From Nazi Germany's surrender to the historic Paris climate accord, 2025 marks a year of pivotal anniversaries that have shaped the world. As France reflects on Simone Veil's groundbreaking fight for abortion rights 50 years ago and mourns a decade since terror struck the heart of Paris, we also commemorate 80 years since the dawn of the nuclear age, 35 years since Nelson Mandela's walk to freedom, and an intrepid Moroccan scholar's transformative journey seven centuries ago.
JANUARY
50 years since France's abortion law passed
In a watershed moment for women's rights in France, parliament passed the Veil Law on 17 January 1975, decriminalising abortion. Coming eight years after the Neuwirth Law legalised contraception, the legislation followed campaigns where 343 women publicly declared having had abortions and 331 doctors admitted performing them. The law, championed by Health Minister Simone Veil, was made permanent in 1979.
80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz
On 27 January 1945, Soviet soldiers reached Auschwitz concentration camp, home to just a few thousand surviving prisoners, including future writer Primo Levi. The soldiers stumbled upon the camp by chance, and its immense scale shocked them. In the following days, filmmakers and investigators documented the survivors' harrowing experiences. For years, the Jewish identity of most victims remained underacknowledged, often overshadowed by broader references to "victims of fascism".
FEBRUARY
80 years since the Yalta Conference
The future of post-war Europe was decided at the Yalta Conference in Crimea, opening on 4 February 1945. With Nazi Germany's impending defeat, the meeting between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation and shift Poland's borders eastward. General Charles de Gaulle of France, however, was excluded from the talks, underscoring France's precarious position as it recovered from years of occupation and collaboration. His absence from the famous photographs long remained a sore point in France.
35 years since Mandela's release
Nelson Mandela walked free after 26 years in prison on 11 February 1990, raising his fist in victory alongside his wife Winnie. His party, the African National Congress, was unbanned days later. The apartheid system, in place since 1948, was abolished the following year. Mandela and President Frederik de Klerk shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize before Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994.
MARCH
80 years since Anne Frank's death
Around 1 March 1945, Anne Frank died aged 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Born in Frankfurt, she had lived in Amsterdam since 1933 when her family fled Nazi persecution. From 1942 to 1944, while hiding in a secret apartment, she wrote her famous diary. Her father Otto, the family's sole survivor, published it in 1947.
60 years since first spacewalk
Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made history on 18 March 1965 as the first human to conduct a spacewalk. Floating 200 kilometres above Earth for precisely 12 minutes and nine seconds, he had prepared with 1,000 kilometres of cycling, 150 practice sessions and 117 parachute jumps. He risked gas embolism during re-entry, and his spacecraft landed 400 kilometres off target.
APRIL
50 years since Lebanon's civil war began
On 13 April 1975, attacks between Palestinian fighters and Christian militias launched Lebanon into 15 years of civil war. The violence began when Palestinian fedayeen attacked a Maronite church, followed by Christians targeting a bus carrying Palestinian fighters and civilians. The country, once nicknamed the "Switzerland of the Middle East" for its prosperity and stability, emerged from the conflict devastated and under the influence of Syria and Israel.
50 years since the Khmer Rouge takeover
After five years of civil war, the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975, overthrowing General Lon Nol's US-backed government. They immediately forced the population to leave the capital as part of their rural revolution. In under four years, their genocidal regime killed one in four Cambodians.
MAY
80 years since VE Day and the Setif massacre
Nazi Germany formally surrendered to the Allied forces on 8 May 1945, marking the end of World War II in Europe. The same day, French colonial forces violently suppressed protests in Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata, killing thousands of Algerians. These massacres are now seen as precursors to the Algerian war of independence, which began nine years later.
70 years since the Warsaw Pact
On 14 May 1955, the Soviet Union and its eastern European allies signed the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance formed in response to NATO. The pact symbolised the division of Europe during the Cold War.
JUNE
80 years since Germany was divided
On 5 June 1945, the four victorious Allied powers formalised the division of Germany into four occupation zones controlled by the US, the UK, the Soviet Union and France. Berlin sat within the Soviet sector. This laid the groundwork for the Cold War and Germany's later split into East and West.
700 years since Ibn Battuta's pilgrimage
On 14 June 1325, Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta, hailed "the greatest medieval Muslim traveller", embarked on a pilgrimage to Mecca. His voyage spanned 24 years and over 120,000 kilometres, taking him across Africa, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia. Ibn Battuta's detailed accounts remain invaluable records of medieval life and cultures.
50 years since Mozambique’s independence
Mozambique declared independence from Portugal on 25 June 1975 after a decade-long war of liberation. The end of Portuguese colonial rule across Africa was hastened by Portugal’s Carnation Revolution in 1974.
JULY
30 years since Srebrenica massacre
Bosnian Serb forces overran the town of Srebrenica, a UN-designated safe zone, on 11 July 1995. Over the following days, they carried out the systematic massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys, making it Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II. About 30,000 people fled to Potocari seeking protection at the Dutch UN base, but found little safety. The victims' bodies were buried in mass graves across the region, and the International Criminal Court later ruled the killings a genocide. It became a symbol of the world's failure to prevent mass atrocities in the Bosnian War.
80 years since first nuclear test
The first nuclear weapons test took place on 16 July 1945 at Alamogordo, New Mexico, as part of the Manhattan Project. Los Alamos scientists developed the plutonium fission device nicknamed "Gadget". Project leader J Robert Oppenheimer chose the codename Trinity from a John Donne poem. The blast, equal to 20 kilotons of TNT, was heard 160 kilometres away.
AUGUST
80 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs
At 8:15am on 6 August 1945, a US B-29 bomber dropped "Little Boy", the first atomic bomb used in warfare, on Hiroshima. Exploding 500-600 metres above ground, it generated power equivalent to 15,000 tonnes of TNT. Nearly one-third of the city's 245,000 residents died instantly, while thousands more perished in the following months from radiation exposure. Three days later, on 9 August, a second atomic bomb named "Fat Man" devastated Nagasaki, instantly killing an estimated 40,000 people.
SEPTEMBER
80 years since the end of World War II
Japan formally surrendered aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, bringing World War II to an official close.
80 years since Vietnam's independence
Also on 2 September 1945, Vietnam declared independence from French colonial rule. This followed a brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II. The declaration by Ho Chi Minh marked the start of Vietnam's struggle to achieve full sovereignty, which would take decades to realise.
OCTOBER
90 years since the Italian invasion of Ethiopia
Benito Mussolini's forces invaded Ethiopia from Italian Somalia and Eritrea on 3 October 1935. It took seven months to conquer Emperor Haile Selassie's empire. This colonial war, seen as anachronistic by other European powers, exposed the failure of the League of Nations, the world's first international peacekeeping body, to prevent conflict. It also saw the widespread use of poison gas against civilians.
80 years since the UN's founding
The United Nations was established on 24 October 1945 after China, the US, France, Britain, the Soviet Union and 45 other member states ratified its charter. The global body was created to promote peace and prevent conflicts after the devastation of World War II.
NOVEMBER
100 years since France's first radio news
On 3 November 1925, French journalism entered the modern era when Maurice Privat delivered the country's first regular radio news bulletin from the Eiffel Tower. This historic broadcast came just three years after Radio Tour Eiffel began transmitting as France's pioneering radio station. The station, which operated until the Nazi occupation in June 1940, revolutionised how French citizens received their news. In a significant shift toward media independence, the government had already begun separating state control of radio frequencies from programme content in 1924, allowing independent associations to shape what went on air. This early commitment to editorial freedom helped establish France's enduring tradition of public broadcasting.
10 years since the Paris attacks
On 13 November 2015, coordinated terrorist attacks by Islamic State struck Paris and its suburb of Saint-Denis, killing 130 people and hospitalising 413. The attackers targeted the Bataclan concert hall, several busy cafes and restaurants, and the national stadium during a France-Germany football match. The Bataclan suffered the heaviest toll, with 90 people killed during a two-hour hostage situation. The attacks remain the deadliest in modern French history. They marked the tragic peak of a year that began with January attacks on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher supermarket, which killed 17 people.
80 years since the Nuremberg trials
The Nuremberg trials of 24 top Nazi leaders opened on 20 November 1945, establishing the first international criminal court. Eleven defendants were hanged on 16 October 1946, while Hermann Göring committed suicide the night before. Three were acquitted, one died before trial and another was deemed medically unfit.
50 years since Franco's death
Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died in Madrid on 20 November 1975, aged 82, ending his 36-year grip on power. His death followed a month-long illness that gained international attention. His son-in-law helped extend Franco's survival through artificial means to delay the inevitable succession crisis. Known as El Caudillo (the Leader), Franco made his final public appearance on 12 October. His death marked the end of Western Europe's longest-running dictatorship and paved the way for Spain's return to democracy.
DECEMBER
10 years since the Paris climate agreement
On 12 December 2015, 196 nations adopted the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. While legally binding, the agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to “well below” 2C remains increasingly challenging. The US withdrew in 2020 but rejoined the following year. The UN has warned the world is on track for far higher temperature increases by the end of the century.
40 years of Les Restos du Coeur
French comedian Coluche founded Les Restos du Coeur (Restaurants of the Heart) on 21 December 1985, creating what is today one of France's most vital food charities. It was launched during a period of harsh economic austerity, when many French families struggled to afford food. Inspired by singer Daniel Balavoine, who sponsored the first campaign, the charity began by offering free meals to those in need. Four decades later, it has grown into a national institution. In 2022-23, amid rising living costs and inflation, the organisation set a new record by distributing 170 million meals to France's most vulnerable citizens.
80 years since establishment of the CFA franc
On 26 December 1945, France officially established the CFA franc as the currency for its African colonies, though it had been in use since 1939. Originally the "French Colonies in Africa" franc, the currency survived decolonisation and is still used today in 14 African nations. France's ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements brought the currency into the International Monetary Fund's parity system, pegging it first to the French franc and later to the euro. The arrangement has sparked ongoing debate, with critics seeing it as a tool of French economic control in Africa, while supporters argue it provides monetary stability. The currency stands as one of the most enduring legacies of French colonialism in Africa.
80 years since founding of the IMF and World Bank
Two institutions that would shape the post-war economic world opened their doors in Washington on 27 December 1945: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Created at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944, the IMF emerged as the guardian of global financial stability, helping countries manage currency crises and economic challenges. On the same day, its sister institution, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), began its mission to rebuild war-torn economies. The IBRD later evolved into today's World Bank Group, becoming the world's largest development bank.
