History by the years

When I was little we had the Newsweek publication Milestones of History, a six-part series on historical milestones. (We still have it.) The last volume ended with the moon landing of 1969, so I got to thinking about how you'd record historical milestones in later years, one to each year.

1970:  Peace in Nigeria (Nigeria's military government defeats Ibo rebels, ending a bloody civil war.)

1971:  Independence for Bangladesh (The Pakistani  government attempts brutal suppression of a rebellion in its eastern half, but gets thwarted by Indian intervention.)

1972:  The Watergate burglary (A "third-rate" burglary at Democratic presidential campaign headquarters leads to a White House cover-up, and eventually to President Nixon's unprecedented resignation.)

1973:  The energy crisis (American support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War leads to an OPEC embargo, high oil prices and a challenge to the western economic model.)

1974:  The Carnation Revolution (Portugal's longstanding fascist government is finally overthrown, leading to dissolution of the last overseas colonial empire.)

1975:  The fall of Saigon (North Vietnam conquers the south, ending thirty years of conflict and embarrassing the United States.)

1976:  Coup in Argentina (Juan Peron's widow is overthrown by a brutal military junta that forms one of the last fascist regimes.)

1977:  Change in India (Indian voters reject the Congress Party for the first time, ending Indira Gandhi's "state of emergency" and confirming the strength of their democracy.)

1978:  The Camp David Accords (Egypt signs a peace treaty with Israel, regaining the Suez Peninsula and ending the Arab nation's common front.)

1979:  Revolution in Iran (Iranians force out the Pahlavi Shah and the Ayatollah Khomeini installs an Islamist regime.)

1980:  The Four Modernizations (Deng Xiaoping takes official control of the Communist Party and introduces a "pragmatic" program of economic development.)

1981:  You're fired! (New president Ronald Reagan fires air traffic controllers en masse to break their illegal strike, starting an aggressively anti-labor phase in American capitalism.)

1982:  Israel in Lebanon (Prime Minister Menachem Begin intervenes in Lebanon's civil war, starting a messy occupation in the south.)

1983:  KAL-007 shot down (The declining Soviet government causes an international crisis by shooting down a Korean airliner that mistakenly entered Russian airspace.)

1984:  Amritsar occupation (Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi uses brute force to occupy the Sikh Golden Temple of Amritsar, and soon gets assassinated.)

1985:  One Europe (A European Council agreement leads to the signing of the Single European Act and increasing economic integration in Europe.)

1986:  Chernobyl disaster! (A nuclear accident at Chernobyl causes widespread nuclear contamination and undermines the Soviet regime.)

1987:  Intifada (A wave of Palestinian militancy challenges Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.)

1988:  Tit for Tat? (An American warship shoots down an Iranian airliner, and six months later an American airliner is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland.)

1989:  The fall of the Berlin Wall (East Berliners break through the barrier to the west, dooming their communist regime and signalling the end of eastern Europe's Soviet dominance.)

1990:  Mandela released (South African President F.W. DeKlerk releases longtime political prisoner Nelson Mandela, leading to the end of the apartheid system and to black majority rule.)

1991:  War over Kuwait (Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's occupation of Kuwait leads to devastating war with the United States and an expanded American presence in the Middle East.)

1992:  War in Bosnia (Communist Yugoslavia breaks apart, leading to ethno-religious conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.)

1993:  The World Wide Web (A new system revolutionizes the internet, leading to widespread use around the world.)

1994:  Genocide in Rwanda (A murder campaign by Rwanda's Hutu majority kills almost a million Tutsis.)

1995:  Canada's future (Quebec's Francophones narrowly reject a proposal to separate from Anglophone Canada.)

1996:  The BJP in power (India's militantly pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party wins its first national election.)

1997:  The last colony (The British government hands over control of Hong Kong to the Chinese government, ending over 150 years of colonial rule.)

1998:  The Good Friday Agreement (A peace agreement ends decades of warfare in Northern Ireland between the British government and Catholic rebels.)

1999:  War in Kosovo (Serb ethnic cleansing in Kosovo leads to American intervention.)

2000:  A disputed election (The American presidential election is narrow enough to cause a crisis.)

2001:  9/11 (Islamist hijackers destroy New York City's World Trade Center and damage the Pentagon, prompting American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.)

2002:  Sri Lanka ceasefire (Two decades of civil war between Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority and Tamil rebels finally end.)

2003:  Occupying Iraq (The United States occupies Iraq, but stability proves difficult to maintain.)

2004:  Tsunami! (An ocean wave kills 200,000 in southern Asia.)

2005:  Hurricane Katrina (A hurricane devastates the city of New Orleans, demonstrating federal government incompetence and suggesting future dangers from climate change.)

2006:  Nuclear challenges (North Korea tests a nuclear bomb, and Iran enriches uranium.)

2007:  Assassination in Pakistan (Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan during a crisis, only to be assassinated.)

2008:  Crisis on Wall Street (A financial crisis threatens large American banks and triggers an economic downturn.)

2009:  The first black president (Barack Obama takes power as the first black president of the United States and faces serious challenges.)

2010:  Oil Spill! (British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the oil industry's worst spill.)

2011:  The Arab Spring (A militant reform movement in the Arab world inspires the Occupy movement in the West.)

2012:  War in Syria (A ceasefire collapses, dooming Syria to years of civil war.)

2013:  A new Chinese leader (Xi Jinping becomes China's new president, the most powerful Chinese communist since Deng Xiaoping.)

2014:  Ukranian crisis (The Russian government uses military force to effect Crimean independence from the Ukraine.)

2015:  Terrorism in Paris (Half a dozen terrorist attacks kill over 100 people in the French capital.)

2016:  President Trump (Controversial real estate tycoon Donald Trump is elected American President.)

2017:  Hurricanes! (Four hurricanes cause widespread destruction around the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, particularly in Puerto Rico.)