The recent history of the human being is full of moments that have been a turning point in its course. Sadly, when someone asks why wars happen or why we tend to hurt each other, the answer often alludes to an old saying: “history is written in blood”. However, other events have been cause for celebration for its protagonists.
For this reason, we bring a list with the most relevant moments that have been recorded in the collective mind for posterity. We will include in the list natural disasters, tragedies or events that were cause for celebration .
10 moments that silenced the world
Whether we did not witness them, were too young to understand them, or were not even born then, these moments shocked humanity.
10. The Challenger Disaster (1986)
The launch of the space shuttle Challenger was being broadcast on cameras around the world. Spectators of all ages, including many schoolchildren doing a paper on liftoff, were paying attention to their television screens. But a few seconds after rising, the Challenger exploded into the air.
It didn’t take many minutes for the news to spread around the world and be the main story for weeks.
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9. The massacre of the Munich Olympic Games (1972)
It happened on September 5, 1972, during the Munich Olympic Games, in 1972. The terrorist group ‘Black September’ kidnapped eleven athletes from various sports disciplines who competed for Israel and held them hostage in the hotel room where they were staying.
For 36 desperate hours, the world was in suspense waiting for the hostages to be released; In fact, the news coverage was such that the terrorists knew at every moment what the movements of the German police were going to be, so that they could anticipate any action they were going to take.
Of the eleven captured, none survived: after murdering two of them in the same room, the rest were annihilated at the airport, when the terrorists were preparing to leave the city. The final count of victims also includes a German policeman and five members of the organization.
8. The Tiananmen Square protests (1989)
The student demands in the People’s Republic of China brought together a multitude of people, mostly students, motivated by the tragic death of the leader Hu Yaobang. Despite the significance of the events, multiple television networks around the world did not have access to film the events.
However, is there anyone who has not seen the famous photo of the young oppositionist facing the row of army tanks that were preparing to break up the concentration
? The Tiananmen demonstration and the brutal student repression led to restrictions on the use of weapons in China, although the country’s government has always denied that there was any killing.
7. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan (2011)
The most powerful earthquake that the Asian country has ever witnessed generated a large tsunami that devastated the Tohoku region in Japan, taking thousands of lives ahead in its wake and severely damaging the nuclear reactor of the Fukushima plant, unleashing the worst nuclear tragedy after the one that occurred in Prypiat (Chernobyl).
6. The assassination of JFK (1963)
The most beloved president by Americans (or one of the best valued), was killed by a shot in the head in the city of Dallas (Texas) , during a parade in which he was sitting in the back of a convertible car. Next to him was his wife, who witnessed everything. The images of the president being shot twice quickly went around the world and are wildly raw.
The subsequent funeral was seen by 180 million people. Two days later, the alleged perpetrator of the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested. While he will be escorted by the police,He was shot at the hands of a mobster who was hiding a gun and had blended into the crowd , giving rise to one of the conspiracy theories about the actual authorship of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
5. The fall of the Berlin wall (1989)
After more than 30 years, the wall that separated East and West Berlin was demolished . Due to the massive influx of refugees who wanted to cross from one side of the wall to the other (from east to west), the authorities that guarded it were forced to allow passage
. The following weeks, the world saw how the Germans joined forces to demolish the barrier, the last stronghold of communism in Germany.
4. The Indonesian earthquake and tsunami (2004)
With a balance of 230 thousand dead, the Sumatra earthquake is one of the worst natural disasters that the world has suffered. The tremor (located several miles offshore), generated multiple tsunamis that hit 14 countries on the west coast of Indonesia.
As a result of what happened, there were many shows of solidarity from all corners of the world; but, as usual, they stopped when the news stopped occupying the front pages.
3. The 9/11 attacks (2001)
Do you remember what you were doing that day?
Anyone who has lived long enough knows very well what he was doing on September 11, 2001. When practically all television broadcasts were interrupted, one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center could be seen engulfed in smoke after what some witnesses said It had been the impact of a small plane. The world fell silent as a second plane crashed into the other tower . It was there when the panic spread and we knew that it was not an accident.
The coverage that was given to the events changed the way of doing live journalism, at least in the West. It was also the longest connection without cuts that is remembered in the history of the United States. For all this, plus what it entailed (Invasion and War in Iraq, and, consequently, turning the West into a target for Al-Qaeda), for the countless victims and pain caused by those hours, we place the attacks in New York in third place. The scenes of the moment of the collision remain engraved
in our retinas ; but surely no one has been able to forget the chilling scenes of the victims trapped in the flames, who preferred to jump into the void towards certain death rather than wait for it in that burning hell.
We cannot forget the deaths caused by the hijacking of two more planes on the same day: one, which reached the Pentagon; and another that did not reach its objective and crashed in the fields of Pennsylvania, after the passengers tried to seize control of the controls of the device from the terrorists.
2. Landing of Apollo 11 on the moon (1969)
The great step for Humanity of Neil Armstrong and his companions brought together millions of people around the globe. Although for the Americans it was already late at night (around eleven o’clock), the landing on the moon brought together millions of people attentive to the feat. This moment in history well deserves second place on the podium, especially due to the media coverage and the giant leap it meant for the aerospace industry.
9 months later, NASA tried to repeat the mission, sending a second shuttle to the moon. Unfortunately, a leak in one of the air tanks forced them to return, keeping the rest of the world on edge . However, all the crew of Apollo 13 returned home healthy.
1. The bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945)
For the first place we have chosen the bombing of the islands of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which marked the end of the Second World War. This event was the only time that nuclear bombs were used during an armed conflict.
For posterity have been the snapshots of the mushroom clouds that the bombs ‘Little Boy’ (Hiroshima) and ‘Fat Man’ (Nagasaki) generated, taking the lives of 240 thousand people and leaving a trail of desolation and destruction that the Japanese can hardly ever forget.
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