Chris Cook

Very often historical events are linked with location. This source book for teacher and student provides concise and informative entries on the many hundreds of places of major historical significance in the twentieth century. The entries are worldwide in scope ranging from Auckland harbour in New Zealand to Nunavut in the Arctic Circle, and span the whole of the twentieth century, from Kimberley in Cape Province besieged by the Boers in October 1899, to Oklahoma City in April 1995, the scene of the worst terrorist incident in American history. With the emphasis firmly on events that have had implications beyond the borders of a single country, the book includes diplomatic crises (Agadir, Suez, Cuba), world conferences (Bretton Woods, Yalta, Dumbarton Oaks), assassinations (Sarajevo, Coyoacan, Sriperumbudur), massacres (Soweto, My Lai, Cienaga), and famous treaties (Potsdam, Chapultepec, Versailles). In addition, many of the century's key battles are detailed, including the towns and villages of Northern France (Ypres, Verdun, Neuve-Chapelle) now forever associated with the carnage of the First World War, and the decisive engagements of the Second World War (Alamein, Kursk, Beda Fomm).

In compiling this volume the editors have aimed to gather together, in one volume, as many of the important political facts as possible for a critical period of European history. In addition this book has also been designed as a companion volume to the existing European Political Facts 1918-1973 and to the forthcoming European Political Facts 1789 - 1848. Once again the editors have taken all the countries of Europe, from Portugal and Spain to Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Throughout the aim has been to provide comparable material, even though this has not always been easy to achieve, most particularly in the earlier part of this period, when reliable sources were extremely limited. For simplicity, the editors have adopted the use of the Gregorian calendar in this work.