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Leopold II Comes to Power
Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on Ddecember 17th, 1865 and remained king until his death. He is known for his brutallity of the Congo genocide, starting in 1886. -
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The Congo Genocide
In 1870 roughly 80 percent of Africa south of the Sahara Desert was governed by indigenous kings, chiefs, and other rulers. The bloodiest single episode in Africa's colonization took place in the center of the continent in the large territory, known as the Congo. Leopold II ran the Congo brutally, using a mercenary force, for his own personal gain. His harsh regime was directly or indirectly responsible for the death of 8 million people. -
World War I Begins
WWI begins when Germany declares war on Russia. Events leading up to this was the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, and his wife by a Serbian Nationalist in Sarejevo. -
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The Armenian Genocide
Starvation, death marches...Commited by the Ottomen Empire, the estimated amount of Armenians that perished in the genocide is 1.5 million people, between the years of 1915-1923. -
World War I Ends
WWI ends at 11:00am on 11/11/1918, cease fire, with a victory for the Allies. -
Joseph Stalin Comes To Power
After the death of Lenin, Joseph Stalin, one of the worst dictators in human history, ascends to power in 1924. -
Stalin Introduces Agricultural Collectivization
In 1928, joseph Stalin, the leader of the USSR, introduces a program of agricultural collectivization that forces peasants/farmers to give up their private land and livestock, and join state owned, factory-like farms. Stalin decides that this would not only feed the industrial workers in the cities but would also provide a substantial amount of grain to be sold abroad, with the money used to finance his industrialization plans. -
Steps to Holodomor Genocide
Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilains are dragged from their homes, packed into freight trains, and shipped to Siberia where they are left, often without food or shelter. In the end, 1,000,000 Ukrainian peasants are seized and more than 850,000 deported to the frozen tundras of Siberia, where many perished. -
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The Ukrainian Genocide : Holodomor
The Soviet government increases Ukraine's production quotas by 44%, ensuring that they could not be met. Starvation becomes widespread. Stalin allows arrest or execution of any starving peasant found taking as little as a few stalks of wheat. Ukrainians are dying at the rate of 25,000 a day, more than half were children. In the end, up to 10 million starved to death. Stalin denies to the world that there is any famine in Ukraine, and prevents international aid from entering the country. -
Hitler elected Chancellor of Germany
Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany in 1933.
Supporting German Nationalism and a proud spokesman for anti-semitism, Hitler would soon lead his Nazi Regime into the deep, dark depths of WWII and the Holocaust. -
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The Holocaust
Dachau was established in March 1933, and liberated in April 1945. This was the first of more than 1000 camps built. 6 million Jews perished here, as well as 5 million others. -
The Nuremburg Laws are Passed in Germany
This law revoked any Jewish person's citizenship, also prohibiting them from marrying non-Jews. -
Battle of Shanghai
The actual military invasion of Nanking was preceded by a tough battle at Shanghai that began in the summer of 1937. Chinese forces there put up surprisingly stiff resistance against the Japanese Army which had expected an easy victory in China. The stubborn resistance by the Chinese troops upset that timetable, with the battle dragging on through the summer into late fall. This infuriated the Japanese and whetted their appetite for the revenge that was Nanking. -
The Rape Of Nanking
The Japanese Army occupies Nanking, China, after the Battle of Shanghai. Angered, the Japanese were brutal to any Prisoners of War and innocent civilians. Lasting a horrifying 6 weeks, a total of 80, 000 were raped and estimates go as high as 400, 000 slaughtered. -
World War II Begins
EXTRA! EXTRA! Britain and France Declare War On Germany. After Hitler leads the Nazi's into Poland on September 1st, 1939, Britain and France declare war 3 days later. Canada enters the war on its own a week later, on September 10th. -
Mao Zedong Becomes Chariman of CPC
Mao became the head of the Communist Party of China from March 20th, 1943 - September 9th, 1976 (33 years, 173 days) Mao is responsible for the 30 million deaths during the The Great Leap forward, and has the highest number of estimated deaths in a genocide, even more than Hitler and Stalin. By the end of his riegn, the death toll of innocent civilians is estimated between 49-78,000,000 million dead. -
World War II Ended
The war ends when USA drops the atomic bomb on Japan. -
The Nuremburg Trials Begin
The Nuremburg Trials, held in Nuremburg, Germany, prosecuted some of the most wanted men who committed atrocities during the Holocaust. -
The Nuremburg Trials End
-11 of the 21 defendants are sentenced to death. -20 convicted defendants in the Einsatzgruppen Trial. 14 of the defendants, members of German mobile killing units, are sentenced to death. -7 Nazi doctors are sentenced to death. -
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The Great Leap Forward: Chinese Genocide
In 1958, The Great Leap Forward was an economic plan by the Communist Party of China, led by Mao Zedong. Similar to the Ukraine Famine during WWI, the Chinese population were being starved to death. Under Mao's rule, an estimated 30 million people died a slow death. Violent campaigns such as party leaders went from village to village in search of hidden food reserves, not only grain, but for pigs, chickens, ducks and eggs. Many peasants accused of hiding food were tortured and beaten to death. -
Milton Obote Comes To Power in Uganda
Milton Obote was the second president of Uganda in 1966. Between 1966 and 1971, the first Obote regime targeted the Baganda, and 400 to 1,000 people were reported to have been killed. -
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The Uganda Genocide
In a messy battle for power, hundreds of thousands of innocent Ugandan civilians died at the hands of both Milton Obote and Idi Amin. From 1986 to 2003, the people of the Acholi region in northern Uganda were indiscriminately terrorized. More than 100,000 people were killed and more than 20,000 children abducted. -
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The Cultural Revolution: Mao Genocide
The Cultural Revolution damaged the country on a great scale economically and socially. Millions of people were persecuted in the violent factional struggles that ensued across the country, and suffered a wide range of abuses including torture, rape, imprisonment, sustained harassment, and seizure of property. A large segment of the population was forcibly displaced. An estimated of at least 2 million people died during this time period. -
Red Guards Established in China
Mao Zedong mobilized the Red Guards, groups of radical students, who were ordered to destroy the four "olds" in the country: customs, habits, culture and thinking. -
Combodian Civil War Begins
The Cambodian Civil War was a conflict that pitted the forces of the Khmer Rouge and their allies, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), and the Viet Cong against the government forces of Cambodia (after October 1970, the Khmer Republic), -
Idi Amin Overthrows Milton Obote
The regime of Idi Amin caused much violence and bloodshed. During his time, he targeted the Acholi were oppressed, discriminated against, and cruelly treated. Much of the violence was caused on the government's instruction, and people were forced to take an exile out of Uganda, imprisoned without trial, or slaughtered at the first hint of non alliance. -
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The Cambodian Genocide
The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, seizes power. Up to 2 million people die over four years from starvation, overwork and execution. During this period the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia about 90,000 of some 250,000 Cham people died as the government tried to exterminate both the tribe and Islam. Only 21 of 113 imams survived. Some 14,000 men, women and children entered Cambodia’s Tuol Sleng prison, but only a dozen survived. -
Cambodian Civil War Ends
After five years of savage fighting that brought about massive casualties, the destruction of the economy, the starvation of the population, and grievous atrocities, the Republican government was defeated on 17 April 1975 when the victorious Khmer Rouge proclaimed the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea. The Cambodian Genocide is about to begin. -
Pol Pot Gains Power in Cambodia
Pol Pot became leader of Cambodia in mid-1975. During his time in power he imposed a version of agrarian socialism, forcing urban dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor projects.The combined effects of forced labor, malnutrition, poor medical care and executions resulted in the deaths of approximately 21 percent of the Cambodian population. In all, an estimated 1,700,000–2,500,000 peop -
The Uganda - Tanzania War Starts
In an attemtp to overthrow Idi Amin, Tanzania goes to war with Uganda. Often in Uganda, it is referred to as the Liberation War. -
The Uganda - Tanzania War Ends
With the defeat of Idi Amin, this allows Milton Obote to regain power in Uganda a year later. -
Milton Obote Becomes President Again
After Amin was overthrown by a coalition of Ugandan rebels and Tanzanian troops, Obote becomes president once again. The Baganda were again targets for killings. The activities of both the government and the guerrilla armies in the Luwero Triangle caused the deaths of more than 300,000 people and the flight of many more from the area. -
Slobodan Milsevic Becomes the First President of Serbia
Slobodan Milosevic reigned in Serbia from 1989 - 1997. He allowed atrocities to happen durring this time period, such as the genocide of the Bosnian muslims in the 90's. -
Rwandan Civil War Begins
The Rwandan Civil War was a conflict within the Central African nation of Rwanda between the government of President Juvénal Habyarimana and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The conflict began on 2 October 1990. Mounting tensions in 1990, were the grumblings of the Tutsi diaspora. Those Tutsi who had been exiled over thirty years were now coming together in an organized group known as the RPF. The Hutu in Rwanda considered these Tutsi an evil aristocracy which had rightly been exiled. -
The Bosnia-Herzegovina War Begins
Overlapping the Bosnia-Herz genocide, the war was primarily the cause for the genocide. Slobodan Milošević and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) attacked the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to secure Serbian territory and war soon broke out across Bosnia, accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of the Bosniak population, especially in Eastern Bosnia. -
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Bosnia-Herzegovina Genocide
Considered the most devestating conflict in Europe since WWII, Bosnia-Herzegovina was an example of how the world failed to act, once again. 20, 000-50, 000 women and children were raped and an estimated total 200, 000 Bosnian Muslims. Ethnic tension between the Serbs, Croats and Muslims was the main cause for the genocide. -
Rwandan Civil War Ends
The civil war finally ended on this date, with the Hutus in defeat. It would be less than a year from now when they will attack again, thus triggereing the Rwandan Genocide. -
The Rwanda Genocide
Over the course of a 100 days through mid-July, the death toll of Rwanda is estimated between 500,000 and 1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the country's total population. During this time the Hutus acted in violent ways, killing their Tutsi neighbours and friends. -
Jean Kambanda becomes Prime Minister of Rwanda
He was sworn in as prime minister on April 9, 1994 after the President, Juvénal Habyarimana, and former Prime Minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, were assassinated. He remained in the post for the hundred days of the genocide until July 19, 1994. After leaving office he fled the country. Kambanda was arrested in Nairobi on July 18, 1997, 3 years after the genocide happened. -
The Bosnia-Herzegovina War Ends
3 years later the war in Bosnia-Herz has come to a stop, also marking the end of the genocide. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of Bosnian Serbs were slaughtered.
