Defining events by decade¶
World events on record, grouped by the decade they happened. Each event page breaks down how it touched every living generation by their life stage at the time.
1900s¶
- 1908 — Ford launches the Model T
1910s¶
- 1914 — Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated - start of World War 1
- 1919 — Treaty of Versailles: end of World War 1
1920s¶
1930s¶
1940s¶
- 1941 — The movie "Citizen Kane" is released
- 1941 — Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
- 1944 — D-Day: Allied Forces land in Normandy
- 1945 — Hitler commits suicide
- 1945 — The first atomic bomb falls on Hiroshima
1950s¶
1960s¶
- 1960 — Berry Gordy Jr launches Motown Records
- 1960 — The movie "Psycho" was released
- 1960 — In Japan, NHK and NTV introduces color television
- 1962 — Marilyn Monroe dies
- 1963 — John F Kennedy is assassinated
- 1964 — First performance of the Beatles on the US Ed Sullivan show
- 1966 — Color television in Canada was launched on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) English language TV service
- 1967 — BBC2 starts transmittin TV in color
1970s¶
- 1972 — Brazil began TV broadcasting in color using PAL-M
- 1972 — Francis For Coppola release the first Godfather movie
- 1973 — Roe vs Wade: the right to have an abortion
- 1974 — Nixon resigns over Watergate scandal
- 1977 — The first Star Wars movie is released
- 1977 — Elvis Presley dies
- 1979 — The shah leaves Iran and the Revolutionary Guard takes
- 1979 — the Movie "Apocalyse Now" is released
- 1979 — The Buggles release "Video Killed The Radio Star"
1980s¶
- 1980 — CNN is launched
- 1980 — John Lennon is killed on the streets of NYC
- 1981 — First news story on AIDS
- 1981 — MTV is launched
- 1982 — Michael Jackson releases the album "Thriller"
- 1983 — Nena releases "99 Luftballons"
- 1984 — The first Terminator movie is released
- 1984 — The Bhopal disaster exposes 500000 people to highly toxic gas
- 1985 — Live Aid concert
- 1985 — Rock Hudson dies of AIDS
- 1986 — Chernobyl nuclear disaster
- 1988 — The movie Die Hard is a surprise hit and becomes an even bigger surprise Christmas classic
- 1989 — The tanker Exxon Valdez spills its oil in the ocean
- 1989 — Fall of the Berlin Wall
1990s¶
- 1990 — The movie Home Alone hits the screens
- 1994 — Genocide in Rwanda kills more than 500000 people
- 1994 — Pulp Fiction wins Palme D'Or at Canne Film festival
- 1994 — The TV series "Friends" launches
- 1995 — Microsoft launches the Windows95 OS
- 1996 — Los Del Rio & Bayside Boys release "Macarena" - english version
- 1997 — The book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" is published, the first of a very successful series
- 1997 — "Titanic" launches and will grow to the biggest boxoffice ever
- 1998 — Bill Clinton denies affair with Monica Lewinsky
2000s¶
- 2001 — Daft Punk releases the album Discovery
- 2001 — September 11 attacks
- 2001 — The movie "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" is released
- 2002 — Europeans starts using the EURO currency
- 2004 — Nipplegate: Janet Jackson's indecent exposure
- 2004 — Google files for IPO
- 2005 — Google buys Android mobile OS
- 2006 — Amazon launches Prime Video streaming
- 2006 — Youtube is sold to Google
- 2007 — Apple launches the first iPhone
- 2009 — The first Avatar movie hits the screens
2010s¶
- 2011 — Fukushima nuclear disaster
- 2012 — Facebook files for IPO
- 2012 — Instagram is sold to Facebook
- 2012 — Psy releases "Gangnam Style"
- 2013 — Waze is sold to Google
- 2013 — Orange is the New Black launches on Netflix
- 2014 — Whatsapp is sold to Facebook
- 2014 — 2014 celebrity nude photo leak
- 2016 — The movie Deadpool proves R-rated movies can be succesful
- 2016 — Donald Trump wins the US elections
- 2019 — Apple launches Apple TV+ streaming service
2020s¶
- 2020 — Brexit: UK leaves the EU
- 2020 — WHO declares COVID-19 a global pandemic. Start of a wave of lockdowns.
- 2022 — Will Smith hits Chris Rock @ 2022 Oscars
- 2022 — US Supreme Court overturns abortion rights
Last updated: 2026-06-04