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1924 CE

This year falls in the Twentieth century (1901–2000). Two world wars, the Russian and Chinese revolutions, the Cold War and the end of most colonial empires fall in this century. It also brings mass air travel, nuclear weapons, antibiotics and computers.

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Within fifteen years

Ruler · Twentieth century · CambodiaPol Pot1925–1998Leader of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, 1925 to 1998, whose regime killed about a quarter of his country's people. The Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 and emptied the cities, forcing everyone into rural labor. Driven out by Vietnam in 1979, he led a guerrilla remnant until his death.
Country · TurkeyTurkey1923–Turkey is a transcontinental country, mostly in Anatolia with a foothold in Europe. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the republic in 1923 from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. It is a presidential republic bridging Europe and the Middle East.
Ruler · Twentieth century · CubaFidel Castro1926–2016Leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, born in 1926, who made a communist state ninety miles from Florida. His 26th of July Movement overthrew the Batista dictatorship in January 1959. He survived the Bay of Pigs invasion, brought Soviet missiles to Cuba in 1962, and ruled for nearly half a century.
Country · IrelandIreland1922–Ireland is an island country in the North Atlantic, west of Britain. Most of the island became independent from Britain in 1922 after a war of independence. It is a parliamentary republic; the six counties of Northern Ireland remain part of the United Kingdom.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · FranceMichel Foucault1926–1984French thinker who studied how power works through prisons, clinics, and the categories of knowledge itself. Discipline and Punish of 1975 showed the modern soul as a product of surveillance. He lived 1926 to 1984.
Civilization · Twentieth century · Soviet UnionSoviet Union1922–1991The Soviet Union was the world's first communist state, spanning Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. It industrialized by force, beat Nazi Germany, and became a nuclear superpower. It dissolved peacefully in 1991.
Event · Twentieth century · ChinaChinese Civil War1927–1949War between the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party, interrupted by the war against Japan, ending in communist victory in 1949.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · United StatesJohn Rawls1921–2002American thinker whose Theory of Justice of 1971 revived political philosophy. Behind a veil of ignorance, not knowing your place in society, you would choose fair rules for all. He taught at Harvard and lived 1921 to 2002.
Country · MongoliaMongolia1921–Mongolia is a vast, sparsely populated country between Russia and China. In the thirteenth century Genghis Khan built the largest land empire in history from here. The modern state dates from 1921 and is a parliamentary republic.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · United StatesNoam Chomsky1928–American linguist and thinker whose Syntactic Structures of 1957 argued that the human mind is born with a universal grammar. He became equally known as a critic of American foreign policy. Born 1928, living.
Country · AfghanistanAfghanistan1919–Afghanistan is a landlocked country at the crossroads of central and south Asia. It won full independence from Britain in 1919. Decades of war since 1978 have made it one of the most battered countries in the world.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · GermanyJürgen Habermas1929–German thinker, the leading heir of the Frankfurt School, who defended reason as communication: free discussion among equals can reach the truth. His Theory of Communicative Action appeared in 1981. Born 1929, living.
Country · Vatican CityVatican City1929–Vatican City is the smallest state in the world, an enclave inside Rome. It was created in 1929 by the Lateran Treaties between Italy and the Holy See. It is the sovereign seat of the Catholic Church, ruled by the Pope.
Country · AustriaAustria1918–Austria is a landlocked country in central Europe, once the heart of the Habsburg Empire. The Habsburgs ruled much of central Europe from Vienna for centuries, until the empire collapsed in 1918. The modern republic regained full sovereignty in 1955 and has been neutral since.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · AlgeriaJacques Derrida1930–2004Algerian born French thinker who founded deconstruction, reading texts against themselves to show meaning always slipping away. Of Grammatology of 1967 made him famous and controversial. He lived 1930 to 2004.
Ruler · Twentieth century · RomaniaNicolae Ceaușescu1918–1989General secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 and president from 1974 until his overthrow and execution in December 1989.
Country · PolandPoland1918–Poland is a large country in central Europe. Its medieval kingdom was partitioned out of existence in the late eighteenth century. Poland returned to the map in 1918, suffered terribly in the Second World War, and became a republic again in 1989.
Country · FinlandFinland1917–Finland is a northern European country between Sweden and Russia. It declared independence from Russia in 1917. It fought the Soviet Union twice in the Second World War and kept its independence, later becoming a prosperous republic.
Event · Twentieth century · RussiaThe Cheka1917–1922All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, founded 20 December 1917 (7 December Old Style) under Felix Dzerzhinsky. Early Soviet secret police with power of summary execution.
Event · Twentieth century · UkraineHolodomor1932–1933Famine in Soviet Ukraine and other regions, 1932–1933, driven by requisition, blacklists, passport controls and border seals. Death tolls are demographic estimates; genocide classification is debated.
Country · IraqIraq1932–Iraq occupies ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates where writing and cities began. The modern state was created under British mandate and became independent in 1932. It is now a federal parliamentary republic.
Country · Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia1932–Saudi Arabia is the largest country in Arabia, home to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities of Islam. Abdulaziz Ibn Saud united the peninsula's kingdoms in 1932. It is an absolute monarchy ruled by the House of Saud.
Event · Twentieth century · ChinaLong March1934–1935The retreat of the Chinese Communist armies from Jiangxi to Shaanxi, October 1934 to October 1935, after encirclement by Nationalist forces.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · AlgeriaAlbert Camus1913–1960Algerian born French writer who made the absurd, the clash between our hunger for meaning and a silent world, the theme of his work. The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus appeared in 1942. Nobel Prize 1957; he died in a car crash in 1960.