Modern
1945 AD–2025 AD · 297 events
War
- Atomic Bomb Dropped (1945 AD)
- Germany Surrenders (1945 AD)
- World War Two Ends (1945 AD)
- Berlin Blockade (1948 AD)
- Korean War Begins (1950 AD)
- Korean War Armistice (1953 AD)
- France Defeated at Dien Bien Phu (1954 AD)
- Algerian War of Independence (1954 AD)
- Vietnam War (1955 AD)
- Bay of Pigs Invasion Fails (1961 AD)
- US Combat Troops Enter Vietnam (1965 AD)
- Six Day War (1967 AD)
- Tet Offensive (1968 AD)
- Bangladesh Liberation War (1971 AD)
- Fall of Saigon (1975 AD)
- Khmer Rouge Takes Cambodia (1975 AD)
- Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan (1979 AD)
- Iran-Iraq War Begins (1980 AD)
- Falklands War (1982 AD)
- Iraq Invades Kuwait (1990 AD)
- Yugoslavia Begins to Break Up (1991 AD)
- Rwandan Genocide Ends (1994 AD)
- Oklahoma City Bombing (1995 AD)
- Kosovo War (1999 AD)
- September 11 Attacks (2001 AD)
- Osama bin Laden Killed (2011 AD)
- Syrian Civil War Begins (2011 AD)
- Russia Annexes Crimea (2014 AD)
Politics
- Indonesia Declares Independence (1945 AD)
- Yalta Conference (1945 AD)
- United Nations Founded (1945 AD)
- Iron Curtain Speech (1946 AD)
- UNICEF Founded (1946 AD)
- Partition of India (1947 AD)
- Marshall Plan Announced (1947 AD)
- India Gains Independence (1947 AD)
- Truman Doctrine (1947 AD)
- CIA Founded (1947 AD)
- State of Israel Founded (1948 AD)
- Gandhi Assassinated (1948 AD)
- NATO Founded (1949 AD)
- People's Republic of China Founded (1949 AD)
- Brown v. Board of Education (1954 AD)
- Warsaw Pact Founded (1955 AD)
- Bandung Conference (1955 AD)
- Hungarian Revolution (1956 AD)
- Suez Crisis (1956 AD)
- European Economic Community (1957 AD)
- Ghana Independence (1957 AD)
- Cuban Revolution (1959 AD)
- Year of Africa (1960 AD)
- Berlin Wall Built (1961 AD)
- Cuban Missile Crisis (1962 AD)
- Algerian Independence (1962 AD)
- Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream (1963 AD)
- March on Washington (1963 AD)
- Organisation of African Unity Founded (1963 AD)
- Civil Rights Act (1964 AD)
- Singapore Independence (1965 AD)
- Cultural Revolution in China (1966 AD)
- ASEAN Founded (1967 AD)
- Prague Spring Crushed (1968 AD)
- Kent State Shootings (1970 AD)
- Creation of UAE (1971 AD)
- Nixon Opens China (1972 AD)
- Chile Coup (1973 AD)
- Yom Kippur War and Oil Shock (1973 AD)
- Nixon Resigns (1974 AD)
- Helsinki Accords Signed (1975 AD)
- Mao Zedong Dies (1976 AD)
- Camp David Accords (1978 AD)
- Iranian Revolution (1979 AD)
- Thatcher Becomes UK PM (1979 AD)
- Solidarity Founded in Poland (1980 AD)
- Zimbabwe Independence (1980 AD)
- Gorbachev Introduces Glasnost (1985 AD)
- Gorbachev Perestroika (1985 AD)
- Philippines People Power Revolution (1986 AD)
- INF Treaty Signed (1987 AD)
- Berlin Wall Falls (1989 AD)
- Tiananmen Square Massacre (1989 AD)
- UN Convention on Rights of Child (1989 AD)
- German Reunification (1990 AD)
- Soviet Union Collapses (1991 AD)
- India Economic Liberalization (1991 AD)
- Gulf War (1991 AD)
- Oslo Accords Signed (1993 AD)
- End of Apartheid (1994 AD)
- Nelson Mandela Elected President (1994 AD)
- Hong Kong Handover (1997 AD)
- Suharto Falls in Indonesia (1998 AD)
- Good Friday Agreement (1998 AD)
- Euro Currency Launched (1999 AD)
- Iraq War Begins (2003 AD)
- Barack Obama Elected (2008 AD)
- Arab Spring in Tunisia (2011 AD)
- Malala Yousafzai Shot (2012 AD)
- Brexit Vote (2016 AD)
- Greta Thunberg's School Strike (2018 AD)
- Russia Invades Ukraine (2022 AD)
Science
- Trinity Nuclear Test (1945 AD)
- ENIAC Unveiled (1946 AD)
- Transistor Invented (1947 AD)
- First Successful Polio Vaccine (1952 AD)
- DNA Structure Discovered (1953 AD)
- Sputnik Orbits Earth (1957 AD)
- Yuri Gagarin in Space (1961 AD)
- Shinkansen Bullet Train Opens (1964 AD)
- First Heart Transplant (1967 AD)
- Apollo 11 Moon Landing (1969 AD)
- First Earth Day (1970 AD)
- Microprocessor Invented (1971 AD)
- Internet Precursor Created (1973 AD)
- India Tests Nuclear Bomb (1974 AD)
- First Test-Tube Baby Born (1978 AD)
- IBM Personal Computer Released (1981 AD)
- AIDS Crisis Recognized (1981 AD)
- HIV/AIDS Virus Identified (1983 AD)
- Bhopal Disaster (1984 AD)
- World Wide Web Invented (1989 AD)
- Human Genome Project Begins (1990 AD)
- Hubble Telescope Launch (1990 AD)
- South Africa Dismantles Its Nuclear Weapons (1994 AD)
- Deep Blue Beats Chess Champion (1997 AD)
- Dolly the Sheep Cloned (1997 AD)
- Google Founded (1998 AD)
- Sahelanthropus and the Fossil Trail (1998 AD)
- Human Genome Sequenced (2003 AD)
- Southern African Large Telescope Opens (2005 AD)
- iPhone Released (2007 AD)
- Higgs Boson Discovered (2012 AD)
- Square Kilometre Array Sited in Africa (2012 AD)
- Paris Climate Agreement (2015 AD)
- AlphaGo Defeats World Champion (2016 AD)
- Ethiopia Launches Space Program (2017 AD)
- COVID-19 Emerges (2019 AD)
- Africa Declared Free of Wild Polio (2020 AD)
- Webb Space Telescope Images (2022 AD)
Sports
- Jackie Robinson Breaks Color Barrier (1947 AD)
- Maracanazo (1950 AD)
- First Asian Games (1951 AD)
- First Pan American Games (1951 AD)
- Roger Bannister Runs 4-Minute Mile (1954 AD)
- World Cup Final Miracle of Bern (1954 AD)
- First Africa Cup of Nations (1957 AD)
- Ali Wins Olympic Gold (1960 AD)
- Abebe Bikila wins marathon barefoot (1960 AD)
- Tokyo Hosts the First Asian Olympics (1964 AD)
- Israel Hosts and Wins the Asian Cup (1964 AD)
- England Wins World Cup (1966 AD)
- First Super Bowl (1967 AD)
- Olympic Black Power Salute (1968 AD)
- Kenyan Distance Running Arrives (1968 AD)
- Brazil Wins Third World Cup (1970 AD)
- Munich Olympics Massacre (1972 AD)
- Billie Jean King vs Bobby Riggs (1973 AD)
- Ali vs Foreman Rumble in the Jungle (1974 AD)
- Tehran Hosts the Asian Games (1974 AD)
- Thrilla in Manila (1975 AD)
- Arthur Ashe Wins Wimbledon (1975 AD)
- Nadia Comaneci Perfect Ten (1976 AD)
- Miracle on Ice (1980 AD)
- America's Cup Lost by US (1983 AD)
- India Wins the Cricket World Cup (1983 AD)
- Maradona Hand of God (1986 AD)
- Seoul Olympics (1988 AD)
- Cameroon Reaches World Cup Quarterfinals (1990 AD)
- Chicago Bulls First Title (1991 AD)
- First Women's World Cup (1991 AD)
- Dream Team at Barcelona Olympics (1992 AD)
- South Africa Returns to the Olympics (1992 AD)
- Tour de France Doping Scandal (1994 AD)
- Rugby World Cup South Africa (1995 AD)
- Nigeria Wins Olympic Football Gold (1996 AD)
- France Wins Home World Cup (1998 AD)
- Iran Beats the United States at the World Cup (1998 AD)
- Tiger Woods Wins US Open by 15 (2000 AD)
- Brazil Wins Record Fifth World Cup (2002 AD)
- First Bahrain Grand Prix (2004 AD)
- Doha Hosts the Asian Games (2006 AD)
- Michael Phelps Wins 8 Golds (2008 AD)
- Usain Bolt Sets World Records (2008 AD)
- First World Cup in Africa (2010 AD)
- Leicester City Wins Premier League (2016 AD)
- Ali Dies (2016 AD)
- South Africa Wins Rugby World Cup (2019 AD)
- Sub-Two-Hour Marathon Run (2019 AD)
- Tokyo Olympics Held in Pandemic (2021 AD)
- World Cup in Qatar (2022 AD)
- Morocco Reaches a World Cup Semifinal (2022 AD)
Culture
- Anne Frank's Diary Published (1947 AD)
- First Edinburgh Festival (1947 AD)
- Rock and Roll birth (1954 AD)
- Disneyland Opens (1955 AD)
- Things Fall Apart published (1958 AD)
- Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964 AD)
- Beatlemania (1964 AD)
- Woodstock Festival (1969 AD)
- Sesame Street Premiere (1969 AD)
- Rubik's Cube Invented (1974 AD)
- Star Wars Release (1977 AD)
- FESTAC '77 (1977 AD)
- MTV Launch (1981 AD)
- Live Aid (1985 AD)
- Sesame Street Comes to the Region (1988 AD)
- Pokemon Blue/Red (1996 AD)
- Harry Potter Published (1997 AD)
- Opening of Tate Modern (2000 AD)
- Wikipedia Launched (2001 AD)
- Louvre Abu Dhabi Opens (2017 AD)
Economy
- ECSC founded (1951 AD)
- Iran Nationalizes Its Oil Industry (1951 AD)
- Container Shipping Revolution (1956 AD)
- Barbie Launched (1959 AD)
- Founding of OPEC (1960 AD)
- Nixon Ends Gold Standard (1971 AD)
- Nigeria Joins OPEC (1971 AD)
- OPEC Oil Embargo (1973 AD)
- China Opens Economy (1978 AD)
- China Opens Special Economic Zones (1980 AD)
- SABP (Structural Adjustment Programs) (1980 AD)
- Jebel Ali Free Zone Opens in Dubai (1985 AD)
- Black Monday Stock Crash (1987 AD)
- Japan's Asset Bubble Bursts (1991 AD)
- NAFTA Takes Effect (1994 AD)
- Amazon Founded (1995 AD)
- Asian Financial Crisis (1997 AD)
- China Joins WTO (2001 AD)
- Facebook Founded (2004 AD)
- Subprime Mortgage Crisis Begins (2007 AD)
- M-Pesa Launches in Kenya (2007 AD)
- Global Financial Crisis (2008 AD)
- Lehman Brothers Collapses (2008 AD)
- Bitcoin Created (2009 AD)
- Belt and Road Initiative (2013 AD)
- COVID Economic Crash (2020 AD)
- African Continental Free Trade Area Begins (2021 AD)
Exploration
- Everest First Climbed (1953 AD)
- Marianas Trench Descent (1960 AD)
- Heyerdahl's Ra II (1970 AD)
- China Launches Its First Satellite (1970 AD)
- Lucy Found in Ethiopia (1974 AD)
- Junko Tabei Climbs Everest (1975 AD)
- Voyager Probes Launched (1977 AD)
- Sahara Rock Art Surveyed (2000 AD)
- Yang Liwei Becomes China's First Astronaut (2003 AD)
- Curiosity Rover on Mars (2012 AD)
- Chang'e 3 Lands on the Moon (2013 AD)
- New Horizons Reaches Pluto (2015 AD)
- First Black Hole Photographed (2019 AD)
- Ingenuity Helicopter Flies on Mars (2021 AD)
- Chandrayaan-3 Lands Near Lunar South Pole (2023 AD)
Disaster
- North Sea Flood (1953 AD)
- Valdivia Earthquake (1960 AD)
- Agadir Earthquake (1960 AD)
- Sahel Drought (1968 AD)
- Dasht-e Bayaz Earthquake (1968 AD)
- Bhola Cyclone (1970 AD)
- Ancash Earthquake and Yungay Avalanche (1970 AD)
- Managua Earthquake (1972 AD)
- Tangshan Earthquake (1976 AD)
- Iranian Town of Tabas Leveled by Quake (1978 AD)
- Mount St Helens Eruption (1980 AD)
- El Asnam Earthquake (1980 AD)
- Ethiopian Famine (1984 AD)
- Armero Tragedy (1985 AD)
- Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster (1986 AD)
- Lake Nyos Disaster (1986 AD)
- Manjil-Rudbar Earthquake (1990 AD)
- Mount Pinatubo Eruption (1991 AD)
- Drought in Southern Africa (1992 AD)
- Kobe Earthquake (1995 AD)
- Hurricane Mitch Devastates Central America (1998 AD)
- Izmit Earthquake (1999 AD)
- Nyiragongo Volcano Engulfs Goma (2002 AD)
- Bam Earthquake Destroys Ancient Citadel (2003 AD)
- Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004 AD)
- Hurricane Katrina (2005 AD)
- Sichuan Earthquake (2008 AD)
- Haiti Earthquake (2010 AD)
- Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (2011 AD)
- Fukushima Meltdown (2011 AD)
- Horn of Africa Famine (2011 AD)
- West African Ebola Epidemic (2014 AD)
- Cyclone Idai Strikes Mozambique (2019 AD)
- COVID-19 Pandemic (2020 AD)
- Beirut Port Explosion (2020 AD)
- Turkey Syria Earthquake (2023 AD)
Religion
- Buddhist revival in India (1956 AD)
- Dalai Lama Flees to India (1959 AD)
- African Independent Churches Spread (1960 AD)
- Vatican II (1962 AD)
- Medellin Bishops' Conference (1968 AD)
- Mecca Mosque Seizure (1979 AD)
- Archbishop Oscar Romero Assassinated (1980 AD)
- Dalai Lama's Nobel Prize (1989 AD)
- Pope Francis Elected (2013 AD)
Further reading
- Postwar by Tony Judt
- The Cold War: A New History by John Lewis Gaddis
- Factfulness by Hans Rosling
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Other eras
- Ancient World (3200 BCE – 500 BCE)
- Classical Era (500 BCE – 500 AD)
- Medieval (500 AD – 1450 AD)
- Early Modern (1450 AD – 1800 AD)
- Industrial Age (1800 AD – 1945 AD)
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