The following is a timeline of events–perhaps related; perhaps not.
1905: The Gods of Pegāna by Lord Dunsany is published.
1912: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs is published.
1914: Outbreak of World War I
First members of the Greatest Generation born.
1917: Russian Revolution
1920: 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution passed.
1922: Soviet Union founded.
1932: Conan the Cimmerian created by Robert E. Howard.
1935: First members of the Silent Generation born.
1937: First publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Donald A. Wolheim delivers John B. Michel’s speech “Mutation or Death” at
the Third Eastern Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia.
John W. Campbell Jr. becomes editor of Astounding Science Fiction.
1939: Start of World War II
1944: “The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft is first published in Weird Tales.
1946: Start of the Baby Boom.
Chinese Communist Revolution
1950: The Korean War begins.
1954: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien begins publication.
1955: The Vietnam War begins.
1956: “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley released.
1957: First members of Generation Jones born.
1958: “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry released.
1962: “Love Me Do” by the Beatles released.
1964: The Civil Rights Act is passed in the USA.
1968: First members of Generation X born.
1971: Led Zeppelin IV released.
1976: The Atari 2600 released.
1977: The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks is published.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson published.
Star Wars by George Lucas is released to theaters.
1979: First members of Generation Y born.
1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark by Steven Spielberg, Lawrence Kasdan, and George
Lucas released.
1983: The video game market crashes.
1985: Back to the Future by Robert Zemeckis released.
1986: The Nintendo Entertainment System released nationwide in America.
1987: The Joshua Tree by U2 released.
1989: Release of the Sega Genesis
1990: First members of the Millennial Generation born.
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Gulf War begins.
First book of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan published.
1991: Launch of the Super NES
Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn published.
1995: SONY PlayStation released.
1997: Final Fantasy VII released for the PlayStation.
Release of Pop by U2.
Star Wars Special Editions first hit theaters.
1999: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace released.
2001: First members of Generation Z born.
9/11
War in Afghanistan begins.
Iraq War begins.
2008: Barack Obama elected.
2014: #GamerGate begins.
2015: Obergfell v. Hodges SCOTUS decision.
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens released.
2016: Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Dr. Chuck Tingle nominated for a
Hugo Award.
Dragon Awards founded.
Election of Donald Trump.
2017: Galaxy’s Edge: Legionnaire released by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole.
UPDATE: My astute and knowledgeable readers offered welcome corrections in the comments.
“The Call of Cthulhu” was first published in 1928.
The Iraq War started in 2003.
Iraq war was 2003, no?
Corrections welcome.
Weird Tales started in 1923 and ended in 1954 when the pulps began to die, the same year as LOTR. I'm not saying there's no pattern there but it does fit in rather snuggly considering how things eventually went down in the genre.
You have 1983 between 1987 and 1989.
Not a whole lot to mention in the 00s. It really was a crap decade.
My internet was on the fritz, so I had to type this post on a device I'm not used to. That's not an excuse, just an explanation. I'll leave the errors as reminders of my fallibility.
1959 Duplessis, Premier of Quebec dies, la Revolution tranquille begins. The Quebec Francophone boomers come of age and begin their long march through Quebec society.
1968: the French boomers cause De Gualle to resign and begin their Gramscian Long march through French society
1975 Franco dies and the Spanish transition begins
1968 Canadian omibus bill to decriminalize abortion, ease divorce and other changes to sexual morality in the Criminal code
1979 Rene Levesque and the PQ elected. Beginning of the struggle between separatists and federalists over Quebec separation. Consolidation of the La revolution trnaquille
1981: Canadian repartiation of the BNA act (now Canada act) and the incorporation of the federal Charter of rights and Freedoms. Quebec boycotts.
1981 Mitterand former Vichy collaborator now Socialist elected President and seats several communists in government. The destruction of the Frech economy begins.
1986: release of le Decline de l'empire american by Denis Arcand. The quintiessential Quebec boomer movie to understand what they dis to the province during la Revolution tranquille.
1995 second Canadian referendum that ends in a slight majority for the federalists. Later scandals breakout over illegal federal funding of their campiagn in Quebec which ends many careers and causes the federal Liberals to crater in the province.
1999: adoption of the Euro and the Maastrict treaty.
xavier
With all due respect, sir, this isn't Canada Blog. If you wish to publish a timeline of significant Canadian events, I encourage you do so on your own site.
Millennials started in 87or earlier dude.
But I dont get the connections, sorry. Is it 100 years of decline until the new stuff begins? (Better than before)
Hylean,
Think of what was stolen,buried, memory holed, vandalized, then trashed and finally nuked first by the progressives and then entrenched once the boomers came of age.
And the long process of recuperation which we'll never fully recover from.
Like Frodo after the last ring is destroyed but lives with the Nazgul's sword wound. He can never fully revover.
xavier
"Millennials started in 87or earlier dude."
Boomer historical revisionism. They increasingly label anyone younger than them as "Millennials" just as Gen Zed calls anyone older than they are "Boomers".
I've written a whole post about this, but to sum it up: the accelerating rate of social change has shortened the cultural meaning of "a generation" from 20 years to 10. And there is definitely a distinct generation between Gen X and the Millennials.
"Call of Cthulhu" was published in February, 1928.
This was the same year that Solomon Kane debuted in the pages of Weird Tales. A. Merritt was the undisputed Lord of Fantasy and I think it shows in Howard's Kane stories– they are a combination of Edgar Rice Burroughs style action and A. Merritt type mythos.
Thanks for chiming in. I bow to your superior expertise.
What an interesting timeline. Equal parts depressing and exciting, when you see it all laid out like this.
I honestly wasn't trying to elicit any particular response; just browsing Wikipedia's timeline and plucking out events that struck my fancy. Interesting to see it acts as a kind of generational Rorschach test.