New Delhi: The 20th century was an eventful period in which many notable events took place. Those important events changed the world in many ways and formed the basis of the 21st century. There were several events in the last century which changed the course of our civilisation and in this article, we will take a look at some of them.
7 significant events of the 20th century
1. World War I
World War I was fought between two sides, the Allies and the Central Powers. Europe was mainly the venue for fighting along with the Middle East. However, the war also touched parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The massive war was marked by the use of machine guns, and chemical weapons. It was one of the deadliest conflicts ever and around 9 million military personnel died from it and 23 million were injured. Also, around 8 million people died due to the war and the Spanish flu pandemic which spread due to the war.
2. World War II
World War II was fought between the Allies and the Axis powers and involved all the great powers at that time. Almost all the countries were part of the war in one way or the other, including economic, industrial, and scientific contributions. The war was marked by tanks, aircraft and most importantly, nuclear weapons. The war is the only one in history to date where nuclear weapons were used. It was the deadliest conflict ever, resulting in the death of 70 to 85 million people. Millions of people died in genocides, including the Holocaust of European Jews.
3. Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On August 6 and 9, 1945, during the fag end of World War II, the US dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They killed 150,000 to 246,000 people, mostly civilians, and remain the only time when nuclear weapons have been used in an armed conflict. On August 15, Japan surrendered to the Allies, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki.
4. Holocaust
During World War II, the European Jews were subjected to genocide by the Nazi Germany. Six million Jews were murdered across German-occupied Europe between 1941 and 1945, which was around two-thirds Jewish population in the continent. Mass shootings and poison gas were used in extermination camps, in occupied Poland.
5. Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was a spaceflight of the United States which was active from July 16 to July 24, 1969. It marked the first time that humans set foot on the Moon. On July 20, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle and on July 21, Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon’s surface. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later.
6. Soviet Union’s Dissolution
On December 26, 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally dissolved as a sovereign state, ending the Soviet Union’s federal government. Even though the USSR was highly centralized, it comprised 15 top-level republics that served as the homelands for different ethnicities. With the dissolution of the USSR, several new countries emerged in the Baltic region.
7. Great Depression
It was a massive global economic downturn which impacted many nations. It was triggered by a sharp decline in stock prices in the US, the world’s largest economy at the time. It started around September 1929 and led to the Wall Street stock market crash of October, triggering a prolonged period of economic hardship. The features of that period include high unemployment rates and widespread business failures.
There were several events in the last century which changed the course of our civilisation. It witnessed the deadliest wars in human history and also the conquest of the Moon. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
