The Twentieth Century

The twentieth century took Liverpool from the absolute height of its global ambition to the edge of collapse. The Three Graces rose on the Pier Head as monuments to commercial confidence, while millions of emigrants passed through the port on their way to new lives in America and beyond. Two world wars brought devastation and heroism in equal measure. The Cunard Yanks brought American culture into the city's bloodstream, feeding directly into the Merseybeat revolution that briefly made Liverpool the centre of the world's attention. And then, with brutal speed, containerisation made the traditional dock economy obsolete, and the city that had seemed indestructible began to unravel.