Elizabeth Regina
Tradition, Service, Self-Control
Queen Elizabeth died today. My British friends tell me they respected how she reigned but did not rule, that she offered a dignified devoted symbol for the nation without being a politician. She is everywhere in their lives from their money to their passports. She kept her promise to put duty to her nation first.
Since I’ve been alive, she’s had her own but not stylish hairdo and stodgy though perfectly matched outfits. When I look at Queen Elizabeth as most people have seen her, I think of the youthful and idealistic protected young woman who never expected to rule the nation.
I never heard her speak in a voice loud with passion. She must have had her emotional moments, yet in public managed to preserve the traditional ‘stiff upper lip,’ of the British.
In 1953 at her coronation Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor took on the mantle of the figurehead of a nation and fading empire. As a wife and mother of four, she experienced the tensions of priorities and sharing care. Tradition and service to the nation had ruled her family’s life, and then hers—until her own children were adults and threw tradition into turmoil with scandals as adults.
I’ve watched the series, The Crown, and thought how fortunate they are to have a storyline rich with twists and turns that could go on for years. 96 years is what Elizabeth had and 70 of those she was queen. She gave a life of service to the nation, sacrificing more of a personal life than people realize. Her love of animals, dogs, and horses especially may connect to animals’ abilities to give comfort and unconditional acceptance.
Those who knew her well and her intimate daily routines said her faith and concerns led her to pray every day. Though she visited over 100 countries people saw the glamor and riches of royal travel but did not see for a long time what that did to her life and family. People saw her meet with world leaders, she met with every American president since 1952 except for Lyndon Johnson. How many people watching her in public meetings wondered if she wouldn’t prefer a life enjoying her family in the countryside? How many people look at an old stately lady and can see the young woman who inherited such an overwhelming role?
As I consider her long reign, I wondered about the world events she lived through (1926-2022) so I decided to collect a few that I learned about or remember. Because the Queen was not a politician or attention seeker, the public will not know what she thought about many events or people.
This will probably be the longest blog post I will ever create because it covers 70 years, not in depth. With the help of many sources, but not Wikipedia, I have collected some historical events from each of the years of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor’s life who was born 21, April, 1926. She lived up to her responsibility and declaration of service, upholding tradition, and exercising admirable self-control. She was the dutiful daughter, soldier, bride, mother, and grandmother to her nation.
1926 Elizabeth’s grandfather was King when she was born, and her Uncle Edward was next in line.
1927 Lindbergh flew nonstop to Paris
1928 Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic
1929 Wall Street Crash
1932 The Austrian citizen, Adolf Hitler, renounced his Austrian citizenship to become German
1933 Hitler Consolidates his power in Germany with the NAZI party
1935 FDR launches the New Deal
1936 Queen Elizabeth’s Uncle abdicates so that he can marry an American divorcee. A king who was also going to be the head of the church of England could not marry a divorcee. So Edward’s younger brother becomes King, George the VI. This puts Elizabeth in line for the throne.
Also a big event in 1936, Olympic athlete sprinter, Jesse Owens of Alabama, won 4 gold medals under the frowning gaze of Hitler.
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1937 United Auto Workers union changed the car industry.
1938 Kristallnacht occurs under the approval of Joseph Goebbels and in Poland, Warsaw is captured.
1939 WWII starts and At the age of 19, Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). After joining, she trained as a driver and mechanic.
How many other world leaders have had skill as mechanics?
Queen Elizabeth II remains the only female member of the royal family to have entered the armed forces and is the only living head of state who served in World War II.
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1940 The Nazis invaded Denmark, Norway, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of England.
1941, December 7, the Pearl Harbor attack makes the United States realize it must enter the war.
1942 Voice of America begins broadcasting, K9 corps begins training dogs for use in warfare, The Japanese force prisoners on the Bataan Death March
1943 Italy surrenders to the Allied Forces, America starts rationing, there is an uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto
1944 The Diege of Leningrad ends, V1 and V2 rockets bomb London, Paris is liberated from the Nazis on August 25.
1945 War in Europe ends on May 7th V-E Day. German Concentration Camps are liberated. 50 Nations sign a charter for the United Nations.
1946 War Crimes Tribunal start in Nuremberg, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund is established.
1947 Elizabeth marries Prince Phillip and one of her most prized wedding gifts was a handkerchief from Mahatma Gandhi.
Jackie Robinson enters the Major League of baseball in the USA.
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1948 Gandhi is assassinated, Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia,
Israel is proclaimed a nation.
1949 Communist forces under Mao gain power in China, Nationalists go to Taiwan, Israel joins the UN,Apartheid becomes the official government policy of South Africa
1950 Korean war begins when North Korea invades South Korea.
1951 Congress passes the 22nd amendment limiting a president to 2 terms. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of passing US nuclear secrets to the Soviets and are sentenced to death.
1952 King George VI dies and Elizabeth becomes Queen but would not be crowned officially until 16 months after the king’s death because of tradition.
She was on her honeymoon, literally in a tree house in Kenya when her father died. Upon receiving the news, she and Philip rushed back to England.
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1953 Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation - June 2, 1953. The Korean War ended. Dwight D Eisenhower is elected president of the United States. Salk gives himself and his family the polio vaccine. The Royal Yacht Britannia was commissioned. British physicist Crick and American biologist James discover the double-helix of human DNA.
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1954 Ellis Island closes as a point of immigration. The words, “Under God” are added to the USA pledge of allegiance. The Supreme Court rules on Brown vs the Board of Education making segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
1955 Marian Anderson sings at the Metropolitan Opera, the first black to do so. President Eisenhower sends the first US military advisors to South Vietnam. Albert Einstein dies at age 76. West Germany joins NATO. The Warsaw Pact is formed.
1956 The 1956 Suez Crisis, when Britain along with France and Israel invaded Egypt to recover control of the Suez Canal, was one of the major events in post-1945 British history.
1957 Harold Macmillan becoming the British prime minister, and “Sputnik 1”, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth, launching.
1958 First parking meters installed in the UK. 17 July – British paratroopers arrive in Jordan: King Hussein has asked for help against pressure from Iraq. 18–26 July – British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Cardiff, Wales.
1959 At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "kitchen debate." With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1960 OPEC ( Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ) is formed
Soviet missile shoots down the US U2 spy plane
The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam
Construction on the Aswan High Dam in Egypt began
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law
The United States Supreme Court decides the Boynton v. Virginia case
100,000 Join "Ban The Bomb" Rally on April 18th in London
The first televise U.S. Presidential debate takes place between Kennedy and Nixon
The classic American novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee was published
John F Kennedy wins presidential Election.
1961 UN General Assembly condemns apartheid in South Africa.
Berlin Wall is built, dividing East and West Germany.
American-backed Cuban exiles fail in their attempt to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated.
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completes the first orbit of Earth by a human.
1962 1957 October 4th The Soviet Union puts the world’s first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 into orbit around the earth. May 5th The United States launches it's first man in space Alan Shepard on the Freedom 7. President Kennedy asks Congress for $531 million to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade
1963 John F. Kennedy assassinated on Friday, November 22,1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas.
Due to the high cost of daily maintenance and repairs, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closes
The United States Postal Service launches the ZIP Code System in July.
Beatles Release I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There and Meet the Beatles
The Profumo Crisis in the UK causing resignations from the cabinet
Studebaker the US Car Maker goes out of business and Ends production
The United States Senate approved ratification of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
1964 Three North Vietnamese torpedo boats attack the US Destroyer Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin
The Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo is captured
Warren Commission report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy concludes Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is signed into law by President Johnson.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
Cassius Clay Beats Sonny Liston on February 25th for World Heavyweight championship
The most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2, strikes South Central Alaska
1965 The Voting Rights Act is signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson.
Soviet Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov becomes the first person to perform a space walk.
Martin Luther King, Jr. leads a peaceful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama.
The Vietnam War escalates and opposition to it begins to mount as anti-Vietnam protests become more common.
Mary Quant designs the mini-skirt in London and it becomes a fashion craze.
1966 Botswana and Lesotho gain independence from England.
Indira Gandhi becomes the Prime Minister of India.
The Canada Pension Plan is introduced in Canada.
Mining Disaster in Wales
1967 South African doctor Christiaan Barnard completes the first heart transplant operation. The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified.Thurgood Marshall is appointed to the Supreme Court and becomes the first African-American.
1968 Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in April by James Earl Ray.
Egypt's Aswan Dam is completed.
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 is signed into law by President Johnson.
Richard Nixon wins the United States presidential election.
The first manned Apollo mission, Apollo 7, is launched by NASA.
Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary.
1969 Queen Elizabeth allowed a documentary about her family that didn’t quite do what they had hoped for humanizing the royal family.
To many people it made the relationship between the royals and public worse.
1970 Does a full tour of Australia and New Zealand with her husband and Princess Anne. U.S. President Richard Nixon orders an invasion of Cambodia, widening the war in Vietnam. In protest, millions march across the U.S. University campuses are shut down by student strikes. Four protestors at Kent State University in Ohio are killed by National Guard troops. The U.S. Senate repeals the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that had given Presidents Johnson and Nixon sweeping powers in the Vietnam War. The Beatles break up. Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nassar dies. Anwar Sadat becomes president.
1971 U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that busing students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation of schools.
Anti-war militants attempt to shut down government in Washington. As many as 12,000 are arrested. Most are later released.
The Pentagon Papers are published detailing the military's secret, negative assessment of the Vietnam War.
War between India and Pakistan begins.
Apollo 15 lands on the moon and uses the Lunar Rover vehicle for the first time.
The microprocessor – the foundation of today's computers – is introduced.
The environmentalist group Greenpeace is founded.
1972 President Nixon makes an unprecedented eight-day visit to Communist China and meets with Mao Zedong.Five men are caught breaking in to the Watergate Complex where the Democratic Party offices are – the start of the Watergate Scandal. Eleven Israeli athletes ae killed at the Munich Olympic Games. Five terrorists and one policeman are also killed. U.S. planes bomb North Vietnam on Christmas Day.
1973 U.S. signs peace pact and troops pull out of Vietnam. Bombing of Cambodia stops, ending 12 years of U.S. combat in Southeast Asia.
Supreme Court rules on Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion.
Great Britain, Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, the EU.
Israel and Arab states fight the Yom Kippur War in October. In November, America brokers a cease-fire accord. The mobile phone is invented.
1974 The House Judiciary Committee indicts President Richard Nixon for impeachment over the Watergate Scandal. In August, Nixon resigns his office, the first president to do so. Vice President Gerald Ford is sworn in as 38th president. In September, Ford grants Nixon a "full, free and absolute pardon."
Patricia Hearst, the 19-year-old daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Later she is photographed robbing a bank with her captors.
All the President's Men is published by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein detailing events of Watergate.
Beverly Johnson becomes the first black model on the cover of Vogue or any other major fashion magazine.
1975 North Vietnamese enter Saigon. The last group of Americans are evacuated by helicopter at the last minute from the roof of the embassy. The War in Vietnam is over.
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge take over in Cambodia and begin a blood bath.
Three of Nixon's aides are found guilty of Watergate charges.
Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft link up in space, marking the cooperation between the U.S. and Soviets.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen found the Microsoft corporation. The Altair becomes the first widely available personal computer running Microsoft's BASIC software.
1976
The United States celebrates the Bicentennial marking 200 years as a nation.
Jimmy Carter is elected the 39th President.
The Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual punishment, so it's a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.
The Viking 2 spacecraft lands on Mars.
Apple Computer is founded by Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak.
1977 Scientists report genetic engineering techniques to make insulin.
Elvis Presley is found dead.
President Carter pardons Vietnam era draft evaders.
South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko dies in police custody.
Nuclear proliferation pact that curbs the spread of nuclear weapons is signed by 15 countries, including the U.S. and USSR.
1978 Egypt's president Anwar Sadat and Israeli premier Menachem Begin sign a "Framework for Peace" after meeting for 13 days with Jimmy Carter at Camp David. Later they win the Nobel Peace Prize. Cult leader Jim Jones' followers commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. The world's first test-tube baby is born.
1979
In Iran, the Shah leaves the country after years of turmoil. Exiled Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini returns and declares an Islamic republic.
Saddam Hussein becomes president of neighboring Iraq.
Margaret Thatcher, a conservative, becomes the first woman prime minister of Britain.
At Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, a nuclear power plant comes close to melting down and releases some radiation into the atmosphere. In November, Iranian militants seize the U.S. embassy in Tehran and hold hostages.
In December, Soviet troops invade Afghanistan to prop up a Communist leader
1980 Due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Carter imposes an embargo on grain shipments to the USSR and boycotts the Moscow Olympics.
The Iranian hostage crisis deepens. The U.S. breaks diplomatic ties with Iran. Then eight Americans are killed when helicopters collide in a rescue mission.
Iraq invades Iran and an eight-year war ensues.
Ronald Reagan is elected president over Jimmy Carter, in part because of disappointment over his handling of Iran.
John Lennon of the Beatles is shot dead in New York City.
The wreck of the Titanic is found.
1981 Prince Charles weds Lady Diana Spencer.
An agreement frees 52 hostages held in Tehran since 1979.
Anwar Sadat assassinated in Egypt. Hosni Mubarak becomes president. In the U.S., President Reagan is wounded by gunshots, and in Rome Pope John Paul II is wounded.
President Reagan nominates Judge Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman on the Supreme Court.
The first cases of AIDS are identified
1982 Great Britain defeats Argentina in a war over the isolated
Falkland Islands.
Israel invades Lebanon to attach the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution fails to gain ratification. Feminists are frustrated.
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev dies and is succeeded by Yuri Andropov.
The Vietnam Memorial opens in Washington, designed by a young Maya Linn. Initially controversial, it becomes a beloved memorial.
1983 Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
President Reagan announces his plans for a missile defence plan called Star Wars. Mother Teresa was a guest of Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
A terrorist explosion in Beirut kills 237 U.S. Marines.
The U.S. invades the tiny island of Grenada.
1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards. A thousand Sikhs are killed in riots. Son Rajiv Gandhi succeeds his mother. Then in December, toxic gas leaks from a Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, killing 2,000 and injuring 150,000.
Apple introduces the Macintosh personal computer with a graphical user interface.
Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko dies and is replaced by a young Mikhail Gorbachev. He calls for reforms in the Soviet Union. In October, Reagan and Gorbachev meet in a summit and agree to step up arms control talks and renew cultural contacts. There are a series of terrorist attacks on airplanes and a cruise ship. Scientists announce the discovery of hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic.
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1986 The Queen visited the People Republic of China, especially enjoying viewing the Terracotta Soldiers and horses and the great wall.
An explosion in the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl in the USSR spreads radiation over Russia and Europe, forcing the evacuation of 135,000 people. Spain and Portugal join the European Economic Community.
The space shuttle Challenger explodes after launch from Cape Canaveral killing all seven aboard.
1987
The Iran-Contra scandal implicates aides close the President Reagan. Reagan accepts responsibility.U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Rotary Club must accept women members.A severe earthquack hits Los Angeles killing six and injuring 100.The world's population hits 5 billion.
DNA is used in a criminal court case for the first time
1988
Geroge Bush elected U.S. President.
The U.S. and Canada reach a free trade agreement.
An explosion on a plane kills Pakistani president Mohammad Zia ul-Haq. Benazir Bhutto is chosen to lead Pakistan, the first Islamic woman prime minister.
A terrorist bomb destroys a Pan-Am 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 on board and 11 on the ground.
First computer virus is reported.
1989
In response to massive protests, the East German government allows their citizens to cross into West Berlin. Shortly, the Berlin Wall is torn down.
In Poland, the political party and union Solidarity wins a landslide victory over the Communists in the country's first free elections.
In Hungary, the parliament enacts democratic reforms and pressures the Soviets to pull out their troops.
Czech parliament ends Communist domination.
Romanian demonstrators overthrow the Communist government. President Ceausescu and his wife are executed.
In China, more than a million demonstrate in Tiananmen Square for more democracy. For a time, the Chinese leaders hesitate. But then, the Chinese Army attacks and thousands are killed.
The oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground and spills 11 million gallons of crude oil in Alaska.
The Soviet Union withdraws its troops from Afghanistan.
1990
Iraq invades Kuwait and siezes oil assets, igniting the Persion Gulf War.
East and West Germany are reunited.
The Cold War is officially ended as the U.S. and USSR negotiate arms accords.
Nelson Mandela is freed after 27 years as a political prisoner in South Africa.
Leaders of 34 European nations proclaim a united Europe.
Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal for the World Wide Web.
The Hubble Space Telescope is launched.
1991 Queen Elizabeth meets Nelson Mandela at a reception for leaders in Zimbabwe and held a high opinion of him. The U.S. and allies win the Persian Gulf War against Iraq, but stop short of invading Baghdad.
Communist hard-liners attempt to overthrow Gorbachev, but the coup fails. Gorbachev resigns as President. The USSR dissolves into 15 separate republics. The Warsaw Pact for military protection is dissolved. Boris Yeltsin is elected as the president of the Russian Republic.
South African parliament overturns apartheid laws.
1992 had so many scandalous stories about the royals that Queen Elizabeth called it an Annus Horribilis. 3 of her children had their marriages break up and her beloved Windsor had a destructive fire.
Presidents Bush and Yeltsin declare a formal end to the Cold War.
President Bush pardons former Reagan administration officials involved in the Iran-Contra affair.
Bill Clinton is elected president of the United States.
Los Angeles erupts in riots after Rodney King is videotaped being beaten by police.
Prince Charles and Lady Diana separate. They divorce four years later.
1993 The European Union is ratified.
Around 20 American soldiers die in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Rwandan genocide begins in Africa.
The U.S. becomes involved in trying to stop the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia.
Fire kills 72 religious cult members at the Branch Dividian compound outside of Waco Texas.
President Boris Yeltsin's forces crush a revolt in the Russian Parliament.
NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Act, becomes law.
South Africa adopts a majority rule constitution.
1994 Queen Elizabeth had formal visits to St. Petersburg, Moscow, Helsinki. Ethnic cleansing continues in the former Yugoslavia.
In Rwanda, Hutu militias kill up to a million Tutsis in their campaign of genocide.
South Africa holds their first interracial, one-man-one-vote election and Nelson Mandela is elected president.
Russia attacks the republic of Chechnya after Muslims there attempt to secede.
Football star O. J. Simpson is arrested for the killings of his wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Major league baseball players strike and the World Series is cancelled.
The Hubble Space Telescope first finds evidence of black holes in the universe.
1995 Queen Elizabeth had another opportunity to visit with Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Timothy McVeigh bombs the Oklahoma City federal building in retaliation for the Branch Dividian standoff in 1993. He's caught and put on trial for murder.
Fighting escalates in Bosnia and Croatia. At the end of the year, combatants sign the Bosnian peace treaty.
O. J. Simpson is found not guilty of murdering his wife and friend.
In Israel, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is killed at a peace rally.
1996 Charles and Diana are divorced.
Taliban Muslim fundamentalists capture Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Later al-Qaeda terrorist training camps are set up.
British consumers are frightened by an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease.
Iraqi troops fire on Kurdish positions in the north of the country.
Refugees in Rwanda and Burundi are caught up in new fighting and killings.
1997
Britain returns sovereignty over Hong Kong to China.Queen Elizabeth makes a major misstep in 1997 when she refused to allow flags to fly at half-mast or to make a public statement after Diana’s death. Advisers urged her to change her mind on these items, and she did on both. O. J. Simpson is found "liable" in a civil suit arising from the murder of his wife.
Timothy McVeigh sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.
Scottish scientists clone a sheep named Dolly.
J. K. Rowling publishes the first Harry Potter book.
1998
President Bill Clinton is accused of having sex with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. He denies the charges, then admits to the affair. An independent counsel brings charges against Clinton, and the House impeaches him for lying and obstructing justice.
In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Accords promise peace and political power sharing.
Violence in the former Yugoslavia continues until NATO reaches a settlement with President Milosevic in October.
Google introduces their search engine to the Web.
Anti-impotence drug Viagra is introduced to the market
1999
The U. S. Senate acquits President Clinton of impeachment charges.
NATO air strikes move to Kosovo. In May, Serbs agree to pull troops out of Kosovo.
Two teenagers kill 15 students, including themselves, at Columbine Colorado High School.
Israeli prime minister Ehub Barak and PLO leader Yasir Arafat announce peace accord.
World population reaches 6 billion.
Tobacco companies admit that their products harm smokers.
The Y2K Scare raises the possibility that databases all over the world – including in U.S. military computers – would go haywire because they were designed to recognize only two digits in dates.
2000 The Y2K Scare fizzles. Nothing blows up.
Palestinian and Israeli violence explodes into the "intifada."
In one of the closest, contested elections on record, George W. Bush defeats Al Gore for President. Before it's over, Florida begins a recount of ballots, but the Supreme Court halts the recount.
The human genome sequence is deciphered opening up new possibilities in medicine.
High prices for Internet company stocks tumble as the "Dot-Com Bubble" bursts.
2001
On September 11, terrorists attack the World Trade Center in New York. The twin towers are hit by two jet airliners and collapse. Over 3,000 are killed. Another plane hits the Pentagon, and a fourth crashes in Pennsylvania. President Bush declares a war on terror and begins bombing Afghanistan. Troops are deployed and the Taliban government collapses. Hamid Karzai is sworn in as Afghanistan's leader.
Letters laced with the poison Anthrax are mailed to media and government offices. Several die after handling the letters.
The epidemic of foot and mouth disease in British livestock reaches crisis proportions.
The Kyoto Protocol global warming treaty is approved by 178 nations, but not by the U.S., one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases.
Half of all Americans now use the Internet.
Apple's iPod becomes the best-selling MP3 player in the world.
2002 Israeli tanks and warplanes attack West Bank towns in retaliation for 14 suicide bombing incidents.
A defrocked priest named John Geoghan in convicted of child molestation. The church's role in covering up the crime sparks outrage. U.S. bishops adopt a zero tolerance policy for priests who abuse children. Boston archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law resigns over the scandal.
PC sales pass the one billion mark.
2003
In his State of the Union address, President Bush announces he is ready to attack Iraq even without UN agreements. He does. In March, the U.S. and Britain launch war against Iraq. Within a month, Baghdad falls. By July, the war is costing $3.9 billion a month. Saddam Hussein's sons are killed in a firefight, but their father remains at large. In December, Saddam Hussein himself is captured by American troops.
2004 Iraq weapons investigator David Kay resigns saying there is no evidence that Iraq ever had weapons of mass destruction – one of the main reasons Bush put forward for invading. U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison. Protests erupt all over the world. In June, the U.S. hands over power to an Iraqi interim government led by Iyad Allawi. The Senate intelligence committee criticizes the intelligence reports used to justify the war. A special commission criticizes the government's handling of the September 11th terrorist attacks. In November, U.S. troops launch attacks on Falluja.Spain is rocked by terrorist attacks, and al-Qaeda claims responsibility.
NATO formally admits seven new countries from the former Soviet block.
Sudanese rebels and the government reach accord to end the 21-year-old civil war. But in a separate war in western Darfur region, the killing continues. The UN Security Council demands the Sudanese government disarm militias in Darfur.
Pakistani nuclear scientist A. Q. Khan admits he sold nuclear weapons designs to other countries, including North Korea, Iran and Libya.
UN weapons inspectors tell Iran to stop enriching uranium. Iran claims they are building only peaceful uses for nuclear power.
Enormous tsunami devastated Asia. At least 225,000 are killed.
George W. Bush is re-elected.
Social networking Web site Facebook takes off.
2005
In Iraq, elections are held to select a 275-seat national assembly and a total of 8.5 million people vote, about 58 percent of those eligible to vote. Iraqi voters turn out again in October to ratify a new constitution. In December, 11 million – 70 percent of those registered – vote to elect their first permanent Parliament. In October, Saddam Hussein goes on trial for the killing of 143 civilians in the town of Dujail. The number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq reaches 2,000.
In August, Hurricane Katrina destroys much of the Gulf Coast, flooding New Orleans. More than 1,000 die and hundreds of thousands are left homeless. Americans are shaken not just by the magnitude of the damage but also by the ineptitude of government to alleviate the suffering.
The European Union abandons plans to ratify the proposed European constitution.
The Irish Republican Army announces it is officially ending its violent campaign for a unified Ireland and will instead pursue its goals through the political process.
Youtube posted first videos.
2006 Iran removes United Nations' seals from its uranium enrichment plant and production of the fuel is resumed. President Ahmadinejad insists the research is for peaceful purposes, but he also threatens to wipe Israel "off the map." Sanctions are strengthened.
The Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus are set on fire in protest for a Danish newspaper's cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam. Images of Mohammad are forbidden under Islamic tradition.
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore releases the documentary An Inconvenient Truth chronicling the science and potential damages of climate change and global warming. Later the film wins the Academy Award for best documentary.
The Chinese government builds the "Great Firewall of China" to censor the Internet before it reaches its citizens.
In November, Saddam Hussein is found guilty of crimes against humanity. He is hanged at the end of the year.
2007 At a hearing at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed confesses to planning the September 11 Al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center. He also claims responsibility for a number of other terrorist acts.
China executes its former State Food and Drug Administration chief following his conviction of accepting bribes to approve substandard medicine. China has become the world's biggest exporter, but a rash of defective products have hurt its reputation and business.
Former Vice President Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change."
At the end of June, Apple Computer releases the "iPhone." The device can surf the Web, take pictures, play back music using iTunes, send and receive e-mail and ... make calls. In just over two months, 1 million iPhones are sold.
2008
Nelson Mandela and his wife, Graca, visited the Queen at Buckingham Palace and referred to the Queen as, “my friend Elizabeth.” In September, Wall Street experiences what many experts label as the biggest economic disaster since the Great Depression. It's fueled by an ongoing, multi-billion-dollar mortgage crisis. Lehman Brothers collapses. AIG, American International Group, the country's largest insurance company, files for bankruptcy despite a $85 billion bailout. Washington Mutual is sold to JP Morgan Chase. In October, President Bush signs a $700 billion rescue plan for the banks.
In December, Bush signed a $17.4 billion rescue package for ailing auto makers General Motors and Chrysler. The Big Three CEOs blame their problems on the growing global economic crisis, but critics charge they were too slow to produce fuel-efficient cars.
On October 3 – exactly 13 years after he was acquitted of murder – O. J. Simpson is found guilty of 12 charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping. His conviction came after he and five other men broke into a Las Vegas hotel room to steal sports memorabilia that Simpson claimed was his. He is sentenced to nine years in prison.
Activists in Egypt use Facebook to rally for democracy.
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2009 Swine flu spread to the UK, though only 2 cases were confirmed in Scotland. Around the world many countries organized special safeguards against the spreading of a wine flu pandemic.
2010 The Deepwater Horizon Spill by rigs owned by British Petroleum. The first iPad is released.
2011 The Earthquake and Tsunami that hit Japan were felt from Norway to Antarctica.
Prince William marries Kate Middleton.
The Queen and Prince Philip visited Ireland and the Irish president. This was the first time since 1911 that a British monarch visited Ireland.
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2012 Queen Elizabeth has her Diamond Jubilee.
2013 An international Climate Action Plan is set out to combat climate change and to prepare for impacts already unavoidable.
Nelson Mandela dies on December 5, 2013.
2014 Malaysian Airlines has one airline that disappears and one that is shot down while flying over Eastern Ukraine.
Malala Yousafsai wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
2015 Nearly every country in the world unites to sign the Paris Agreement to address climate change.
2016 Same-sex marriage is legalized in the US, Ireland, Finland, Greenland, Colombia, Malta, Australia, Germany, Austria, Taiwan and Ecuador.
By 52% Britain voted to leave the EU with the Brexit Referendum.
2017 Prince Philip gave up public duties, but Queen Elizabeth carried on with her public responsibilities.
The largest women’s march in history occurs in Washington DC one day after Donald Trump’s inauguration.
2018 The monarchy becomes more modern with the Queen giving approval and attending the May 19 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, a divorced, biracial, American actress.
2019 Greta Thunberg shows the world the concern of young people over climate change. Donald Trump pulls the USA out of the Paris Agreement.
2020 Covid 19 closes down countries and forces everything from school to businesses to work via the internet. Joe Biden (who first met Queen Elizabeth in the 1980s when he was a Senator) becomes President of the United States.
2021 Prince Philip died and the Queen sat alone wearing a black Covid mask in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The US Capitol suffers an attack of insurrectionists, the worst and only attack on the Capitol since British forces captured the city in 1814 and set the White House and Capitol on fire.
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2022 Queen Elizabeth has her 70th year of reign. It is her Platinum Jubilee from Feb. 6-June 2022. Graciously, she set aside the contention she had with Camilla since before Charles married Diana. Elizabeth asked, as a way of supporting her son, Charles, and his time as king, Queen Elizabeth that his wife Camilla be accorded the title of Queen Consort.
By August, people noted and often commented that the Queen seemed more frail. She passes away September 8, 2022. It is likely that there will never be another king or queen who will rule for 70 years with such respect for traditions, service, and self-control.
