These are Ten events from the Twentieth Century that changed the world. There have been so many events that had a significant impact on the world that it can be difficult to narrow it down to a few. It’s always difficult to choose top Ten. But, these are a few we have chosen.
The spark for war could have been many incidents; but, as it happened the assassination of an Austrian archduke – Franz Ferdinand by a Serb provoked widespread declarations of war which cost More than 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, paving the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved.
25 October 1917 – Start of October Uprising by Bolsheviks. The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Russian SFSR . The events of the Russian Revolution that brought the Soviet Union about had a deep impact on the entire world. It generated a new way of thinking about economy.
On 1st September, 1939, Hitler’s Nazi Germany invaded Poland, after appeasing Hitler over Austria and Czechoslovakia, Poland proved the final straw and on September 3rd, 1939, Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany it led Europe to stumble into war
The Second World War was to last until May 1945, costing the lives of approximately 50 million people.
The attack came as a profound shock and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters with Japan and Germany.
Within a matter of hours of the attack, America moved quickly to get on a war footing & attitudes about the war changed radically. That leaded the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombings, which killed at least 129,000 people. After that The World Was Never the Same
This was the outcome of the 4th Event – Attack on the Pearl Harbor. The US atomic bombs of 1945, devastated the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that finally brought the Japanese to surrender, bringing to an end deadliest Pacific war. The surrender of Japan had at one time seen unthinkable. It showed the world the potential devastation a third world war could cause. Even now the legacy of Hiroshima and the threat of nuclear war hangs over the world.
India had stood as the crowning jewel in the crown of the British Empire. It was the second most populous nation in the world. After many years denying Indian calls for independence, Britain finally agreed to full Indian independence in 1947.
Indian independence was accompanied by a painful separation and the birth of a new nation – Pakistan. The separation led to painful incidences of sectarian violence and killing; it led to the migration of many millions of people who found themselves on the wrong side of the border. With economic development, India has the potential to become a new superpower in the coming century.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, China was involved in a bitter civil war between the Communists led by Mao Tse Tung, and the Nationalists by Chiang Kai-shek. On October 1st, 1949, the triumphant Communist Party established the People’s Republic of China. This created another powerful Communist State in the most populated country in the world.
The Communist hold on power, profoundly influenced the lives of the Chinese who suffered under the great famine of the 1960s and Cultural Revolution of the 60s and 70s. Even now, the Chinese Communist party retains strong political power – even if it has adapted its economic policies.
Al-Qaeda began as a logistical network to support Muslims fighting against the Soviet Union during the Afghan War. Based in Sudan for a period in the early 1990s, the group eventually reestablished its headquarters in Afghanistan (c. 1996) under the patronage of the Taliban militia.
In 2001, 19 militants associated with al-Qaeda staged the September 11 attacks against the United States. On May 2, 2011, the Master mind of Al-Qaeda , bin Laden was killed by U.S. military forces after U.S. intelligence located him residing in a secure compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, But so far Al-Qaeda has shaped the world substantially.
On 11 September 2001, terrorists hijacked four aeroplanes and deliberately flew them into targets in the United States of America. These acts of terrorism killed almost 3,000 people and triggered the subsequent conflict in Afghanistan
The US had experienced sporadic terrorist attacks before. But, the sheer audacity and scale of these terrorist attacks shocked the US and the world. The loss of life was estimated at just under 3,000. The event changed American foreign policy. It was a motivating factor behind the controversial invasion of Iraq & Afghanistan and led to a ‘war on terror’ symbolized by Guantanamo Bay and a debate over the justification of torture.
Since June 2014, the extremist terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) has expanded quickly and seized significant territory in Iraq and Syria. The rapid advance of the Sunni Muslim militant group ISIS in Iraq has completely changed the balance of power in the country; this threatens not just the integrity of Iraq itself but could also lead to the redrawing of borders across the wider region