Chronology of the most important events in history. XX century
Chronology of the most important events in world history
–XX century (second third)–
1934, August 2 After the death of Hindenburg, Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler simultaneously became President of Germany, concentrating legislative and executive powers in his hands. He established a regime of fascist dictatorship in the country and launched active preparations for war.
1935 - 1936 Italo-Ethiopian War. Ended with the annexation of Ethiopia by Italy.
1936, October The Berlin Agreement formalized the military-political alliance of Germany and Italy (“Berlin-Rome Axis”),
1936 - 1939 Civil War in Spain. It took on the character of a national revolutionary war against fascist rebels and Italian-German interventionists. It ended with the establishment of the fascist dictatorship of General Franco.
1937, November Spain joined the Anti-Comintern Pact between Germany and Japan.
1938, March Nazi troops occupied Austria; Its annexation to Germany (Anschluss) was proclaimed.
1938, September The Munich Agreement between Great Britain (N. Chamberlain), France (E. Daladier), Germany (A. Hitler) and Italy (B. Mussolini). It provided for the separation from Czechoslovakia and the transfer of the Sudetenland to Germany, as well as the satisfaction of territorial claims to Czechoslovakia on the part of Hungary and Poland. Predetermined the seizure of all Czechoslovakia by Germany (1939) and contributed to the outbreak of the 2nd World War.
1939, Januaryь After fierce fighting, the troops of the Spanish Republicans left Barcelona.
1939, March The end of the civil war and the establishment of a fascist dictatorship in Spain.
1939, May-September In the area of the Khalkhin Gol River, Japanese troops invaded the territory of Mongolia, which had an alliance treaty with the USSR, but were defeated by Soviet-Mongolian troops.
1939, August The Soviet-German non-aggression pact (“Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”) with a secret annex establishing the delimitation of the “spheres of interest” of the parties.
1939, September 3 England and France declared war on Germany, but did not provide military support to Poland.
1939, November - 1940, March Soviet-Finnish war. It ended with a peace treaty that established a new state border on Soviet terms.
1940, May 20 German tank formations reached the English Channel, cutting off a large group of Anglo-French-Belgian troops in Belgium and Northern France.
1940, June 4 During the Dunkirk operation, the Anglo-French-Belgian troops pinned to the sea were evacuated to England.
1940, June 14 By order of the French commander-in-chief, Weygand, Paris was surrendered without a fight. 1940, June 22 Surrender of France. The Compiegne Truce provided for the occupation by Germany of about 2/3 of French territory and a number of other extremely difficult conditions for France.
1940, July 3 The English fleet destroyed the French ships at Oran to prevent their use by the Germans.
1940, August - 1941, May The Battle of Britain is an air offensive by the German Air Force against England in order to force it to withdraw from the war.
1940, September 27 Berlin Pact for a military alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan. Later, the governments of a number of other states dependent on Germany joined.
1940, October Italian troops invaded Greece, where they met fierce resistance.
1941, March 11 The US Congress passed a law on Lend-Lease - a system of transfer (loan or lease) of weapons, ammunition, strategic raw materials, food, etc. countries whose defense is important to US security.
1941, June 22 In violation of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, Nazi Germany began a war against the USSR.
1941, December 5-6 The beginning of the counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Moscow. The final breakdown of Hitler’s “blitzkrieg” strategy, the beginning of a turn in the course of the war.
1941, December 23 Japanese troops occupied Hong Kong. 1942, January 1 In Washington, representatives of 26 states, including the USSR, USA, England and China, signed a declaration on pooling military and economic resources to defeat the fascist bloc.
1942, May 7-8 The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first victory of the American fleet over the Japanese in World War II.
1942, June 4-6 At the Battle of Midway, the US Pacific Fleet defeated a Japanese carrier strike force.
1942, November 2 The British army defeated the Italo-German forces near El Alamein - a turning point in the North African Campaign.
1942, November 27 French sailors blew up the arsenal and sank their ships at Toulon to prevent their capture by the Germans.
1943, January Casablanca Conference of Roosevelt and Churchill. It was decided to land allied troops in Sicily. The opening of the 2nd Front in northern France has been postponed.
1943, February 2 The victory of the Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad is the beginning of a radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War and the 2nd World War.
1943, November 22-26 Cairo Conference of Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek. A decision was made to return to China all the territories seized from it by Japan and the liberation of all the Pacific islands captured by Japan since the beginning of World War I (since 1914).
1943, November 28 - December 1 Tehran Conference of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. Declarations on joint actions in the war against Germany and on post-war cooperation between the three powers were adopted, and a decision was made to open a second front in Europe no later than May 1, 1944. The USSR delegation, meeting the wishes of the allies, promised to declare war on Japan after the defeat of the German army.
1944, June 6 The opening of the second front - the beginning of the landing of the Anglo-American expeditionary forces across the English Channel in Normandy.
1944, June 13 The first attack on British territory by unmanned aircraft (V-1).
1944, September 9. Overthrow of the monarcho-fascist regime in Bulgaria. Bulgaria declares war on Germany.
1944, December 16 The beginning of the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes. The Allied forces were defeated and, although they stopped the German advance by the end of December, they found themselves in a very difficult situation. On January 6, 1945, Churchill turned to Stalin asking for help.
1945, January 12 The beginning of the Vistula-Oder operation of the Soviet troops (8 days earlier than planned - in connection with the allies' request for help).
1945, February 4-11 Crimean (Yalta) conference of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. The military plans of the Allied powers were determined and agreed upon and the basic principles of their post-war policy were outlined with the aim of creating a lasting peace and a system of international security.
1945, April 1 - June 21 Invasion of Okinawa by American troops. 1945, April 4 The Soviet Army completed the liberation of Hungary.
1945, April 12 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, has died. Harry Truman became the 33rd President of the United States.
1945, April 21 Soviet troops broke into the outskirts of Berlin and started a battle in the city.
1945, April 28 Benito Mussolini was captured and executed by Italian partisans by a military tribunal.
1945, April 30 In the face of inevitable retribution, Adolf Hitler committed suicide.
1945, May 2 Soviet troops completely suppressed and forced the troops of the Berlin garrison to surrender.
1945, June 26 At a conference in San Francisco, convened on behalf of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and China, delegates from 50 countries signed the UN Charter.
1945, July 17 - August 2 Berlin (Potsdam) Conference of Stalin, Truman and Churchill (from July 28 Attlee). Decided on the demilitarization and denazification of Germany, the destruction of German monopolies, reparations, and the western border of Poland; confirmed the transfer of the city of Königsberg and the surrounding area to the USSR.
1945, July 26 Labor's victory in the UK elections, Churchill's resignation.
1945, August 9 The Soviet Armed Forces began military operations against the Japanese Kwantung Army.
1945, September - 1954, July France's war against the peoples of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
1945, November 20 - 1946, October 1 Nuremberg trial of the main Nazi war criminals. 1946, January 10 The first session of the UN General Assembly opened in London; 51 states are participating.
1946, January 12 The composition of the UN Security Council was formed, consisting of 5 permanent members (USSR, USA, Great Britain, France and China) and 6 temporary ones.
1946, February 6 A provisional government has been established in Korea. The country is divided along the 38th parallel into two zones: the northern is controlled by the USSR, the southern by the USA.
1946 - 1949 Civil war in China between the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists led by Mao Zedong.
1946 - 1949 Civil war in Greece.
1947, August 15 The British government granted independence to India and Pakistan.
1947, November 29 The UN General Assembly voted to divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. The Arabs did not agree with this decision. *
1948, March 17 Brussels Treaty on the creation of the Western Union - a military-political organization of Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
1948, May 15 - 1949, July The Arab-Israeli (Palestinian) war between the Arab states (Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen) and the state of Israel.
1949, April 4 The North Atlantic Treaty on the creation of NATO was signed in Washington, which included the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Canada.
1949, August The first atomic bomb test in the USSR. The period of the US nuclear monopoly has ended.
In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright built the Flyer airplane. The plane was equipped with a gasoline engine, and its first flight was made to a height of 3 m and lasted for 12 seconds. In 1919, the first air line from Paris to London was opened. The maximum number of passengers allowed was , and the flight duration was 4 hours.Radio broadcast
In 1906, the first radio broadcast was broadcast. Canadian Regenald Fessenden played the violin on the radio, and his performance was received on ships thousands of miles away. By the beginning of the 1960s. The first pocket radios powered by batteries appeared.World War I
In 1914, in which 38 countries took part. The Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) and the Entente bloc (Russia, England, France, Italy, etc.) took part in the hostilities. The conflict occurred between Austria and Serbia due to the murder of the Austrian heir to the throne. The war has lasted more than 4 years, and more than 10 million soldiers died in battles. The Entente bloc won, but the economies of the countries fell into decline during the hostilities.Russian Revolution
In 1917, the Great October Revolution began in Russia. The tsarist regime was overthrown and the Romanov imperial family was executed. Tsarist power and capitalism were replaced by a socialist system, which proposed to create equality for all workers. The dictatorship of the proletariat was established in the country, and class society was eliminated. A new totalitarian state has emerged - the Russian Socialist Federative Republic.A television
In 1926, John Baird received television images, and in 1933, Vladimir Zworykin achieved better reproduction quality. Electronic images were updated on the screen 25 times per second, resulting in moving images.The Second World War
In 1939, the Second World War began, in which 61 states took part. The initiator of military action was Germany, which attacked first Poland and later the USSR. The war lasted 6 years and claimed 65 million lives. The greatest losses during the war fell to the USSR, but thanks to the indestructible spirit, the Red Army won a victory over the fascist occupiers.Nuclear weapon
In 1945, it was used for the first time: American armed forces dropped nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Herashima and Nagasaki. Thus, the United States sought to speed up the end of World War II with Japan. Hundreds of thousands of residents were killed, and the results of the bombing had catastrophic consequences.Computers and Internet
In 1945, two American engineers John Eckert and John Moakley created the first electronic computer (computer), which weighed about 30 tons. In 1952, the first display was connected to a computer, and the first personal computer was created by Apple in 1983. In 1969, the Internet system was created for the exchange of information between US research centers, and by the early 1990s. The Internet has turned into a worldwide network.A space flight
In 1961, a Soviet rocket overcame gravity and made the first flight into space with a man on board. The three-stage rocket was built under the leadership of Sergei Korolev, and the spacecraft was piloted by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.Collapse of the USSR
In 1985, “Perestroika” began in the Soviet Union: a system appeared, strict censorship was replaced by glasnost and democracy. But many reforms led to an economic crisis and aggravation of national contradictions. In 1991, there was a coup in the Soviet Union and the USSR broke up into 17 separate independent states. The country's territory shrank by a quarter, and the United States became the world's only superpower.The twentieth century is “rich” in such events as bloody wars, destructive man-made disasters, and severe natural disasters. These events are terrible both in the number of casualties and the extent of damage.
The most terrible wars of the 20th century
Blood, pain, mountains of corpses, suffering - this is what the wars of the 20th century brought. In the last century, wars took place, many of which can be called the most terrible and bloodiest in the entire history of mankind. Large-scale military conflicts continued throughout the twentieth century. Some of them were internal, and some involved several states at the same time.World War I
The beginning of the First World War practically coincided with the beginning of the century. Its causes, as is known, were laid at the end of the nineteenth century. The interests of the opposing allied blocs collided, which led to the start of this long and bloody war.Thirty-eight of the fifty-nine states that existed in the world at that time were participants in the First World War. We can say that almost the whole world was involved in it. Having begun in 1914, it ended only in 1918.
Russian Civil War
After the revolution took place in Russia, the Civil War began in 1917. It continued until 1923. In Central Asia, pockets of resistance were extinguished only in the early forties. 
In this fratricidal war, where the Reds and the Whites fought among themselves, according to conservative estimates, about five and a half million people died. It turns out that the Civil War in Russia claimed more lives than all the Napoleonic wars.
The Second World War
The war that began in 1939 and ended in September 1945 was called World War II. It is considered the worst and most destructive war of the twentieth century. Even according to conservative estimates, at least forty million people died in it. It is estimated that the number of victims could reach seventy-two million. 
Of the seventy-three states that existed in the world at that time, sixty-two states took part in it, that is, about eighty percent of the planet’s population. We can say that this world war is the most global, so to speak. The Second World War was fought on three continents and four oceans.
Korean War
The Korean War began at the end of June 1950 and continued until the end of July 1953. It was a confrontation between South and North Korea. In essence, this conflict was a proxy war between two forces: the PRC and the USSR on the one hand, and the USA and their allies on the other.The Korean War was the first military conflict where two superpowers clashed in a limited area without using nuclear weapons. The war ended after the signing of a truce. There are still no official statements about the end of this war.
The worst man-made disasters of the 20th century
Man-made disasters occur from time to time in different parts of the planet, claiming human lives, destroying everything around, and often causing irreparable harm to the surrounding nature. There are known disasters that resulted in the complete destruction of entire cities. Similar disasters occurred in the oil, chemical, nuclear and other industries.Chernobyl accident
The explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is considered one of the worst man-made disasters of the last century. As a result of that terrible tragedy that happened in April 1986, a huge amount of radioactive substance was released into the atmosphere, and the fourth power unit of the nuclear plant was completely destroyed. 
In the history of nuclear energy, this disaster is regarded as the largest of its kind both in terms of economic damage and the number of injured and killed.
Bhopal disaster
In early December 1984, a disaster occurred at a chemical plant in the city of Bhopal (India), which was later called the Hiroshima of the chemical industry. The plant produced products that destroyed insect pests. 
Four thousand people died on the day of the accident, another eight thousand over the course of two weeks. Almost five hundred thousand people were poisoned an hour after the explosion. The causes of this terrible disaster have never been established.
Piper Alpha oil rig disaster
In early July 1988, a powerful explosion occurred on the Piper Alpha oil platform, causing it to completely burn down. This disaster is considered the largest in the oil industry. After a gas leak and subsequent explosion, out of two hundred and twenty-six people, only fifty-nine survived.The worst natural disasters of the century
Natural disasters can cause no less harm to humanity than major man-made disasters. Nature is stronger than man, and periodically it reminds us of this.We know from history about major natural disasters that occurred before the beginning of the twentieth century. Today's generation has witnessed many natural disasters that occurred already in the twentieth century.
Cyclone Bola
In November 1970, the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded struck. It covered the territory of Indian West Bengal and eastern Pakistan (today it is the territory of Bangladesh).The exact number of victims of the cyclone is unclear. This figure ranges from three to five million people. The destructive power of the storm was not in power. The reason for the huge death toll is that the wave swamped low-lying islands in the Ganges delta, wiping out villages.
Earthquake in Chile
The largest earthquake in history is recognized to have occurred in 1960 in Chile. Its strength on the Richter scale is nine and a half points. The epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean just a hundred miles from Chile. This in turn caused a tsunami. 
Several thousand people died. The cost of the destruction that occurred is estimated at more than half a billion dollars. Severe landslides occurred. Many of them changed the direction of the rivers.
Tsunami on the coast of Alaska
The strongest tsunami of the mid-twentieth century occurred off the coast of Alaska at Lituya Bay. Hundreds of millions of cubic meters of earth and ice fell from the mountain into the bay, causing a response surge on the opposite shore of the bay.The resulting half-kilometer wave, soaring into the air, plunged back into the sea. This tsunami is the highest in the world. Only two people became its victims only due to the fact that there were no human settlements in the Lituya area.
The most terrible event of the 20th century
The most terrible event of the last century can be called the bombing of Japanese cities - Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This tragedy occurred on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. After the explosions of atomic bombs, these cities were almost completely turned into ruins. 
The use of nuclear weapons showed the whole world how colossal their consequences could be. The bombing of Japanese cities was the first use of nuclear weapons against humans.
The most terrible explosion in the history of mankind, according to the site, was also the work of Americans. "The Big One" was blown up during the Cold War.
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I would say that the post is not really a Friday post, so if you don’t want to, don’t watch it.
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The American magazine Vanity Fair published 25 of the best photographs reflecting current events during its publication.
Track and field athlete Jesse Owens wins the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin (the Fuhrer is said to have been beside himself with such a shame on the Aryans).
Death of a Republican, September 5, 1936, Spain.
The Republicans were opposed by formations of natives of North Africa - Moroccan volunteers, whose courage and extreme cruelty were legendary. The news that General Franco supplied them with new super-fast-firing German machine guns, which the Republicans did not have, did not add optimism.
When the commander gave the order: “Attack,” the soldiers began to rather timidly crawl out of the trenches.
Capa later recalled: “We were all very scared that day. We knew that the Francoists were shooting from new machine guns. The number of Republicans killed was in the dozens. I sat in the trench all day. When the Republican attack began, I stuck my watering can out of the trench, and when I heard machine gun fire, I blindly pulled the trigger.”
The negative was sent to Paris and published in VU magazine on September 23. The full title of the photo is "Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death, Cerro Muriano, September 5, 1936", but it is usually called "Falling Republican" " or "Death of a Loyalist Soldier".
The situation, of course, is absolutely unique. During the entire attack, the photographer took only one photo, and took it at random, without looking through the viewfinder. Why, “in the viewfinder”, he did not look towards the “model” at all. And this is one of the best, one of his most famous photographs, which made him instantly famous.
Then there was a lot of things. His girlfriend, German photojournalist Gerda Taro, died near Madrid, accidentally crushed by a maneuvering tank.
In 1938, Capa worked as a photojournalist during the Sino-Japanese War. In 1940 he moved to the USA. Worked in northern Africa and Italy. In 1944, he filmed the landing of allied troops in Normandy. In 1947, together with Cartier-Bresson and others, he founded the Magnum photo agency, headed it in 1951, but in 1953 he was forced to move to Europe to escape McCarthyism. In 1948 and 1950 he worked in Israel. He died in Vietnam at the very end of the Indochina War, when he was blown up by a mine.
The name of the main character in the photo - Federico Borel Garcia - was established only many years later.
Women collaborators, France, 1944.
US Marines plant the US flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. The photo is for Americans the same symbol of Victory as the photo of Yevgeny Khaldei (the flag over Berlin) is for us. And just like our photo, the American one is staged.
American warplanes drop food supplies to Berliners, breaking the blockade imposed by the Soviet military administration, 1948.
Democratic candidate Harry Truman, who won the next presidential election in the United States, with The Chicago Daily Tribune article “Devey Defeats Truman” dated November 2, 1948. The photograph soon became famous throughout the world. When asked to comment on what happened, Truman said: “This is for the books.”
Dorothy Counts' first day at Harry Harding High School, North Carolina, USA, September 4, 1957. Dorothy was one of the first black students allowed to attend the school. However, the girl did not survive even 4 days due to persecution at school.
Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist priest in South Vietnam, set himself on fire while protesting the government's anti-priest policies. Thich Quang Duc did not make a sound until he was completely burned. June 11, 1963.
Martin Luther King, American Baptist minister and civil rights activist in the 60s of the twentieth century (assassinated in 1968) on August 28, 1963. On this day, about 250 thousand whites and blacks gathered in Washington, when civil rights legislation was discussed in the US Congress. That same day, black leaders conferred with President John F. Kennedy. Later, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King gave a speech that expressed his belief in the brotherhood of man; The speech became widely known as “I have a dream.”
The young son of assassinated US President John Kennedy bids farewell to his father, Washington, November 25, 1963.
February 1, 1968, Saigon, South Vietnam. South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan shoots a Viet Cong member. The scandalous photo went around the whole world. South Vietnamese authorities said the man killed was a member of a sabotage group that killed several police officers. According to some sources, his name was Nguyen Van Lem, according to others, the deceased was called Le Cong Na.
Nguyen Ngoc Loan himself, after losing the war, moved to the United States, where the Americans considered him a murderer and ruined his life in every possible way. Died of cancer in 1998.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, born Edwin Eugene Aldrin, takes his first steps on the Moon (the second man to land on the Moon after Neil Armstrong), July 1969. Many still believe that the Americans did not fly anywhere, but simply faked their flight.
Director Roman Polanski after the brutal murder of his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, by Charles Manson's gang on August 1, 1969.
May 4, 1970 will forever go down in American history. On this day, four Kent State University students were killed and nine others were wounded by members of the Ohio National Guard who were policing campuses during protests against the Vietnam War.
Senior photojournalism student John Filo took a photograph of murdered student Jeffrey Miller and fourteen-year-old Mary Ann Vecchio bending over him. The following year he won the Pulitzer Prize for this photograph.
Later he talked about it like this:
"I thought they were using blank cartridges. When I raised the camera I noticed that one soldier was aiming right at me. I said to myself: “I'll take a picture of this,” and then a shot rang out. At the same second, a cloud of dust separated from the statue nearby with me, and the bullet bounced off her and got stuck in a tree.
I even released the camera when I realized that the cartridges were real. I don’t know where this mixture of naivety and stupidity came over me, but I didn’t hide. There was no one near me on the hillside. I felt myself, then turned to the left and saw the body of Jeffrey Miller and a pool of blood flowing from under him: as if someone had knocked over a whole bucket of blood. I got scared and ran downstairs, but stopped. “Where are you running?” - I asked myself, “You should be here.”
And I started taking photographs. I photographed the body of Jeffrey Miller lying in the street and people coming out of their hiding places, there is a photograph of Mary Vecchio when she had just appeared there. The film was already running out. I saw Mary literally overcome with emotion. She started crying. And at that very moment she exclaimed something. I don't remember exactly... something like "Oh my God."
Everyone knows this photo. A photograph that greatly influenced the attitude of Americans towards the war in Indochina. The photograph for which Vietnamese Associated Press photographer Nick Ut vietnamHuỳnh Cfng Ъt) received a Pulitzer Prize and went down in the history of photography. On June 8, 1972, near the village of Chang Bang, northwest of Saigon, there was a battle between North Vietnamese army units and the South Vietnamese. Several civilians, fleeing the North Vietnamese, left the village and headed towards government positions.
The pilot of a South Vietnamese plane mistook the villagers for enemy soldiers and dropped several napalm bombs on them. Nick Ut captured the moment a group of children run down the road immediately after the bomb attack. In the center is nine-year-old Kim Phuc, burned by napalm, with her face distorted in pain.
A garden in New Orleans County (USA) fell victim to arson and looting after Hurricane Katrina, September 4, 2005.
1894 – 1917 – Reign of Nicholas II
1904 – 1905 – Russo-Japanese War
1905 – 1907 – First Russian Revolution
1905, 9-19 – Moscow uprising
1908-1909 – Bosnian crisis
1907-1912 – III State Duma
1912-1917 – IV State Duma
1914 -1918 – First World War
1917, end of August – Kornilov’s speech
1917, end of October - Armed uprising in Petrograd. II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies
1918 – Adoption of the Constitution of the RSFSR
1928-1932 – First Five-Year Plan
1929, autumn – Beginning of collectivization
1939-1940 – Soviet-Finnish war
1939-1940 – The Baltic states became part of the USSR
1944 – Expulsion of the Nazis from the territory of the USSR
1954 – Beginning of the development of virgin lands
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis
1965 – Beginning of economic reform
1968 – Prague Spring
1975 – Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
1979-1989 – War in Afghanistan
1991, spring - Dissolution of the CMEA and the Department of Internal Affairs
2000 - …. – Board of V.V. Putin
