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Period: to
20th Century
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Earthquake in San Francisco
A massive earthquake rocked San Francisco on April 18, 1906. The most damage came from the fires that erupted and burned in the city for three days. -
Titanic sinks
The Titanic was said to be the safest ship built in it's era, and there were those who even said it was unsinkable. Unfortunatley it sunk on it's maiden voyage. It went down on April, 10, 1912. -
Assembly Line
Henry Ford introduced the factory assembly line in 1913 to produce the Model T car. The assembly line made mass production more avaiable. -
Panama Canal opens
The Panama Canal opened in 1914. The first steamship to cross it was SS Ancon. -
Flu epedemic
Worldwide flu epidemic kills 20 million. -
WWI ends
World War ends with Germany's defeat. The war was officially over when the Treaty of Versaille was signed on June 28, 1919. -
Gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi begins leading nonviolent reform movement in India. He became the face of India's independence movement. -
Penicillin
Alexander Fleming discovers the first antibiotic which was penicillin in 1923. This antibiotic was widely popular and is still used to treat a variety of bacterial infections. -
Babe's Homeruns
Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs in one season and sets a record that would hold until 1961. Roger Maris was the one to finally break it. -
Stock market crash
The United States stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. This event is also called Black Tuesday because it set the Great Depression into motion. -
Adolf Hitler named chancellor
Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. His part, the Nazi's, start to gain tremendous power throughout the country. -
Kristallnacht
Hitler launches "Kristallnacht," ordering Nazis to commit acts of violence against German Jews. This night is often referred to the "Night of Broken Glass". -
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a secret military project created in 1942 to produce the an American nuclear weapon. Two of the members of the team included Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer. -
Dropping of the atomic bomb
The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Japan during WWII in August of 1945. They dropped two bombs, one on the city of Hiroshima and one on the city of Nagasaki. -
Israel achieves statehood
The push for Israel's statehood called Zionism ended in 1948 when they achieved it. -
NATO
NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was established on April 4, 1949. NATO was established to establish to provide collective defense to the members involved in the case of an external attack. -
Great Leap Forward
China begins the Great Leap Forward modernazation program. This was Mao Zedong to enhance Chinese economy and bring it to the forefront of the world. A famine followed, killing 20 million. -
Berlin Wall
The Communists build the Berlin Wall to seperate communist East Berlin from democratic West Berlin in 1961. The wall included wall towers and guards. -
MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. Delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963. This speech was part of the African American March on Washington during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. He delievered his speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. -
JFK assassination
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. He was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. -
Smoking
The US Surgeon General warns about smoking related health hazards. -
Man on the Moon
Neil Armstrong became the first human to step foot on the moon July 20, 1969 when the spacecraft he was commanding, Apollo 11, landed on the moon. -
Roe v. Wade
The Roe v. Wade trial legalized abortion on Janurary 22, 1973. -
Microsoft
Bill Gates and Paul Allen start Microsoft Corp. to develop software for Altair computers. -
Test Tube Baby
The first "test-tube baby" was born healthy. It was a girl and her name was Louise Brown. She was a miracle as her parents had been trying for nine years to have a baby. -
Space Shuttle Challenger
The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes killing crew including school teacher Christa McAuliffe. The shuttle exploded only 73 seconds into it's flight. -
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web revolutionized the Internet in 1989. It was invented by Tim Berners-Lee. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall fell as communist Russia weakened. Travel restrictions were lifted and many people fled into West Berlin. -
Apartheid ends
Apartheid ends in South Africa in 1994. New laws were made to inforce just treatment of black South Africans. -
Pathfinder on Mars
A pathfinder expedition landed on Mars on July 5, 1997 and sent back amazing pictures. This was an American expedition.
