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UK and the World
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Year | Wales and Ymgyrchu! |
| 1900 | Start of three year Penrhyn Quarry Strike | |
|
Death of Queen Victoria
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1901 | Taff Vale railway ruling a blow to trades unions |
|
Boer war comes to an end
|
1902 | Over 200 Patagonian Welsh settle in Canada |
|
Marie Curie is the first woman to win the nobel Peace
Prize
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1903 | The 'sliding scale' method of assessing coalminers' wages abolished |
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First electric underground train runs in London
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1904 | Religious Revival sweeps through Wales. |
|
In Russia, 5,000 killed in protests against the Tsar
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1905 | First Labour mayor elected at Merthyr Tydfil |
|
Keir Hardie
becomes first Chairman of the new Labour Party
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1906 | Conservatives fail to win any seats in Wales at the General Election |
|
In Finland, first women elected members of parliament
|
1907 | First 'Votes for Women' campaign group established in Wales |
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First woman elected mayor in Britain
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1908 | Start of the six year 'Great Unrest' |
|
Forced feeding of imprisoned suffragettes
begun
|
1909 | David Lloyd George presents his People's Budget |
|
Slavery abolished in China
|
1910 | Riots at Tonypandy |
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60,000 women march through London to demand the vote
|
1911 | Riots at Llanelli |
|
Sinking of the Titanic
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1912 | The Miners' Next step published |
|
Panama Canal opened
|
1913 | 439 killed at the Senghennydd mining disaster |
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Start of First
World War
|
1914 | Pacifist 'Fellowship of Reconciliation' established |
|
Gallipoli campaign in Turkey ends in tragedy
|
1915 | Death of Keir Hardie |
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Thousands killed at the Battle of the Somme
|
1916 | David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister |
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Revolution in Russia
|
1917 | Death of the poet Hedd Wyn |
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First World War
finishes
|
1918 | David Lloyd George remains Prime Minister after the 'Coupon' Election |
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Treaty of Versailles signed
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1919 | Race riots in Cardiff |
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Communist
Party of Great Britain Founded
|
1920 | Church of Wales comes into existence following Disestablishment |
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Irish Free State established
|
1921 | By-election in Ceredigion |
|
Bonar Law succeeds David
Lloyd George as Prime Minister
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1922 | Urdd Gobaith Cymru (the Welsh League of Youth) founded |
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Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister
|
1923 | North Wales Quarrymen's Union joins the Transport and General Workers Union. |
|
First Labour
government in Britain
|
1924 | MP for Aberavon, Ramsay MacDonald, becomes first Labour Prime Minister |
|
Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf published
|
1925 | Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru (Welsh Nationalist Party) founded |
|
Britain paralysed for nine days by General
Strike
|
1926 | Miners' Strike in Wales |
|
20 alleged British spies shot in Russia
|
1927 | First Hunger March from Wales to London |
|
The Representation of the People Act: Votes for all women
over 21
|
1928 | Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly from America to Europe lands in Wales |
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Financial Crash on Wall Street
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1929 | Election of the first female M.P. representing a Welsh constituency |
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The planet Pluto discovered
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1930 | The definitive edition of the Welsh folk tales Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi published |
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Japan invades Manchuria
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1931 | Protests against opening cinemas on Sundays in Wales |
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes President of the United
States promising a 'New Deal'
|
1932 | Male unemployment in Wales reaches the record figure of 42.8% |
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Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
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1933 | Wales beats England for the first time at Twickenham |
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Rebellion in Catalonia
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1934 | 265 killed in mining disaster at Gresford near Wrexham |
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Invading Japanese army enters Beijing, China
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1935 | Mass protests in south Wales against the Unemployment Act |
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Start of Spanish Civil
War
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1936 | Leading Welsh nationalists burn down bombing school at Penyberth |
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Town of Guernica,
Spain, destroyed by aerial bombardment
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1937 | Refugees from Spain reach Wales |
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Munich Agreement signed by Britain, Germany, France and
Italy
|
1938 | Temple of Peace and Health opened in Cardiff |
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Start of the Second World War
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1939 | First evacuees reach Wales |
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Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain
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1940 | Despite protests, British Army takes over land on the Epynt Mountains, Powys |
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The German army fails in its attempt to conquer
Russia
|
1941 | Swansea suffers heavy aerial bombardment |
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Japanese conquer Singapore
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1942 | Series of strikes by miners in south Wales |
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Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt meet for the first
time in Teheran
|
1943 | University of Wales by-election |
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Allied invasion of Europe
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1944 | First 'Welsh day' in the House of Commons |
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End of the Second World War after America drops atomic bombs
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
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1945 | David Lloyd George dies |
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Nationalisation of the Coal Industry
in Britain
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1946 | First performances of the Welsh National Opera Company |
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Britain's first nuclear reactor established at Harwell
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1947 | First Welsh primary school to be established by local authority at Llanelli |
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Establishment of National Health Service in Britain
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1948 | Communist Manifesto translated into Welsh |
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North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) established
|
1949 | Welsh Republican Movement formed |
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Start of Korean War
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1950 | Parliament for Wales campaign formed |
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'Festival of Britain' opened
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1951 | Sir David Maxwell Fyfe becomes first Minister for Welsh Affairs. |
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Britain tests atomic
bomb
|
1952 | Claerwen Dam opened |
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Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin dies
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1953 | Death of poet Dylan Thomas |
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First vaccine against polio used
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1954 | Empire News, first Sunday newspaper to be published in Wales |
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Warsaw Pact signed by Communist countries
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1955 | Farmers Union of Wales established |
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First Aldermaston march
against nuclear weapons
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1956 | Protestors opposing the drowning of Tryweryn march through Liverpool |
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Creation of European Economic Community (EEC)
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1957 | Megan Lloyd George elected MP for Carmarthen |
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Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)
founded
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1958 | First commercial television broadcasts in Wales |
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European Court of Human Rights established
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1959 | High levels of nuclear fall-out discovered in north Wales |
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Sharpeville massacre in South Africa
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1960 | Death of Labour politician Aneurin Bevan |
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Berlin Wall built
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1961 | First National CND rally in Wales |
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Black students attended their first ever lecture
in Missisipi University
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1962 | Saunders Lewis's BBC lecture Tynged yr Iaith broadcast |
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President John F Kennedy assassinated
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1963 | Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg's first protest. |
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Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister of Britain
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1964 | James Griffiths becomes first Secretary of State for Wales |
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American Air Forces start bombing North Vietnam
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1965 | Protestors disrupt opening ceremony of Tryweryn reservoir |
| 1966 | Gwynfor Evans, first Plaid Cymru MP elected in Carmarthenshire by-election | |
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The Six day War between the Israelis and the Arabs
won by the Israelis
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1967 | New Welsh Language Act passed. |
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Series of mass protests in France
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1968 | Bomb planted by MAC explodes at Welsh Office |
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Man walks on the moon for the first time
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1969 | Investiture of Prince Charles at Caernarfon |
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Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister of Britain
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1970 | John Barnard Jenkins, leader of MAC, imprisoned for 10 years |
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New emergency measures introduced in Northern Ireland
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1971 | Protests by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg intensify |
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British government declares 'state of emergency' because
of the shortage of power due to the
Miners' strike
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1972 | Welsh coal miners on strike |
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Chilean president Salvador Allende overthrown by military
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1973 | Wales TUC established |
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Richard Nixon resigns as President of the United
States
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1974 | Second coal miners strike of the 1970s |
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Spanish Dictator,
General Franco, dies
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1975 | Centre for Alternative Technology established near Machynlleth |
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James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of Britain
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1976 | Scotland and Wales devolution bill published |
|
First democratic elections in Spain since the Civil
War
|
1977 | 'Radio Cymru' broadcasts for the first time |
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Egypt and Israel sign historic peace treaty
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1978 | Nant Gwrtheyrn purchased as home for a Welsh language learning centre |
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Margaret
Thatcher becomes Prime Minister of Britain
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1979 | Wales rejects devolution in a referendum |
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New free trade union 'Solidarnosc' founded in Poland
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1980 | Welsh Anti-Nuclear Alliance formed |
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10 IRA prisoners die in hunger strikes in Northern Ireland
|
1981 | Welsh women establish Greenham Common peace camp |
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Malvinas/Falklands War
|
1982 | Welsh language television channel S4C broadcasts for the first time |
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First cruise missiles reach Greenham
Common
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1983 | At the General Election, Conservatives win their highest number of seats in Wales during the 20th century |
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Miners
Strike starts
|
1984 | Welsh miners at forefront of miners' strike |
|
Miners' Strike comes to an end
|
1985 | Brecon and Radnor by-election |
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Chernobyl nuclear
disaster
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1986 | Mass protests against the building of a nuclear bunker in Carmarthen |
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USA and the Soviet Union reach agreement over arms reduction
|
1987 | Anglesey MP Keith Best gaoled for fraud |
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Terrorist bomb on a Pan Am 747 aeroplane kills 281 people
|
1988 | Welsh Language Board set up |
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Berlin Wall comes down
|
1989 | Supporters of Meibion Glyndŵr, the group responsible for the burning of holiday homes in Wales, appear in uniform for the first time |
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Nelson Mandela freed after 26 years in gaol
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1990 | New National Curriculum includes provision for Welsh to be taught in all schools in Wales |
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Gulf War fought after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
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1991 | Riots in Cardiff following racist incident |
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Bill Clinton becomes President of the United States
|
1992 | Plaid Cymru's Cynog Dafis, first MP to be elected with official Green Party support |
|
Apartheid abolished in South Africa
|
1993 | New Welsh Language Act becomes law |
|
Channel Tunnel between Britain and France officially opened
|
1994 | Miners' buy-out of Tower colliery, Hirwaun |
|
Despite widespread condemnation, France tests nuclear
bomb in the Pacific Ocean
|
1995 | Nuclear Electric fined following nuclear accident at Wylfa power station |
|
16 children and their teacher shot in primary school in
Scotland
|
1996 | Students protest during Queen's visit to Aberystwyth |
|
Labour Party
elected to power in Britain with large majority
|
1997 | Wales votes in favour of devolution in referendum |
|
Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
|
1998 | Government of Wales Act becomes law |
|
Scottish Parliament opened
|
1999 | National Assembly for Wales opened |
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