1918 6 February: Limited numbers of women are given the vote for the first time The Representation

of the People Act enfranchised all men

over the age of 21, and propertied women over 30.  

The suffrage movement began in the United Kingdom and its members were the sufragetes , which is a term that designates the members of
the Social and Political Union of Women, an organization founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst with the aim of claiming and obtaining
the right to vote of women.

As a way to achieve their objectives, and to try to exert pressure in political and social circles, its members resorted to various methods, such
as protest marches and hunger strikes, but they were brutally repressed.

World War I put an end to this movement. However, the contest created the conditions for women to demonstrate their courage and
dedication to the homeland, which earned them the recognition of their electoral rights. Thus, on February 6, 1918, British women over 30
were allowed to vote

International law recognized women's suffrage through the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Commission, created after the Second World
War. On the other hand, the Convention on the political rights of women was adopted by the UN in the 1950s, establishing that:

"Women will have the right to vote in all elections on equal terms with men, without any discrimination.".
1918 – 1920 May 'Spanish flu' epidemic killed more than 200,000 people in Britain and up to 50 million worldwide.  

Between 1918 and 1920, the Spanish Flu killed more than 40 million people around the world. The exact figure for the pandemic, which is
considered the most devastating in history, is unknown. A century later it’s not known yet what was the origin of this epidemic that didn’t
understand borders or social classes.
Although some researchers claim that it began in France in 1916 or in China in 1917, many studies place the first cases at the military base of
Fort Riley (USA) on March 4, 1918.

Censorship and a lack of resources avoided investigating the deadly outbreak of the virus. We now know that it was caused by an outbreak of
influenza virus A, of the H1N1 subtype. Unlike other viruses that basically affect children and the elderly, many of its victims were young
people and healthy adults between 20 and 40 years of age.

High fever, earache, body fatigue, diarrhea and occasional vomiting were the symptoms of this disease.

However, one group died quickly after the onset of the first symptoms, often with massive acute pulmonary hemorrhage or pulmonary
edema, and often in less than five days.

As there were no sanitary protocols to follow, patients were crowded into confined spaces without ventilation and the bodies in morgues and
cemeteries. At that time the cloth and gauze mask with which the population felt calmer, even if they were completely useless, would
become popular.

In the summer of 1920 the virus disappeared exactly as it had arrived.

1918 11 November: World War One ends when Germany signs an armistice that brought the fighting on the Western Front to a halt at 11am
on 11 November 1918. 

Although that was how the First World War ended, the victors imposed conditions of peace that transformed Europe and provoked new
conflicts that would lead to the Second.

It was a treaty signed at Le Francport, near Compiègne, that ended the fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Allies
(France, United Kingdom, and Russia) and their opponent, the German Empire.

The German Empire was on the brink of collapse: supplies were not reaching the front lines, the civilian population was starving, and its
soldiers were refusing to carry out orders or deserting. The German general in command, Erich Ludendorff, conveyed to his superiors that
the war was lost.
The deal included tough conditions for the losers, including demilitarization of Germany and compensation for damage caused during the
war. They had three days to accept.

After the negotiations were completed, the document was signed at 11 a.m. on November 11 and entered into force at 11 a.m. It is often said
that it came into force "on eleven from eleven at eleven."

1 December 1919 Lady Astor becomes the first woman to take her seat in parliament.

Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, she was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament
(MP), serving from 1919 to 1945.

Focused on promoting measures in favor of children and gender equality, Astor, who was not the first female elected deputy to the House of
Commons, but to occupy a seat, became a benchmark for many others who more forward they followed in his footsteps.

"For me she was a great inspiration. It is not easy working in a hostile environment where you are clearly not welcome," said Baroness
Fookes.

American expatriate, conservative and divorced, Nancy Astor managed to break into the social circles of British high society and change the
rules of the game.

"The most controversial thing about Nancy Astor was that she was a woman," said Jacqui Turner, a professor at the University of Reading
and one of the 100th anniversary organizers. "Being the first is never easy and Nancy had to deal with an indiscriminate sexism that
undermined her attempts to be taken seriously. But in the end she showed that women were capable of facing the challenges of being
parliamentarians," he remarked her.

1919 23 December Exclusion of women from many jobs is made illegal Women could now become magistrates, solicitors and barristers. 

Last year we celebrated the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which gave some women the right to vote for the first
time. However, the Act was only the first step and led to many other victories for women’s rights. The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act
of 1919 was the next important milestone but it is now largely forgotten. The purpose of the Act was clear, that:

A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any
civil or judicial office or post or from entering or assuming or carrying on any civil profession or vocation

How did the Bill come about?

The bill came about following the introduction of a more radical bill: The Women’s Emancipation Bill. The bill was introduced by Labour
MP Benjamin Spoor on 21 March 1919 3. Not only would this bill allow women to enter the professions, but it would also allow women to
vote on the same terms as men and enable women to sit in the House of Lords 4.

Although the bill passed successfully through the House of Commons, the Government put an end to it and created its own bill: The Sex
Disqualification (Removal) Bill.

What were the results of the Act?

Successes

Women could now become accountants, vets, solicitors, barristers, magistrates and sit on a jury.

1920: Women at Oxford University are allowed to receive degrees Although women had been able to attend degree level courses, they could
not receive degrees until 1920. 

Oxford University is the oldest in the English-speaking world. and from 1167 it developed rapidly, when Henry II of England prohibited
English students from attending the University of Paris.

During the Civil War, the University was partisan of the monarchy and Charles I gave a parliamentary speech at Convocation House, the
ground floor of the Bodleian Library.

In Victorian times the University assumed an important role, especially in religious controversies . In 1860, the new University Museum was
the scene of the famous debate between Thomas Huxley, champion of evolution, and the Bishop of Wilberforce.

From 1878, faculties for women were established and they were fully admitted to the university in 1920.

Today it is one of the most prestigious universities in the world and an attraction for thousands of visitors to Oxford. It has some of the
richest museums in England, such as the Natural History Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Ashmolean Museum.
1920: Republic of Ireland gains independence.
On May 3, 1921, the Act of Government of Ireland came into force, a law promoted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom that divided
the island in two: Northern Ireland became a region within the United Kingdom, while Southern Ireland it became an autonomous region.

For this reason, Northern Ireland celebrates the centenary of its founding this year. It is one of the four regions that make up the United
Kingdom, along with England, Wales and Scotland

For centuries, the island of Ireland was under the control of the English. The Irish tried to become independent on several occasions, but they
always lost the war. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century, after the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), that the separatist
movement led by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) managed to impose itself on the British troops.

However, in the northern part of the island, called Ulster, the majority of the population was favorable to the United Kingdom. They shared
historical, cultural and religious ties with the English. For this reason, during the separation process, this region came under the rule of the
British Parliament in London.

The independence of Ireland was not immediate either. A little over a year had to pass from the 1921 Act of Government until, on December
7, 1922, the new Irish Parliament officially declared its independence from the United Kingdom. Finally, in 1949 it was constituted as a
republic and the functions previously assigned to the monarch of Great Britain passed into the hands of the Irish president.

1920 26 January: John Logie Baird gives the first public demonstration of television. It was not until after the World War Two that
televisions became widely available.  

John Logie Baird was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer and innovator. He is recognized as the inventor of electromechanical
television1 and on January 26, 1926, he performed the world's first television system demonstration.

In 1884, Paul Nipkow patented a record that is considered the clearest antecedent for television . Nipkov's disk uses two disks to record and
reproduce moving images thanks to photoconductivity (the process by which electrical charges affect light-sensitive materials). The idea was
to use the discs to process the images and that, through the use of selenium cells, they could be sent through an electrical cable to another
disc with which to recover the image.

Baird himself began testing Nipkow's record in 1922 and by 1926 he managed to send the first television image, that of a puppet called
"Stooky Bill."

After that, Baird launched into the world of broadcasting. In 1927, he managed to broadcast in Glasgow from London using a telephone

cable. And a year later he crossed the Atlantic broadcasting in New York.