Top 10 significant events of the 20th century...?

Question

What do you think? Give reasons if you'd like.

Answer 1

Because the term "event' is kinda hard to describe, I chose to pick ten dates which were clear markers for the substantial historical change of the twentieth century.
28 June 1914- THE ASSASSINATION OF FRANZ FERDINAND
World War One had been brewing for a long time prior to this, but the assassination of the Austrian heir was the "straw that broke the camel's back" and unleashed hell upon Europe
7 November 1917- THE BOLSHEVIK COUP
The communist power of the Soviet Union was far from established on this day, but that was indeed when it finally found it's root and came to forefront of global politics for most of the rest of the century.
29 October 1929- BLACK TUESDAY
When the American stock market collapsed it finally gave the world a symbol that the end of their unsustainable economic practices had come and change was going to be necessary. There of course are different factors for different countries to herald the world wide depression, but this was simply the clearest symbol.
5 May 1945- THE NAZIS SURRENDER
and set the stage for a complete and total re-definition of the West-Central European power structure
6 August 1945- HIROSHIMA
and a complete redefinition of the power structure of the entire world and the very nature of warfare.
May 1948- DECLARATION OF THE JEWISH STATE
forever redefining society, culture and politics in the Middle East.
4 October 1957- SPUTNIK IS LAUNCHED
The start of the space race and a whole new field of human perception and competition.
January1979-THE SHAH GOES INTO EXILE
and the Americans turn their staunchest ally in the Middle East into a problem for both blocs of the Cold War and as fate would it the post Soviet world as well.
9 November 1989 THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL
Europe starts the process of re-definition into a continental entity when Germany begins to take steps towards re-unification and the other nations purge themselves of the hardline communist regime
19 August, 1991- THE SOVIET COUP
Communist hardliners take Gorbachev hostage and attempt to start enforcing regressionist policy which fails and leads to the collapse of the USSR on Christmas Day of that year

Those are my ten in chronological order. Sorry if they're a little heavy on world power structure

(Wish I'd remembered the microchip and the pill)

Answer 2

1. Teddy Roosevelt starting National Parks.
2. The Wright Brothers successful flight.
3. Woodrow Wilson starting the League of Nations.
4. Franklin Roosevelt pulling the country together during the
Great Depression.
5. Again, Franklin Roosevelt leading the World during WW2.
6. Harry Truman dropping the A-Bombs to end WW2.
7. John Kennedy's assassination, which permanently altered
the course of this country and the world.
8. Landing on the Moon.
9. Richard Nixon being the first President to resign from office.
10. Ronald Reagan surviving an assassination attempt, then
steering the course of world events to end the Soviet Union.

Your question is tough, as other events have affected others differently. The Vietnam and Korean wars, going from Atomic to Nuclear capabilities, the Titanic event, which changed shipping rules, Terrorist attacks during the 70's thru 90's, etc.

I hope this helps you get started on what you are looking for.

Answer 3

10. 1903, the Wright brothers flew the first airplane.

9. 9/11/06 , (either this or 12/7/41) two attacks on continental US brings forth action affecting the entire world.

8. In 1959, the computer chip is invented

7. 1905, Einstein gives mankind his theory of relativity to ponder.

6. Cuban Missile crisis, the world came to a hair's breadth to nuclear holocaust and destruction.

5.Nuclear detonations over Nagasaki/Hiroshoma: 1st & last bombardment of civilians using WMDs.

4. Fall of the Berlin Wall; the end to Soviet hegemy in the world.

3. 1917-18: Bolshevik Revolution: marked the beginning of communism in the world politics.

2. Dec-Jan, 1941: Defeat of German 6th Army at Stalingrad, was THE turning point that marked the end to Germany's offensive conquest of the Europe.

and the #1 signigificant event of the 20th Century:

1. December 2, 1942: 1st controlled nuclear fission under the direction of Enrico Fermi, spelled the beginning of the nuclear age. The nuclear sword of Damacles has clouded every internation policy and decision since then.

Answer 4

1. 1908. Annexing of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary which led to massive dissatisfaction on the Balkans and eventually Austro-Serb conflict...which led to the WWI

2. 1914. Assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand and the beginning of WWI which will affect the world more than we realize: after that, there was no more imperialism in Europe, new states were born, there were movements against British imperialism outside of Europe, the poor Versailles conference punished the Germans so severely that it caused the uprising of the Nazis...

3.1917. The "Red October", the great revolution in Russia

4. 1929. the great stock market crash which caused great economical crisis all over the world and made the gap between the victors and the defeated of the WWI even greater. it will lead to WWII

5. 1933. Adolph Hitler won the elections in Germany and took over the power over it... you know what happened next.

6. 1939. the invasion of Poland on the 1st September, and the beginning of the WWII

7. 1945. A-bomb

8. 1969. man on the Moon

9. 1989. the fall of the Berlin wall

10. 1990. the dissolution of Yugoslavia which is sort of a climax of instability in Balkans, the cause of civil was and further wars and massacres in this region.


sorry, if you gave us top 20, i'd put in some inventions,too

Answer 5

Off the top of my head, I can think of five. In no particular order:

1. The Civil Rights movement - A true grassroots effort, started by Rosa Parks and the ensuing bus boycott.

2. The atomic bombing of Japan - Bringing a swift end to WWII, it also brought on a prolonged "Cold War." Ushered in a pointless and tense stand-off between two super-governments for nearly 50 years. They had the bomb, we had the bomb. Each country macho enough to push the button, yet scared enough to fear nuclear annihilation.

3. The Wright brothers first flight - They first flew in 1903. A mere 66 years later, men landed on the moon. Never in the history of mankind has so much technological progress happened in so short a time.

4. The Great Depression - An economic disaster on a global scale. It forced governments to rethink entire ways of doing business. Ironically enough, it took WWII to push this country into economic prosperity in the decades to follow.

5. The Vietnam war - An ugly drawn-out affair that made America realize conventional warfare was useless. It imperiled the lives of millions of people, not only in wartime casualties but also the displacement of entire generations of Southeast Asians. America's policy of "domino theory" was utterly hopeless.

Answer 6

The Crucifixion of Christ and the Resurrection The Martydom of his Apostles The persecution of Christians in Roman Empire The legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire The rise of the Lollards and other Christian "heretics" (according to the Roman Catholic Church) The executions of John Wycliffe and Jan Hus (two men who translated the Bible into vernacular languages). The Inquisition The Crusades The inventing of the printing press (allowed Bibles to made en masse) The Reformation and the rise of Protestantism The Counter-Reformation

Answer 7

In Chronological Order:

1. 1903 - KittyHawk: the birth of flight

2. 1914 - Assassination of Arch-Duke Ferdinand
- this set off WWI which led to:
* WWII eventually
* the creation of Arab countries such as Iraq
* the Israeli/Palestinean conflict when Palestine came into British hands
* The Russian Revolution

3. 1927 - Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic

4. 1929 - Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression - huge impact on the US which allowed for some socialist reforms to be implemented such as Welfare.
*In some ways the Great Depression helped prepare future soliders for WWII. A number of them worked for the CCC which young men worked for in military-style accomadations and regulations.

5. 1940 - Battle of Britain: although it was unlikely the Nazis ever could have successfully invaded the UK, the Battle of Britian was a tremendous morale boosters to beleagured forces everywhere. It allowed UK to remain a strong resistant force which later provided staging ground for American and other allied forces to raid and finally invade Nazi held Europe. Plus this year was Churchhill's finest hour.

6. 1941 - Pearl Harbor: propelled a relunctant isolationist America into WWII which helped to end the Nazi menace and led to the dropping of the first atomic weapon.

7. 1945 - Hiroshima and Nagasaki - the beginning of the Atomic Age

8. 1963 - the Assassination of President JFK

9. 1969 - Landing on the Moon

10. 1989 - the Berlin Wall comes down and 40 years of Cold War politics comes to an end

Answer 8

1. The integrated circuit
2. automobiles
3. fiber optics
4. The attack on the WTC.
5. Vietnam
6. The assasination of MLK
7. The assasination of JFK.
8. The Civil Rights movement
9. The internet revolution
10. The birth of Karen McDougal

Answer 9

These have got to include:

Battle of Midway (June 1942), the turning point of WWII in the Pacific.
First controlled nuclear chain reaction (Enrico Fermi, Univ. of Chicago, Dec. 1942) marking the start of the atomic age.
First digital computer (Manchester, June 1948) - although other books will tell you differently, especially American ones - marking the start of the computer age.
Berlin Wall coming down (Nov. 1989) marking the effective end of Communism as a global threat.

Answer 10

Electronics/electricity

Rockets/Space exploration

Relativity/Einstein/Atomic age

Anti-Matter (Positrons)

Flight by man

Global communications/internet/computer science

Industrial revolutiion (although it started before the 20th century)

Landing on the Moon (although that is rocket exploration)

Environmental awareness (even though we've failed at it)

Racial tolerance (even though we haven't totally acheived it)

Sexual liberation (although there are still problems and quandaries)