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The Roman Senate votes to give extraordinary (dictatorial) powers to Octavian who then adopts the name Augustus, essentially ending the Roman Republic - democracy vanishes for centuries
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Image result for democracy in athens
Athenian democracy developed around the fifth century BC in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, and is the first known democracy in the world. -
John Locke writes Two Treatises of Government outlining some liberal political ideals
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Montesquieu writes The Spirit of the Laws, explaining the need for three branches of government
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Benjamin Franklin writes to James Parker about the federal organization of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois League)
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The Continental Congress (representing the Thirteen Colonies) adopts the Declaration of Independence, starting the process of creating the US republic
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The nation-state of Canada is created through the passage of the British North America Act, providing responsible government for the former colonies
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Canada holds the first federal election to have secret ballot
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Lenin dies, opening the door for Stalin to take power in the USSR (leading to a ruthless dictatorship)
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The Persons’ Case determines that women are in fact persons and should have full rights
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Hitler passes the Enabling Act, moving Germany from a democracy to a dictatorship
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World War II ends, which also ends American-Soviet cooperation
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Truman establishes Truman establishes the Marshall Plan to contain communist expansion (policy of containment)
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Berlin blockade and consequent airlift increases tensions
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Creation of NATO to deter any aggression from the Soviet bloc
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Korean War begins after the USSR fails to show up for a veto in the UN, starting the first proxy war
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Creation of the Warsaw Pact as a response to NATO through collective security
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Khrushchev calls for peaceful co-existence
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The Hungarian Uprising demonstrates that the Warsaw Pact is not ideologically unified, but this liberation movement is crushed by Warsaw Pact forces
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First Nations peoples in Canada are granted suffrage
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Berlin Wall is built to prevent further Western expansion in the region
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Cuban Missile Crisis almost leads to a nuclear war between the superpowers due to brinkmanship
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The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty is signed
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The Prague Spring ends when the Soviet Union invades, followed by the Brezhnev Doctrine
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Vietnam War ends, demonstrating the failure of containment and the Domino Theory
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Helsinki Accords provide a degree of détente during the Cold War
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The Soweto Uprisings in South Africa protest the majority tyranny laws that prevented Black students from getting an education in their preferred language under the Apartheid rules; some students are killed by police.
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Solidarity trade union organizes the pro-democracy movement in Poland
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The Reform Party of Canada is created; one of their key platforms is the Triple E Senate
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Soviet invasion of Afghanistan leads to an increase of hostilities
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Berlin Wall is torn down, a year later Germany is reunified
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The Soviet Union ceases to exist, effectively ending the Cold War
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The Warsaw Pact is dissolved, with some members seeking to join NATO
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START is signed to reduce the number of nuclear weapons being created as a form of deterrence
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The referendum on the Charlottetown Accord, which would include special rights for First Nations and Francophone Canadians, fails to pass
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George W. Bush wins his first term as president of the United States without winning a majority of the votes due to the US electoral college system.
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President Mugabe of Zimbabwe blames the UK for the cholera outbreak in his country, thus making the UK a scapegoat for the problems being faced in his country.
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The Harper Government passes Bill C-16, An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act, which brings in fixed date elections to Canada’s federal electoral system
