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History is shaped not only by victories and progress, but also by controversial moments that divided nations and sparked global debate. 🌍⚡
In this video, we’re counting down the Top 10 most controversial moments in recent world history—from shocking political scandals and wars to decisions that changed the future forever.
👉 If you’re fascinated by history, politics, and global events, this countdown will keep you hooked.
Don’t forget to like 👍, share 🔁, and subscribe 🔔 for more Top 10 history and world event breakdowns.
In this video, we’re counting down the Top 10 most controversial moments in recent world history—from shocking political scandals and wars to decisions that changed the future forever.
👉 If you’re fascinated by history, politics, and global events, this countdown will keep you hooked.
Don’t forget to like 👍, share 🔁, and subscribe 🔔 for more Top 10 history and world event breakdowns.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We now have war in Europe on a scale and of a type we thought belonged to history.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're discussing some of the most historically polarizing events from the past decade.
00:14I didn't expect to be fighting fascism in my 50s.
00:18Number 10. Roe v. Wade overturned.
00:21In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide.
00:25Roe argued that the abortion ban was unconstitutional, and asked the court to issue an order that would stop Texas from enforcing the law.
00:33They decided it would be unconstitutional if they didn't protect a woman's right to choose, a landmark moment for individual rights.
00:40Tragically, in 2022, the rule was overturned, which felt like a dangerous rollback of personal freedom.
00:47What the court was saying there was this is on par with other sorts of fundamental rights.
00:53The right to marry, the right to procreate, the right to take care of one's children.
00:59Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in America, often tied to religion and a person's control over their own body.
01:05Despite the overturning, polls have shown Americans consistently support legal abortion.
01:11When the law was overturned, one study showed 61% of people supported its legislation, with only 37% opposing it.
01:19With Roe gone, let's be very clear. The health and life of women in this nation are now at risk.
01:28It was three justices named by one president, Donald Trump, were the core of today's decision to upend the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country.
01:41Number nine, Brexit.
01:43It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time for us to settle this question about Britain and Europe.
01:52In 2016, the UK held a referendum on remaining within the EU.
01:57It wasn't legally binding, it was essentially an opinion poll.
02:00When the results came in, 51.9% of people had voted to leave.
02:05Even though they didn't have to leave, the UK Parliament became dead set on the idea.
02:10Four years later, it finally became a reality.
02:13And yes, they will have an overwhelming mandate from this election to get Brexit done, and we will honour that mandate by January the 31st.
02:22As of 2025, only 30% of Britons think it was a good idea, with 55% saying it was bad.
02:29Only 20% of the people who voted to leave don't regret it.
02:33Since the decision, the UK has experienced serious economic hardship.
02:37It turns out, leaving the largest trade union in the world has major consequences.
02:43What does it feel to be British in the current climate?
02:45I'm ashamed, it's a shambles. I am absolutely disgusted with the state of things.
02:52And whenever we do meet people abroad, I do try and say, look, I'm sorry, I didn't vote for this.
02:58Number eight, the Trump era. Unfiltered, unprecedented.
03:01Whether you love or hate Trump, you can't deny he's extremely controversial.
03:07If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her.
03:09When he first announced he was running for president, a lot of people dismissed it as a joke.
03:13Well, they're not laughing now that he's been elected twice.
03:16During his first presidency, he enacted a bunch of divisive laws, like a travel ban on Muslims.
03:21The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here.
03:30That is a fact, and it's a fact we need to talk about.
03:33We're still early into his second presidency, but it's already been much more extreme.
03:38One of his earliest decisions was to instigate a trade war between America and China.
03:42In 2025, the No Kings protest started, with huge concern that he wanted to become a dictator.
03:48His ties to Putin and Kim Jong-un don't help, alongside him getting caught on mic saying he wants to be like Kim.
03:55Organizers say more than 5 million Americans poured into the streets under the banner of No Kings, with the goal of sending President Donald Trump a message.
04:057. Backlash and counter-movements of George Floyd's murder
04:10In 2020, a white police officer murdered George Perry Floyd Jr., an African-American, in Minneapolis.
04:17Preliminary autopsies conducted by the state and Floyd's family both ruled his death a homicide.
04:24It was a massive tragedy, but the bigger tragedy was that it wasn't a one-off event.
04:28People of color are at much higher risk of police brutality in America.
04:32It triggered a huge backlash globally, with millions protesting.
04:35Calling for reform of the oppressive police.
04:38Black lives do not matter to this system.
04:42When you, time and time again, you're seeing us being murdered, and time and time again, you're seeing the police go free.
04:48This was called the Black Lives Matter movement, but it controversially had tons of opponents.
04:53Many criticized the opponents, claiming their views were rooted in racial prejudice.
04:58Campaigners hope that the year 2020 will be the last time they'll need to have protests like this again.
05:04Number six, the fall of Afghanistan and the Taliban's return.
05:082008, the Taliban controlled huge swaths of rural Afghanistan, and even threatened some cities.
05:14There had been a war in Afghanistan lasting from 2001 all the way to 2021.
05:18It was kick-started by an American-led coalition, which established an Islamic republic in 2004.
05:24It fell to the Taliban in 2021, when they captured the capital, Kabul.
05:28Since then, the Taliban have severely abused human rights in the region.
05:32What kind of reasons is it that the women and girls are coming here?
05:35Violence against them and the family.
05:38Violence against them by their husbands, by their brothers, by their family members, by just violence all together.
05:46And they're all coming here because they run away from home, and they cannot go anywhere else.
05:51Women are extremely abused, unable to go to school or get a job.
05:55The invasion is a contender for being the worst foreign policy disaster of the century.
06:00After two decades of fighting and immeasurable suffering, many question if the evasion achieved anything lasting.
06:0620 years ago when the U.S. came here, one of their priorities, they proclaimed, was women's rights.
06:11Yeah.
06:11How do you feel that the international community has left Afghan women now?
06:17What's that situation?
06:17The international community left Afghan women the same way they left Afghanistan.
06:22Like a hot potato.
06:24Burned their hands, dropped it.
06:26Number five.
06:27January 6th.
06:28Wednesday started like so many Trump rallies had before.
06:34But the anger and the tension felt more intense.
06:39The United States of America was founded on the principles of democracy.
06:42Well, in 2021, after Trump lost the election, thousands of his supporters decided they were
06:48unhappy with democracy.
06:50It was a full-blown, full-scale riot.
06:52They wanted to overturn the election results, to keep Trump in power, falsely claiming Biden
06:57had won fraudulently.
06:59This motivated his fans to storm the United States Capitol building.
07:03We need to rush patriots to the front!
07:05They were unsuccessful at getting Trump re-elected, but it still caused tons of mayhem.
07:09It caused multiple deaths, an unknown number of injuries, and resulted in hundreds of convictions.
07:15Unfortunately, on January 20th, 2025, Trump pardoned the majority of those responsible.
07:21Number four.
07:22China's treatment of the Uyghurs.
07:24On the streets of Xinjiang, there is still a tension, and signs of what this place has
07:29been through.
07:29The largest surveillance state in the world is easily China.
07:33One of their most prominent tactics for suppressing dissent includes the Great Firewall,
07:37which lets them easily censor the internet.
07:39One of the most censored topics is their abhorrent mistreatment of the Uyghurs.
07:44That ominous-looking camp was built where we had beautiful dreams as children.
07:51They're a Turkic ethnic group in China's Xinjiang province.
07:55They're banned from practicing their religions, and many are being forcibly relocated to labor
07:59camps.
08:00It's disgusting and has caused huge international outrage.
08:03Tragically, China's censorship means many Chinese people are entirely unaware of it.
08:08Additionally, even if they wanted to protest, they could be punished harshly.
08:12It's a cultural genocide.
08:14It's a very specific purpose, systematic method, and ultimate goal.
08:19That is to stamp out Uyghur identity.
08:22Number three.
08:23COVID-19 pandemic misinformation.
08:26Anyone who isn't a young child will remember the difficulties of living through the COVID-19
08:30pandemic.
08:30During a public health crisis, a global pandemic, access to reliable public health information,
08:37frankly, is essential to combating the virus.
08:40One of the biggest struggles was the overwhelming quantity of misinformation being spread.
08:45When vaccines rolled out, there were tons of opponents, with many believing it would
08:49do more harm than good.
08:51In terms of all this misinformation coming from a small group of a handful of people, one might
08:56look at this and say, look, if it's coming from a small group of people, why don't we
09:00just cut those people off the platform?
09:01Then you can cut the misinformation off at the source.
09:04But the problem is that once you cut those accounts out, the bad actors are smart enough
09:09to come up with new accounts or new ways to trick the system, and it becomes a game
09:13of whack-a-mole.
09:14This is wildly untrue, but social media made it spread like wildfire.
09:19Even Donald Trump got involved, encouraging people to try injecting bleach into their
09:24veins.
09:25Furthermore, the pandemic coincided with the rollout of 5G, which led to the theory that
09:30it spread the virus.
09:31Such a belief would be hilarious if there weren't so many people who earnestly believed it.
09:37How much of a role is vaccine misinformation playing in the rise in the cases and hospitalizations?
09:41Well, I actually am more offended by established media organizations promoting falsehoods than
09:52even the social media promoting falsehoods.
09:55Number two, Russia's invasions of Crimea and Ukraine.
10:00Vladimir Putin has just addressed the Russian people moments ago, announcing what Putin called
10:05the start of a military special operation, in his words, to demilitarize Ukraine.
10:11I mean, judging by those words, this appears to be the worst-case scenario.
10:15Historically, whoever controls Sevastopol in Crimea controls access to the Black Sea.
10:20This has caused it to become a target of Russian expansionism for centuries.
10:24It was first annexed by Russia in 1783 by Catherine the Great, and was officially ceded
10:30to Ukraine in 1954.
10:32In 2014, Putin decided he wanted to take it back.
10:35In 2022, he went a step further and decided to try fully invading Ukraine.
10:40He claimed it was to de-nazify Ukraine, which is largely considered propaganda.
11:01We now have war in Europe on a scale and of a type we thought belonged to history.
11:09There's been intense international backlash, and it's made the rest of Europe fearful of
11:13what Putin plans after the invasion.
11:16The front line has barely moved in two years, so it's unclear who will come out on top.
11:20And that's why the next phase of this conflict will be so decisive.
11:23It will determine how long this war lasts.
11:26Will Ukraine be able to go on the counter-offensive, break Russia's army and liberate its territory
11:31and win a true victory?
11:33Or will Russia succeed in turning this into a bloody stalemate and a war that could last
11:39for years?
11:39Number one, the Israel-Hamas war.
11:58I'm a human being.
12:00Yes, you are.
12:00So are they.
12:01So, I do not think about this.
12:05You're thinking about tribalism, thinking of your own people to the exclusion.
12:08It would be understandable to think of your own people or your own children first, but
12:12to think about other people, other children, not at all?
12:15That seems sociopathic.
12:18In 1947, Palestine was governed by Britain.
12:21That same year, the UN decided to partition the region into two states, Israel and Palestine,
12:27one Jewish, one Arab.
12:29In 1948, Britain left, and the region has been in turmoil since.
12:33According to Amnesty International, Israel maintains an apartheid regime, where Palestinians
12:38are treated as less than Israelis.
12:41The 3 million Palestinians there and the 2.3 million in Gaza do not want an Israeli occupation
12:47or a blockade.
12:49After being backed into a corner by Israel for decades, the organization Hamas rose to prominence,
12:54and its military division retaliated brutally.
12:57After the brutal October 7th attacks, a full-blown war broke out.
13:01Countries like South Africa have instead labeled it a genocide, and now the Gaza Strip has been
13:06almost entirely reduced to rubble.
13:08Israeli leaders announced a crippling blockade in response to Hamas' attack on October 7th,
13:13in which nearly 1,200 people were killed.
13:15251 were taken captive.
13:18Words aren't capable of summarizing how tragic the situation is, which has caused overwhelming
13:24suffering.
13:25So what's the solution then?
13:27We're talking about it, and we're talking about it, and we're joking.
13:30You're talking about it, and we don't have a problem.
13:33What do you think was the most contentious geopolitical event of the past decade?
13:37Let us know in the comments below.
13:40Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:41Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:42Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:43Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:44Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:45Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:46Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:47Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:48Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:49Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:50Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:51Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:52Burned their hands, dropped it.
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13:54Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:55Burned their hands, dropped it.
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13:58Burned their hands, dropped it.
13:59Burned their hands, dropped it.
14:00Burned their hands, dropped it.
14:01Burned their hands, dropped it.
14:02Burned their hands, dropped it.
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