Recent History


Recent History 📜 Timeline of Notable Events

No list of recent historical events can ever be complete and will inevitably be subjective but we’re open to suggestions so please share any events in recent history you feel should be included (or removed) and we’ll consider your feedback carefully.

  • ADDucation’s recent history list compiled by Robert Junker, last updated 18 Aug 2024.

ADDucation Tips: Click column headings with arrows to sort recent history. Reload page for original sort order. Resize your browser to full screen and/or zoom out to display as many columns as possible. Click the ➕ icon to reveal any hidden columns.

Year/s Category Tags Recent History, Notable Events since the Millennium 📜
2000 – 2005 War, politics. Second Intifada in Israel and Palestine.
2001 Terrorism On the morning of September 11, 2001 Islamic suicide bombers belonging to the al-Qaeda terrorist group flew hijacked airplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Nearly 3,000 people died.
2001 War War against terrorism. On 7th October “Operation Enduring Freedom” begins in Afghanistan.
2002 Finance 1st January: The Euro was introduced as a means of payment in 12 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
2003 War The US invades Iraq on 20th March 2003 without UN approval.
2004 Disaster On Boxing day, 26th December, one of the largest tsunami in recent history, triggered by an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean, hits Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar. A total of 230,000 people, including many tourists, lost their lives.
2004 – 2007 Terrorism Terrorist attacks on railway stations in Madrid (2004) and London (2007).
2005 People German Joseph Ratzinger elected as the new Pope Benedict XVI.
2006 Sport Italy are the (soccer) football world cup champions for the fourth time.
2008 Economy Bad real estate loans in American lead to worst global economic crisis in recent history.
2009 People Barack Obama elected 44th US President on 20th January. Israeli troops march into the Gaza Strip on 27th January.
2009 Health Swine flu with the H1N1 virus hits killing many people worldwide.
2010 – 2012 Economy Sovereign debt crisis in Greece burdens European and global economy. After Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain can no longer service their debt (Euro crisis).
2010 Sport Spain are the (soccer) football world cup champions for the first time.
2010 – 2012 Revolution Arab Spring. On 17th December 2010 protests in Tripoli following a greengrocer immolates himself. Riots spread from there like wildfire to Egypt (25th January 2011), Yemen (27th January 2011), Libya (18th February 2011) and Syria in early 2012.
2011 -2014 Disaster After an earthquake on 11th March, in which nearly 16,000 people lost their lives, the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffers a core meltdown. Radioactivity escapes contaminating people, animals and nature and even today continues to leak radiation.
2011 Terrorism 22nd July. A right-wing terrorist unleashes a bloodbath on the Norwegian island of Utøya. After igniting a bomb in Oslo, he attacks a youth camp on the island and shoots 69 people dead.
2011 War, Libya Civil war breaks out in Libya, as a result of the Arab Spring. Autocrat Gaddafi was assassinated in Sirte on 20th October 2011.
2012 – 2014 War, Syria Civil war begins in Syria (also as a result of the Arab Spring) with many victims and an uncertain outcome.
2012 People Barack Obama is re-elected as USA president on 7th November, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
2012 Politics, sanctions EU economic sanctions imposed against Iran imposed on 23rd January in protest at Iran’s continuing efforts to enrich uranium.
2013 Terrorism Bomb at the Boston Marathon. On 15th April three spectators are killed by the explosion. The two assassins are found days later. One dies during the arrest.
2013 Disaster Collapse of a textile factory in Bangladesh kills over 1100 people.
2013 People Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands abdicates in favor of her son Willem-Alexander. His coronation as king took place on 30th April 2013.
2013 Whistleblower Europe-wide eavesdropping scandal. “Whistleblower” Edward Snowden reports on the eavesdropping and espionage methods of the US intelligence agencies CIA and NSA. Chancellor Merkel’s phone was also bugged for some time.
2013 People A new king is crowned in Belgium. King Philippe takes office on 21st July.
2014 Sovereignty Crimea declares independence from Ukraine and joins the Russian Federation which has lead to ongoing instability in eastern Ukraine and beyond.
2014 Terrorism Nigeria 1 a.m. 14th April, Chibok. Rebels of the terrorist group Boko Haram kidnap over 200 girls between the ages of 16 and 18.
2014 People The Spanish King Juan Carlos I announces his abdication on June 2 after a reign of 38 years. His son Felipe becomes the new King of Spain.
2014 War A new Gaza war begins in early July. Over the next 7 weeks (until August 26), Israelis forces fly air strikes on Gaza killing more than 2,000 Palestinians.
2014 Sport Germany win the (soccer) football world cup champions for the fourth time.
2014 Mystery Flight MH17 is hit by a missile in Eastern Ukraine and crashes. All 298 passengers die, many of them Dutch. The missile was allegedly launched by pro-Russian rebels.
2014 Health In the second half of the year, the highly contagious Ebola virus breaks out in some West African countries (including Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone). By the end of the year, some 7,500 people die of the virus.
2014 Equality On August 9, the unarmed black youth Michael Brown is shot by a white police officer in Ferguson (Missouri, USA). It leads to riots that continue on account of more racist police actions as well as the acquittal of the police officer.
2014 Terrorism The Islamic terror militia IS (Islamic State) brutally attacks Kurds in northern Iraq and Syria. People flee in panic to Turkey and other neighboring countries.
2014 Protest At the end of September, 43 student demonstrators are killed and abducted in the Mexican city of Iguala. The mayor, the police and a local drug mafia are all in connivance probably the culprits.
2015 Terrorism Paris. On January 7, radical Islamist fanatics storm the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” office and shoot 12 people, including 10 employees (cartoonists & copywriters) and two policemen. Worldwide, millions of people show solidarity with the victims with the slogan: “Je suis Charlie”.
2015 Disaster On March 24, a German Wings Airbus smashes into the French Alps. 150 people, including 70 Germans die. The plane took off in Barcelona, destination Dusseldorf. It transpired only later that not a technical failure, but the co-pilot’s suicide caused the crash.
2015 Disaster Devastating earthquake in Nepal on April 25. More than 7,500 people are killed, including mountaineers and hikers in the Himalayas.
2015 Migration  In spring and summer, the number of refugees heading to Europe, especially Germany increased dramatically. Nearly 2 million war and economic refugees from Africa, Syria, Afghanistan and the Balkans cross the Mediterranean or Hungary to Europe.
2015 Corporate During the IAA (International Motor Show) Volkswagen’s image gets a few cracks. VW engineers rigged measurements of exhaust emissions for diesel vehicles in America. None of the managers admit to knowing anything about it. As a result, the shares lose nearly 50% of their value and VW boss Winterkorn resigns.
2015 Terrorism During the evening of Friday the 13th November eight IS terrorists murdered over 130 unarmed passersby in various Paris locations, including coffee-house guests and concert visitors at Club Bataclan where the terrorists fired randomly into the dancing crowds before blowing themselves up.
2016 Terrorism On March 22 a suicide bomb attack involving four IS-terrorists took place at Brussels airport and in a subway killing 35 people. One of the worst terrorist attacks in European recent history.
2016 Politics On 23rd June 2016 the Brexit EU referendum was held. The UK voted to leave by a narrow margin (51.9% to 48.1%). The impact on recent history across Europe and worldwide remains to be seen.
2017 Politics, environment. Donald J Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States on 20th January 2017. The radical changes to US foreign policy and “putting America first” have already impacted worldwide.
2017 Politics Following the 2016 Brexit referendum result the UK activated Article 50. After several extended deadlines the UK finally left the EU on 31 January 2020 with a transition period set to end on 31 December 2020.
2017 Politics North Korea conducts a series of apparently successful nuclear tests, and intercontinental ballistic missile tests, despite UN sanctions.
2017 Whistleblower, abuse The #MeToo movement took off in the USA in 2017 following sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood producer.
2018 Whistleblower, abuse During 2018 the #MeToo social media campaign went global with #BalanceTonPorc in France, #YoTambien in Spain, #QuellaVoltaChe in Italy, #AnaKaman in Arab countries.
2018 Economics China accuses the USA of starting the biggest economic trade war in recent history.
2018 sport 21st FIFA World Cup was held in Russia. On 15 July 2018 France beat Croatia 4:2 in the final.
2018 Environment In October the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report was one of the most alarming in recent history. The world may only have 12 years before reaching the point of no return.
2019 UN, anniversary UN International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements on its 150th anniversary.
2019 People On the 1 May 2019 Naruhito becomes the 126th Tenno (Emperor) of Japan, head of state and highest authority in the Shinto religion.
2019 Politics, environment Amazon wildfires burning the Amazon rainforest at an alarming rate following inaction by Brazil’s populist President.
2020 Health, environment, economy, politics. The first COVID-19 outbreak started in Wuhan, China on 17th November 2019. This escalated into a global pandemic in Spring 2020 followed by waves of new variants which makes it one of the worst pandemics in history. Lockdown, quarantine and social distancing measures taken around the world managed to “flatten the curve” but subsequent waves still risk overburdening healthcare services worldwide. COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time which has helped limit the number of deaths. Today were are still learning to live with the virus.
2021 Climate change, environment At the Glasgow COP26 UN climate change conference (Conference of the Parties) 151 countries submitted NDCs (nationally determined contributions) to cut their emissions by 2030 reaffirming the Paris Agreement goal to limit the increase in global average temperature to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 °C.
2022 War, Russia, Ukraine In February 2022 Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered tanks to invade Ukraine. Aften an initial russian “blitzkrieg” style landgrab Ukrainian forces have managed to liberate many areas. The arrival of winter may lead to stalemate. In October 2022 the UN General Assembly demanded Russia reverses their “attempted illegal annexation”. 143 Member States voted in favor, 5 voted against (Belarus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria) and there were 35 abstentions, notably some African nations, India and China.

See also: Historical Battles List…

Related History General Knowledge Lists