuki-class destroyers were the most powerful ships of their type In the world.  Large, heavily-armored,  powerful and fast, they had fire power comparable to a conventional light cruiser.

  While Japan’s military grew powerful in the 1920-30s, in America: Lack of government funding made peacetime maintenance of the U.S. Army difficult. The Naval War College created the carrier doctrine, before a single aircraft carrier was operational. The Army, and its Air Corps, emphasized professional military education, with little focus on innovation or the development of new capabilities. Theories of air war were largely unproven. Here's an interesting analysis from the Institute of Defense.

In the 1920s the Imperial Japanese Army expanded rapidly and by 1937 had a force of 300,000 men. Strongly influenced by ultranationalist ideology, it enjoyed a great deal of independence from the legislative government.

From 1873, all Imperial Japanese males were required to serve three years of active military duty and four years in the reserves. Emulation of Western imperialism and security concerns resulted in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. By the 1930s, assuming the role of the big brother who promoted co-prosperity for Asia, Japan increasingly faced down provocations by Western powers. Mounting economic concerns in the 1930s further drove Japan’s expansionism in East Asia.

When the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 stopped immigration of the major source of labor on the west coast, Japanese became the primary immigrant group to fill the demand. Initially employed by railroad companies and factories, Japanese immigrants quickly started their own businesses and communities. The National Origins Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States, according to the Census of 1890.  The law was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s, as well as East Asians and Asian Indians, who were prohibited from immigrating entirely.

Voting certificate, Muramasa; WikiMedia Commons. The General Election Law of 1925  extended suffrage to all Japanese males aged 25 and over. Since the Meiji Period of imperial restoration began in 1868, the Japanese government had been suspicious of democracy. Limited suffrage was allowed only for tax-paying male property holders over age 25 (roughly 1% of the population).  After WWI, popular movements arose to eliminate the tax-paying requirement. With increasing student and labor demonstrations, and popular press coverage, the government was moved to provide universal male suffrage.

  Brief Timeline of American Literature, Music, and Movies - 1920-1929    

  The meaning of the word kokutai is (intentionally) broad and vague. It was used to justify authoritarian acts by the Imperial Japanese government. “Kokutai is a vague but emotionally powerful term for the mysterious national essence of Japan, which finds more concrete expression in such things as an unbroken line of sovereigns, loyalty and filial piety, obedience to the emperor, and a variety of Japanese cultural habits or characteristics."

Yōshū Chikanobu Scene of the Diet 1890s, WikiMedia Commons. The Peace Preservation Act of 1925 “Anyone who has formed an association with altering the kokutai, or the system of private property, and anyone who has joined such an association with full knowledge of its object, shall be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding ten years." With the vague and subjective term kokutai, the government was now able to outlaw any form of dissent.

Opposition to The League of Nations Treaty 1920; Flickr Commons  After WWI, the “war to end all wars”, anti-war sentiment was strong and  President  Woodrow Wilson promoted the idea of the League of Nations to avoid future conflicts. Despite his vigorous support, opposition by Republicans in the U.S. Senate  was fierce, and the USA did not join the League of Nations which was established in October 1919. The Empire of Japan joined the League in 1933.

After WWI, American perception of international threats diminished. Congressional enthusiasm for military funding of a large standing army, much less modernization of the existing “mobilization force,” dwindled. Although Imperial Japan was recognized as a potential enemy in the Pacific, it was presumed any such war would be primarily a naval conflict.  

Ronald Reagan 1927, WikiMedia Commons. After being forced open by gunboat diplomacy in 1853, substantial aid from many Americans assisted Japan in rapidly catching up with the West. At the turn of the century, many Western ideas, fashions and styles were enthusiastically adopted. But, racial discrimination and perceived lack of respect increasingly tempered the relationship with the West. Additionally, traditional Japanese and American world views seemed quite different.  Americans tended to see things in black and white, good and evil; Japanese had a more nuanced, often subtly ambiguous outlook on life.

“To most Westerners, the Japanese was utterly inscrutable. The way he handled his tools was all wrong: he squatted at an anvil; he pulled rather than pushed a saw or plane; he built his house from the roof down. To open a lock, he turned a key to the left, the wrong direction. Everything the Japanese did was backwards. He spoke backwards, read backwards, wrote backwards…” - John Toland, The Rising Sun, Random House 1970.

During a time of relative prosperity, many Americans wanted pro-business, conservative leadership. President Calvin Coolidge said little and promoted a laissez-faire form of government. The sky was the limit. Charles Lindbergh became a national hero and symbol of the wonders of modern technology with his non-stop flight in the Spirit of St. Louis from New York to Paris in 1927.  

In the USA, a  nationwide "Red Scare," fueled by strikes, bombings and labor unrest,  occurred shortly after WWI. Civil liberties were  trampled and dissidents  arrested as the nation feared a Bolshevik revolution. But, unlike Japan where suppression of leftist ideology accelerated, American attitudes soon relaxed and the great Red Scare abated. In the early 1920s, left wing parties in Japan were generally banned or suppressed by the government and military. In 1928 a serious government crackdown resulted in the arrest of many socialists and communists. Thereafter, communism was forced completely underground.

Although the fundamentalist orator William Jennings Bryan won the case for the state of Tennessee, the immense publicity of the trial swung much national opinion toward Clarence Darrow in defense of modernism. While legislation prohibiting the teaching of evolutionary science in public schools faded, the conflict between religious fundamentalism and science continues to this day. William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow. Smithsonian Institution; Flickr Commons.

Hirohito became the Shōwa Emperor of Japan in 1926. Despite post-war Allied attempts to characterize him as a retiring, amateur marine biologist with little more than ceremonial involvement in his country’s wartime policies, Hirohito appears to have been significantly involved.   "Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor."  - Jim Beaver IMDb  

Commercial motion pictures, developed with late 19th Century American technology, were enthusiastically adopted by Japanese audiences who had a long tradition of viewing gentō (magic lantern presentations). In the 1920s, Japan and the USA were  the world's largest producers of motion pictures. Certain screen actors in each nation became major stars, drawing large audiences to movie theaters. At the end of the 1920s,"talkies" were extremely popular in both countries.  Japanese movie poster 1928, Wiki Media Commons.  U.S. Library of Congress 1921; Public Domain.

Social drinking, within certain customs and rituals, has existed in Japan for centuries. In the 20th Century, moderate drinking became increasingly acceptable for women, but remained predominantly a male practice. Many men drank on ceremonial occasions and with their family in the evenings. Heavy social drinking (often to intoxication) was generally tolerated among men. Sake, Wiki Media Commons  

In the USA, the century-old debate between “wets” and “drys” over the potential harmful effects of alcohol on health and society culminated in the National Prohibition Act of 1920. This legislative experiment, intended to ameliorate social conditions, actually resulted in increased illegal activity and the substantial rise of violent, organized crime. Fed up with bootlegging, speakeasies and increasing gang violence, a Depression-weary populace voted to rescind the act in 1933.

Tobacco smoking was well-established in both Japan and America by the early 17th Century. Wiki In mid-20th Century Japan, feminine role expectations strongly discouraged smoking and few women did. In contrast, although smoking remained much more prevalent in men, women increasingly smoked in the USA.

Originating in the early 19th Century, baseball became America's national pastime after the Civil War. Introduced to Japan in 1872 by an American teacher in Tokyo, it rapidly became a very popular sport there as well.  

In the USA, citizens of Northern European origin held significant cultural (and often legal) advantages over racial and ethnic minorities. In the mid-1920s Ku Klux Klan membership peaked at several million. The Immigration Act of 1924 further restricted the influx of Southern and Eastern Europeans, East Asians and Asian Indians. The Ku Klux Klan is the most infamous — and oldest — of American hate groups. Although black Americans have typically been the Klan's primary target, it also has attacked Jews, immigrants, gays and lesbians and, until recently, Catholics. With a false belief of racial singularity and superiority, Japanese culture also does not embrace ethnic diversity.Just a few examples of ethnic violence perpetrated by the Japanese include: vigilante mobs after the Great Kanto Earthquake killing minority Koreans, the Rape of Nanking, the Changjiao Massacre and the massacre of Philipinne citizens in Manila.

Following the Great Kantō earthquake with over 100,000 deaths, vigilante mobs hunted down and killed ethnic minority Koreans rumored to have committed arson, looting and poisoning of drinking water. The Home Ministry stated that 231 Koreans were killed, but much higher estimates were reported by others.  

In an effort to slow the arms race after WWI among the world's major naval powers, the Five Power Naval Treaty of 1922 maintained the status of current naval bases and limited vessel tonnage and size. Many Imperial Japanese naval officers resented the ratio allotted to Japan, feeling once again slighted by the West. Guns from scrapped battleships, Philadelphia Navy Yard 1923, Wikimedia Commons

In America shortly after the Great War, came Prohibition, a surging economy and dramatic strides in technology and transportation. Social mores were loosened and new opportunities opened for many women. Riding the stock market boom in 1929, many felt like Ukulele Ike: I'm singing in the rain Just singing in the rain What a glorious feelin' I'm happy again  

In the first half of the decade, Western influences on Japanese culture were powerful and many traditions were challenged by the younger generation. Junichirō Tanizaki's novel of Naomi. a bold, westernized "modern girl" provoked both a fascination with the potential changing role of women and a strong backlash.

Disillusioned by the horrors of the Great War, and disaffected with the path the USA was taking in the 1920s, some American writers renounced American policies and lifestyles. Included among this Lost Generation, were F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos. Ernest Hemingway went to fight in the Great War at age 18. Disqualified for active duty due to poor vision, he joined the American Field Service ambulance corps in France and was later transferred to Italy where he was wounded. A Farewell to Arms is a fictionalized account of his experiences during the Italian campaign of WWI.