Memory PREVIEW · PHASE 2

Events with internationally recognised days of remembrance. Recorded as history: dates, places and documented figures, without personal details of victims.

This is a preview of a few representative events, not a complete record. The full section is planned for Phase 2. Each card links to its entry in the timeline, where evidence and sources are listed.

1. 6 Dec 1917 VERIFIED · Accident

   Halifax Explosion

   The French munitions ship Mont-Blanc collided with the Norwegian ship Imo in Halifax Harbour on 6 December 1917, caught fire and exploded, levelling much of the city's north end.

   Deaths

   1,631–1,946 ESTIMATED

   Counted

   Direct deaths from the blast, tsunami and fires, including those who died of injuries in the following days. 1918 morgue records listed 1,631 known dead or missing; the count was revised to 1,946 by 2004 (The Canadian Encyclopedia). Britannica gives nearly 2,000.

   Remembered

   6 December — Annual memorial service at the bell tower in Fort Needham Park, Halifax, held on the anniversary itself (local, not a UN day).

   Where

   Halifax Harbour, Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada VERIFIED

2. 1 Sep 1939 – 2 Sep 1945 VERIFIED · War & conflict

   Second World War

   A global war between the Allies and the Axis powers, conventionally dated from Germany's invasion of Poland to Japan's formal surrender; it included the Holocaust.

   Deaths

   60,000,000–85,000,000 ESTIMATED

   Counted

   Military plus civilian deaths, including the Holocaust and war-related famine and disease. Low end: The National WWII Museum (about 60 million: 15 million battle, 45 million civilian). High end: National Museum of the Pacific War (70 to 85 million). Leitenberg (Cornell University Peace Studies Program) gives 65 to 75 million; older Britannica figures of 35 to 60 million predate revised Soviet and Chinese estimates. China's official figure for the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931–1945), released by the State Council Information Office in 2015: more than 35 million military and civilian casualties (killed and wounded), about 3.8 million of them military. It counts casualties, not deaths.

   Remembered

   27 January — UN International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust (A/RES/60/7, 2005); marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on 27 January 1945, not the start or end of the war.

   Where

   Europe, Asia-Pacific, North Africa and the world's oceans VERIFIED

3. 5 Jun 1981 – continuing (data to 2025) VERIFIED / ESTIMATED · Epidemic

   HIV/AIDS pandemic

   The worldwide epidemic of HIV and AIDS, first recognised when the CDC reported unusual pneumonia cases in five young men in Los Angeles on 5 June 1981. Antiretroviral therapy has since cut annual AIDS deaths sharply.

   Deaths

   33,800,000–61,100,000 ESTIMATED

   Counted

   Cumulative deaths from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic through 2025: UNAIDS central estimate 44.2 million, uncertainty range 33.8–61.1 million.

   Remembered

   1 December — World AIDS Day, 1 December, observed worldwide to raise awareness and remember those who have died; it differs from the start date because it marks no event in the epidemic itself but is an annual awareness day.

   Where

   Worldwide VERIFIED

4. 26 Apr 1986 – 4 May 1986 VERIFIED · Accident

   Chernobyl disaster

   An explosion and fire at reactor Unit 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Soviet Ukraine on 26 April 1986 released large amounts of radioactive material over Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and beyond.

   Deaths

   30 VERIFIED

   Counted

   Acute deaths only: UNSCEAR reports 30 workers died within a few weeks (2 in the explosions and 28 of 134 radiation-sickness cases within three months). Excluded: 19 later deaths among radiation-sickness survivors (1987–2006, not all radiation-related) and long-term projected cancer deaths, which Britannica puts at several thousand expected; UNSCEAR records more than 6,000 thyroid cancer cases among those exposed as children by 2005.

   Remembered

   26 April — UN International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day (General Assembly resolution 71/125, 8 December 2016); held on the anniversary of the explosion. The end anchor (4 May) marks when Britannica dates the containment of heat and radioactivity leaking from the core.

   Where

   Chernobyl nuclear power station near Pryp'yat, Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine); contamination across Belarus, Russia and Ukraine VERIFIED

5. Apr 1992 – 14 Dec 1995 ESTIMATED / VERIFIED · War & conflict

   Bosnian War

   An armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the breakup of Yugoslavia, including the July 1995 Srebrenica genocide; it ended with the Dayton Peace Agreement, signed in Paris.

   Deaths

   97,000–104,732 ESTIMATED

   Counted

   People killed or missing, military plus civilian, from name-by-name counts. Low end: Research and Documentation Center, Sarajevo, 97,000 dead and missing (as reported in BMJ 2008); high end: ICTY demographers' final estimate of 104,732 killed. The House of Lords Library gives about 100,000. Includes up to 8,000 Bosniak men and boys killed at Srebrenica (UN).

   Remembered

   11 July — UN International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica (A/RES/78/282, 2024); marks the capture of Srebrenica on 11 July 1995, not the start or end of the war.

   Where

   Bosnia and Herzegovina VERIFIED