- 2 years ago
These watershed moments captured the world's attention. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for shocking events in modern history that made just about everyone stop and take notice.
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00:00 "May 8th, 1945 is declared Victory in Europe Day.
00:04 Spontaneous celebrations erupt throughout the world."
00:09 Welcome to WatchMojo,
00:10 and today we're counting down our picks for shocking events in modern history
00:14 that may just about everyone stop and take notice.
00:17 "What a moment. Man on the way to the moon."
00:20 The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been ongoing for three quarters of a century,
00:29 with the 2023 Israel-Hamas war adding another tragic and bloody chapter.
00:33 "There are so many families across Israel asking, 'Where was the army?
00:38 Why didn't they stop this?' What do you tell those families?"
00:41 "I tell them it's the responsibility of the army.
00:44 It's the responsibility of the army for the intelligence.
00:48 It's our responsibility to guard the people of Israel.
00:51 We failed on Saturday. This is our responsibility.
00:55 But now we're fighting."
00:57 This latest conflict began when the Palestinian political and militant group Hamas
01:01 launched a surprise attack on 7 October 2023,
01:04 killing around 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians.
01:09 They also took 250 Israelis hostage,
01:11 demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners.
01:14 "This is a massive terrorist attack that is gunning down Israeli civilians
01:19 in their towns, in their homes, and as we've seen so graphically,
01:23 literally dragging people across the border with Gaza."
01:26 In retaliation, Israel dropped 6,000 bombs on Gaza over six days
01:31 and launched a ground invasion.
01:33 Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians,
01:37 including more than 8,000 children.
01:40 There have been widespread global protests,
01:42 and Gaza has collapsed into a humanitarian crisis.
01:46 In China, references to this event, also known as the June 4th incident,
01:54 are heavily censored.
01:55 In the spring of 1989, student-led demonstrations were held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing,
02:01 calling for democracy and greater civil liberties.
02:03 "They turn Tiananmen Square, the country's symbol of sovereignty,
02:07 into a hub of dissent and protest.
02:09 They want a crackdown on corruption.
02:11 They want freedom of press.
02:13 They call for an awakening to reform and progress in China."
02:16 The protests spread to hundreds of cities,
02:19 with workers joining them, angry over inflation,
02:22 corruption and the erosion of welfare.
02:24 Declaring martial law, the government sent soldiers and tanks into the square.
02:28 The death toll is disputed, ranging from hundreds to thousands.
02:32 Estimates run from several hundred to over 10,000.
02:36 Some argue that by shooting at civilians,
02:38 the Communist Party lost its legitimacy to rule,
02:41 and with it an opportunity for political modernization.
02:44 Famously, at least outside of China,
02:46 the photo of an unknown man facing off against a column of tanks
02:50 has become an enduring symbol of the event.
02:52 Today, public displays of mourning for the victims are banned,
02:56 although commemorations still sometimes reportedly occur in secret.
03:00 Also known as the BP oil spill,
03:06 this unfortunately wasn't the first industrial disaster
03:09 to devastate our marine habitats,
03:11 but it remains the largest on record.
03:13 It began on April 20th,
03:15 due to an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform.
03:18 "And there's 30,000 of these workers every day that go on the Gulf
03:21 to do this work, and they're well trained,
03:23 but, you know, and they work to try to not have these accidents,
03:27 but on this day, something went wrong,
03:29 and now we're, you know, we're working with BP,
03:31 and we're trans-ocean to try to find the cause."
03:34 The fallout from this disaster resulted in 205 million gallons of oil
03:38 discharged into the Gulf of Mexico,
03:41 and effects were still being felt years after the initial disaster.
03:44 "Birds are still on these islands, coming in here feeding.
03:48 So you can just imagine the contamination that takes place
03:51 within the wildlife."
03:52 In fact, reports from 2012 stated that the oil refineries
03:56 from Deepwater Horizon were still leaking,
03:59 despite an official statement from 2010 that claimed the well was sealed.
04:03 Number 27 - The Oklahoma City Bombing
04:07 This domestic terrorist attack shocked the nation.
04:10 On April 19th, 1995,
04:12 anti-government white supremacists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols
04:16 detonated a truck full of explosives
04:17 in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
04:21 "In a blink, the sky dark with a plume of deep black smoke."
04:25 "There was a tremendous explosion, a massive explosion,
04:29 at the federal building in the center of the city, the A.P. Murrah Building."
04:33 "We have a large column of smoke to the south of the attack.
04:36 You want to check on that?"
04:37 The explosion killed 168 people and injured 680 others.
04:43 The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was left in ruins,
04:46 and the force of the blast damaged cars and buildings over a dozen blocks away.
04:50 McVeigh and Nichols had sought to spark a revolution.
04:53 "McVeigh became disaffected,
04:55 latching onto a growing pro-gun, anti-government ideology
04:59 that gained traction in the 1990s
05:02 in the aftermath of federal law enforcement actions at Ruby Ridge, Idaho."
05:07 To this day, it is the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in United States history.
05:13 Number 26 - The Iran Hostage Crisis
05:16 In 1953, British and American intelligence agencies orchestrated a coup
05:20 against democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh,
05:24 who had nationalized Iran's oil industry.
05:27 With U.S. support, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi became Iran's true ruler.
05:31 "The Shah's power is maintained by a vicious secret police
05:35 and the fifth largest military on Earth, equipped with American weapons."
05:39 Fast forward to the Islamic Revolution of 1979,
05:42 and the Shah, seen as a Western puppet, was overthrown,
05:46 replaced with the theocratic government of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
05:50 In the middle of this revolution,
05:51 militarized college students took 52 Americans hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
05:57 For over a year, President Jimmy Carter sought to negotiate their return,
06:01 but only after 444 days were they released,
06:04 after a pledge from the U.S. not to intervene in Iranian affairs.
06:09 "It was a long and harrowing ordeal for the hostages,
06:12 their families and indeed the entire nation.
06:14 And it was an ordeal that plagued the presidency of Jimmy Carter,
06:18 an ordeal whose final resolution eluded his presidency by less than an hour."
06:23 Number 25. The November 2015 Paris attacks.
06:27 In January 2015, France was left reeling from an Islamic terrorist attack
06:32 on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 staff were killed.
06:36 "The attack on Charlie Hebdo last week was al-Qaeda's most high-profile operation in years.
06:42 And today, they bragged about it.
06:45 In a video, al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed it targeted the magazine
06:49 for insulting the Prophet Muhammad."
06:51 Several other smaller attacks occurred throughout the year.
06:54 On November 13th, these culminated in by far the deadliest.
06:58 That night, in a series of coordinated attacks,
07:01 terrorists detonated explosive vests and opened fire in streets and public venues in Paris.
07:06 "Only minutes later, gunmen opened fire on several bars and restaurants in eastern Paris."
07:11 Three gunmen stormed a concert at the Bataclan theatre, killing 90 people.
07:16 In all, 130 lives were taken.
07:19 The attacks sent shockwaves not only through France,
07:22 but also reverberated around the world.
07:25 Number 24. John Lennon is assassinated.
07:28 It's safe to say that John Lennon is one of the most influential singer-songwriters of all time.
07:33 Even after leaving the Beatles in 1969, he enjoyed enormous popularity and success.
07:39 He also became well-known for his activism.
07:41 "Is there not a more positive way of demonstrating in favor of peace than sitting in bed?"
07:45 "What's more positive?"
07:47 "I think it's very positive."
07:48 "What's positive?"
07:49 However, on December 8th, 1980, obsessive fan Mark David Chapman
07:53 fatally shot him outside the Dakota apartments in New York City.
07:57 When news broke on ABC's Monday Night Football, fans were shocked and horrified.
08:02 For many, the world seemed to stop turning.
08:04 "An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City.
08:10 John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the west side of New York City.
08:15 The most famous, perhaps, of all of the Beatles, shot twice in the back."
08:20 Around the globe, fans were united in mourning for a man whose music meant so much to so many.
08:27 Number 23. Hurricane Katrina
08:29 This Category 5 hurricane was devastating not only due to its intensity,
08:33 but also a failure of flood control systems and slow government response.
08:38 On August 29th, 2005, the hurricane made landfall in Louisiana.
08:42 "It was quickly predicted to become a catastrophic event."
08:45 "My fear is absolutely that the models are correct."
08:49 "It is gaining strength again. It is now stalking the Gulf Coast."
08:53 "It rapidly doubled in size and intensified into a Category 5 hurricane."
09:00 The storm surge breached New Orleans' levees and flooded the city.
09:03 Tens of thousands of residents had not evacuated.
09:06 It didn't matter if you were from there.
09:08 TV and radio audiences could feel the distress and panic in the air.
09:12 Critics argued that race and class were factors in the slow local and federal response.
09:17 "This story ends up being the road map, the instruction booklet,
09:21 the how-to story of dealing with disaster.
09:25 It also tells you what not to do."
09:28 The hurricane left an estimated 1,392 dead in its wake,
09:32 making it one of the deadliest in U.S. history.
09:35 Number 22. The Fall of Saigon
09:38 Seeing photos of the Fall of Saigon,
09:40 you might be reminded of the more recent 2021 Kabul airlift in Afghanistan.
09:45 Both involved scenes of panic and powerful images of last-minute evacuation.
09:49 "The hardest part was the waiting.
09:52 Many people said it was unnerving to be waiting for a ride to safety
09:57 and to be hearing fighting all around you."
09:59 On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon,
10:04 the capital of South Vietnam,
10:05 marking the end of the deadly and divisive Vietnam War.
10:09 The iconic photo of a helicopter evacuation from the roof of the U.S. embassy
10:13 symbolized the desperate and dramatic nature of the fall.
10:15 "Yes, we've chosen to leave,
10:17 but we've chosen to leave because it's no longer defendable
10:21 with the resources that we have chosen to commit
10:27 and the limits that we have put on our involvement in South Vietnam."
10:32 In the aftermath, Vietnam was reunified under communist rule
10:35 and the U.S. began to significantly rethink its foreign policies.
10:40 Number 21. The Jonestown Massacre
10:42 Founded in Indiana in 1954,
10:45 Jim Jones's People's Temple preached a message nominally based on Christianity,
10:49 socialism, and civil rights.
10:51 "His driving force was less the Bible than social justice.
10:55 He was very much ahead of the current climate
10:59 in terms of race relations and his desire to create an integrated society."
11:04 But something very dark lurked under the surface.
11:07 In the 1970s, Jones fled accusations of abuse and fake "miracles"
11:12 to a remote settlement in Guyana.
11:14 Over time, the charismatic leader became paranoid
11:17 and obsessed with domination over his faithful.
11:19 Further reports of abuse led to a fact-finding mission
11:22 from U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan.
11:24 He never returned.
11:25 Murdered by Jones's Red Brigade,
11:27 Jones ordered his over 900 followers,
11:30 a third of the minors, to take their own lives
11:32 by drinking flavor aid laced with cyanide.
11:35 "This time, Jones served a punch spiked with cyanide.
11:39 More than 900 died."
11:40 The tragedy left the public in shock and horror
11:43 and is the origin of the expression "drinking the Kool-Aid."
11:46 In 1964, South African revolutionary leader Nelson Mandela
11:54 was sentenced to life imprisonment.
11:56 For years, he had fought against apartheid,
11:59 the system of racial segregation that privileged the country's white population
12:03 and disenfranchised people of color.
12:05 Even from prison, he remained committed to this cause,
12:09 communicating with political leaders and gaining worldwide attention.
12:13 "The fact that you could sit alone and think
12:20 gave us a wonderful opportunity
12:24 to change ourselves, your behavior."
12:27 As civil unrest grew,
12:28 Mandela was finally released from prison in 1990,
12:32 27 years after he was sentenced.
12:35 His release was broadcast around the world.
12:37 "Heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today."
12:46 In a historic speech, he affirmed his commitment to peace,
12:50 but also to the ongoing struggle against the violence of apartheid.
12:54 Just four years later,
12:56 he would go on to become the country's first Black president.
13:04 On January 6, 2021, scenes of carnage in the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.,
13:11 shocked Americans watching the riot unfold on TV.
13:14 "USA! USA!"
13:17 At a rally before the attack,
13:19 outgoing President Donald Trump told supporters the election had been stolen
13:23 and urged them to march to the Capitol building.
13:26 Debunked by courts, state audits and federal agencies,
13:30 this claim was part of a campaign to overturn the election results
13:34 and reinstall Trump as president.
13:36 "This was a fraudulent election,
13:39 but we can't play into the hands of these people."
13:43 Within hours, 2,000 angry Trump supporters broke into the Capitol building,
13:48 assaulting police and searching for lawmakers gathered to formalize Joe Biden's victory.
13:53 Among them were members of far-right militias and neo-fascist groups,
13:57 some of them armed.
13:59 The insurrection failed, with lawmakers racing to safety before the mob reached them.
14:05 There were a lot of eyes on Cape Canaveral, Florida,
14:12 when Challenger finally launched on January 28, 1986.
14:16 Due to technical issues and bad weather,
14:19 the flight had been delayed multiple times.
14:21 "Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission, and it has cleared the tower."
14:26 On launch day, CNN broadcast live nationwide coverage.
14:31 NASA had organized for children to watch from schools
14:34 to promote their Teacher in Space project,
14:37 which had added teacher-turned-astronaut Krista McAuliffe to the crew.
14:41 But viewers' hopes turned to horror as the shuttle disintegrated during its ascent,
14:46 claiming the lives of all seven crew members.
14:49 "We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded."
14:53 The Challenger's final flight had lasted only 73 seconds.
14:58 The 1972 Olympic Games in West Germany were the first to be held in the region
15:07 since Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler used the event as a platform for propaganda in 1936.
15:14 Sadly, the September Games would become even more infamous,
15:17 etching out their own bleak mark in history.
15:20 After infiltrating the Olympic Village, eight armed men from the Palestinian terrorist group
15:25 Black September killed two Israeli Olympic team members and took nine more hostage.
15:31 "The terrorists want hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.
15:36 Nothing else will do."
15:38 After two grueling days of negotiation, the hostage crisis was brought to a violent end.
15:44 The rescue attempt was botched, claiming the lives of all hostages and a police officer.
15:50 It was the trial of the century, and the verdict left the public reeling.
16:00 "Remember these words. If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."
16:07 After Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were stabbed to death in June 1994,
16:13 Brown's ex-husband, former footballer and actor O.J. Simpson, became the prime suspect.
16:19 Before her death, Brown had said that Simpson had abused and threatened to kill her.
16:23 Every aspect of the case was highly publicized,
16:26 from the car chase that saw him arrested to the lengthy trial.
16:29 The coverage hooked viewers, and everyone had an opinion.
16:33 On October 3, 1995, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
16:38 "We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant,
16:41 Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder."
16:45 For some, it was a vindication. To others, a travesty of justice,
16:49 in which a celebrity had gotten away with murder.
16:52 In the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001,
16:59 U.S. President George W. Bush announced the beginning of a war on terror.
17:04 The first stage of this war was the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan
17:08 to hunt down Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group, al-Qaeda.
17:11 "In this conflict, America faces an enemy who has no regard
17:16 for conventions of war or rules of morality."
17:19 This manhunt continued for almost a decade as bin Laden evaded capture.
17:24 However, in 2011, the CIA tracked him down to a compound in Pakistan.
17:29 In a helicopter raid codenamed Operation Neptune Sphere on May 2,
17:33 bin Laden was killed.
17:35 "After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."
17:40 For those who vividly recalled the events of 9/11,
17:43 President Obama's announcement that the al-Qaeda leader was dead was a landmark event.
17:48 For months, the buildup of Russian forces along Ukraine's border had the world on edge.
18:02 Would Russian President Vladimir Putin really give the order to invade?
18:06 In 2014, Ukrainians had revolted against a pro-Moscow government,
18:11 sick of corruption and abuse of power.
18:13 Their success led Russia to annex Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
18:17 In February 2022, Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine,
18:23 furious at the country's aspiration to join NATO.
18:25 "I consider it necessary to immediately recognize the independence
18:30 and sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics."
18:34 In response, the international community hit Russia with severe economic sanctions.
18:39 Around the world, everyone's eyes have been glued to their screens,
18:43 watching the outgunned Ukrainians hold off the invading forces.
18:47 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech may be remembered for just four words,
18:58 but they are arguably among the most powerful ever spoken.
19:02 "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
19:12 where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
19:15 but by the content of their character."
19:17 The Baptist minister had chosen his profession because he felt sermons were,
19:21 quote, "a respectful force for ideas, even social protest."
19:26 King oversaw the Montgomery bus boycott
19:28 and became the leader of civil rights organization SCLC.
19:32 In August 1963, he helped organize a march of 250,000 people to Washington, D.C.
19:39 to peacefully protest for equal rights for African Americans.
19:43 "With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation
19:49 into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."
19:52 On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial,
19:54 he told listeners that he dreamt of a world free of racism and oppression.
19:59 His impassioned words were heard far and wide,
20:02 becoming a defining moment in the civil rights movement.
20:05 They remain iconic today.
20:20 Although she was no longer her royal highness in 1997,
20:24 having lost her title after her divorce from Prince Charles,
20:27 Diana remained a popular figure for the Commonwealth and beyond.
20:31 "We interrupt this film to tell you we are getting reports
20:33 that Diana, Princess of Wales, has been badly injured in a car crash in France."
20:39 Her sudden death in a car accident as she fled paparazzi
20:42 occurred in the early hours of August 31st,
20:45 while the British public were still asleep.
20:48 Diana's driver, who had been intoxicated at the time,
20:51 and Egyptian producer Dodi Fayyad, also died in the crash.
20:55 When people in the U.K. woke and learned the news,
20:58 the country was left shocked and in mourning.
21:01 The death of the people's princess was felt around the world.
21:18 After World War II, the Allies split Germany into East and West.
21:22 The Soviet Union controlled the East,
21:24 while the U.S., U.K., and France controlled the West.
21:28 Eventually, East and West became separate republics,
21:31 but the flight of East Germans to the more affluent West
21:34 prompted the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
21:37 Dividing friends and families,
21:39 the wall became a symbol of the Iron Curtain
21:42 separating Western Europe and the Soviet Bloc.
21:44 In the 80s, however, massive protests and waves of refugees
21:49 leaving East Germany led the government
21:51 to relax rules for immigration.
21:53 On the evening of November 9th, 1989,
21:56 East Germans gathered at the wall.
21:58 Elsewhere, they were swarming over the wall,
22:01 hacking at it with hammers, picks, and chisels,
22:04 clawing at it with bare hands.
22:06 Rather than open fire, border guards stood down.
22:11 And the world watched as Germany became one again.
22:14 JFK holds a unique place in political history.
22:19 The World War II veteran was the President of the United States
22:22 during the Cuban Missile Crisis
22:24 and the commencement of the Space Race.
22:26 - We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake,
22:31 free men must fully share.
22:33 - He was also the first Catholic to be elected president.
22:36 And was elected off the back
22:38 of the first televised presidential debates.
22:41 Yet despite all of this,
22:42 his time in office lasted less than three years
22:45 before he was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas
22:49 on November 22nd, 1963.
22:52 Although the moment itself was caught on camera,
22:55 the footage was not broadcast live.
22:57 However, the breaking news was delivered
23:00 to the American people as events transpired.
23:02 - From Dallas to New York,
23:04 the flash apparently official,
23:06 President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.
23:11 - The country went into mourning
23:13 and millions watched his funeral on television.
23:16 - Now that he is relieved of the almost superhuman burden
23:22 we imposed on him, may he rest in peace.
23:27 - Number nine, the Chernobyl disaster.
23:30 At first, the details of this disaster
23:32 were shrouded in secrecy.
23:34 - There has been a nuclear accident in the Soviet Union
23:36 and the Soviets have admitted that it happened.
23:38 - But words soon got out.
23:41 During a safety test on April 26th, 1986,
23:44 the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Pripyat
23:47 in Soviet Ukraine went into meltdown.
23:50 The fault of design flaws and negligent operators.
23:53 (explosion booms)
23:56 (people gasping)
23:59 (explosion booms)
24:00 The subsequent explosion threw radioactive particles
24:03 into the atmosphere.
24:05 It was Sweden who alerted the world two days later
24:07 when radiation hundreds of miles away set off alarms.
24:11 - The first word that something was seriously wrong
24:14 came from this power plant in Eastern Sweden
24:16 where workers coming on the job
24:17 registered abnormally high levels of radiation.
24:20 - As the truth was gradually revealed,
24:22 the scale of the disaster became evident.
24:24 The meltdown led directly to the deaths of 31 people
24:28 and to many more from radiation-induced cancer
24:32 in the years afterwards.
24:33 Number eight, the attack on Pearl Harbor.
24:36 It might be known as the Second World War,
24:39 but for the first few years,
24:41 the US waited out the conflict raging across Europe.
24:44 That all changed on December 7th, 1941
24:48 when Japan launched a surprise attack
24:50 on the US Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
24:53 Several ships were sunk and 188 aircraft destroyed.
24:58 Over 2,000 sailors were killed.
25:00 It was a devastating blow to the United States Pacific Fleet.
25:03 The following day, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
25:07 delivered his famous Day of Infamy speech
25:10 and Congress declared war on Japan.
25:12 - December 7th, 1941,
25:16 a date which will live in infamy.
25:23 - The Allies' call for the US to join the war
25:26 had been answered.
25:27 Number seven, the Hindenburg disaster.
25:30 The first major disaster caught on camera.
25:32 This airship accident transfixed and horrified audiences
25:36 in the late 1930s.
25:37 On May 6th, 1937, the German airship LZ-129 Hindenburg
25:43 was docking in New Jersey when it caught fire,
25:45 resulting in 36 fatalities.
25:48 - It's bursting into flames.
25:49 Get this shotty, get this shotty.
25:50 It's flashing, it's flashing.
25:52 It's flashing terrible.
25:53 Oh my, get out of the way, please.
25:55 - Watching the airship crash to the ground,
25:57 radio journalist Herb Morrison summed it up best
26:00 with his iconic exclamation.
26:02 - You're the humanity.
26:04 - Despite the carnage, there were survivors,
26:07 but they couldn't help establish the cause of the fire,
26:09 which continues to be debated.
26:11 Whatever the truth, the effect was the end of zeppelins
26:15 as a popular form of air travel.
26:17 Number six, victory in Europe day.
26:20 After six bloody years of battle,
26:22 the Second World War was finally over in Europe.
26:25 - Today is victory in Europe day.
26:28 - Berlin had fallen to the Soviet Union's Red Army
26:32 and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had taken his own life.
26:35 His successor, Admiral Karl Dönitz,
26:38 authorized Germany's surrender.
26:40 On May 8th, 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
26:44 announced victory over fascism,
26:46 leading to parties on the street in celebration.
26:49 - Victory day changes to victory night
26:51 and the darkening skies over London
26:53 are lit by the joyous lights of peace.
26:55 At this great moment in their history,
26:58 the people of Britain rejoice with their allies
27:00 in the victory for which every one of them
27:02 has worked so hard and so long.
27:05 - Though the effects of the war were still being felt,
27:08 the jubilation on that day is historic
27:11 and several countries still commemorate the date
27:14 as a public holiday.
27:15 Number five, the Cuban Missile Crisis.
27:18 Just 17 years after the Second World War ended,
27:22 Cold War tensions between the US and Soviet Union
27:25 almost triggered another one, this time nuclear.
27:28 In response to the US deploying nuclear missiles
27:31 in Italy and Turkey,
27:33 the Soviet Union did the same in Cuba in 1962.
27:37 Cuba was keen for Soviet help
27:39 after the US had backed a failed invasion
27:41 the previous year.
27:42 - That a series of offensive missile sites
27:45 is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
27:49 - Despite being advised to launch an airstrike and invasion,
27:52 President John F. Kennedy opted
27:54 for a more diplomatic approach,
27:56 a naval quarantine preventing delivery of more missiles.
27:59 - All ships of any kind bound for Cuba
28:02 from whatever nation or port
28:04 will be found to contain cargoes
28:06 of offensive weapons be turned back.
28:08 - After tense talks, Kennedy and Soviet First Secretary
28:12 Nikita Khrushchev agreed to scale back
28:14 their nuclear missiles.
28:15 But for just over one month,
28:18 the world stood on the brink of nuclear catastrophe.
28:21 Number four, the Apollo 11 moon landing.
28:25 It really was one giant leap for mankind.
28:28 Back in the 1960s,
28:29 the idea of sending people to the moon
28:31 still seemed like science fiction.
28:33 - Six, five, four, three, two, one.
28:39 - But spurred on by the space race
28:41 between the US and Soviet Union,
28:43 NASA's Apollo Lunar Module Eagle
28:46 touched down on the moon's surface
28:47 on July 20th, 1969.
28:50 - Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.
28:53 - Astronaut Neil Armstrong
28:54 became the first person to walk on the moon,
28:57 and Buzz Aldrin, the second.
28:59 An estimated 650 million Earthlings
29:02 tuned in to witness the event on TV.
29:04 Despite all our divisions,
29:06 in that moment, the world watched together in awe
29:10 as we achieved something we never thought possible.
29:12 - That's one small step for man,
29:15 one giant leap for mankind.
29:21 - Number three, the atomic bombings
29:23 of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
29:25 While World War II ended in Europe on May 8th, 1945,
29:29 the Allies continued to fight against Japan.
29:31 On August 6th, after the Japanese refused to surrender,
29:35 the United States dropped an atomic bomb,
29:37 known as Fat Man, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
29:40 - Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
29:44 - Three days later, they dropped a second,
29:46 known as Little Boy, on Nagasaki.
29:48 The bombs vaporized many in the blast radius
29:52 and inflicted radiation burns and sickness on others,
29:55 killing an estimated 129,000 to 226,000 people,
30:01 mostly civilians.
30:02 Japan surrendered on August 15th.
30:05 Initially, the horrors of the attacks were little reported,
30:08 but slowly, images and footage began to reveal
30:12 the hellish consequences of atomic warfare.
30:14 - It's important, I think, that we understand
30:17 the misery and terror and death that it caused.
30:20 - Number two, 9/11.
30:22 Just about everyone who's old enough to remember it
30:25 can tell you where they were when they heard
30:27 about the September 11th attacks in 2001.
30:30 - And we saw the plane on the other side of the building,
30:33 and there was smoke everywhere,
30:34 and people were jumping out the windows.
30:36 - For New York, it was morning
30:38 when two hijacked passenger jets crashed into
30:41 and ultimately demolished the Twin Towers
30:43 as part of a coordinated attack.
30:45 Another plane hit the Pentagon.
30:48 After news of a fourth crash came to light that day,
30:50 it became apparent that the passengers
30:52 of United Airlines Flight 93 took back their flight
30:55 and downed the weaponized aircraft
30:58 before it reached Washington, D.C.
31:00 - You could hear him yelling, "In the cockpit, the cockpit!"
31:03 - The event claimed close to 3,000 lives,
31:06 and the world was forever changed.
31:08 - The other trade center's down, it's down.
31:10 It's down.
31:11 - Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
31:14 and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
31:17 You have the option to be notified
31:19 for occasional videos or all of them.
31:21 If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings
31:24 and switch on notifications.
31:25 Number one, the COVID-19 pandemic.
31:30 On March 12th, 2020, the World Health Organization
31:34 announced that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic.
31:38 - We have therefore made the assessment
31:40 that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.
31:46 At the time, few of us fully understood
31:48 what it would mean for our lives in the years to come.
31:51 Nonetheless, the news had people worldwide glued to their screens
31:56 or running to stock up on groceries, especially toilet paper.
32:00 - To ensure compliance with the government's instruction
32:03 to stay at home, we will immediately close all shops
32:08 selling non-essential goods.
32:10 - Through lockdowns, the world watched
32:13 as the virus continued to dominate headlines
32:15 and the death toll skyrocketed from the hundreds
32:18 into the thousands and then millions.
32:20 The WHO's announcement was the beginning
32:23 of a long, rocky road for all of us.
32:25 - Boosters are important, but the most important thing
32:28 we need to do is get more people vaccinated.
32:32 (upbeat music)
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