Events
By Jennifer Rosenberg, About.com Guide
Air & Space
For thousands of years, man looked up to the sky and dreamed of flying like birds and walking on the moon. In the 20th century, man reached both of these long-sought-after dreams.
- The First Fatal Airplane Crash
- First Animal in Space
- First Man in Space
- First Man on the Moon
- Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
Crimes & Scandals
The 20th century was filled with stories of gangsters, bombings, massacres, and genocide. Find out more about these sordid escapades.
- Columbine Massacre
- Fatty Arbuckle Scandal
- Jonestown Massacre
- Leopold and Loeb Kill for a Thrill
- Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
- Mona Lisa Stolen!
- Munich Olympics Massacre
- Murder of Rasputin
- Oklahoma City Bombing
- St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Disasters & Tragedy
Natural or man-made, disasters are destructive. They can wreak havoc and cause fear. Find out what horrible disasters occurred within the 20th century.
- 1906 San Francisco Earthquake & Fire
- Chernobyl
- Great Smog of 1952
- Great Depression
- Hindenburg Explodes
- Huge Poison Gas Leak in Bhopal
- Mt. St. Helens Erupts
- Mysterious Explosion in Siberia
- Sinking of the Titanic
- Stock Market Crash of 1929
- Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
- Tangshan Earthquake
- Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Medical Advances & Issues
From the discovery of penicillin to the AIDS epidemic, learn more about the medical advances and deadly diseases that occurred throughout the 20th century.
- Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin
- History of the American Red Cross
- Mengele's Medical Experiments on Twins at Auschwitz
- Typhoid Mary
- World's First Test-Tube Baby
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was the struggle over Vietnam from 1959 to 1975 between the communist Vietnamese forces in North Vietnam who wanted an end to all foreign occupation of their country and the United States (allied with South Vietnam) who wanted to prohibit any expansion of communism. The prolonged war left many Americans bitter about U.S. involvement in a war they could not win.
- Vietnam War: A History
- Glossary of the Vietnam War
- Pictures of the Vietnam War
- Timeline of the Vietnam War
World War I
The First World War, originally called the Great War, raged from 1914 to 1918. Mostly fought in western Europe in muddy, bloody trenches, WWI saw the introduction of the machine gun and poison gas into battle.
World War II
A truly world war which lasted from 1939 to 1945. The countries of the world aligned with either the Axis powers or the Allies and battled in a total war.