The Lost Generation refers to a group of people who became adults in the years before or during World War I and were followed by the Greatest Generation. This group includes people born between 1883 and 1900. They grew up during the 1900s or 1910s and were the first generation to reach adulthood in the 20th century. The term is also used to describe a group of American writers who lived in Paris during the 1920s. Gertrude Stein is believed to have created the term, and Ernest Hemingway later used it in the opening of his 1926 book The Sun Also Rises, saying, "You are all a lost generation." In this context, "lost" describes the confusion and lack of direction felt by many people who survived World War I during the years after the war.
During the time of the Industrial Revolution, members of the Lost Generation in Western countries lived in societies that had more literacy, more focus on buying and using goods, and more media than ever before. However, these societies often held traditional values. Many young men from this group were sent to fight in World War I, which was a major event in their lives. Young women also played roles in the war and gained more freedom in politics and other areas after the war. This generation was heavily affected by the Spanish flu pandemic and helped drive cultural changes, especially in large cities during the 1920s, a time known as the Roaring Twenties.
Later in life, members of this generation faced the economic challenges of the Great Depression and often watched their sons go to fight in World War II. In developed countries, they generally lived long enough to retire after World War II, though some lived much longer than usual. The last known member of the Lost Generation, Nabi Tajima, died in 2018 at the age of 117.
Terminology
The term "Lost Generation" refers to young people who reached adulthood around the time of World War I. In Europe, this group is often called the "Generation of 1914," named after the year the war began. In France, they were sometimes referred to as the Génération du feu, meaning the "fire generation." In the United Kingdom, the term was first used to describe those who died in the war, often pointing to people from wealthy families who were believed to have suffered greater losses. Many believed that "the best and brightest young people" were lost, including notable figures such as poets Isaac Rosenberg, Rupert Brooke, Edward Thomas, and Wilfred Owen, composer George Butterworth, and physicist Henry Moseley.
Date and age range definitions
Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe describe the Lost Generation as a group of people born between 1883 and 1900. These individuals reached adulthood during World War I and the Roaring Twenties.
Characteristics
During the time the Lost Generation was growing up, the typical family structure was often viewed as the father being the main earner and decision-maker, while the mother focused on managing the home and caring for children. Many married couples, even those with limited money, tried to follow this model. It was common for three generations of family members to live together in one home. Wealthier families often had domestic workers, such as maids or servants, with the number of workers depending on the family’s financial situation.
By the late 1800s, public interest in protecting children’s well-being grew, leading to new laws and organizations aimed at preventing child abuse. The government gained the legal power to step in and help protect children in dangerous situations. However, it was still common for parents to use physical punishment, such as hitting children, to discipline them, and this was seen as a parent’s responsibility.
By the late 1800s, sewer systems were widely used in industrial cities to remove waste, which helped reduce the spread of diseases like cholera. Rules about the quality of drinking water also began to be created. Electricity, however, was not yet widely available. During the early years of the Lost Generation, gas lamps and candles were the main sources of light in homes.
Although records about child deaths from the beginning of the Lost Generation’s lifetime are limited, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 1900, one out of every ten American babies died before their first birthday. In the United Kingdom, about one out of every four children died before age five during the late 1800s. In 1800, about one out of every three children died before age five, but this number decreased over the next 100 years. The rate dropped most quickly in the early 1900s, reaching less than one in twenty by 1950. This means that members of the Lost Generation had a slightly better chance of surviving early childhood than their parents and grandparents but were more likely to die young compared to children born a few decades later.
Laws to limit child labor in factories started appearing around 1840. By the end of the 1800s, required education for children had been introduced in much of the Western world. By 1900, illiteracy rates were below 11% in the United States, around 3% in Great Britain, and less than 1% in Germany. However, in parts of Eastern and Southern Europe, many children still lacked access to education or could not attend school regularly.
Schools during this time often focused on strict discipline and required students to memorize information through repetition. To help with teacher shortages, older students sometimes helped teach younger ones. Grouping students by age became more common as schools expanded.
While elementary education was becoming more available for children in Western countries as the 20th century began, secondary education remained rare. In 1900, only 11% of American children aged 14 to 17 attended high school, and this number grew only slightly by 1910. In Britain, the legal age for leaving school was 14 by 1900, but many children left school earlier, often at 12 or 13 years old, due to local rules. In Canada, some children left school as young as nine or ten years old.
By the 1890s, children’s toys were being made in large quantities. In 1893, a British toy company called William Britain created a new method to make toy soldiers lighter and cheaper, which made them more popular. These toys were once only available to wealthy boys, but now more children could afford them. Dolls sold by street vendors were popular with girls, and teddy bears first appeared in the early 1900s. Small metal toys, sold for just one penny, were also common.
At the start of the 20th century, public parks were built in many Western cities to provide spaces for children to play and interact. These parks sometimes had special areas for games and held events like concerts and performances.
Starting in the middle of the 1800s, magazines that had once only been read by wealthy people became popular with the general public. By the end of the century, magazines aimed at young boys and a new type of magazine for girls were widely read.
A major event in the history of movies happened in 1895, when moving pictures were shown to an audience in Paris for the first time. Early films were very short and often showed news, comedy, or short documentaries. They had no sound but were played with music and audience participation. By the start of World War I, a major film industry had developed.
The Lost Generation is most famous for being the group of people who fought in World War I. More than 70 million people were involved in the war, with about 8.5 million killed and 21 million injured. Around 2 million soldiers died from diseases, and some battles caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.
About 60 million soldiers came from Europe, where many young men were called to serve in large numbers. Many European countries had systems where men were required to do a short period of military training and then remain in reserve. In Italy and Bulgaria, about 55% of men aged 18 to 50 were called to serve. In Serbia, 63% of men were called, and in Austro-Hungary, 78% were called. In France and Germany, 81% of men were called to serve. Britain, which usually relied on its navy for protection, did not introduce conscription until 1916. Out of the 46 million people in the United Kingdom, about 5 million men fought in the war.
Many countries also recruited soldiers from their colonies. Three million men from the British Empire outside the UK served in the British Army, and France recruited 475,000 soldiers from its colonies. The United States enlisted 4 million men, and the Ottoman Empire mobilized 2.85 million soldiers.
The war had a lasting impact on many survivors, causing severe mental health issues and physical injuries. Many soldiers who believed that war would lead to personal growth and greatness were left feeling deeply disappointed after years of suffering and loss.
Although soldiers on the frontlines were all men, women also played important roles in the war effort.
In literature
In his book A Moveable Feast, written in 1964, Hemingway wrote about how Gertrude Stein heard the phrase "lost generation" from a French garage owner. This man owned a shop that fixed Stein’s car. When a young worker did not repair the car quickly, the owner shouted at him, "You are all a 'génération perdue.'" Later, when telling Hemingway the story, Stein said, "That is what you are. That’s what you all are… all of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation." Hemingway said Stein was the one who first used the phrase, and she was his teacher and supporter at the time.
The book The Sun Also Rises, published in 1926, helped make the term "lost generation" well-known. This book shows the lives of people who lived after World War I. However, Hemingway later told his editor that the main point of the book was not about a generation being lost, but that "the earth abideth forever." He believed the characters in the book were hurt by the war but were not truly lost.
Hemingway used the phrase "lost generation" as one of two quotes at the start of A Moveable Feast. He balanced Stein’s quote from the garage owner with a quote from a book called Ecclesiastes. Later, he wrote about thinking about Stein and other writers, asking, "Who is calling who a lost generation?"
The works of writers from the "lost generation" often described their experiences in World War I and the years after the war. Their stories were based on their real lives but made more dramatic. A common theme in their writing was the lifestyle of wealthy people, showing their parties and carefree habits. Both Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about this in their books The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby. Another theme was the idea that the American Dream, or the belief that hard work leads to success, was no longer possible. This theme is especially clear in The Great Gatsby, where the character Nick Carraway sees the bad things around him.
Notable figures of the Lost Generation include: