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German Reunification
After WWII, Germany divided into two parts. The Berlin Wall separated them into West and East of Germany due to the differences they faced politically. The East part of Germany was ruled by the Soviet Union. In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell and that event marked the Germans reuniting. The reunification was they best choice for Germany economically and politically. It also marked one of the finally events of the Cold War. (NATO) -
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope was a telescope NASA launched into space on April 24, 1990. The telescope was created to help NASA gain more detail images and information about the solar system. It was name dafter Edwin Hubble who was an astronomer. The Hubble telescope takes pictures of the galaxy, along with stars and other planets to help astronomers observe and evaluate space. This telescope opened up a new world of findings in space and has showed the world more about astronomy. (NASA.gov) -
Bill Clinton Takes Office
Previous Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton gets elected into office in January of 1993. He served as president for two terms from 1993 to 2001 apart of the Democratic Party. In 1998 he's was impeached by the House of Representatives due to accusations of perjury. Despite the accusations, Clinton was able to resume his presidency after the impeachment. Throughout his term he pushed for many economic and political reforms, (Kruse and Zelizer, 207) -
Rwanda Genocide
In Rwanda, Africa in 1994 a horrific event occurred. Over the course of 100 days, 800,000 people lost their lives. On April 7, 1994 Habyarimana and Burundi’s president Cyprien Ntaryamiras plane was shot down and there were no survivors. This event was first of many of these attack from the Hutus ethnic group upon the Tutsis, these two groups had tensions building up. It was not until July that thee Rwanda Patriotic Front gained control and put a stop to the genocide. (History.com) -
Oklahoma City Bombing
April 19, 1995 a terrorist attack occurred that toke down the Alfred Federal Building in Oklahoma City and many lives. The Fault Lines (Kruse and Zelizer, 221) shares this horrific event killed 168 people and left 600 others injured. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were the two men behind the truck filled with bombs that exploded that day. This horrible act left the country considering new ways to prevent terrorism. Bill Clinton pushed for an antiterrorism bill to prevent and punish terrorism. -
Centennial Olympic Park Bombing
During the year of 1996 the annual summer Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia. At the Centennial Olympics a terrorist attack occurred. An anonymous 911 call came in warning that a bomb would be exploding. Eric Rudolph was the man at the hands of the attack that killed 2 and injured 111 others. He was also suspected to be apart of other terrorist attacks and was not arrested until May 2003. This showed to the world that large events are targets for attacks and more protection is needed. (CNN) -
Columbine Massacre
Columbine High School located in Littleton, Colorado faced a tragedy on April 20th, 1999. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were the two man at the root of the massacre that left 1 teacher and 12 students killed. This shooting and attempted bombing also left 23 others wounded. This horrific event lead to many worried families and teachers that want to find better school safety to prevent these actions from happening again. (FBI: The Vault) -
9/11
On September 11, 2001 four airplanes were hijacked by Islamic terrorist. Two planes hit and collapsed the Twin Towers in New York City, another hitting the Pentagon near Washington DC and the last crashing in Pennsylvania due to onboard passengers trying to regain control. Around 3,000 lives lost due to this devastating event and left over 6,000 others injured. This horrific event made the US want to strive to better maintain safety and privacy in the world around us. (US Department of State) -
The War in Iraq
In 2003 the US invaded Iraq to try to destroy their weapons of mass destructions. Saddam Hussein was the former President of Iraq at the time. The US was under the assumption that he and Iraq had nuclear weapons that could be released to destroy countries.The War in Iraq lasted from March 19, 2003 to 2011, with over 100,000 deaths of Iraq civilians. In 2011 Barack Obama said that the rest of the US troops would be coming home to end the war. (Council on Foreign Relations) -
Indian Ocean Tsunami
December 26, 2004 an earthquake hit Sumatra, Indonesia causing a Tsunami to come rolling in shortly after. The earthquake was one of the worst one ever with a 9.1 magnitude hitting Sumatra. Banda Aceh was the city closet to the earthquake, and then wavs began traveling. 18 countries surrounding the Indian Ocean were effect by this Tsunami. This tragedy left about 230,000 lives lost and around 5 million dollars worth of destruction that needed to be rebuilt in the aftermath. (History.com) -
Hurricane Katrina
In August of 2005 a category 5 storm hit the Gulf Coast that lasted 9 days, leaving states damaged in many ways. The Fault Lines shares, "In the end, Hurricane Katrina proved to be the most expensive natural disaster in American history, with property famed estimated at $108 billion" (Kruse and Zelizer, 280). This storm also wounded many lives, with 1,833 deaths due to this deadly storm that is now known as one of the most devastating and destructive hurricanes. -
The Great Recession
In 2007 The United States faced a financial depression. It began by the housing market collapsing due to mortgage debts. This lead to the economic crisis where many people became unemployed and it affected businesses and families around the world. It wasn't until 2009, former President Barak Obama helped pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This Recovery Act ended the economic depression by helping with tax relief and creating new jobs for the people impacted around the world. -
Barack Obama Becomes President
In 2009 Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States. He made history by becoming the first African American to be elected president. In 2011 he announced that the US Troops were coming back and the Iraq war was over which he had promised to do in 2008. During his term he really focused on economic relief after the Great Recession and healthcare. He created Obamacare and Affordable Care Act (ACA) which strives to make health care more affordable. (The White House)