Our Earth's History

Timeline: Twentieth century

1914 – 2000 · 50 articles, earliest first. Browse this era by continent.

  1. 1914 · The AmericasWhy did France fail at Panama, and who paid for the canal of 1914?
  2. 1914 · EuropeWilliam Eve's diary and the war diaries disagree on 1914 football
  3. 1915 · OceaniaWhy does the 1915 Gallipoli defeat define Australia and New Zealand?
  4. 1917 · West AsiaDear Lord Rothschild: the 67 words of November 2, 1917
  5. 1917 · The AmericasDecember 6, 1917: the Mont-Blanc, the Imo and the Halifax explosion
  6. 1918 · Oceania1918 in Samoa: one ship, two administrations, two death rates
  7. 1919 · The AmericasMolasses on Commercial Street, January 15, 1919: the owner was liable
  8. 1919 · East AsiaWhy did Korea's 1919 declaration become a nationwide uprising?
  9. 1919 · EuropeWhy did the Treaty of Versailles satisfy no one?
  10. 1923 · West AsiaHow did the Ottoman Empire become the Republic of Turkey by 1923?
  11. 1924 · Central AsiaHow were five Central Asian republics' borders drawn, 1917 to 1936?
  12. 1925 · The AmericasA one-hundred-dollar fine and a 1927 reversal: the Scopes trial
  13. 1930 · South AsiaDear Friend: Gandhi's letter of March 2, 1930, and the salt at Dandi
  14. 1935 · AfricaWhy did the League of Nations fail Ethiopia in 1935–36?
  15. 1945 · The AmericasGroves to Stimson, July 18, 1945: the Trinity test in one memorandum
  16. 1945 · East AsiaHiroshima, August 6, 1945: 70,000 dead by one count, 237,000 by another
  17. 1947 · West AsiaA 1954 newspaper advertisement: how four Dead Sea Scrolls were sold
  18. 1947 · South AsiaWhy was India split in 1947, and why was the line drawn in six weeks?
  19. 1949 · Central AsiaThe IAEA's 1998 table: 456 tests at Semipalatinsk, 116 above ground
  20. 1950 · South AsiaAt Rima, Kingdon-Ward heard the 1950 earthquake end in explosions
  21. 1953 · South Asia'Snow conditions bad': the coded Everest message of May 1953
  22. 1953 · EuropeOnce in 300 years, once in 10,000: the North Sea flood of 1953
  23. 1953 · East AsiaTen o'clock at Panmunjom, July 27, 1953: an armistice with no end date
  24. 1953 · West AsiaTwo firmans and six cables: Tehran, August 15 to 20, 1953, in FRUS
  25. 1956 · East AsiaThe report of May 1, 1956, and twelve years to an official cause
  26. 1957 · AfricaAppointed day: the Ghana Independence Act, 1957, clause by clause
  27. 1957 · Central AsiaSputnik 1: 83.6 kilograms, one orbit every 96 minutes, October 4, 1957
  28. 1959 · AfricaThe water-cart communiqué: Hola Camp, March 3, 1959, and the Commons
  29. 1960 · Central AsiaAral Sea: 68,000 square kilometers in 1960, no eastern basin by 2014
  30. 1960 · AfricaResolution 134, nine to none: the Security Council on Sharpeville
  31. 1962 · The AmericasTwo letters from Khrushchev, October 26 and 27, 1962
  32. 1964 · East AsiaLoan 281 JA: the World Bank's $80 million and the first Shinkansen
  33. 1966 · Central AsiaAt 5:23 a.m. on April 26, 1966, a shallow shock under Tashkent
  34. 1966 · EuropeTip No 7 and £150,000 from the fund: Aberfan, October 21, 1966
  35. 1967 · OceaniaEight words out of section 51 and all of section 127: May 27, 1967
  36. 1968 · AfricaAn appeal on March 8, 1960: moving Abu Simbel 65 meters uphill
  37. 1969 · The AmericasTranquility Base here: the Apollo 11 landing in the transcript
  38. 1971 · South Asia'Dissent from U.S. policy': the Blood telegram and Bangladesh, 1971
  39. 1973 · West AsiaFrom $2.90 to $11.65 a barrel: the Arab oil embargo of 1973 to 1974
  40. 1984 · South AsiaBhopal, night of December 2–3, 1984: a death toll counted six ways
  41. 1985 · OceaniaA formal and unqualified apology, US$7 million, three years on Hao
  42. 1986 · EuropeChernobyl at 01:23:40, April 26, 1986: the Unit 4 test in INSAG-7
  43. 1986 · AfricaLake Nyos, August 21, 1986: the carbon dioxide cloud and its pipes
  44. 1989 · Europe6:50 p.m., November 9, 1989: 'sofort, unverzüglich' and the Wall opens
  45. 1991 · West AsiaNovember 6, 1991: the last of Kuwait's burning oil wells is capped
  46. 1992 · OceaniaParagraph 42: the sentence that ended terra nullius, June 3, 1992
  47. 1995 · East AsiaJanuary 17, 1995: Japan's official Hanshin-Awaji count, 6,434 dead
  48. 1997 · Central AsiaSigned in Moscow, June 27, 1997: the General Agreement for Tajikistan
  49. 2010 · The AmericasNASA's oral histories detail its role in the 2010 Chile mine rescue
  50. 2019 · OceaniaBougainville votes 176,928 to 3,043 for independence