Music recorded in 1928
The year 1928 saw two trends unfold simultaneously: the institutionalization of the international commitment "never to wage another world war" following World War I, while political tensions and national mobilization intensified across the country. Particularly symbolic was the Treaty Providing for the Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy (commonly known as the Kellogg–Briand Pact), signed on August 27, 1928, which renounced war as an instrument of national policy and named after Frank B. Kellogg (1856–1937) and Aristide Briand (1862–1932), proclaiming the ideal of "outlawing war."
At the same time, the "expansion" of suffrage and political participation is also clearly visible. In the UK, the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 was passed, equalizing the voting rights of men and women, including in terms of age. In Japan, the first general election based on universal male suffrage (the 16th general election for the House of Representatives) was held on February 20, 1928, greatly expanding the electorate. However, as exemplified by the March 15 Incident (March 15, 1928) that followed, strict control over social movements also progressed, and expansion and repression ran parallel at the same time.
National economic management leaned more toward "planning" and "mobilization." The Soviet Union adopted the First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932), and under Joseph Stalin (1878–1953), heavy industrialization and agricultural collectivization were promoted. In the United States, Herbert Clark Hoover (1874–1964) won the presidential election, and both the prosperity of the late 1920s and the contradictions accumulating within it became strongly recognized in political terms. In Latin America, the assassination of Álvaro Obregón (1880–1928) in Mexico in July 1928 drew international attention to the instability of the post-revolutionary regime.
The balance of power in East Asia was undergoing a realignment. In China, the Kuomintang resumed its Northern Expedition, occupied Beijing in June 1928, and took steps toward forming a unified government, with Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) positioned as its leader. Meanwhile, armed conflicts such as the Jinan Incident (May 1928) occurred, demonstrating how local conflicts can rigidify diplomacy, destabilizing the regional security environment.
The interconnections between science, technology, and popular culture also grew at an accelerating rate. Alexander Fleming's (1881–1955) discovery of penicillin in 1928 had long-term effects on medical care and social structures, including infectious disease mortality rates, urban life, and wartime medicine. In entertainment, film became a fully integrated part of "everyday life with sound," with Warner Brothers' Vitaphone-based Lights of New York (1928) being cited as a full-length talkie. The film industry's focus shifted from silent to sound. In sports, women's track and field events were officially held for the first time at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, expanding the interconnections between physical expression, media coverage, and entertainment.
In this way, 1928 saw the ideal of international order (renunciation of war) coexist on the same timeline with the strengthening of state control, the oppression of social movements, and the seeds of regional conflict, while also solidifying the foundations for the "popularization of sound" (the media environment including talkies, entertainment, broadcasting, and recording). It can be seen that politics, economics, technology, and popular culture all influenced each other, expanding the contours of the next era ahead of the rapid global changes that would become apparent the following year.
