What would life be like without the printing press? What if World War II had never happened? These historic events have defined the world as we know it today...
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (1963)
On November 22, 1963, the world lost an inspiration to many. John F. Kennedy had been elected in 1960 as a young, progressive Catholic. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald during a motorcade in Dallas, Texas while riding through Dealey Plaza with his wife.
The Warren Commission conducted a 10-month investigation following the assassination. Although it was determined that Oswald acted alone, the Kennedy assassination is still the subject of widespread conspiracy theories. Surveys between 1966 and 2004 found that up to 80 percent of Americans thought that there was a plot to cover up the truth about JFK's murder.
The Moon Landing (1969)
The 1969 Moon landing has been the subject of many conspiracy theories over the years. On July 20, 1969, the United States' Apollo 11 became the first crewed mission to land on the moon. Commander Neil Armstrong became the first person to step on the moon, with lunar module pilot, Buzz Aldrin, following behind.
Certain people claim that elements of the Moon landings, as well as the Apollo program itself, were staged by NASA. Since the mid-1970s, a number of groups and individuals expressed their belief that NASA and other organizations knowingly misled the public into believing the landings occurred. Despite rebuttals and third-party evidence, between 6% and 20% of Americans believe the Moon landings were faked.
Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)
This pivotal event in history occurred on November 9, 1989. The fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe began with the falling of the Iron Curtain. Several weeks later, the Cold War drew to a close.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, there has been an ongoing controversial debate as to whether November 9 should be declared a German national holiday. Although the date celebrates the declaration of the first German republic, it also is the anniversary of Kristallnacht, a heinous pogrom carried out against Jews throughout Nazi Germany.
9/11 Terrorist Attacks (2001)
On September 11, 2001, four passenger airliners were hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists. Two crashed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. In less than two hours, both 110-story buildings collapsed, killing nearly 3,000 people.
In the following weeks, one witness described how difficult it was to "get away from faces of innocent victims who were killed. Their pictures are everywhere, on phone booths, street lights, walls of subway stations." The World Trade Center is currently in the process of being rebuilt.
Invention of the Printing Press (1440)
Sometime around 1440, German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. The printing press was a device that transferred ink to a print medium. The global spread of Gutenberg's press allowed for the mass circulation of information and ideas, known as the Printing Revolution.
The printing press was a crucial step in the process of democratizing knowledge. Within half a century of its invention, the classical canon was reprinted and distributed throughout the entirety of Europe. The printing press also caused the decline of Latin as the language of most public works, as well as higher levels of urban growth.
The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914)
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir presumptive to the rhone of Austria-Hungary. On June 28, 1914, Ferdinand and his wife were killed in Sarajevo by a member of young Bosnia named Gavrilo Princip. Ferdinand's assassination is considered to be the catalyst for World War I.
The murder of Ferdinand and his wife prompted Austria-Hungary to declare war against Serbia, in turn triggering the events that eventually led to the First World War. The couple had actually survived an earlier assassination attempt that day when someone launched a bomb at their car, but the grenade detonated behind them.
World War I (1914)
World War I was known as "the war to end all wars." It mobilized over 70 million military personnel and was one of the largest wars in history. The war began on July 28, 1914, and lasted four years, until November 11, 1918.
World War I was one of the most prominent turning points in the political, cultural, economic, and cultural climate across the globe. The war and its aftermath resulted in a number of uprisings and revolutions, including the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian Empires.
World War II (1939)
World War II lasted from September 1, 1939, until September 2, 1945. This war was considered the deadliest in all of human history, with casualties upwards of 85 million. After the war ended, the United Nations was formed to prevent future conflicts between the countries.
World War II altered the landscape of social and political structures across the globe. A denazification program in Germany led to the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in the Nuremberg trials as well as the removal of all former Nazis from power.
Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945)
On August 6 and August 9, 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The detonations killed between 129,000 and 226,000 individuals, almost all of whom were civilians. Weapons were never used in armed conflict again.
Both bombings had catastrophic effects on the cities. It took Japan two years to recover from the devastating incident. Otto Hahn, a German atomic scientist known as the father of nuclear chemistry, is reported as having said to his colleagues, "Once I wanted to suggest that all uranium should be sunk to the bottom of the ocean."
Sputnik (1957)
Sputnik 1 was the first-ever artificial earth satellite. The beach ball-sized device was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. Three weeks later, its batteries died. After two months in space, Sputnik fell back into the atmosphere.
Sputnik catalyzed the Space Age, a period of time that encompassed activities related to the Space Race, as well as space exploration, and technology. There were a number of prominent cultural developments impacted by these events.
The Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
Amendment XIX, ratified on August 18, 1920, prohibits the states and federal government from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. Women's suffrage movements fought for the right to vote for over half a century. In 1890, the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was born, with Susan B. Anthony as its leader.
However, the struggle to vote did not end with the Nineteenth Amendment, which did not address the racial terrorism and discrimination that prevented African-American men and women in southern states from voting, regardless of sex. NAWSA actively excluded African-American women from its organization, focusing solely on enfranchisement for white women.
Invention of the Internet (1989)
Between 1989 and 1990, Tim Berners-Lee helped to form the World Wide Web. The Internet is the fastest-growing medium of communication in all of history. Since the mid-1990s, the Internet has fundamentally impacted culture, commerce, and technology.
Berners-Lee is the current director of the World Wide Web Consortium, which oversees the continued development of the Internet. In 2009, he founded the World Wide Web Foundation, an organization that works to make the web a safe, accessible, and empowering tool for the good of humanity.
Watergate Scandal (1972)
On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested after breaking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate complex located in Washington, D.C. Although Richard Nixon won the election five months later, the FBI determined that all five men had links to the White House. It was then revealed that the men were members of the Committee to Re-elect the President—or CREEP.
Nixon claimed that the White House had nothing to do with the break-in, but behind the scenes, he was involved in a massive cover-up; his campaign spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy the burglars' silence. Nixon resigned in 1974, delivering a live speech from the Oval Office.
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience. Both the King family and others believe that the assassination was plotted by the U.S. government, the mafia, and the Memphis police.
James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was arrested two months later and charged with the crime. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. After the murder of John F. Kennedy in 1963, King told his wife, "This is what is going to happen to me, also. I keep telling you, this is a sick society."
Attack on Pearl Harbor (1941)
On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service delivered a surprise military strike against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Roughly 2,400 Americans were killed. Later that day, Japan announced a declaration of war on the United States.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated that December 7, 1941, is "a date which will live in infamy." The attack occurred without a declaration of war or any formal warning, leading it to be judged as a war crime. Throughout World War II, Pearl Harbor was often used in American propaganda.
The Monica Lewinsky Affair (1998)
The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal that came to light in 1998 led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton that same year. Lewinsky had sexual encounters with Clinton from 1995 until 1997. While both Clinton and Lewinsky first denied the relationship, Clinton admitted to the grand jury that he had engaged in an "improper physical relationship" with the 22-year-old intern.
Prohibition of Alcohol (1920)
Prohibition was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production and sale of alcohol from 1920 until 1933. Pietistic protestants sought to heal society by directly combating alcoholism, political corruption, and family violence through the prohibition of alcohol. Needless to say, things did not go to plan. On December 5, 1933, prohibition was lifted with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment.
Spanish Flu (1918)
The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic lasted until 1920 and infected 500 million people—roughly a third of the world's population at the time—in four different waves. The death toll is estimated somewhere between 17 and 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.
The Gulf War (1990)
The Gulf War was waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the U.S. against Iraq in response to the country's invasion and annexation of Kuwait, which arose from oil prices and production disputes. This war introduced the concept of live news broadcast straight from the battlefield, mainly by CNN.
Abolishment of Slavery in the U.S. (1863)
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declared that all slaves in Confederate regions were free. Although three million Confederate slaves were freed by the decree, Black Americans, particularly in the South, were subjected to other forms of white supremacist violence and involuntary labor under the Black Codes.
Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama (2009)
The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on January 20, 2009. The inauguration set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., becoming one of the most observed events in history by a global audience. Obama was the first Black president of the United States.
Death of Adolf Hitler (1945)
Adolf Hitler committed suicide by gunshot on April 30, 1945, in his underground bunker in Berlin, Germany. Hitler's wife of approximately one day, Eva Braun, swallowed cyanide to die with him. Their remains were doused in gasoline and burned in the Reich Chancellery garden.
Chernobyl Disaster (1986)
On April 26, 1986, the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, causing the worst nuclear disaster in history. Chernobyl was one of two nuclear energy accidents rated a 7 out of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Over the following years, thousands have died from residual effects of the radiation.
Vietnam War (1955)
The Vietnam War, known as the American War in Vietnam, lasted from November 1, 1955, until April 30, 1975. The war's turning point was the Tet Offensive, a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on over 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. Over 58,000 American soldiers were killed in the war.
Shooting of John Lennon (1980)
John Lennon was an English peace activist and musician who became world-famous as the founder of the Beatles. Lennon was shot and killed in the archway of his Manhattan apartment building by a Beatles fan, Mark David Chapman. Lennon has been posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (in 1997) and twice in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as both a member of the Beatles in 1988 and a solo artist in 1994).
Scopes Monkey Trial (1925)
On July 10, 1925, science teacher John Thomas Scopes was prosecuted for teaching the theory of evolution in a Tennessee high school. The trial pit Christian fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan against the renowned attorney Clarence Darrow. The jury ruled against Scopes, who was forced to pay a substantial fine. 43 years passed before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to punish people for teaching evolution.
Invention of the Television (1925)
On March 25, 1925, John Logie Baird offered the first public demonstration of televised silhouette images in motion. However, it wasn't until decades later that the device was marketed to consumers. After World War II, black-and-white televisions became commonplace in the household.
COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
In March 2020, the spread of SARS-CoV-2 was officially classified as a pandemic. The virus was first identified in Wuhan, China, and the outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020. The virus mainly spreads throughout the air when people are nearby one another.
Marriage Equality in the U.S. (2015)
Same-sex marriage was made legal nationwide with the Obergefell v. Hodges decision. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states, and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses. The first state to legalize same-sex marriage was Massachusetts on May 17, 2004.
Production of Penicillin (1928)
In 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming determined that Penicillium Rubens had antibacterial properties. At the time, mass drug development was nearly impossible, leading to the initial dismissal of his discovery. However, after medical applications were established, a team at Oxford was able to produce penicillin in their laboratory. By the summer of 1945, over 646 billion units per year were in production.
The Human Genome Project (1990)
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project that aimed to figure out what base pairs made up human DNA. It was the largest collaborative biological project in the world. The idea was first picked up in 1984 by the U.S. government. Work began in 1990, and the HGP was declared complete on April 14, 2003.
First Successful Cloning of a Mammal (1996)
On July 5, 1996, Dolly the sheep became the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell. The cloned lamb was originally named "6LL3," but her name was changed to Dolly after singer and actress Dolly Parton. She lived until the age of six.
Dred Scott Decision (1857)
The Dred Scott decision, also known as Dred Scott v. Sandford, was a landmark decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court which determined that the Constitution did not uphold rights or citizenship for Black people. Scott was an enslaved Black man whose owners had taken him from a slave state to a state where slavery was illegal; he sued for his freedom in court once his owners returned him to Missouri. The rulings were voided by the Thirteenth Amendment, and the decision has been universally denounced as the worst in Supreme Court history.
The Disappearance of Amelia Earhart (1937)
Amelia Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. On the morning of July 2, 1937, Earheart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Lae, New Guinea, prepared to complete the final leg of their historic trip around the globe. Sadly, the pair never made it to their next destination, nor were they ever heard from again. Many conspiracies have surfaced since Earheart's disappearance, none of which have been founded.
The Russian Revolution (1917)
The Russian Revolution was a period of social and political uprising across the Russian Empire. The revolution lasted for six years until 1923 when the Bolsheviks established the Soviet Union at the end of the Civil War. This time period debuted the iconic hammer and sickle as a representation of the Communist party.
The Wrights Fly the First Powered Aircraft (1903)
The Wright brothers were two aviation pioneers credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first motor-operated airplane. The Wright brothers' plane was recognized as "the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight."
The French Revolution (1789)
The French Revolution began in May 1789 when a constitutional monarchy replaced the Ancien Régime. In 1792, the monarchy was abolished in favor of the First French Republic, which led to the execution of Louis XVI in 1793. A period of political unrest culminated in the appointment of Napoleon as First Consul in 1799, which is when the revolution is thought have ended.
Birth of William Shakespeare (1564)
This English playwright is largely regarded as the greatest English language writer in the world. He produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613, such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Macbeth. Shakespeare was not revered in his lifetime, but he received tremendous praise, nonetheless.
Kidnapping of the Lindbergh Baby (1932)
On March 1, 1932, the son of famed pilots Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was abducted from his crib in their New Jersey home. Two months later, the child was found dead, and a German carpenter was arrested and found guilty of first-degree murder. The kidnapping has been called "the biggest story since the Resurrection," with the trial being dubbed one of the "trials of the century."
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
On July 4, 1776, the United States Declaration of Independence stated that the Thirteen Colonies considered themselves independent from British rule. Under the Declaration, these new states took the first step toward forming the United States of America. Although the Declaration was actually passed on July 2, Independence Day is celebrated on July 4, the day that the wording of the Declaration was approved.
The Black Death (1346)
The Black Death—also known as the Plague—was the deadliest pandemic in all of human history. The Black Death resulted in the deaths of 75 to 200 million people across Eurasia and North Africa. This significantly affected the course of European history by causing religious, social, and economic upheavals.
Birth of Jesus Christ (4 B.C.)
Jesus of Nazareth, the central figure of Christianity, was born in 4 B.C. It is believed by most Christians that Jesus is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. All modern scholars agree that Jesus Christ did exist in history.
Juneteenth (1865)
On June 19, 1865, Union Army general Gordon Granger made the announcement that slaves were freedom from Texas. Juneteenth is now officially celebrated annually in all states but Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Juneteenth traditions include reading the Emancipation Proclamation and reading works of esteemed African-American writers like Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou.
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (1865)
The sixteenth president of the United States was assassinated on April 14, 1865 by stage actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Lincoln was the first U.S. president to be assassinated; his burial and funeral resulted in an extended period of mourning across the nation.
Woodstock (1969)
Woodstock was a music festival held between August 15 and August 18, 1959, in Bethel, New York. Woodstock attracted an audience of over 400,000 and thirty-two major acts performed outdoors in the rain. The festival was a defining event for the counterculture generation and has been listed in Rolling Stone as a moment that changed the History of Rock and Roll.
Normandy Landings (1944)
The Normandy landings, most often referred to as D-Day, occurred on June 6, 1944, when the Allies invaded Normandy during World War II. This was the largest seaborne invasion in all of history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France and established the initial framework of the Allied victory on the Western front.
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Also known as the October Crisis of 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. The conflict was initiated by Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis is the closest the Cold War came to becoming a nuclear war.
Liberation of Auschwitz (1945)
On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz concentration camp—where over a million people were murdered—was liberated by the Red Army. Although most of the prisoners had been forced to participate in a death march, around 7,000 had been left behind. Soviet soldiers were appalled by the scale of Nazi crimes. The date is recognized as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Korean War (1950)
The Korean War lasted from June 25, 1950, until July 27, 1953. The war was between North Korea (with the support of China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (with the support of the United Nations, most prominently the United States). This was one of the most destructive conflicts in modern history, racking up a proportional civilian death toll larger than World War II or the Vietnam War.
California Gold Rush (1848)
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found at a mill in Coloma, California. Approximately 300,000 people flocked there from around the nation and abroad. The influx of gold into the economy revitalized the American economy and California rapidly received its statehood.