# data[].attributes.body
Date: 10000 BC

Impacted: Fertile Crescent- The Fertile Crescent's farming birthed the Neolithic Revolution, sparking global civilization and city growth.

Importance:The Neolithic Revolution led to cities and civilizations, with men dominating family, economic, and political life, especially near major rivers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Neolithic Revolution, also called the Agricultural Revolution, marked the transition in human history from small, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilization. The Neolithic Revolution started around 10,000 B.C. in the Fertile Crescent, a boomerang-shaped region of the Middle East where humans first took up farming. Shortly after, Stone Age humans in other parts of the world also began to practice agriculture. Civilizations and cities grew out of the innovations of the Neolithic Revolution.

Neolithic Age

The Neolithic Age is sometimes called the New Stone Age. Neolithic humans used stone tools like their earlier Stone Age ancestors, who eked out a marginal existence in small bands of hunter-gatherers during the last Ice Age.

Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe coined the term "Neolithic Revolution" in 1935 to describe the radical and important period of change in which humans began cultivating plants, breeding animals for food and forming permanent settlements. The advent of agriculture separated Neolithic people from their Paleolithic ancestors.

Many facets of modern civilization can be traced to this moment in history when people started living together in communities.

Causes of the Neolithic Revolution

There was no single factor that led humans to begin farming roughly 12,000 years ago. The causes of the Neolithic Revolution may have varied from region to region.

The Earth entered a warming trend around 14,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. Some scientists theorize that climate changes drove the Agricultural Revolution.

In the Fertile Crescent, bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea and on the east by the Persian Gulf, wild wheat and barley began to grow as it got warmer. Pre-Neolithic people called Natufians started building permanent houses in the region.

Other scientists suggest that intellectual advances in the human brain may have caused people to settle down. Religious artifacts and artistic imagery-progenitors of human civilization-have been uncovered at the earliest Neolithic settlements.

The Neolithic Era began when some groups of humans gave up the nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle completely to begin farming. It may have taken humans hundreds or even thousands of years to transition fully from a lifestyle of subsisting on wild plants to keeping small gardens and later tending large crop fields.

Neolithic Humans

The archaeological site of Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey is one of the best-preserved Neolithic settlements. Studying Çatalhöyük has given researchers a better understanding of the transition from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering to an agriculture lifestyle.

Archaeologists have unearthed more than a dozen mud-brick dwellings at the 9,500 year-old Çatalhöyük. They estimate that as many as 8,000 people may have lived here at one time. The houses were clustered so closely back-to-back that residents had to enter the homes through a hole in the roof.

The inhabitants of Çatalhöyük appear to have valued art and spirituality. They buried their dead under the floors of their houses. The walls of the homes are covered with murals of men hunting, cattle and female goddesses.

Some of the earliest evidence of farming comes from the archaeological site of Tell Abu Hureyra, a small village located along the Euphrates River in modern Syria. The village was inhabited from roughly 11,500 to 7,000 B.C.

Inhabitants of Tell Abu Hureyra initially hunted gazelle and other game. Around 9,700 B.C. they began to harvest wild grains. Several large stone tools for grinding grain have been found at the site.

Agricultural Inventions

Plant domestication: Cereals such as emmer wheat, einkorn wheat and barley were among the first crops domesticated by Neolithic farming communities in the Fertile Crescent. These early farmers also domesticated lentils, chickpeas, peas and flax.

Domestication is the process by which farmers select for desirable traits by breeding successive generations of a plant or animal. Over time, a domestic species becomes different from its wild relative.

Neolithic farmers selected for crops that harvested easily. Wild wheat, for instance, falls to the ground and shatters when it is ripe. Early humans bred for wheat that stayed on the stem for easier harvesting.

Around the same time that farmers were beginning to sow wheat in the Fertile Crescent, people in Asia started to grow rice and millet. Scientists have discovered archaeological remnants of Stone Age rice paddies in Chinese swamps dating back at least 7,700 years.

In Mexico, squash cultivation began about 10,000 years ago, while maize-like crops emerged around 9,000 years ago.

Livestock: The first livestock were domesticated from animals that Neolithic humans hunted for meat. Domestic pigs were bred from wild boars, for instance, while goats came from the Persian ibex. Domesticated animals made the hard, physical labor of farming possible while their milk and meat added variety to the human diet. They also carried infectious diseases: smallpox, influenza and the measles all spread from domesticated animals to humans.

The first farm animals also included sheep and cattle. These originated in Mesopotamia between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago. Water buffalo and yak were domesticated shortly after in China, India and Tibet.

Draft animals including oxen, donkeys and camels appeared much later-around 4,000 B.C.-as humans developed trade routes for transporting goods.

Effects of the Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution led to masses of people establishing permanent settlements supported by farming and agriculture. It paved the way for the innovations of the ensuing Bronze Age and Iron Age, when advancements in creating tools for farming, wars and art swept the world and brought civilizations together through trade and conquest.

Sources

The Development of Agriculture; National Geographic.
The Seeds of Civilization; Smithsonian Magazine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Neolithic Revolution, also called the Agricultural Revolution, marked the transition in human history from small, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger, agricultural settlements and early civilization. It started around 10,000 B.C.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Battle of Thermopylae ends in defeat for the Greeks

# data[].attributes.subject
The Battle of Thermopylae ends in defeat for the Greeks

# data[].attributes.body
Date: 480 BCE

Impacted: Central Greece- fought between Greek and Persian forces during the Greco-Persian Wars.

Importance: The Persian triumph at Thermopylae enabled Xerxes to enter southern Greece, expanding the Persian empire.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What was the Battle of Thermopylae?

Why is the Battle of Thermopylae famous?

When did the Battle of Thermopylae take place?

What was the result of the Battle of Thermopylae?

Is the movie 300 based on the Battle of Thermopylae?

Battle of Thermopylae, (480 bce), battle in central Greece at the mountain pass of Thermopylae during the Persian Wars. The Greek forces, mostly Spartan, were led by Leonidas. After three days of holding their own against the Persian king Xerxes I and his vast southward-advancing army, the Greeks were betrayed, and the Persians were able to outflank them. Sending the main army in retreat, Leonidas and a small contingent remained behind to resist the advance and were defeated.

The Battle of Thermopylae's political origins can be traced back to Xerxes' predecessor, Darius I (the Great), who sent heralds to Greek cities in 491 bce in the hopes of persuading them to accept Persian authority. This offended the proud Greeks greatly; the Athenians went so far as to toss the Persian heralds into a pit, while the Spartans followed suit and tossed them into a well. In 480 bce Xerxes invaded Greece as a continuation of Darius's original plan. He began the same way his predecessor had: he sent heralds to Greek cities-but he skipped over Athens and Sparta because of their previous responses. Many Greek city-states either joined Xerxes or remained neutral, while Athens and Sparta led the resistance with a number of other city-states behind them. Before invading, Xerxes implored the Spartan king Leonidas to surrender his arms. Leonidas famously replied, "Come and take them" ("Molon labe"). Xerxes intended to do just that and thus moved toward Thermopylae.

Xerxes led a vast army overland from the Dardanelles, accompanied by a substantial fleet moving along the coast. His forces quickly seized northern Greece and began moving south. The Greek resistance tried to halt Persian progress on land at the narrow pass of Thermopylae and at sea nearby in the straits of Artemisium. The Greek army was led by Leonidas, who was estimated to have had around 7,000 men. Xerxes, on the other hand, had anywhere from 70,000 to 300,000. Despite the disparity in numbers, the Greeks were able to maintain their position. Their strategy involved holding a line only a few dozen yards long between a steep hillside and the sea. This constricted the battlefield and prevented the Persians from utilizing their vast numbers. For two days the Greeks defended against Persian attacks and suffered light losses as they imposed heavy casualties on the Persian army. Only when the Greeks were betrayed did the battle take a detrimental turn for them. Ephialtes, a Greek citizen desiring reward, informed Xerxes of a path that went around Thermopylae, thus rendering the Greeks' line useless in preventing forward advancement of the Persian army.

Xerxes took advantage of this betrayal and sent part of his army along this path, led by Ephialtes himself. After reaching the other side, the Persians attacked and destroyed a portion of the Greek army. This forced Leonidas to call a war council, at which it was decided that retreating was the best option. However, as the majority of the Greek army retreated, Leonidas, his 300 bodyguards, some helots (people enslaved by the Spartans), and 1,100 Boeotians remained behind, supposedly because retreating would defy Spartan law and custom. They held their ground against the Persians but were quickly defeated by the vast enemy army, and many (if not all; sources differ) were killed, including Leonidas. News of this defeat reached the troops at Artemisium, and Greek forces there retreated as well. The Persian victory at Thermopylae allowed for Xerxes' passage into southern Greece, which expanded the Persian empire even further.

Today the Battle of Thermopylae is celebrated as an example of heroic persistence against seemingly impossible odds. Soon after the battle, the Greeks built a stone lion in honour of those who had died and specifically for the fallen king Leonidas. In 1955 a statue of Leonidas was erected by King Paul of Greece in commemoration of his and his troops' bravery. The Battle of Thermopylae also served as the inspiration for the film 300 (2006).

Kate Lohnes Donald Sommerville

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Battle of Thermopylae | Date, Location, and Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Battle of Thermopylae, (480 bce), battle in central Greece at the mountain pass of Thermopylae during the Persian Wars. The Greek forces, mostly Spartan, were led by Leonidas. After three days of holding their own against the Persian king Xerxes I and his vast southward-advancing army, the Greeks were betrayed, and the Persians were able to outflank them.

# data[].attributes.body
Founding of Islam began in year 610 C.E.

Impacted :

Arabian Peninsula- The birthplace of Islam

Middle Eastern- Muhammandś death.

North Africa- Islam expanded westward, shaping it´s culture.

Importance- Islam helped create a big community and an empire with shared beliefs, rules, and culture.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/isla/hd_isla.htm#:~:text=The%20Arabs%20conquered%20Syria%2C%20Palestine,creation%20of%20a%20global%20empire.

https://www.historyhaven.com/AP%20Prep%20WH/The%20Impact%20of%20Islam.htm

# data[].attributes.body
Date: 9th century CE

Impacted: Changed the face of warfare in Europe

Importance:Gunpowder is employed in fireworks and weaponry, as well as in various industries for producing fertilizers, dyes, and pigments.

https://unacademy.com/content/nda/study-material/chemistry/some-imp-chemical-compounds-gun-powder/#:~:text=Gunpowder%20is%20used%20in%20fireworks,cement%20production%20and%20iron%20smelting.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: Spanish reconquista began in year 722 AD.

Impacted: Three main cities of the Moorish Caliphate Granada- Castle that the Moors

Cordoba- Marking the end of the Islamic rule

Seville- Capital of Muslim Spain

Importance-Catholicism became the main religion, shaping the country and its identity.

https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/123845

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-westerncivilization/chapter/the-reconquista/#:~:text=The%20period%20of%20Reconquista%20and,Spanish%20state%20and%20national%20identity.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Reconquista

# data[].attributes.body
The First Crusades begins on July 15, 1099.

Impacted:

Middle east-Europeans began to trade with the Middle East. Trade increased as Western Europeans began to buy products like sugar, lemons, and spices.

Importance-People wanted to prevent Muslim states from growing, take back the Holy Land in the Middle East for Christianity, and regain lands that used to be Christian.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Crusades

# data[].attributes.body
Date: 1440

Impacted: The printing press lifted Europe from the Middle Ages and sped up human progress.

Importance: Information could now be spread much more quickly. More copies of books, pamphlets, or posters would be printed, spreading ideas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, and the invention of the mechanical movable type printing press helped disseminate knowledge wider and faster than ever before.

German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg is credited with inventing the printing press around 1436, although he was far from the first to automate the book-printing process. Woodblock printing in China dates back to the 9th century and Korean bookmakers were printing with moveable metal type a century before Gutenberg.

But most historians believe Gutenberg's adaptation, which employed a screw-type wine press to squeeze down evenly on the inked metal type, was the key to unlocking the modern age. With the newfound ability to inexpensively mass-produce books on every imaginable topic, revolutionary ideas and priceless ancient knowledge were placed in the hands of every literate European, whose numbers doubled every century.

Here are just some of the ways the printing press helped pull Europe out of the Middle Ages and accelerate human progress.

1. A Global News Network Was Launched

Gutenberg didn't live to see the immense impact of his invention. His greatest accomplishment was the first print run of the Bible in Latin, which took three years to print around 200 copies, a miraculously speedy achievement in the day of hand-copied manuscripts.

But as historian Ada Palmer explains, Gutenberg's invention wasn't profitable until there was a distribution network for books. Palmer, a professor of early modern European history at the University of Chicago, compares early printed books like the Gutenberg Bible to how e-books struggled to find a market before Amazon introduced the Kindle.

"Congratulations, you've printed 200 copies of the Bible; there are about three people in your town who can read the Bible in Latin," says Palmer. "What are you going to do with the other 197 copies?"

Gutenberg died penniless, his presses impounded by his creditors. Other German printers fled for greener pastures, eventually arriving in Venice, which was the central shipping hub of the Mediterranean in the late 15th century.

"If you printed 200 copies of a book in Venice, you could sell five to the captain of each ship leaving port," says Palmer, which created the first mass-distribution mechanism for printed books.

The ships left Venice carrying religious texts and literature, but also breaking news from across the known world. Printers in Venice sold four-page news pamphlets to sailors, and when their ships arrived in distant ports, local printers would copy the pamphlets and hand them off to riders who would race them off to dozens of towns.

Since literacy rates were still very low in the 1490s, locals would gather at the pub to hear a paid reader recite the latest news, which was everything from bawdy scandals to war reports.

"This radically changed the consumption of news," says Palmer. "It made it normal to go check the news every day."

2. The Renaissance Kicked Into High Gear

The Italian Renaissance began nearly a century before Gutenberg invented his printing press when 14th-century political leaders in Italian city-states like Rome and Florence set out to revive the Ancient Roman educational system that had produced giants like Caesar, Cicero and Seneca.

One of the chief projects of the early Renaissance was to find long-lost works by figures like Plato and Aristotle and republish them. Wealthy patrons funded expensive expeditions across the Alps in search of isolated monasteries. Italian emissaries spent years in the Ottoman Empire learning enough Ancient Greek and Arabic to translate and copy rare texts into Latin.

The operation to retrieve classic texts was in action long before the printing press, but publishing the texts had been arduously slow and prohibitively expensive for anyone other than the richest of the rich. Palmer says that one hand-copied book in the 14th century cost as much as a house and libraries cost a small fortune. The largest European library in 1300 was the university library of Paris, which had 300 total manuscripts.

By the 1490s, when Venice was the book-printing capital of Europe, a printed copy of a great work by Cicero only cost a month's salary for a school teacher. The printing press didn't launch the Renaissance, but it vastly accelerated the rediscovery and sharing of knowledge.

"Suddenly, what had been a project to educate only the few wealthiest elite in this society could now become a project to put a library in every medium-sized town, and a library in the house of every reasonably wealthy merchant family," says Palmer.

3. Martin Luther Becomes the First Best-Selling Author

There's a famous quote attributed to German religious reformer Martin Luther that sums up the role of the printing press in the Protestant Reformation: "Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one."

Luther wasn't the first theologian to question the Church, but he was the first to widely publish his message. Other "heretics" saw their movements quickly quashed by Church authorities and the few copies of their writings easily destroyed. But the timing of Luther's crusade against the selling of indulgences coincided with an explosion of printing presses across Europe.

As the legend goes, Luther nailed his "95 Theses" to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. Palmer says that broadsheet copies of Luther's document were being printed in London as quickly as 17 days later.

Thanks to the printing press and the timely power of his message, Luther became the world's first best-selling author. Luther's translation of the New Testament into German sold 5,000 copies in just two weeks. From 1518 to 1525, Luther's writings accounted for a third of all books sold in Germany and his German Bible went through more than 430 editions.

4. Printing Powers the Scientific Revolution

The English philosopher Francis Bacon, who's credited with developing the scientific method, wrote in 1620 that the three inventions that forever changed the world were gunpowder, the nautical compass and the printing press.

For millennia, science was a largely solitary pursuit. Great mathematicians and natural philosophers were separated by geography, language and the sloth-like pace of hand-written publishing. Not only were handwritten copies of scientific data expensive and hard to come by, they were also prone to human error.

With the newfound ability to publish and share scientific findings and experimental data with a wide audience, science took great leaps forward in the 16th and 17th centuries. When developing his sun-centric model of the galaxy in the early 1500s, for example, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus relied not only on his own heavenly observations, but on printed astronomical tables of planetary movements.

When historian Elizabeth Eisenstein wrote her 1980 book about the impact of the printing press, she said that its biggest gift to science wasn't necessarily the speed at which ideas could spread with printed books, but the accuracy with which the original data were copied. With printed formulas and mathematical tables in hand, scientists could trust the fidelity of existing data and devote more energy to breaking new ground.

5. Fringe Voices Get a Platform

"Whenever a new information technology comes along, and this includes the printing press, among the very first groups to be 'loud' in it are the people who were silenced in the earlier system, which means radical voices," says Palmer.

It takes effort to adopt a new information technology, whether it's the ham radio, an internet bulletin board, or Instagram. The people most willing to take risks and make the effort to be early adopters are those who had no voice before that technology existed.

"In the print revolution, that meant radical heresies, radical Christian splinter groups, radical egalitarian groups, critics of the government," says Palmer. "The Protestant Reformation is only one of many symptoms of print enabling these voices to be heard."

As critical and alternative opinions entered the public discourse, those in power tried to censor it. Before the printing press, censorship was easy. All it required was killing the "heretic" and burning his or her handful of notebooks.

But after the printing press, Palmer says it became nearly impossible to destroy all copies of a dangerous idea. And the more dangerous a book was claimed to be, the more the people wanted to read it. Every time the Church published a list of banned books, the booksellers knew exactly what they should print next.

6. From Public Opinion to Popular Revolution

During the Enlightenment era, philosophers like John Locke, Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were widely read among an increasingly literate populace. Their elevation of critical reasoning above custom and tradition encouraged people to question religious authority and prize personal liberty.

Increasing democratization of knowledge in the Enlightenment era led to the development of public opinion and its power to topple the ruling elite. Writing in pre-Revolution France, Louis-Sebástien Mercier declared:

"A great and momentous revolution in our ideas has taken place within the last thirty years. Public opinion has now become a preponderant power in Europe, one that cannot be resisted... one may hope that enlightened ideas will bring about the greatest good on Earth and that tyrants of all kinds will tremble before the universal cry that echoes everywhere, awakening Europe from its slumbers."

"[Printing] is the most beautiful gift from heaven," continues Mercier. "It soon will change the countenance of the universe... Printing was only born a short while ago, and already everything is heading toward perfection... Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtuous writer!"

Even the illiterate couldn't resist the attraction of revolutionary Enlightenment authors, Palmer says. When Thomas Paine published "Common Sense" in 1776, the literacy rate in the American colonies was around 15 percent, yet there were more copies printed and sold of the revolutionary tract than the entire population of the colonies.

7. Machines 'Steal Jobs' From Workers

The Industrial Revolution didn't get into full swing in Europe until the mid-18th century, but you can make the argument that the printing press introduced the world to the idea of machines "stealing jobs" from workers.

Before Gutenberg's paradigm-shifting invention, scribes were in high demand. Bookmakers would employ dozens of trained artisans to painstakingly hand-copy and illuminate manuscripts. But by the late 15th century, the printing press had rendered their unique skillset all but obsolete.

On the flip side, the huge demand for printed material spawned the creation of an entirely new industry of printers, brick-and-mortar booksellers and enterprising street peddlers. Among those who got his start as a printer's apprentice was future Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Ways the Printing Press Changed the World | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the 15th century, an innovation enabled the mass production of books. The ability to share knowledge more widely changed the world forever.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: Began in November 1, 1478

Impacts:

Europe-Forced changes to Roman Catholicism and making people leave Spain's territories who believed in different things made Spanish culture more similar.

Americans-established to combat heresy

Importance- Spain was trying to become a united kingdom, the king got a lot of power. However, the methods used were harsh, causing a lot of pain and suffering for many people.

https://www.britannica.com/summary/Spanish-Inquisition-Key-Facts#:~:text=The%20Spanish%20Inquisition%20was%20a,to%20widespread%20death%20and%20suffering.

https://www.britannica.com/summary/Spanish-Inquisition-Causes-and-Effects#:~:text=Hundreds%20of%20thousands%20of%20Spanish,of%20Europe%20and%20the%20Americas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Spanish Inquisition was a judicial institution that lasted between 1478 and 1834. Its ostensible purpose was to combat heresy in Spain, but, in practice, it resulted in consolidating power in the monarchy of the newly unified Spanish kingdom. Its brutal methods led to widespread death and suffering.

The Roman Catholic Church had established inquisitions in the past. Taking their name from the Latin verb inquiro ("inquire into"), these commissions had authority to question supposed heretics about their religious practices and loyalties starting in the 13th century.

Unlike much of western Europe at the time, medieval Spain was a multiracial and multireligious country with large Muslim and Jewish populations.

Moors, members of the Muslim population of Spain and Portugal, ruled most of the Iberian Peninsula starting in the 8th century. Christian states spent several centuries working to expel the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula, a campaign called the Reconquista. The last Moorish kingdom in Spain was conquered in the late 15th century. Many historians believe that the crusading spirit of the Reconquista was preserved in the subsequent Spanish emphasis on religious uniformity.

Anti-Semitic sentiment grew toward Spain's substantial Jewish population. During the reign of Henry III of Castile and Leon (1390-1406), Jews faced increased persecution. Pogroms in 1391 were especially brutal, and the Jewish community faced the choice between baptism and death.

Many Jews were killed upon refusal to convert to Christianity. Those who adopted Christian beliefs, the conversos (Spanish for "converted") still faced suspicion and prejudice. Marranos, Jews who had apparently converted but continued to practice their faith in secret, were considered a major threat to Spanish society.

The marriage of Ferdinand II and Isabella I in 1469 united the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. Called the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella further united the Spanish kingdoms into an imperial force. In 1478 Pope Sixtus IV issued a papal bull, or decree, authorizing the Catholic Monarchs to name inquisitors in order to enforce religious uniformity and to expel Jews from Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella sought to use the Inquisition to increase their absolute power over the centralized regime.

The first Spanish inquisitors were so severe in their methods that Sixtus attempted to intervene, but his efforts were in vain as Ferdinand and Isabella realized how useful the Inquisition was to their royal power.

The Inquisition was characterized by secret procedures, the use of torture during interrogation, and the complete lack of rights for the accused.

The autos-da-fé (Portuguese for "acts of faith") were public ceremonies during which sentences against the condemned were read. These ceremonies were elaborate and popular spectacles with processions, oaths of obedience to the Inquisition, and sermons. The condemned were afterward turned over to secular, or nonreligious, authorities to actually carry out the punishments. Extreme punishments included execution or life imprisonment.

In 1483 the pope was convinced to authorize the Spanish government to name a grand inquisitor to act as head of the Inquisition. The grand inquisitor had the power to name deputies and hear appeals, which he did with the assistance of a council of five.

Tomás de Torquemada was the first grand inquisitor, and his name became associated with the brutality characteristic of the Inquisition. He issued 28 articles that outlined crimes that could be investigated by inquisitors as well as methods used for interrogation and punishment. Torquemada used torture and the confiscation of property to terrorize and intimidate his victims. An estimated 2,000 people were burned at the stake during Torquemada's tenure as grand inquisitor.

Torquemada convinced Ferdinand and Isabella to issue the Alhambra Decree on March 31, 1492, which resulted in 160,000 Jews being expelled from Spain.

Francisco, Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros, named grand inquisitor in 1507, promoted the suppression of the Muslim population of Spain with the same zeal that Torquemada had directed at Jews. Islam was banned in Spain by decree of Phillip III in 1609, and by 1614 some 300,000 Moriscos, Spanish Muslims who had previously agreed to baptism, were expelled, with tens of thousands executed for refusing expulsion.

The Protestant population of Spain was small, but, as it was considered a threat upon the rise of the Reformation, the Inquisition eliminated it as well.

Having largely purged the country of Jews and Muslims-as well as many former members of those faiths who had converted to Christianity-the Spanish Inquisition turned its attention to prominent Roman Catholics. Saint Ignatius of Loyola was twice arrested on suspicion of heresy, and the archbishop of Toledo, the Dominican Bartolomé de Carranza, was imprisoned for almost 17 years.

The supreme council of the Spanish Inquisition oversaw 14 local tribunals in Spain and several in the Spanish colonies, including in the Americas. A similar inquisition was established in Portugal in 1547, lasting until 1821.

Though the excesses seen under Torquemada diminished somewhat, autos-da-fé continued into the mid-18th century. The Spanish Inquisition was suppressed by Joseph Bonaparte in 1808, restored by Ferdinand VII in 1814, suppressed in 1820, and restored in 1823. It was finally suppressed permanently by Spanish queen regent María Cristina de Borbón in 1834.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
List of important facts about the Spanish Inquisition, judicial institution first authorized in 1478, ostensibly to combat heresy, or dissent, from Roman Catholic teachings and beliefs in Spain. The institution served to consolidate power in the Spanish monarchy, achieving that end through infamously brutal means.

# data[].attributes.body
Date:October 12, 1492

Impacted:European countries to colonize and exploit those lands and their peoples.

Importance:Christopher Columbus sailed across the ocean and discovered new lands called the Americas.They started exchanging things like new plants, such as potatoes and tomatoes, between Europe and the Americas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What was the impact of Columbus's travels?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What was the impact of Columbus's travels? Columbus's journeys to the Americas opened the way for European countries to colonize and exploit those la

# data[].attributes.body
Date: 1760s

Impacted: Europe, the United States of America, and the modern era.

Importance: Industrialization and better transportation grew U.S. cities, expanded the economy, and led to labor struggles and strikes by the working class.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Industrial Revolution was the transition from creating goods by hand to using machines. Its start and end are widely debated by scholars, but the period generally spanned from about 1760 to 1840. According to some, this turning point in history is responsible for an increase in population, an increase in the standard of living, and the emergence of the capitalist economy.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: May 16,1916

Impacted: Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine

Importance- In World War I, Britain and France secretly planned to control the Middle East, breaking their promise to let the people there have their own countries.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Sykes-Picot-Agreement

https://www.bcu.ac.uk/english/research/stories-of-sacrifice/virtual-tour/the-sykes-picot-agreement#:~:text=The%20significance%20of%20the%20Sykes,Arab%20independence%20in%20previous%20years.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: June 28, 1919

Impacted: Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Poland

Importance- The treaty after World War I made Germany and other countries say they were sorry for the war. They had to give up some land, have fewer soldiers, and pay money to the countries that won the war.

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/treaty-versailles-ends-wwi/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When Germany signed the armistice ending hostilities in the First World War on November 11, 1918, its leaders believed they were accepting a "peace without victory," as outlined by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points. But from the moment the leaders of the victorious Allied nations arrived in France for the peace conference in early 1919, the post-war reality began to diverge sharply from Wilson's idealistic vision.

Five long months later, on June 28-exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo-the leaders of the Allied and associated powers, as well as representatives from Germany, gathered in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles to sign the final treaty. By placing the burden of war guilt entirely on Germany, imposing harsh reparations payments and creating an increasingly unstable collection of smaller nations in Europe, the treaty would ultimately fail to resolve the underlying issues that caused war to break out in 1914, and help pave the way for another massive global conflict 20 years later.

None of the defeated nations at the Paris Peace Conference weighed in

Formal peace negotiations opened in Paris on January 18, 1919, the anniversary of the coronation of German Emperor Wilhelm I at the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. World War I had brought up painful memories of that conflict-which ended in German unification and its seizure of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine from France-and now France intended to make Germany pay.

The "Big Four" leaders of the victorious Allied nations (Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France and, to a lesser extent, Vittorio Orlando of Italy) dominated the peace negotiations. None of the defeated nations were invited to weigh in, and even the smaller Allied powers had little say. Though the Versailles Treaty, signed with Germany in June 1919, was the most famous outcome of the Paris Peace Conference, the Allies also had separate treaties with Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Turkey, and the formal peacemaking process wasn't concluded until the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in July 1923.

The treaty was lengthy and ultimately did not satisfy any nation.

The Versailles Treaty forced Germany to give up territory to Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Poland, return Alsace and Lorraine to France and cede all of its overseas colonies in China, Pacific and Africa to the Allied nations. In addition, it had to drastically reduce its armed forces and accept the demilitarization and Allied occupation of the region around the Rhine River. Most importantly, Article 231 of the treaty placed all blame for inciting the war squarely on Germany and forced it to pay several billion in reparations to the Allied nations.

Faced with the seemingly impossible task of balancing many competing priorities, the treaty ended up as a lengthy and confusing document that satisfied no one. "It literally is an attempt to remake Europe," says Michael Neiberg, professor of history at U.S. Army War College and author of The Treaty of Versailles: A Concise History (2017). "I'm not one of those people who believes the treaty made the Second World War inevitable, but I think you could argue that it made Europe a less stable place."

In Wilson's vision of the post-war world, all nations (not just the losers) would reduce their armed forces, preserve the freedom of the seas and join an international peacekeeping organization called the League of Nations. But his fellow Allied leaders rejected much of his plan as naive and too idealistic. The French, in particular, wanted Germany to pay a heavy price for the war, including loss of territory, disarmament and payment of reparations, while the British saw Wilson's plan as a threat to their supremacy in Europe.

Black Thursday brings the roaring twenties to a screaming halt, ushering in a worldwide economic depression.

Aside from affecting Germany, the Treaty of Versailles might have caused the Great Depression.

Many people, even at the time, agreed with the British economist John Maynard Keynes that Germany could not possibly pay so much in reparations without severe risks to the entire European economy. In his later memoir, U.S. President Herbert Hoover went so far as to blame reparations for causing the Great Depression.

But though most Germans were furious about the Treaty of Versailles, calling it a Diktat (dictated peace) and condemning the German representatives who signed it as "November criminals" who had stabbed them in the back, in hindsight it seems clear that the treaty turned out to be far more lenient than its authors might have intended. "Germany ended up not paying anywhere near what the treaty said Germany should pay," Neiberg says, adding that hardly anyone had expected Germany to be able to pay the entire amount.

And despite the loss of German territory, "there were plenty of people who understood as early as 1919 that the map actually gave Germany some advantages," Neiberg points out. "It put small states on Germany's borders, in eastern and central Europe. It eliminated Russia as a direct enemy of Germany, at least in the 1920s, and it removed Russia as an ally of France. So while the treaty looked really harsh to some people, it actually opened up opportunities for others."

The war guilt clause was more problematic. "You have to go back to 1914, when most Germans believed they had entered the war because Russia had mobilized its army," explains Neiberg. "To most Germans in 1919, and not just those on the right, blaming Germany specifically for the war made no sense. Especially when they did not put a war guilt clause on Austria-Hungary, which you could reasonably argue were the people that actually started this."

New European borders, the League of Nations and Germany reparations.

Taken as a whole, the treaties concluded after World War I redrew the borders of Europe, carving up the former Austro-Hungarian Empire into states like Yugoslavia, Poland and Czechoslovakia. As Neiberg puts it: "Whereas in 1914, you had a small number of great powers, after 1919 you have a larger number of smaller powers. That meant that the balance of power was less stable."

The Versailles Treaty also included a covenant for the League of Nations, the international organization that Woodrow Wilson had envisioned would preserve peace among the nations of Europe and the world. But the U.S. Senate ultimately refused to ratify the Versailles Treaty due to its opposition to the League, which left the organization seriously weakened without U.S. participation or military backing.

Meanwhile, Germany's economic woes, exacerbated by the burden of reparations and general European inflation, destabilized the Weimar Republic, the government established at the end of the war. Due to lasting resentment of the Versailles Treaty, the National Socialist (Nazi) Party and other radical right-wing parties were able to gain support in the 1920s and early '30s by promising to overturn its harsh provisions and make Germany into a major European power once again.

The Versailles Treaty made World War II possible, not inevitable.

In 1945, when the leaders of the United States, Great Britain and Soviet Union met at Potsdam, they blamed the failures of the Versailles Treaty for making another great conflict necessary and vowed to right the wrongs of their peacekeeping predecessors. But Neiberg, like many historians, takes a more nuanced view, pointing to events other than the treaty-including the United States not joining the League of Nations and the rise of the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union-as necessary elements in understanding the path to the Second World War.

"In my own personal view as a historian, you need to be really careful directly connecting events that happened 20 years apart," he says. "A different treaty produces a different outcome, yes. But you shouldn't draw inevitability. It's part of the recipe, but it's not the only ingredient."

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How the Treaty of Versailles and German Guilt Led to World War II | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From the moment the leaders of the victorious Allied nations arrived in France for the peace conference in early 1919, the post-war reality began to diverge sharply from Wilson's idealistic vision.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: January 30, 1933

Impacted: Germany, Europe

Importance- The Holocaust was the tragic period during World War II when the Nazis and their allies systematically persecuted and murdered six million European Jews.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
April 7, 1933
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.

July 14, 1933
Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases.

March 16, 1935
Germany introduces military conscription.

March 7, 1936
German troops march unopposed into the Rhineland.

March 11-13, 1938
Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss (Union).

November 9/10, 1938
Kristallnacht (nationwide pogrom in Germany).

May 13, 1939
The St. Louis sails from Hamburg, Germany.
World War II: Maps
September 29, 1938
Munich Agreement. Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement, by which Czechoslovakia must surrender its border regions and defenses (the so-called Sudeten region) to Nazi Germany.

September 17, 1939
The Soviet Union occupies Poland from the east.

October 8, 1939
German officials establish what is likely the first Nazi ghetto in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland.

July 10, 1940
The Battle of Britain begins.

July 6, 1941
Einsatzgruppen (so-called mobile killing units) shoot nearly 3,000 Jews at the Seventh Fort (Fort VII), one of the 19th-century fortifications surrounding Kovno.

September 29-30, 1941
Einsatzgruppen shoot about 34,000 Jews at Babyn Yar , outside Kyiv (Kiev).

November 30, 1941
Einsatzgruppen shoot at least 11,000 Jews from the Riga ghetto in the Rumbula Forest. The massacre continues on December 8-9. In total, at least 25,000 Jews are killed.

December 6, 1941
Soviet winter counteroffensive.

December 11, 1941
Nazi Germany declares war on the United States.

March 27, 1942
German officials begin the deportation of more than 65,000 Jews from Drancy, outside Paris, to the east (primarily to Auschwitz).

June 28, 1942
Germany launches a new offensive towards the city of Stalingrad.

September 12, 1942
Germans complete the mass deportation of about 265,000 Jews from Warsaw to Treblinka.

November 23, 1942
Soviet troops counterattack at Stalingrad, trapping the German Sixth Army in the city.

April 19, 1943
The Jews of the Warsaw ghetto initiate their final act of armed resistance against the Germans. The Warsaw ghetto uprising begins.

July 5, 1943
Battle of Kursk.

October 1, 1943
Danish citizens initiate the mass rescue of Denmark's Jews.

November 6, 1943
Soviet troops liberate Kyiv.

May 15, 1944
Germans begin the mass deportation of about 440,000 Jews from Hungary.

June 22, 1944
The Soviets launch an offensive in eastern Belorussia (Belarus).

July 25, 1944
Anglo-American forces break out of Normandy.

The Polish Home Army initiates the August 1, 1944
Warsaw uprising.

August 15, 1944
Allied forces land in southern France.

August 25, 1944
Liberation of Paris.

January 12, 1945
Soviet winter offensive is launched.

January 27, 1945
Soviet troops liberate the Auschwitz camp complex.

April 16, 1945
The Soviets launch their final offensive, encircling Berlin.

April 29, 1945
American forces liberate the Dachau concentration camp.

April 30, 1945
Adolf Hitler commits suicide.

May 7-8, 1945
Germany signs an unconditional surrender at the headquarters of US General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander of Allied forces in northwest Europe, at Reims on May 7. The surrender takes effect on May 8 at 11:01 PM Central European time (CET).

May 8, 1945
Germany signs a second, very similar, document of surrender in Berlin. It also comes into effect on May 8 at 11:01 PM CET. In Moscow, this was already after midnight on May 9.

Last Edited: Jun 1, 2022

Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Holocaust and World War II: Key Dates

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Read a detailed timeline of the Holocaust and World War II. Learn about key dates and events from 1933-45 as Nazi antisemitic policies became more radical.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: January 30, 1933

Impacted:

Germany-Nazi Party

Importance- Adolf Hitler was a famous person who had a lot of people supporting him. He became the leader of Germany through a series of problems and challenges in the country, not by taking control forcefully.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hitler rose to power during a time of economic and political instability in Germany. Learn more about how and when Hitler came to power.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: 1940

Impacted: India- lost native crops, nutrient-depleted soil, and more pesticides harming food and the environment.

Importance:The Green Revolution boosted food grain production, especially wheat and rice, by introducing high-yielding varieties to developing countries

https://www.britannica.com/event/green-revolution

# data[].attributes.body
Date: June 6, 1944

Impacted:

Northern France-The invasion of northern France in 1944 was the most significant victory of the Western Allies in the Second World War.

Importance- In 1944, the Allies had a major victory in World War II by landing in Normandy, France, and pushing ahead into the country.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As attacks inevitably bogged down, the Allies relied increasingly on their artillery and air support. For its part, the German High Command was never able to gather sufficient resources for a concentrated counter-offensive. Instead, armoured divisions were fed into the line piecemeal to shore up depleted infantry formations. It was a battle of attrition, which the Allies with their vast superiority in men and materiel were bound to win.

The Allied plan for a broad, phased advance was overtaken by events, and the final breakout was dramatic. Hitler's refusal to allow his commanders freedom to give up ground, and insistence on reinforcing failure, gave the Allies a more complete victory than they could have hoped for, as enemy units were sucked in to the maelstrom and destroyed.

Most of the divisions committed to the defence of France were either wiped out or reduced to remnants. Some 400,000 German troops were lost. Allied numbers and material support clearly had an impact, but it was significant that the fighting forces had defeated even the most fanatical German formations in the field. The battle for Normandy was an impressive feat of arms as well as an exposition of Allied logistical and industrial muscle.

The Allied advance in north-west Europe would slow dramatically that autumn as German resistance stiffened on the borders of the Reich. The war would not be over by Christmas. But D-Day had opened another major front, where the bulk of America's rapidly expanding army could at last be brought to bear. It led to the liberation of France, denying Germany any further exploitation of that country's economic and manpower resources. The U-boat ports, V-weapon sites and a large section of Germany's air defence network were captured or rendered useless. And it convinced the German High Command - other than a few ardent Nazi generals - that total defeat was now inevitable.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why D-Day Was So Important to Allied Victory

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The invasion of northern France in 1944 was the most significant victory of the Western Allies in the Second World War. The German Army suffered a catastrophe greater than that of Stalingrad, the defeat in North Africa or even the massive Soviet summer offensive of 1944.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: May 14, 1948

Impacted: Middle east

Importance- Israel is where the Jewish people began, shaping their spiritual and national identity, gaining independence, and creating an important culture for everyone.

https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/history-of-israel

https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-creation-of-israel-in-1948-timeline-resulting-conflicts.html

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/truman-israel/#:~:text=A%20Jewish%20state%20is%20established,of%20national%20and%20universal%20significance.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: 1907

Impacted: World- protects the natural world from the destructive forces of human need.

Importance:Plastics made our technology and medical progress possible, saving energy, and providing affordable, lightweight, and durable alternatives to natural materials.

https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/classroom-activities/role-playing-games/case-of-plastics/history-and-future-of-plastics/#:~:text=Plastics%20made%20possible%20the%20development,in%20heating%20and%20in%20transportation.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: July 1, 1916

Impacted: Allied offensive against German forces along the Western Front of World War 1

Importance: The diversion of German resources away from the assault on Verdun occurred.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Battle of the Somme, which took place from July to November 1916, began as an Allied offensive against German forces along the Western Front of World War I, near the Somme River in France. The battle turned into one of the most bitter, deadly and costly battles in all of human history, as British forces suffered more than 57,000 casualties-including more than 19,000 soldiers killed-on the first day of the battle alone. By the time the Battle of the Somme (sometimes called the First Battle of the Somme) ended nearly five months later, more than 3 million soldiers on both sides had fought in the battle, and more than 1 million had been killed or wounded.

Battle Begins - July 1, 1916

Prior to the attack, the Allies launched a week-long heavy artillery bombardment, using some 1.75 million shells, which aimed to cut the barbed wire guarding German's trench defenses and destroy the enemy's positions.

On the morning of July 1, 11 divisions of the British 4th Army-many of them volunteer soldiers going into battle for the first time-began advancing on a 15-mile front north of the Somme River. At the same time, five French divisions advanced on an eight-mile front to the south, where the German defenses were weaker.

Allied leaders had been confident the bombardment would damage German defenses enough so that their troops could easily advance. But the barbed wire remained intact in many places, and the German positions, many of which were in trenches deep underground, were stronger than anticipated.

Along the line, German machine gun and rifle fire cut down thousands of the attacking British troops, many of them caught in "no man's land" between the two sides.

Some 19,240 British soldiers were killed and more than 38,000 wounded by the end of that first day-almost as many casualties as British forces suffered when the Allies lost the battle for France during World War II (May-June 1940), including prisoners.

War of Attrition

Other British and French forces had more success to the south, though these gains were limited compared to the devastating losses sustained on that first day of battle.

But British Field Marshal Douglas Haig was determined to press on with the offensive, and over the next two weeks, the British launched a series of smaller attacks on the German line, putting increasing pressure on the Germans and forcing them to divert some weapons and soldiers from the Battle of Verdun.

Early on the morning of July 15, British troops launched another artillery barrage followed by a massive attack, this time on Bazentin Ridge, in the northern part of the Somme. The assault took the Germans by surprise, and the British were able to advance some 6,000 yards into enemy territory, occupying the village of Longueval.

But any small advance continued to come at the expense of heavy casualties in this long and deadly war of attrition, with the Germans losing 160,000 soldiers and the British and French more than 200,000 by the end of July.

Near the end of August, with German morale running low due to lost ground both on the Somme and at Verdun, Germany's General Erich von Falkenhayn was replaced by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. The command change marked a change in German strategy: They would build a new defensive line behind the Somme front, conceding territory but allowing them to inflict even more casualties on the advancing Allied troops.

Tanks Join the Battle

On September 15, during an attack at Flers Courcelette, the British artillery barrage was followed by an advance of 12 divisions of soldiers accompanied by 48 Mark I tanks, making their first-ever appearance on the battlefield.

But the tanks were still early in their development stages, and many of them broke down before making it to the front line. Though the British were able to advance some 1.5 miles, they sustained some 29,000 casualties and fell short of a true breakthrough.

As October began, bad weather stymied another Allied attack, with soldiers struggling to cross muddy terrain under fierce fire from German artillery and fighter planes. The Allies made their final advance of the battle in mid-November, attacking the German positions in the Ancre River valley.

With the arrival of true winter weather, Haig finally called the offensive to a halt on November 18, ending the bloody battle of attrition on the Somme, at least until the following year. Over 141 days, the British had advanced just seven miles and had failed to break the German line.

Aftermath

More than anything else, the Battle of the Somme-and especially its devastating first day-would be remembered as the epitome of the brutal and seemingly senseless carnage that characterized trench warfare during World War I. British officers, especially Haig, would be criticized for continuing the offensive in spite of such devastating losses.

Many of the British soldiers who fought at the Somme had volunteered for army service in 1914 and 1915 and saw combat for the first time in the battle. Many were members of so-called Pals battalions, or units that were made up of friends, relatives and neighbors in the same community.

In one poignant example of a community's loss, some 720 men from the 11th East Lancashire battalion (known as the Accrington Pals) fought on July 1 at the Somme; 584 were killed or wounded.

Who Won the Battle of the Somme?

The Allied victory at the Somme-despite its horrific costs-inflicted serious damage on German positions in France, spurring the Germans to strategically retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917 rather than continue battling over the same land that spring.

Though the exact number is disputed, German losses by the end of the Battle of the Somme probably exceeded Britain's, with some 450,000 soldiers lost compared with 420,000 on the British side. The surviving British forces had also gained valuable experience, which would later help them achieve ultimate victory on the Western Front.

HISTORY Vault: World War I Documentaries

Sources

Matt Brosnan, "5 Things You Need to Know About the Battle of the Somme." Imperial War Museums.
David Frum, "The Lessons of the Somme." The Atlantic.
John Keegan, The First World War. (Penguin Random House, 2000).
The 5 Bloodiest Battles in History. Military History Matters.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Battle of the Somme: Casualties & Who Won | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Battle of the Somme was a deadly Allied offensive against German forces along the Western Front of World War I, near the Somme River in France.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: August 9, 1945

Impacted: The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people.

Importance: August 9, 1945, human devastation, helped end World War II.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Target Committee appointed by President Harry Truman to decide which Japanese cities would receive the Little Boy and Fat Man atomic bombings did not place Nagasaki among their top two choices. Instead they identified Kokura as the second target after Hiroshima. In Kokura, a city of 130,000 people on the island of Kyushu, the Japanese operated one of their biggest ordnance factories, manufacturing among other things chemical weapons. The Americans knew all this, but strangely had not targeted the city yet in their conventional bombing campaign. That was one of the reasons the Target Committee thought it would be a good option after Hiroshima.

The third choice, Nagasaki was a port city located about 100 miles from Kokura. It was larger, with an approximate population of 263,000 people, and some major military facilities, including two Mitsubishi military factories. Nagasaki also was an important port city. Like Kokura and Hiroshima, it had not suffered much thus far from American conventional bombing.

After the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, workers on Tinian island labored intensely to put the finishing touches on the Fat Man bomb and prepare it for use. This was a plutonium implosion device of far greater complexity than the Little Boy bomb used at Hiroshima, which used uranium-235 in a fairly conventional explosive mechanism. The scientists and ordnance experts at Los Alamos had agonized for years over how to use plutonium in an atomic weapon, and Fat Man was the result.

The decision to use Fat Man just days after the explosion of Little Boy at Hiroshima was based on two calculations: the always-changeable Japanese weather-the appearance of a typhoon or other major weather event could force deployment to be postponed for weeks-and the belief that two bombings following in quick succession would convince the Japanese that the Americans had plenty of atomic devices and were ready to keep using them until Japan finally surrendered. Reports of approaching bad weather convinced the Americans to drop the next bomb on August 9.

A B-29 named Bock's Car took off from Tinian at 3:47 that morning. In its belly was Fat Man, and the atomic bomb was already armed. Major Charles W. Sweeney flew the plane while its namesake, Captain Fredrick C. Bock, piloted Sweeney's usual mount christened "The Great Artiste." The two men had switched aircraft as "The Great Artiste" held the sensitive measuring equipment used to monitor the atomic event. The Enola Gay took part in the mission, flying weather reconnaissance.

Over Kokura, clouds and smoke from nearby bombing raids obscured visibility. The Americans could see parts of the city, but they could not site directly on the city arsenal that was their target. Sweeney flew overhead until Japanese antiaircraft fire and fighters made things "a little hairy," and it was obvious that sighting would be impossible. He then headed for his secondary target: Nagasaki. In Kokura, meanwhile, civilians who had taken shelter after the air raid signal heard the all-clear, emerged, and breathed sighs of relief. None of them knew then, of course, how close they had come to dying.

Clouds also obscured visibility over Nagasaki, and Maj. Sweeney, running out of fuel, prepared to turn back toward Okinawa. At the last second a hole opened in the clouds, however, and Bombardier Capt. Kermit K. Beahan announced that he could see his target. And so Fat Man began its journey, detonating over Nagasaki at 11:02 a.m. local time.

Fat Man detonated at an altitude of 1,650 feet over Nagasaki with a yield of 21 kilotons, about 40 percent more powerful than Little Boy had been. It did so almost directly above the Mitsubishi factories that were the city's primary targets, rather than over the residential and business districts further south. Tens of thousands of civilians, especially children, had already been evacuated from the city. The series of hills bracing Nagasaki also somewhat confined the initial blast and restricted the damage.

Still, the impact was devastating, particularly because people had heard the all-clear after an earlier aircraft raid warning, and had left their shelters. Everything within a mile of ground zero was annihilated. Fourteen thousand homes burst into flames. People close to the blast were vaporized; those unlucky enough to be just outside that radius received horrific burns and, there and further out, radiation poisoning that would eventually kill them. Although estimates vary, perhaps 40,000 people were killed by the initial detonation. By the beginning of 1946, 30,000 more people were dead. And within the next five years, well over 100,000 deaths were directly attributable to the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

This article is part of an ongoing series commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II made possible by Bank of America.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Bombing of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Target Committee appointed by President Harry Truman to decide which Japanese cities would receive the Little Boy and Fat Man atomic bombings did not place Nagasaki among their top two choices. Instead they identified Kokura as the second target after Hiroshima.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: May 28, 1948

Impacted: South Africa

Importance- Apartheid, a system that separated people based on their skin color in South Africa ended in the early 1990s and a new government formed in 1994 allowed everyone to be treated equally.

https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/pcw/98678.htm#:~:text=Apartheid%2C%20the%20Afrikaans%20name%20given,a%20democratic%20government%20in%201994.

# data[].attributes.headline
Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon

# data[].attributes.subject
Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon

# data[].attributes.body
Date:July 20, 1969

Impacted: Global- The cultural impact of the moon landing is all around us

Importance: The moon landing taught us about the composition of the moon. It gave us the first perspective of the Earth from Space.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The cultural critic: Anthony Lambert

The cultural impact of the moon landing is all around us, forever a reminder of spectacular possibilities.
Mankind's giant leap: Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon on 20 July 1969. Pic credit: NASA.
Spectacles are large events that demand universal focus, and they have the power to fixate and transform cultures. In the sitcom Big Bang Theory, the science geeks direct a laser onto a retro-reflector left by Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon. Leonard exclaims "Don't you see what we've done? It's the only definitive proof that there are man-made objects on the moon placed there by a species that only 60 years before had just invented the airplane." They have connected with something spectacular.

The landing of Apollo 11 on the surface of the moon on 20 July 1969 was, quite simply, the biggest thing that had ever happened. EVER. And it may well still be. For scholars of visual media and cultural studies, interest is in how the spectacle of the moon landing works, with respect to America and the global mediascape in the late 1960s, and the ongoing effects of the spectacle on culture and representation in our contemporary lives.

The moon landing has offered a visual architecture of the modern spectacle. In the CNN documentary Apollo 11 (2019), unseen footage reveals the visual motifs, cues and tropes that have informed films and stories over the past half-century, including the 12-part HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon (1998), and the 1996 Apollo 11 docudrama, which followed from the Apollo 13 film made in 1995, starring Tom Hanks. The 2019 documentary enlivens the 'real footage' by reproducing the actual moon landing in high-resolution digital scans that are fully immersive.

The landing of Apollo 11 on the surface of the moon on 20 July 20 1969 was, quite simply, the biggest thing that had ever happened. EVER. And it may well still be.

Whilst numerous other popular documentaries and feature films have been made, including the dramatic First Man (2018) and the Australian comedy The Dish (2000), the cultural impact of the event also lies in its easy incorporation into the stories and images of popular programs and film franchises: TV shows such as Futurama, Dr Who, and Timeless, as well as the Men in Black and Transformers films have all used aspects of the moon landing story as part of larger stories about science, fantasy, good and evil.

The large-scale media coverage of the original achievement managed the world's attention through distraction from the Vietnam War, and the culmination of the 'space race', which offered a celebratory account of American/Western human and technological development. In recent film and television from Big Bang Theory to First Man, the moon landing continues to powerfully inform representations of humanity, space, the world and the universe.

The event lives on through what is repeated and circulated in popular culture - not only as the measure of achievement but as the postmodern reminder of spectacular possibilities.
Dr Anthony Lambert is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University.
The planetary scientist: Craig O'Neill

The Apollo mission transformed our understanding of our own planet.
Rocky route: Apollo 11 carried the first geologic samples from the Moon back to Earth, including 50 rocks. Pic credit: NASA.
In 2002 I was lucky enough to have dinner with an Apollo-17 astronaut, Harrison 'Jack' Schmitt - the only scientist ever to walk on the moon, and a geologist. Dr Schmitt was giving a public lecture at Sydney University, and as a geoscience grad student studying planets, I scored an invite. As the only other earth scientist, the organisers sat me next to Harrison - a terrible idea for the rest of the table, as we proceeded to talk about rocks for the next three hours.

Harrison's experience on the Apollo program is a point of pride in the earth science community - the true skill required for a scientist on the ground in an alien environment isn't astronomy. It's geology. And nowhere have the Apollo missions cast a longer shadow than in the earth sciences.

The Apollo missions were a turning point for planetary science ... the samples have powered 50 years of science and continue to be worked on today.

The Apollo mission samples showed that Earth and moon came from the same body. The isotope signatures of both - the "DNA" of rocks - are uncannily similar. However, the moon had some major differences. It was very dry, had a very small core, and much of the crust was an unusual rock rich in a mineral called feldspar.

Together these observations led to a model for the formation of the Earth-moon system via a giant impact, where a Mars-sized object hit the growing Earth, ejecting material to eventually form the moon.

The moon's surface is also very old. Most of Earth's earliest record has been destroyed, yet the moon provides a time-capsule of this period. It showed that the early moon, and by inference the Earth, started life mostly molten, covered by deep "magma oceans". The Apollo samples allowed us to date the epic impact craters forming at the time, and constrain the flux of asteroid impactors bombarding the early solar system. Soon after this period ended, evidence for life appears on Earth, which may have had to wait until these ocean-vaporising impacts ceased.

The Apollo missions were a turning point for planetary science. Previously accessible only by astronomy, planetary bodies were now accessible to missions, and sample return - and thus the whole arsenal of analytical tools geochemistry could bring to bear. The Apollo samples have powered 50 years of science, and continue to be worked on today.

It's been a long time since Harrison Schmitt, with Eugene Cernan, were the last humans to walk on the moon, and we are long overdue for a new generation of scientists to follow in their footsteps.
Associate Professor Craig O'Neill is Director of the Planetary Research Centre at Macquarie.
The historian: Chris Dixon

The moon landing showed the world what political will can achieve. Today, humanity urgently needs to find that will again.
Mission milestone: The moon landing was a huge moment in US and world history and became a cause for national celebration like this New York parade for the returned Apollo 11 crew Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong. Pic credit: NASA.
The moon landing did not transform life on Earth. Yet it was a moment of profound historical significance. Coming near the end of a decade in which Americans had spent as much energy fighting themselves as they had expended in an ultimately unwinnable war in the jungles and rice paddies of faraway Vietnam, many Americans saw the success of July 1969 as a reassuring sign that the United States still had the right stuff. While some were contending that America in the 1960s was a generation lost in space, the moon landing suggested there was, perhaps, still time left to start again.

Of course, the moon landing was much more than an American moment. The grainy black-and-white TV image of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon represented a transcendent, unifying moment. This was not just an American triumph, but a sign that all peoples, regardless of nation, race, or faith, were inhabitants of the same precarious planet.

Amid the technological triumphalism and soaring rhetoric associated with the moon landing, it is often forgotten that President John F. Kennedy's 1961 pronouncement that the United States would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade had not been greeted with universal acclaim. Sceptical of the project's feasibility, and concerned about its expense, some Americans worried that a failure to reach Kennedy's ambitious goal might repeat the embarrassment and humiliation that had followed the Soviets' 1957 launch of Sputnik.

Although the United States sent a further six missions to the moon, Apollo 11 proved a tough act to follow.

Perhaps because the space race was so inseparable from the Cold War, during the 1960s the US government invested vast resources to the quest to reach the moon. Harnessing the best and the brightest of the nation's scientific minds, the space program demonstrated the positive possibility of large-scale government investment in projects of national and international significance. Even if the public purse permitted, it is doubtful that the United States would today have the political will to invest the resources necessary for such an ambitious exercise.

It is one of the ironies of history that it was Richard Nixon - who had narrowly and contentiously lost to John Kennedy in the 1960 Presidential election - who welcomed the Apollo 11 astronauts back to Earth. Acclaimed as heroes, Armstrong and his fellow crewmembers rode in ticker-tape parades in Chicago and New York City, addressed a joint sitting of the US Congress, and embarked on a world tour that took them to 22 countries.

Although the United States sent a further six missions to the moon, Apollo 11 proved a tough act to follow. Apollo 13 nearly ended in disaster, and by December 1972, when Apollo 17 completed its mission, the trip to the moon had become almost routine, if not passé.

And while Neil Armstrong's description of "a small step for [a] man, but a giant leap for mankind" highlighted the unbounded optimism of that moment, the decades since have seen the increasing militarization of space and a growing cynicism toward the type of scientific endeavour that made the moon landing possible. As the planet that Armstrong and other astronauts contemplated from afar grapples with the challenge of climate change, it is incumbent on all of use to demand, and generate, the same type of political will that put a man on the moon.
Professor Chris Dixon is Head of the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie.
The engineer: Noushin Nasiri

Technology developed during the Apollo Mission has made everyday life easier - and safer.
Fiction to reality: Wireless headsets, cordless tools, swipe cards and memory foam hospital beds are among the NASA inventions now used in everyday household items back on Earth.
The day before the launch of Apollo 11, Ralph Abernathy, civil rights leader, held a sign at the Kennedy Space Centre that read: "$12 a day to feed an astronaut. We could feed a starving child for $8." The total cost of the Apollo program was $US25.4 billion, more than $US100 billion in today's money. Fifty years later, some may still wonder if the moon landing was a waste of money, and also may question, like Abernathy, why we spend so much money to explore space when we could be more focused on improving the quality of life of people here on Earth.

From memory foam to wireless headsets, NASA inventions have contributed to improving lives of people on this planet.

The answer, however, is quite complicated as it is difficult to put a value on something of the magnitude of the moon landing. And the reality is that space exploration has brought us numerous benefits. From memory foam to wireless headsets, NASA inventions have contributed to improving lives of people on this planet. The former, which is being used in helmets as well as hospital beds, was created in the 1970s by NASA to absorb the energy of crashes during landing and increase astronauts' chances of survival. The latter was initially developed to improve the astronauts' communications while in the spacecraft.

Another example is cordless tools such as the cordless drill, screwdriver and vacuum, which are common in households around the world. Although these tools were generally invented before the moon landing, NASA took away the complications of tangled cords. Through a collaborative project with Black & Decker, NASA made the daily lives of the masses easier by developing these lightweight, battery-powered and portable tools.

The catastrophe also led to new technology. After the three astronauts of Apollo 1, the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, died in a fire in the spacecraft cabin during a launch test, NASA engineers designed and fabricated space suits made of fire-resistant material. That material has since been used in the outfitting of firefighters, race-car drivers and soldiers to help protect their lives in the case of fire.

NASA's innovations are not limited to hardware technologies, with sophisticated software tools developed by its scientists also changing the lives of millions. One great example is the software they designed to manage complex space systems which later was utilised in developing the swipe-card devices we use every single day.

Fifty years ago, on 20 July, the science fiction fantasy became the reality when Neil Armstrong walked on the surface of the moon; and now, we should be wondering how different life would be without the many NASA technologies that are taken for granted.
Dr Noushin Nasiri is a Lecturer in Materials Engineering at Macquarie's School of Engineering.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The cultural critic: Anthony Lambert The cultural impact of the moon landing is all around us, forever a reminder of spectacular possibilities. Mankind's giant leap: Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon on 20 July 1969. Pic credit: NASA.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: April 6, 1992

Impacted: Bosnia, Herzegovina

Importance- Yugoslavia, a country in Europe, had some big problems like a government with a lot of control, money troubles, and people not getting along well, which eventually led to the country breaking apart.

https://www.prio.org/projects/1381#:~:text=of%20public%20opinion%3F-,Theories%20explaining%20the%20reason%20for%20civil%20war%20will%20be%20used,crisis%2C%20and%20strong%20social%20cleavages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When did the Bosnian War occur?

How many people were killed during the Bosnian War?

Who was charged with committing war crimes during the Bosnian War?

How did the Bosnian War end?

Bosnian War, ethnically rooted war (1992-95) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former republic of Yugoslavia with a multiethnic population comprising Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Serbs, and Croats. After years of bitter fighting that involved the three Bosnian groups as well as the Yugoslav army, Western countries with backing by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) imposed a final cease-fire negotiated at Dayton, Ohio, U.S., in 1995.

Background

In 1946 the People's Republic (from 1963, Socialist Republic) of Bosnia and Herzegovina became one of the constituent republics of the Federal People's (from 1963, Socialist Federal) Republic of Yugoslavia, and life in Bosnia and Herzegovina underwent all the social, economic, and political changes that were imposed on the whole of Yugoslavia by its new communist government. Bosnia and Herzegovina was particularly affected by the abolition of many traditional Muslim institutions, such as Qurʾānic primary schools, rich charitable foundations, and Dervish religious orders. However, a change of official policy in the 1960s led to the acceptance of "Muslim" as a term denoting a national identity: the phrase "Muslim in the ethnic sense" was used in the 1961 census, and in 1968 the Bosnian Central Committee decreed that "the Muslims are a distinct nation." By 1971 Muslims formed the largest single component of the Bosnian population. During the next 20 years the Serb and Croat populations fell in absolute terms as many Serbs and Croats emigrated. In the 1991 census Muslims made up more than two-fifths of the Bosnian population, while Serbs made up slightly less than one-third and Croats one-sixth. From the mid-1990s the term Bosniak replaced Muslim as the name Bosnian Muslims use for themselves.

In the 1980s the rapid decline of the Yugoslav economy led to widespread public dissatisfaction with the political system. That attitude, together with the manipulation of nationalist feelings by politicians, destabilized Yugoslav politics. Independent political parties appeared by 1989. In early 1990, multiparty elections were held in Slovenia and Croatia. When elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina in December, new parties representing the three national communities gained seats in rough proportion to their populations. A tripartite coalition government was formed, with the Bosniak politician Alija Izetbegović leading a joint presidency. Growing tensions both inside and outside Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, made cooperation with the Serb Democratic Party, led by Radovan Karadžić, increasingly difficult.

In 1991 several self-styled "Serb Autonomous Regions" were declared in areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina with large Serb populations. Evidence emerged that the Yugoslav People's Army was being used to send secret arms deliveries to the Bosnian Serbs from Belgrade (Serbia). In August the Serb Democratic Party began boycotting the Bosnian presidency meetings, and in October it removed its deputies from the Bosnian assembly and set up a "Serb National Assembly" in Banja Luka. By then full-scale war had broken out in Croatia, and the breakup of Yugoslavia was under way. Bosnia and Herzegovina's position became highly vulnerable. The possibility of partitioning Bosnia and Herzegovina had been discussed during talks between the Croatian president, Franjo Tudjman, and the Serbian president, Slobodan Milošević, earlier in the year, and two Croat "communities" in northern and southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, similar in some ways to the "Serb Autonomous Regions," were proclaimed in November 1991.

When the European Community (EC; later succeeded by the European Union) recognized the independence of Croatia and Slovenia in December, it invited Bosnia and Herzegovina to apply for recognition also. A referendum on independence was held during February 29-March 1, 1992, although Karadžić's party obstructed voting in most Serb-populated areas and almost no Bosnian Serbs voted. Of the nearly two-thirds of the electorate that did cast a vote, almost all voted for independence, which President Izetbegović officially proclaimed on March 3, 1992.

Independence and war

Attempts by EC negotiators to promote a new division of Bosnia and Herzegovina into ethnic "cantons" during February and March 1992 failed: different versions of those plans were rejected by each of the three main ethnic parties. When Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence was recognized by the United States and the EC on April 7, Bosnian Serb paramilitary forces immediately began firing on Sarajevo, and the artillery bombardment of the city by Bosnian Serb units of the Yugoslav army began soon thereafter. During April many of the towns in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina with large Bosniak populations, such as Zvornik, Foča, and Višegrad, were attacked by a combination of paramilitary forces and Yugoslav army units. Most of the local Bosniak population was expelled from these areas, the first victims in the country of a process described as ethnic cleansing. Although Bosniaks were the primary victims and Serbs the primary perpetrators, Croats were also among the victims and perpetrators. Within six weeks a coordinated offensive by the Yugoslav army, paramilitary groups, and local Bosnian Serb forces brought roughly two-thirds of Bosnian territory under Serb control. In May the army units and equipment in Bosnia and Herzegovina were placed under the command of a Bosnian Serb general, Ratko Mladić.

From the summer of 1992, the military situation remained fairly static. A hastily assembled Bosnian government army, together with some better-prepared Bosnian Croat forces, held the front lines for the rest of that year, though its power was gradually eroded in parts of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian government was weakened militarily by an international arms embargo and by a conflict in 1993-94 with Croat forces. But later in 1994, Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks agreed to form a joint federation. The United Nations (UN) refused to intervene in the Bosnian War, but UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) troops did facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. The organization later extended its role to the protection of a number of UN-declared "safe areas." However, the UN failed to protect the safe area of Srebrenica in July 1995, when Bosnian Serb forces perpetrated the massacre of more than 7,000 Bosniak men ( see Srebrenica massacre).

Several peace proposals during the war failed, largely because the Bosnian Serbs-who controlled about 70 percent of the land by 1994-refused to concede any territory. In February 1994, in NATO's first-ever use of force, its fighters shot down four Bosnian Serb aircraft that were violating the UN-imposed no-fly zone over the country. Later that year, at the UN's request, NATO launched isolated and ineffective air strikes against Bosnian Serb targets. Following the Srebrenica massacre and another Bosnian Serb attack on a Sarajevo marketplace, NATO undertook more concentrated air strikes late in 1995. Combined with a large-scale Bosniak-Croat land offensive, this action led Bosnian Serb forces to agree to U.S.-sponsored peace talks in Dayton in November. Serbian Pres. Slobodan Milošević represented the Bosnian Serbs. The resulting Dayton Accords called for a federalized Bosnia and Herzegovina in which 51 percent of the land would constitute a Croat-Bosniak federation and 49 percent a Serb republic. To enforce the agreement, formally signed in December 1995, a 60,000-member international force was deployed.

It was originally estimated that at least 200,000 people were killed and more than 2,000,000 displaced during the 1992-95 war. Subsequent studies, however, concluded that the death toll was actually about 100,000.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Bosnian War | Facts, Summary, Combatants, & War Crimes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bosnian War, ethnically rooted war in Bosnia and Herzegovina that took place from 1992 to 1995. After years of bitter fighting between Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Serbs, and Croats as well as the Yugoslav army, a NATO-imposed final cease-fire was negotiated at Dayton, Ohio, U.S., in 1995.

# data[].attributes.body
Date:January 1, 1995

Impacted: Global trade rules assure stability, ensuring secure access to diverse products and services for all.

Importance:WTO enforces trade rules and aids developing economies in building trade capacity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The WTO is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, the legal ground-rules for international commerce and for trade policy.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: February 4, 2004

Impacted: World- Facebook Brought People Together

Importance: A website with speculated power to impact users' attitudes, intentions, or behaviors.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On February 4, 2004, a Harvard sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg launches The Facebook, a social media website he had built in order to connect Harvard students with one another. By the next day, over a thousand people had registered, and that was only the beginning. Now known simply as Facebook, the site quickly ballooned into one of the most significant social media companies in history. Today, Facebook is one of the most valuable companies in the world, with over 2 billion monthly active users.

The origins of Facebook have been highly scrutinized (including in the critically acclaimed 2010 film The Social Network), but the exact source of the idea remains unclear. What is obvious is that Zuckerberg had twin gifts for coding and causing a stir, both of which served him well at Harvard. The previous year, he had become a campus celebrity by creating FaceMash, a website where students could vote on which of two randomly-selected Harvard women was more attractive, and quickly running afoul of both the administration and several women's groups. FaceMash was short-lived but popular, leading Zuckerberg to consider the value of creating a campus-wide social network.

Over the course of his sophomore year, Zuckerberg built what would become Facebook. When it launched on February 4, he and his roommates were glued to their screens, watching as an estimated 1,200-1,500 of their fellow students signed up for their site within its first 24 hours of existence. From there, Facebook expanded rapidly, moving to other Boston-area schools and the rest of the Ivy League that spring. By the end of the year, the site had 1 million users, angel investor Peter Thiel had invested $500,000, and Zuckerberg had left Harvard to run Facebook from its new headquarters in California.

From there, Facebook spread across the world, becoming not only an incredibly valuable company but also one of the most important institutions of the early 21st century. The go-to social media site for a generation of internet users (and one which was readily adopted by older users as it transformed from exclusive to universal), Facebook was one of the major forces that brought the internet into the highly-participatory phase full of user-generated content sometimes referred to as "Web 2.0." It has also remained controversial. In addition to allowing misinformation and fake accounts to proliferate, Facebook has drawn criticism both for selling its users' data and for failing to adequately protect it. Nonetheless, Facebook continues to dominate the social media market, generating by far the most ad revenue and maintaining over half of the total market share.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On February 4, 2004, a Harvard sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg launches The Facebook, a social media website he had built in order to connect Harvard students with one another. By the next day, over a thousand people had registered, and that was only the beginning.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: February 2011

Impacted: Global- decimated the country for more than a decade, provoking a regional humanitarian crisis

Importance:The Syrian Civil War, which started in 2011, has caused the largest refugee crisis globally, with over a third of all refugees coming from Syria.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Uprising

In January 2011, Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad was asked in an interview with The Wall Street Journal if he expected the wave of popular protest then sweeping through the Arab world-which had already unseated authoritarian rulers in Tunisia and Egypt-to reach Syria. Assad acknowledged that there had been economic hardships for many Syrians and that progress toward political reform had been slow and halting, but he was confident that Syria would be spared because his administration's stance of resistance to the United States and Israel aligned with the beliefs of the Syrian people, whereas the leaders who had already fallen had carried out pro-Western foreign policy in defiance of their people's feelings.

The onset of antiregime protests, coming just a few weeks after the interview, made it clear that Assad's situation had been much more precarious than he was willing to admit. In reality, a variety of long-standing political and economic problems were pushing the country toward instability. When Assad succeeded his father in 2000, he came to the presidency with a reputation as a modernizer and a reformer. The hopes that were raised by Assad's presidency went largely unfulfilled, though. In politics, a brief turn toward greater participation was quickly reversed, and Assad revived the authoritarian tactics of his late father's administration, including pervasive censorship and surveillance and brutal violence against suspected opponents of the regime. Assad also oversaw significant liberalization of Syria's state-dominated economy, but those changes mostly served to enrich a network of crony capitalists with ties to the regime. On the eve of the uprising, then, Syrian society remained highly repressive, with increasingly conspicuous inequalities in wealth and privilege.

Environmental crisis also played a role in Syria's uprising. Between 2006 and 2010, Syria experienced the worst drought in the country's modern history. Hundreds of thousands of farming families were reduced to poverty, causing a mass migration of rural people to urban shantytowns.

It was in the impoverished drought-stricken rural province of Darʿā, in southern Syria, that the first major protests occurred in March 2011. A group of children had been arrested and tortured by the authorities for writing antiregime graffiti; incensed local people took to the street to demonstrate for political and economic reforms. Security forces responded harshly, conducting mass arrests and sometimes firing on demonstrators. The violence of the regime's response added visibility and momentum to the protesters' cause, and within weeks similar nonviolent protests had begun to appear in cities around the country. Videos of security forces beating and firing at protesters-captured by witnesses on mobile phones-were circulated around the country and smuggled out to foreign media outlets.

From early on, the uprising and the regime's response had a sectarian dimension. Many of the protesters belonged to the country's Sunni majority, while the ruling Assad family were members of the country's ʿAlawite minority. ʿAlawites also dominated the security forces and the irregular militias that carried out some of the worst violence against protesters and suspected opponents of the regime. Sectarian divisions were initially not as rigid as is sometimes supposed, though; the political and economic elite with ties to the regime included members of all of Syria's confessional groups-not just ʿAlawites-while many middle- and working-class ʿAlawites did not particularly benefit from belonging to the same community as the Assad family and may have shared some of the protesters' socioeconomic grievances.

As the conflict progressed, however, sectarian divisions hardened. In his public statements, Assad sought to portray the opposition as Sunni Islamic extremists in the mold of al-Qaeda and as participants in foreign conspiracies against Syria. The regime also produced propaganda stoking minorities' fears that the predominately Sunni opposition would carry out violent reprisals against non-Sunni communities.

As the protests increased in strength and size, the regime responded with heavier force. In some cases this meant encircling cities or neighbourhoods that had become hubs of protest, such as Bāniyās or Homs, with tanks, artillery, and attack helicopters and cutting off utilities and communications. In response, some groups of protesters began to take up arms against the security forces. In June, Syrian troops and tanks moved into the northern town of Jisr al-Shugūr, sending a stream of thousands of refugees fleeing into Turkey.

By the summer of 2011 Syria's regional neighbours and the global powers had both begun to split into pro- and anti-Assad camps. The United States and the European Union were increasingly critical of Assad as his crackdown continued, and U.S. Pres. Barack Obama and several European heads of state called for him to step down in August 2011. An anti-Assad bloc consisting of Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia formed in the last half of 2011. The United States, the EU, and the Arab League soon introduced sanctions targeting senior members of the Assad regime.

Meanwhile, Syria's long-standing allies Iran and Russia continued their support. An early indicator of the international divisions and rivalries that would prolong the conflict came in October 2011 when Russia and China cast the first of several vetoes blocking a UN Security Council Resolution that would have condemned Assad's crackdown.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Syrian Civil War, armed conflict that began in 2011 with an uprising against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The conflict drew involvement from a number of international actors and helped precipitate the rise of ISIL (also called ISIS or Islamic State) in eastern Syria.

# data[].attributes.body
Date: 2013

Impacted: The Cambridge Analytica significantly influenced of data privacy, political campaigns, and social media.

Importance: Cambridge Analytica made data privacy personal for Facebook users, reshaping ethical considerations and impacting digital democracy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
History of the Cambridge Analytica Controversy | Bipartisan Policy Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Cambridge Analytica scandal exploded into the political class’s consciousness five years ago this week. The idea of political persuasion and data mining suddenly…