You are too young to remember, but...

[Tamas]

On a more local scale, the 1998 ice storm.

Hah, in Hungary that's the winter of 1986. 6 years old me remembers ALL THE SNOW, it's a generational thing definitely, especially since younger generations are quite unlikely to see anything of the sort of heavy and persistent snow in Hungary.

[Maladict]

Also, Euro '88 of course 

[Josquius]

On a big picture scale, it is 9/11.

On a more local scale, the 1998 ice storm.

We had a big winter snow with a few days off school about then too. I think it's a good one as just doesn't happen now.

[Duque de Bragança]

Fall of the Berlin Wall. I am almost of the same age as Syt, so no coincidence.

[The Minsky Moment]

As for historical events, something that was before my time but only for a few years and I believe can't be comprehended if you didn't live through it would be the death of Franco

Just as amazing is that all these years later, he is still dead.

[The Minsky Moment]

As to the question, about a year ago I could have said inflation.  Alas.

[Jacob]

Yeah, like many others I think it's the fall of the Berlin Wall. There's definitely also something to pre- and post- internet and pre- and post- widespread mobile phones, even if they're less discrete events.

I also think there's a significant shift with the death of the last of the WWII generation. I feel like my generation (and earlier) have a very different relationship to WWII than the ones after - even though obviously we didn't live through the war.

[Valmy]

For me most likely the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the subsequent end of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union.

This

[Barrister]

Okay, so the most obvious answers are indeed fall of the Berlin wall, with pre-internet days also a good choice.

But just to give a more Canadian example... the Wayne Gretzky trade.  The best player of all time, at the height of his powers - being traded to LA.

I mean nowadays what with free agency we see lots of player movement so it's no longer shocking but back then it was stunning.

[HVC]

I was 7 when the USSR collapsed. I vaguely recall knowing something was happening (tv news and such) but not really understanding what was going on, so I don't really count that.


For me it'd be 911. I remember listening to the Howard Stern show while it was happening then going to school. My first class was modern western civilization where we just watched tv news quietly.

[PDH]

Moon landing here.  I was 3, and apparently I was watching the TV along with the family, but even though I remember more important things from that time (my brother stealing my ice cream, the garbage truck getting a flat tire outside our house), I don't remember that.

[mongers]

The Fall of Saigon, aged 11 I can remember running home to catch the news of it's fall, I knew at the time this was history happening. Plus it marked the definitive end of the Vietnam war which had unfolded every more bloodily throughout my childhood.

Before that I recall the Yom Kippur war and especially the Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy as it was so extensively covered.

I don't recall the Apollo 11 moon landing, might not have even seen it as it was so late here, but the year after I was captivated by the Apollo 13 drama as it happened, guess being 6 1/2 years old helped.

[Darth Wagtaros]

This video is a great watch on time our perceptions thereof.

[crazy canuck]

The Fall of Saigon, aged 11 I can remember running home to catch the news of it's fall, I knew at the time this was history happening. Plus it marked the definitive end of the Vietnam war which had unfolded every more bloodily throughout my childhood.

Before that I recall the Yom Kippur war and especially the Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy as it was so extensively covered.

I don't recall the Apollo 11 moon landing, might not have even seen it as it was so late here, but the year after I was captivated by the Apollo 13 drama as it happened, guess being 6 1/2 years old helped.

Interesting.  I don't remember any of those things - the end of war in Vietnam, or war there at all; the only thing I remember about the missions to the Moon is the first landing, and I did not know about the Yom Kippur war until I learned about it much later on.

I remember inflation, the oil spike (mainly my father waiting in long lines at a gas station), and my dad making derogatory comments about all those damn hippies. 

[Admiral Yi]

I remember distinctly reading about the North Vietnamese invasion in the US military newspaper, The Stars and Stripes.  Every day there was a big half page map marked with which provincial capitals had fallen and which were being attacked.  But I don't remember watching the fall of Saigon on the TV.  That might be a function of Armed Forces Television not wanting to show it.  Or maybe I just missed it.