28 defining events of the 20 th century

What makes an historical event a significant or defining event? The event or its aftermath fundamentally changed history. The event and its impact still resonate with us today.

April,

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Canal returned to Panama in 1999 Construction begins in 1904 Honduras becomes the first “banana republic” in 1910 Panama Canal Opened, 1914

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand,

This ignited a domino chain of international treaties that set off World War I

World War I changed warfare and the culture of international relations in the world It took the lives of 9 million soldiers From the ashes rose the larger conflict of WWII. Armenian genocide of 1915

Lenin leads the Bolshevik Revolution,

Demise of the royal family Birth of the Soviet Union Russo-Japanese war, 1904 Bloody Sunday, Russian Revolution, 1905 Marxist communist takeover of Russia

Spanish Flu Pandemic 1918 A garden-variety flu mutated into a deadly virus, and swept around the world It killed an estimated 50 million to 100 million people (about 4% of the world's population). 5

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Discovery of Penicillin, 1928 When Alexander Fleming found mold had contaminated one of his experiments, his discovery led to an antibacterial agent that could kill many devastating bacteria

Stock Market Crash, October,

and the Great Depression Depressions have come and gone, but none have been as devastating. 8

Dachau opened, 1933, liberated

Italy becomes a one party state under Mussolini Hitler invades Poland, 1939 World War II begins 1933 Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany 1937 Japan invades China

Attack on Pearl Harbor, December 1941, U.S. declares war on Japan 11

D-Day, 1944 Allied forces invade Nazi- occupied Europe

U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

The cold war was the direct descendant of this event 1905 Einstein’s theory of relativity 1932 Atom split 1941 Manhattan project begins 1952 First hydrogen bomb test

ENIAC, the giant brain,

ENIAC, first electronic computer 1947, Development of the semiconductor 1901, first wireless trans- Atlantic communication

India: Independence, partition and war,

Palestine partitioned, state of Israel created, and war,

Day War United Nations formed in 1946 Arab League formed in Intifada breaks out in Gaza strip 1957 Suez Crisis

Cold War Begins, 1947 Truman Doctrine Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech Marshall Plan Berlin wall, 1961 Cuban Missile Crisis, Warsaw Pact, 1955

Communist victory in China, 1949 People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong 1900 Boxer Rebellion 1911 Republic of China 1931 Mao launches Soviet Republic 17

Korean War

Algerian begins war for independence against France, 1954 Sudan granted independence by Great Britain, 1956 Ghana, first black African state to gain i independence in 1957 Chad gains independence from France, 1960 Kenya gains independence from Britain, Gandhi’s Salt march - civil disobedience Soweto riots in South Africa

Cuban Revolution,

Birth Control Pill developed, , Manufacture of nitrogen fertilizer creates the means to nourish several billion more human beings 21

U.S. sends troops to Vietnam, 1965 Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge takeover in Cambodia, 1975 Colonial rule ends in Vietnam, Gulf of Tonkin, 1964

The Moon Landing, Russia launches Sputnik in 1957 Mars landing 1997

Chilean Coup d'état, 1973 Socialist Allende assassinated Pinochet installed as military dictator Questionable U.S. involvement 24

Iran declared an Islamic republic by Ayatollah Khomeini, 1979 USSR invades Afghanistan, leads to the rise of the Taliban Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq 25

Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989 Prague spring,

symbolic barrier between democracy and communism falls end of the cold war Breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991

War in Bosnia, 1992 Mogadishu, 1993 Rwanda genocide,

Persian Gulf Wars Iraq invades Kuwait, 1990 Operation Desert Storm, /11 attack on World Trade Center, 2001 Operation Iraqi freedom, U.S. invades Iraq, Embassy bombing in Kuwait, 1983 Lockerbie bombing, 1988

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