20 questions · Current events
2004 was the year Europe grew closer together and the world held its breath at the year's end. On 1 May, ten countries joined the EU in one stroke: the largest enlargement in its history, reuniting a continent after decades of division. Only weeks earlier, the bombings of Madrid commuter trains had shaken Europe, killing 191 people. Summer belonged to sporting fairy tales: Otto Rehhagel's Greeks sensationally became European champions, Athens brought the Olympic Games home to their ancient birthplace, and Michael Schumacher clinched his seventh and final world title. Meanwhile, in a Harvard dorm room, a 19-year-old named Mark Zuckerberg switched on a website called "Thefacebook", Firefox challenged Internet Explorer, and "World of Warcraft" opened its gates. Germany argued over the Hartz IV welfare reform and its Monday demonstrations, elected Horst Köhler president and celebrated Werder Bremen's double. But on Boxing Day, everything went dark: an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami that took more than 230,000 lives: the most devastating natural disaster of our time. Twenty questions about a year of extremes.
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ten
The EU grew from 15 to 25 members.
💡 Did you know? Malta, Cyprus and Slovenia (from non-aligned Yugoslavia) had not belonged to the former Eastern Bloc.
Madrid
Three days later, Spain unexpectedly voted out its government.
💡 Did you know? 11 March is now Europe's remembrance day for victims of terrorism.
tsunami
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand were hit hardest.
💡 Did you know? The quake was so powerful it minutely altered Earth's rotation.
Within months it spread across US universities.
💡 Did you know? Zuckerberg was 19 at launch.
European champions
Greece beat hosts Portugal twice in the tournament.
💡 Did you know? "King Otto" became a folk legend in Greece.
Athens
The shot put was even held at ancient Olympia.
💡 Did you know? The marathon followed the original route from Marathon to Athens.
Orange Revolution
Viktor Yushchenko won the repeated vote.
💡 Did you know? Yushchenko survived a severe dioxin poisoning during the campaign.
Yasser Arafat
Mahmoud Abbas succeeded him as Palestinian president.
💡 Did you know? In 1994, Arafat shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Rabin and Peres.
Theo van Gogh
The murder ignited a fierce integration debate in the Netherlands.
💡 Did you know? Theo was a great-grandnephew of the painter Vincent van Gogh.
Abu Ghraib
Several US soldiers were convicted.
💡 Did you know? The scandal durably damaged America's standing.
Foto: Don Ramey Logan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
SpaceShipOne
Burt Rutan designed it; Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen paid for it.
💡 Did you know? Its technology became the basis for Virgin Galactic.
Massachusetts
Nationwide legalisation followed in 2015.
💡 Did you know? The Netherlands had been the world's first country in 2001.
Founders Page and Brin warned shareholders: "Google is not a conventional company."
💡 Did you know? Today the parent company Alphabet is worth about a hundred times as much.
Werder Bremen
Ailton and Johan Micoud enchanted the league.
💡 Did you know? It was the first double in the club's history.
seventh world title
Schumacher won 13 of the season's 18 races.
💡 Did you know? It remained his last: he retired (for the first time) in 2006.
Downfall
It was nominated for the foreign-language Oscar.
💡 Did you know? One scene later became a worldwide meme.
World of Warcraft
At its peak, over twelve million people paid a monthly subscription.
💡 Did you know? European servers launched in early 2005.
Firefox
Firefox brought tabs and pop-up blockers to the mainstream.
💡 Did you know? It rose from the ashes of the Netscape browser.
Foto: Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Queen Mary 2
She still sails today as the last true transatlantic liner.
💡 Did you know? She was christened by Queen Elizabeth II herself.
Ronald Reagan
Reagan had suffered from Alzheimer's for years.
💡 Did you know? His state funeral was the first for a US president since 1973.
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