Bear markets that occur globally have become frequent since 1912. Before that, for a long period of 64 years  from 1848 thru 1912 there were no global bear markets and the entire stretch of 64 years was of peace and economic growth. However all that changes when World War I started in 1914.

The following table shows the various bear markets at a global level since 1900:

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Source: Wars and Financial Panics: Global Bear Markets in the Twentieth Century, Investment Office

An excerpt from the above piece:

War hit the world in 1914 when World War I began.  Four bear markets occurred between 1912 and 1949. With the world generally at peace after World War II, recessions, sometimes driven by financial panics, were the main cause of bear markets.  This certainly was the case of the two bear markets that have occurred in the twenty-first century. Over time, bear markets have become more frequent, more integrated, but shorter in duration.  Information on the global bear markets since 1900 is provided in Table 1 using data from the GFD World Index.