Topic: Events that changed the world... - page 6. (Read 4840 times)

A small correction if you don't mind: bankers, particularly those in higher positions, should now be referred to as banksters (from banker + gangster).

at least in more recent times, i'd say in 1998 when congress removed the glass-steagall act. it opened the doors for bankers and wallstreeters to exploit our economy. bill clinton had a big role in this.. too bad the republicans can't really go after him on this, since they are in bed with the bankers.

1. 1945 - nuclear bombs dropped in Nagasaki and Hiroshima
2. 1933 - Hitler appointed as chancellor of Germany
3. 1991 - Disintegration of the USSR

20th century: The PC, nukes
21st century: 9/11, Bitcoin(may be).... its still early, 14 years only

You will eventually have to include the genesis block of bit coin as a moment that changed the world. 

Let me just caveat my post with a mention of the fact that it should've never happened the way it did and a peaceful resolution should've been mediated or just let the South go. But, the civil way or war for southern independece (depending on one's historical allegiances) saw major advances in small arms advancements as well as artillery which could be a good or bad thing. Also, despite the vast thousands of people who lost limbs via combat wounds, this led to enhancements in medical treatments like minor anesthetics and new pain medication. The period also wiped out almost an entire generation of mostly men in the country w/ a higher percentage in the south which probably hampered their renewal during the reconstruction period. However, during the war and most notably in the aftermath is when people decided to go west and this started the frontier movement and all the entanglements w/ the natives. This is the time period known as Manifest Destiny in American history. Wagon trains of families joined together w/ guides and the train master to travel in unison across the country and they had to endure everything form native attacks, drought, flash floods, land slides, river crossings, running out of food, etc on their way west to reach the promised land of California. Pretty interesting (yet unfortunate in some ways) period in our history. Back east the industrial revolution was just getting underway while people that lost plenty during the war picked up and went west. Then, they turned the reigns over to W. Wilson and it's been mostly going downhill ever since.

I suppose you can argue that the use of nuclear weapons at that time might have led to them not being used later, for example against china during the Korean war, which could have led down a pretty bad road. But don't forget that the world came pretty close to nuclear war on several occasions (the Cuban missile crisis being one such occasion); the truth is it was closer to sheer luck that such thing never took place, and the reality is we're not out of the woods yet.

Now, even in the absence of nuclear war, or a major world war, saying that "invasions like US invasion of Iraq doesn't really count" is silly; doesn't count to whom? It certainly counted to all those that died, which weren't few by any means, and to their loved ones. It also counted in that it pretty much destroyed the country and the lives of many of its people. Also, you never had a period of peace lasting half a century: there was constant war going on, but the type of war bullies like, I suppose: big guys beating on weak defenseless people. In fact, after WW2 the US saw that it could implement its long held dream of ruling the world (or much of it), and went for it. See the wars, conflicts and coups that took place in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America, parts of Europe, Africa, etc., for more details.

I think the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima by US forces in year 1945 was an event which significantly changed the history of the world.

Because the world has seen the use of such horrible weapons of mass destruction, it successfully ensured an era of peace that has seen no major wars (invasions like US invasion of Iraq doesn't really count) for more than half a century. Before this, the world has NEVER seen a period of peace that lasted so long.

So I'd like to think the sacrifices of the people of Nagasaki & Hiroshima has at least brought the world lasting peace and prevented much more lives from being lost.

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." - J. Robert Oppenheimer, the main scientist behind the creation of the Atomic bomb

What do you think were the most significant events of the 19th, 20th or 21st century? Wars, Revolutions, Political Ideology, Technological innovations? What events do you think truly changed the world?