Legend
Colour Meaning
Red Terrorism/War/Revolutions/Politics
Green Natural disasters/Accidents
Purple Scientific/Technology/Discoveries
Orange Economic
Blue Other

For any contributors, add only events with significant media coverage or of historic importance. Please avoid elections, regular hurricane events or similar. Keep events at no more than 10 per year.

NOTE: I used : to rapresent months. Three ":::" before an event means March.

Contents: 20th Century 21st Century

See also - References - Footnotes - External links

20th Century

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1960s

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1966

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Nuclear scare in the Mediterranean


1967

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Coup brings military junta to power in Greece
Six days of fire change the Middle East
Civil war begins in Nigeria

1968

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Revolutionary wave sweeps the whole world
Communists launch the Tet offensive in Vietnam
Prague Spring movement crushed

1969

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Border skirmishes between China and the USSR erupt
Short war erupts in Central America
Man lands on the Moon
Gaddafi takes power in Libya

1970s

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1970

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Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War
The Apollo 13 accident occurs
Thousands killed in Peruvian tremor
Palestinians go to war with Jordan
Catastrophic cyclone hits Bangladesh

1971

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India and Pakistan go to war over Bangladesh

1972

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Hutus killed in Burundi
Terrorists attack the Munich Olympic Games

1973

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U.S. involvement in Vietnam agreed to end
Augusto Pinochet deposes Salvador Allende's governmment
War breaks out in the Middle East

1974

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Deadly air disaster in France
Turkey invades Cyprus
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia deposed in a military coup

1975

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Civil war breaks out in Lebanon
Genocidal Khmer Rouge take power in Cambodia
Communist takeover of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Indonesia invades East Timor

1976

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Earthquake devastates Central America
Argentina becomes a military dictatorship
Syria intervenes in the Lebanese Civil War
Israeli forces storm Uganda in order to free hostages
One of the deadliest earthquakes ever occurs in China

1977

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Deadliest airline disaster ever occurs
Somalia invades Ethiopia
Libya and Egypt clash
Elvis Presley dies

1978

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• Egyptian raid in Cyprus fails
Israel invades Lebanon
Aldo Moro kidnapped and executed in Italy
Communists topple Afghan government
Thousands die in Iran temblor
Egypt and Israel make peace in Camp David

1979

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Vietnamese take Phnom Penh and oust the Khmer Rouge
Monarchy overthrown in Iran
China invades Vietnam
Idi Amin overthrown
Sandinistas take power in Nicaragua
U.S. embassy and hostages seized in Iran
Islamists seize the Grand Mosque of Mecca
Soviets invade Afghanistan

1980s

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1980

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• U.S. mission to rescue hostages in Iran fails
• Mount St. Helens erupts
The Iran-Iraq War begins
John Lennon assassinated

1981

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• Assassination bid of Ronald Reagan fails
• Pope John Paul II injured in assassination attempt
• Israeli planes bomb a nuclear reactor in Iraq
President Sadat of Egypt assassinated

1982

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The Falkland/Malvinas War erupts
• Israeli forces invade Lebanon
• Palestinians massacred in Lebanese refugee camps

1983

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• United States embassy bombed in Beirut
• War breaks out in Sri Lanka
• Soviet planes shot down a South Korean airliner
• Foreign soldiers killed in attacks on military barracks in Beirut

1984

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• Indian Army fights Sikhs in Amritsar
• Indira Gandhi assassinated
• The Bhopal disaster occurs

1985

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• TWA Flight 847 hijacked
• Boeing 747 crash in Japan kills hundreds
• Earthquake rocks Mexico City
• Israel launches airstrike on Tunisia
• Terrorists attack Rome and Vienna airports

1986

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• Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lift-off
Mir launched
• Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme assassinated
• United States airplanes bomb Libya
• The Chernobyl disaster takes place
The Iran-Contra Affair revealed

1987

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• Uprising begins in the Palestinian territories

1988

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• Hundreds die in a poison gas attack on Iraqi Kurds
• United States military shots down a civilian airliner
• Earthquake devastates Armenia
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state
• The Lockerbie bombing occurs

1989

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• Soviets leave Afghanistan
• The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurs
• Chinese troops crush the Tiananmen Square protests
• The Loma Prieta earthquake shakes California
The Berlin Wall falls
• The U.S. military invades Panama

1990

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• South and North Yemen unite
• Tens of thousands die in Iran earthquake
• Iraqi troops invade Kuwait

1990s

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1991

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• The Gulf War erupts
• Cyclone kills thousands in Bangladesh
Dictatorship ends in Ethiopia
• Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence, triggering the breakup and wars of Yugoslavia
• Dissolution of the USSR

1992

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Ethnic tensions start the Bosnian War

1993

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Czechoslovakia gets peacefully divided
• Terrorists bomb New York's World Trade Center
• Russia comes close to civil war
United States troops battle in Mogadishu, Somalia

1994

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Hutus massacre Tutsis in Rwanda
• Comet collides with Jupiter
• Terrorist attack targets Jewish center in Argentina
• Worst European maritime disaster in modern times occurs in the Baltic Sea
• Russian troops invade Chechnya

1995

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• An earthquake devastates Kobe, Japan
• Cult attacks Tokyo subway with poisonous gas
• Oklahoma City bombing
• Bosniaks massacred in Srebrenica
• Operation Storm ends the war in Croatia
• NATO bombs Bosnian Serbs
• The Dayton Agreement ends the Bosnian War

1996

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• Israeli shelling kills dozens of civilians in Lebanon
• Controversial TWA Flight 800 incident takes place
• The Taliban take Afghanistan's capital Kabul
• Rebels take hostages at the Japanese embassy in Lima, Peru

1997

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• Diana, Princess of Wales dies in a car crash in Paris
• Terrorists massacre tourists in Egypt's Luxor archaeological site

1998

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• Insurgency intensifies in Serbia's Kosovo province
• The world's deadliest high-speed train disaster occurrs in Germany
• Terrorists strike United States embassies in East Africa
• Cruise missile attacks strike terrorists in Afghanistan and Sudan
• Iraq is targeted in a four-day bombing campaign

1999

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• NATO bombs Yugoslavia
• The Columbine High School massacre takes place
• India and Pakistan fight in Kashmir
• Earthquake devastates İzmit, Turkey
• Rebels unsuccessfully invade Russia's Republic of Dagestan
• Explosions destroy apartments accross Russia
• Russian troops invade Chechnya
• General Pervez Musharraf takes power in a coup d'etat in Pakistan

2000

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• Doctor Harold Shipman is found guilty of killing 215 people, making him the United Kingdom's most prolific serial killers
• A Concorde crashes near Paris
• The Russian submarine Kursk explodes and sinks
• A controversial visit to a sacred site in Jerusalem leads to a Palestinian uprising
• Slobodan Milošević is overthrown in Serbia
• Terrorists bomb a United States warship in Yemen
A fire causes tragedy in an Austrian funicular tunnel

21st Century

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• Macedonia comes close to civil war in a rebel insurgency
• A plane colision stirs diplomatic row between the United States and China
Terrorists strike the United States
• U.S. led forces invade Afghanistan
Israel invades the West Bank in response to a string of terror attacks
A coup d'etat in Venezuela fails to depose president Hugo Chavez
Überlingen Mid-Air Collision
Bali resort attacked
Moscow theater hostage crisis
Prestige oil spill
• The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas
• Conflict starts in Sudan's Darfur region
• Global SARS outbreak
United States-led forces invade Iraq
• Rebels lay siege to the Liberian capital Monrovia
• Earthquake destroys Bam, Iran
• Terrorists strike Madrid
• A Shia uprising escalates the Iraq War
• Prisoner abuse in Iraq is exposed
• The first privately-funded human spaceflight takes place
• Children are among the hostages killed in a school siege in Russia
Earthquake and tsunami kill thousands in Southeast Asia
• An uprising is crushed by the Uzbekistan government
• Terrorists attack London's public transit system
• The Space Shuttle returns to flight
• Hurricane Katrina devastates the southern United States
• One thousand die in a stampede in Baghdad
• The Great Pakistan earthquake kills thousands
• A three-week civil unrest grips France
A mosque bombing escalates Sunni-Shia civil strife in Iraq
• A Hezbollah attack on Israel sparks a 34-day war
• North Korea conducts its first ever nuclear test
• An ex-KGB officer is poisoned in London, causing controversy
• Ethiopia invades Somalia
• The United States escalate its involvement in Iraq
• 32 are killed in a Virginia campus mass murder
• Hamas takes control of the Gaza Strip
• Ex-Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated
• Violence follows a contested election in Kenya
• Kosovo unilaterally declares independence from Serbia
• A cyclone brings destruction to Burma
• The deadliest earthquake in China since 1976 kills thousands
• Radovan Karađić is arrested in Serbia
• War breaks out in Georgia
• Terrorists unleash war in Mumbai, India
• Israel drops "Cast Lead" on the Gaza Strip
• Global flu psychosis starts in Mexico
• The Sri Lankan Civil War ends with government victory
• Violent protests in Iran
• Death of Michael Jackson
• Fighting escalates in Yemen, with Saudi Arabia drawn into
• Earthquake razes the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince
Warship sinking ups tension on the Korean peninsula
• Government of Kyrgyzstan toppled
Polish president and officials die in a plane accident
• Icelandic volcano shuts down European airspace
Explosion triggers a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
• Israel clashes with pro-Palestinian activists off Gaza
Miners rescued after being trapped for 69 days in a Chilean mine
Deadly shelling ups tension on the Korean peninsula further
Diplomatic cables leaked
Hundreds dead in Brazilian mudslides
Tunisian dictator overthrown after weeks of protests
• Egypt's Mubarak ousted
Uprising begins against Libya's Gaddafi government
• The "Big One" strikes Japan, causing a tsunami and a nuclear disaster
Deadly uprising begins in Syria
Ivorian president toppled after a short civil war
Death of Osama bin Laden announced
Media scandal shakes the UK
Terror strikes Norway
Deadly famine hits Somalia
Death of Muammar Gaddafi ends the Civil War in Libya
ETA announces the end of its campaign against Spain
DPRK's Kin Jong-il dies
Human error sinks a cruise ship off Italy
Northern Mali taken over by rebels
Conflict in Syria becomes a full-blown civil war
Man jumps from the edge of space and breaks the sound barrier
France launches an operation against Islamists in Mali
In a historic move that shocks the world, Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation
The President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez dies
Hundreds killed in Bangladesh building collapse
Army removes Egyptian president Morsi from power
Hundreds killed in chemical attacks in the Syrian civil war
Terrorists strike Nairobi
Thousands dead in Philippines typhoon
China lands a robot on the Moon
South Sudan descends into civil war
Government overthrown in Ukraine, leading to Russian intervention and internal conflict
Airliner disappears in the Indian Ocean
Ebola epidemic in West Africa is deadliest in history
Radical Islamists occupy large swaths of Iraq and establish a Caliphate
Airliner shot down over battlefield Ukraine
War breaks out in the Gaza Strip
The United States actively engages the Islamic Caliphate
Probe lands on an asteroid
Terrorists strike Paris
Probe orbits Ceres
War breaks out in Yemen
Earthquake devastates Nepal
Pluto visited by NASA spacecraft
Cuba and the U.S. resume diplomatic relations
Deadly stampede in Mecca
Russia joins the war in Syria
Terrorists down a russian airliner
Terrorists strike Paris