Franz Ferdinand’s assassination wasn’t considered important when it first happened-only after several weeks of negotiations did World War I break out, not to mention it happened in Eastern Europe and affected very few people when it first happened.
OTOH, like Pearl Harbour, 9-11 killed thousands immediately, destroying or damaging some of America’s most visible landmarks in some of the world’s largest cities, and all this was captured on television.
9/11 definitely. Americans won’t let the rest of the world forget. This date holds the same mystique to Americans as December 7, 1941. I feel that this date will always be remembered.
Somewhat similarly, will be the fall of the Berlin Wall. This is where the Cold War was won. Not the fact that communism sucked, not the fact that the USSR hung on for another two years; it was the people who wanted something different that made change happen. That will be remembered.
But I cannot think of anything else of similar importance, that has made the world go, “whoa!”
From an American POV, JFK, Apollo, 9/11 are likely to be up there.
From a European, Asian, African POV? I would like to see some thoughts.
From a world POV, 9/11 is high on my list because of being a major event in an ongoing worldwide series of events.
And, of course, the controversy surrounding the voting rules for choosing American Idol’s season 9 winner.
Yes, but the Wall coming down was just one incident in a wave of protest and revolution that can all be filed under the general heading of “collapse of the Soviet Union”. It didn’t happen in isolation, and it wasn’t the first such event – Hungary effectively opening its border to the West was the catalyst in 1989. And the whole movement was possible because the populations of the USSR’s satellite states, and later of the USSR itself, perceived that Soviet power was waning.
I’d have to disagree, in that the nature of the 9/11 events and the extent to which they’re burned into people’s memories is going to make it like the JFK assassination; a culturally shared flashbulb moment. The relative importance of it, which we could argue - a lot of people died, and have died since, as a result - is not necessarily why it will be remembered.
After all, one could reasonably argue that the JFK assassination really changed very little, and that it is highly likely Vietnam, the space race, and the Civil Rights Act would have proceeded in more or less the same fashion under JFK as they did under LBJ. JFK could not have stayed in office past 1968, so the road is still paved for Nixon to in the Presidency. The only really important think about JFK dying was JFK died, and became a semi-deified martyr; the event is already being described in this thread as being important for its “symbolic” nature, rather than substantive nature.
9/11 strikes is as being equally symbolic.
The major events to be remembered will be the ones that
ARE events; “China rising” is not an event. Nobody remembers “America rising” as an event that happened between 1865 and 1945, they remember the events that pushed that process along.
Are easily identifiable and famous.
I think among people Putin may be remembered as a sort of Peter the Great II/Otto Von Bismarck/Teddy Roosevelt hybrid. Probably Merkel too depending on how the economic crisis goes.
Asian Tsunami
First Black President
That Mercedes parked in the disabled spot outside Jamie’s Gym
Decoding the human genome for the first time for $3 billion, then getting the cost of doing it down to $1,000 within 10 years.
The economic rise of China after the reforms of 1978. I assume this will be remembered, as China will be a bigger world player 100 years from now.
Agree with the other posters that 9/11 will be remember 100 years from now.
Also
The development of home computers and the Internet (1980-2000s)
The Iranian Revolution–maybe–it depends if we go to war with Iran or not over nuclear development or not.
The signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
It’s a culturally shared flashbulb for those people that lived it. JFKs assassination is a footnote in history for me because I didn’t live it. It’s difficult to gauge how things will be remembered going forward because of television. 9/11 has a lot of dramatic footage with it, and that could give it staying power. But in terms of history it is less significant than the sinking of the Lusitania.
Surely, the first woman to land on the moon.
Missed the edit window.
Um, there was no woman on the moon.
I am not from the future.
In no particular order:
9/11.
The “I Have a Dream” speech, and King’s assassination.
Neil Armstrong lands on the moon.
Vietnam.
The advent of the internet.
Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters.
The fall of the Berlin Wall.
The JFK assassination (made more memorable than McKinley and Garfield’s because of the Zapruder tape).
Beatlemania.