20th Century Important Events

By chowm1

  • The Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

    At the end of the February Revolution of 1917, Nicholas II chose to abdicate. His abdication and the subsequent Bolshevik revolution brought three centuries of the Romanov dynasty's rule to an end.

  • Wall Street Crash

    The Wall Street stock market crashed in October 1929, and the world economy was plunged into the Great Depression. In America, the number of unemployed people reached 13 million. The American economy didn't fully recover until the USA entered World War II in December 1941.

  • The Birth of Elvis Presley

    The "King of Rock and Roll" was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. He is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century.
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    The Holocaust

    Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the Nazi government passed laws to exclude Jews from civil society. The Holocaust was a genocide during World War II in which Nazi Germany attempted to eliminate the Jewish population of Europe. Some six million European Jews were killed.

  • The Fall of Hong Kong

    The Japanese invaded Hong Kong on the eighth of December, 1941. They took Hong Kong by surprise, and less than two weeks later, Hong Kong surrendered, thus ending the Battle of Hong Kong.

  • The Discovery of DNA

    James Watson and Francis Crick received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Maurice Wilkins for their discovery of DNA.

  • The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

    John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was shot dead in 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald was subsequently arrested, but as of this day Kennedy's assassination is still the subject of widespread debate and has spawned numerous conspiracy theories.

  • First People on the Moon

    Apollo 11 landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon's surface. They were the first two people to step onto the moon; this event ended the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

  • The Watergate Scandal

    The Watergate scandal was a political scandal that occurred in the United States during the early 1970s. President Richard Nixon and his administration attempted to cover up their involvement, leading to a constitutional crisis. Eventually, on 9 August 1974, Nixon resigned, preventing the House of Representatives from impeaching him. Gerald Ford succeeded him as the president.

  • The Invention of the World Wide Web

    English scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. The World Wide Web has been central to the development of the Information Age and is the primary tool billions of people use to interact on the Internet.

  • Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989

    The Tiananmen Square protests were student-led demonstrations in Beijing. Students called for democracy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech, among other goals. The protests were forcibly stopped by the army as troops opened fire on citizens, killing at least several hundred people.

  • The Cloning of Dolly the Sheep

    Dolly was the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. The successful cloning was an indication of advances into stem cell research.

  • The Handover of Hong Kong

    The Handover was the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China. This event marked the end of British rule in Hong Kong.