Historical Event & date

1. The Hindenburg disaster - the German airship LZ 129 Hindenburg burst into flames while attempting to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. It kills 36 people on 6th May

2. Algerian war of Independence is concluded, leaving some 400,000 - 1.5 million people dead. The anti-colonial Algerian FLN forces win against the French.

3. The FLN rule in Algeria as a one party state, but a civil war breaks out between the government and Islamic groups. This civil war, called the black decade occurs between

4. Paris falls to German occupation in June

5. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbour leads to 2,403 deaths on 7th December

6. The anti-communist Suharto becomes the second President of Indonesia after a US backed military overthrowing the leftist leader Sukarno.

7. German troops march into Czechoslovakia. They take Bohemia, and established a protectorate over Slovakia in March

8. 2,977 people are killed when terrorist fly planes into the world trade centre and the Pentagon on 6th September

9. The Germans open Dachau in the South of Germany, it is the first concentration camp and built to house political prisoners. It would become one of the longest running concentration camps and some 188,000 people would be murdered here.

10. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia is assassinated at the age of 50 by the Bolsheviks, alongside his family.

11. Mikhail Gorbachev announces his policies of glasnost (more open consultative government and wider dissemination of information) & perestroika (political reform).

12. The world's first underground railway opened in London on January 10

13. Jack the ripper killings in London - five women Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly are murdered by an unknown serial killer.

14. The Battle of Kiev (Kyiv) proves to be a major Axis victory in Operation Barbarossa, Adolf Hitler's attack on the USSR during the Second World War. Some 26,800 Germans die compared to some 600,000 soviets. Takes place between June-September

15. Battle of Midway, proves to be a pivotal naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, resulting in a decisive American victory that crippled Japan's naval power and effectively turned the tide of the war. Takes place between June 3-7th

16. The world's oldest photograph was taken French physicist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. The photo shows a view from a window.

17. Odoacer, a Germanic warlord deposes of Romulus Augustulus, marking an end to the Western roman empire

18. The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest - an alliance of Germanic tribes won a major victory over three Roman legions.

19. Boadicea, queen of the ancient Celtic Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire

20. Liberation of Auschwitz by US forces on 27th January

21. Assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Sophie the Duchess of Hohenberg, his wife. A suspect, a 19-year old Bosnian-Serb named Gavrilo Princip, was apprehended. This takes place 28th June

22. Start of Spanish Civil War - a conflict between the Republican government and the Nationalist forces led by General Francisco Franco, with the Nationalists receiving support from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and the Republicans receiving support from the Soviet Union.

23. End of Spanish civil war leaves some 500,000 people dead. The nationalist win, 1st April

24. The Carnation Revolution, a largely bloodless military coup, overthrew Portugal's Estado Novo dictatorship, paving the way for democracy and the end of the Portuguese Colonial War, with civilians offering carnations to soldiers as a symbol of solidarity. Occured on 25th April

25. Death of Francisco Franco who at this point had ruled Spain for some 26 years. He dies at the age at the age of 82 on the 20th November