20 Major Events You Missed Due to Bigger Headlines
These watershed moments didn't get the recognition they deserved. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most significant events in history that should have been headline news but got overlooked due to other events that occurred around the same period.
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00:00It's a very serious, very serious situation here, and I can tell you one that is hard
00:04to believe with my own eyes.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for the most significant events
00:11in history that should have been headline news, but got overlooked due to other events
00:16that occurred around the same period.
00:17The French capital's emergency services immediately announced Mr. Elfyan and the driver
00:22had died, but it took them two hours to cut the princess out of the twisted wreckage.
00:28Number 20.
00:29Black Saturday bushfires, overshadowed by 2008 financial crisis.
00:34The Black Saturday bushfires, which ravaged Australia between February 7th and March 14th,
00:402009, are considered one of the worst natural disasters in the country's history.
00:44Flames, lots of flames, trees on fire, 100 foot high, embers, branches falling, animals
00:52running for their life.
00:54During this period, a series of around 400 bushfires were ignited in Victoria, Australia's
00:59most densely populated state.
01:02Despite its immense impact within Australia, the disaster received limited international
01:06media attention, largely because of the concurrent global financial crisis.
01:10Fear spread in the month of September 2008 at a rate that was like a tsunami.
01:17The worldwide economic turmoil, which began unfolding in early 2007, peaked in late 2008
01:23and early 2009, leaving very few reporters and resources available to cover other events.
01:29Consequently, the Black Saturday bushfires, which claimed 173 lives and destroyed thousands
01:35of homes, remained largely under-reported on the global stage.
01:38I've never seen anything like it.
01:39It came out of the forest at 100 miles an hour, and it just took everything in its path.
01:44Number 19.
01:45The Great Halifax Explosion, overshadowed by US declaration of war on Austria-Hungary.
01:51On December 6th, 1917, a French cargo ship, carrying a vast amount of explosives, collided
01:57with a Norwegian vessel at the Halifax harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada.
02:01The resulting blast devastated the city of Halifax, killing nearly 2,000 people and injuring
02:06thousands more.
02:07It brought a city to its knees in an instant.
02:10Two square kilometres of Halifax simply obliterated by the largest human-made explosion prior
02:16to Hiroshima.
02:18In any other period, this would have been the top news story, but it flew under the
02:21radar as it happened during a critical juncture of World War I.
02:25The day after the disaster, the US Congress and Senate passed a resolution declaring war
02:30on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was signed by President Woodrow Wilson on the
02:34same day.
02:35Woodrow Wilson, after all, runs for re-election in 1916 on the slogan, he kept us out of war.
02:42And yet, within a year after winning that election, that very same president is declaring
02:46war on the Germans.
02:48This shifted global attention away from the tragedy, despite the significant human toll
02:53and immense destruction it caused in Halifax.
02:56Number 18.
02:58Soviet Union Detains US Convoy, Overshadowed By The Day The Music Died
03:03February 3rd, 1959, is often remembered as the day the music died, because of the plane
03:08crash that killed musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P.
03:12The Big Bopper, Richardson.
03:24This tragic event was widely reported, and has since been referenced in various songs
03:28and movies.
03:36Due to this immense coverage, it eclipsed another significant incident on the same day.
03:41In West Germany amid Cold War tensions, five US Army soldiers were detained by Soviet officers
03:47after they refused inspection of their trucks upon crossing from East Germany.
03:52This action, perceived by the US as a provocation from the Soviet Union, likely would have been
03:56a major news story if not for the attention drawn by the plane crash.
04:01Number 17.
04:02Frank Sinatra's Death, Overshadowed By The Seinfeld Finale
04:16On the surface, Frank Sinatra and Seinfeld share no similarities, but in actuality the
04:21two are linked in a rather heartbreaking way.
04:24On May 14, 1998, Seinfeld aired its highly-anticipated series finale.
04:39However, while around 76 million people gathered around their TVs to watch the show bow out,
04:46Sinatra suffered a massive heart attack at his Los Angeles residence, and was rushed
04:50to the hospital.
04:51According to the fire chief, Sinatra's swift transportation was facilitated by the unusually
04:56empty streets, as millions were home tuning in to the finale.
05:00Even Sinatra's daughter, Nancy, missed the chance to spend his final moments with him
05:04as she, too, was engrossed in the show.
05:07Tragically, despite medical efforts, the iconic crooner passed away at the hospital.
05:17Number 16.
05:181989 Bay Bridge World Series, Overshadowed By Loma Prieta Earthquake
05:35While many of the entries on this list were overshadowed by events elsewhere, this one
05:39stands out for occurring in the same location.
05:41In 1989, the Bay Area of California was abuzz with baseball fever, as two of its local
05:48teams, the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants, made it to the World Series.
05:52However, just before Game 3 began on October 17th, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck California's
05:59Central Coast, causing widespread damage and claiming 63 lives.
06:16Although Candlestick Park, the stadium for the game, remained intact, the World Series
06:20was postponed for 10 days.
06:22With attention rightfully diverted to the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake, the
06:26championship ultimately took a backseat in media coverage.
06:31Number 15.
06:32The Peshtigo Fire, Overshadowed By The Great Chicago Fire
06:46The Peshtigo Fire of 1871, which ravaged northeastern Wisconsin and parts of Michigan, takes its
06:52name from the city of Peshtigo, which was most heavily affected.
06:56Despite being the deadliest wildfire in recorded history, consuming over a million acres and
07:01claiming up to 2,500 lives, its significance was overshadowed by a similar calamity that
07:06befell a larger city.
07:08On the same day, Chicago suffered a devastating conflagration, resulting in significant damage
07:14and approximately 300 deaths.
07:21Although both tragic events, one might assume that the Peshtigo Fire, with its vastly higher
07:26death toll, would have garnered more media attention.
07:29However, as Peshtigo was far less developed than Chicago, its tragedy has largely been
07:34extinguished from historical accounts and public memory.
07:38Number 14.
07:40The Death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Overshadowed By Tiananmen Square Massacre
07:45On June 4, 1989, the Chinese government sent in troops who opened fire on thousands of
07:51peaceful protesters at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
08:01While exact figures vary, some estimates suggest the death toll reached as high as 2,600.
08:07This excessively violent reaction to peaceful demonstrations captured the world's attention
08:11and completely overshadowed other events that occurred around that period.
08:15Just the night before, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the Islamic
08:21Revolution and shaped the country's politics for years, passed away.
08:25But this went largely under the radar.
08:32Other events that were overshadowed by the massacre include the deadly Ufa train disaster
08:37in the Soviet Union and Poland's first partially free elections.
08:42Number 13.
08:43First Inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Overshadowed By Lucy Ricardo and Lucille Ball
08:49Giving Birth If you're watching this video, chances are
08:52you probably weren't alive when the classic sitcom, I Love Lucy, aired back in the 1950s.
08:57To illustrate its immense popularity, the famous episode in which Lucy gives birth to
09:02little Ricky was watched by around 44 million viewers, accounting for nearly 74% of all
09:08U.S. homes with TVs.
09:19This episode, titled Lucy Goes to the Hospital, aired on January 19, 1953, and was made to
09:25coincide with Lucille Ball's actual delivery of her son, Desi Arnaz Jr.
09:30The remarkable blend of television and reality totally upstaged the inauguration of Dwight
09:34D. Eisenhower for his first term, which took place the following day and attracted only
09:3929 million viewers.
09:45Number 12.
09:46Attack on Clark Field, Overshadowed By Attack on Pearl Harbor
09:50December 7, 1941, will forever live on in infamy.
09:54That day, Japanese planes launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl
09:59Harbor in Hawaii.
10:09This assault claimed over 2,400 lives and left more than a thousand others injured,
10:14while also causing significant damage to military vessels and planes.
10:18The shock and devastation of Pearl Harbor was so overwhelming that many do not know
10:22that another attack occurred the following day at Clark Field, a U.S. military base in
10:27the Philippines.
10:28The casualties in this attack were comparatively lower, with 80 killed and 150 wounded, and
10:33it got buried under the unfolding chaos of Pearl Harbor.
10:39Surprisingly, no official investigation into the Clark Field attack was ever launched.
10:49Number 11.
10:50The Texas City Disaster, Overshadowed By Jackie Robinson's Major League Debut
10:56The Texas City Disaster of April 16, 1947 remains one of the deadliest industrial accidents
11:01in American history.
11:08A French-registered vessel called the SS Grand Camp, which was carrying over 2,000 tons of
11:13ammonium nitrate, detonated unexpectedly, killing at least 581 people and leaving more
11:19than 5,000 injured.
11:25Yet the magnitude of this disaster was largely overshadowed and underreported due to the
11:30historic Major League Baseball debut of Jackie Robinson the day before.
11:43Robinson's breakthrough as the first African-American player in the modern major leagues dominated
11:47headlines and sparked widespread debates in the public.
11:51All of this fervor surrounding Robinson breaking the collar barrier tragically relegated the
11:55Texas City Disaster to the background.
12:08Number 10.
12:09The War on Waste, Overshadowed By 9-11 Terrorist Attacks
12:14On September 10, 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held a press conference announcing
12:19that the U.S. Defense Department had been unable to trace $2.3 trillion.
12:41Rumsfeld came down on Pentagon bureaucracy, stating that wasted funds could be a matter
12:46of life and death… but this crackdown on misspending was stopped dead in its tracks
12:51the very next day.
12:52Tragically, two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center on the morning of September
12:5711th, while a third was flown into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed into a Pennsylvania field.
13:07Compared to the thousands of deaths on 9-11, the missing $2.3 trillion suddenly seemed
13:12like an inconsequential loss.
13:14The War on Waste ultimately took a backseat to the War on Terror, which cost an estimated
13:19$5 trillion.
13:22Number 9.
13:23The Death of Groucho Marx, Overshadowed By The Death of Elvis Presley
13:27The world lost a comedic legend on August 19th, 1977, when Groucho Marx died at age
13:3386.
13:46His death was somewhat overlooked by the media, however, as Elvis Presley had died from a
13:50heart attack three days earlier.
14:00Elvis was only 42 years old, and arguably the biggest solo musical artist in the world,
14:05and his death triggered a massive outpouring of emotion from fans worldwide.
14:10While Elvis had never really left the limelight, Marx had become an elder statesman of comedy
14:14and vaudeville, and as such hadn't really been in the spotlight for nearly a decade.
14:19While both men left behind rich legacies, media attention tended to latch on to the
14:24younger, charismatic, and revolutionary figure that was Elvis Presley.
14:29Number 8.
14:30Beirut Terror Attacks, Overshadowed By Paris Terror Attacks
14:34When ISIS bombed a local refugee camp on November 12th, 2015, Beirut, Lebanon suffered its most
14:40severe terrorist attack since the Lebanese Civil War.
14:47With 43 total casualties, this tragedy likely would have been all over the news and social
14:52media if it weren't for another act of terror committed one day later.
14:56On November 13th, ISIS bombed Saint-Denis, a northern suburb in Paris, France, leaving
15:02130 people dead and hundreds more injured.
15:05The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility in revenge for French airstrikes in Syria.
15:11Given the higher death toll, the Paris attacks caused many people to forget about the Beirut
15:16attacks.
15:17Nevertheless, there's no denying these were two incredibly dark days for humanity that
15:21mustn't be ignored.
15:23Number 7.
15:24The Rwandan Genocide, Overshadowed By The Death Of Kurt Cobain
15:28In 1994, Rwanda experienced one of the most horrific atrocities of the 20th century.
15:34The Rwandan Genocide saw the mass killings of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi ethnic minority
15:40members and moderate Hutus by armed Hutu militias.
15:51Despite its rapid and brutal spread throughout the country, the genocide received scant attention
15:56in the United States.
15:57It commenced on April 7th, 1994, the day before singer Kurt Cobain was found dead at his home,
16:04having taken his own life.
16:13Media coverage was largely dominated by Cobain's death, eclipsing the ongoing tragedy in Rwanda.
16:18As the genocide unfolded over a span of three months, it remained overshadowed in international
16:24media by Nelson Mandela's election and, later, the OJ Simpson murder case.
16:30Number 6.
16:31Harriet Quimby's Flight, Overshadowed By The Sinking Of The Titanic
16:35In addition to being the first woman in the United States to attain a pilot's license,
16:39Harriet Quimby was also the first female aviator to fly across the English Channel.
16:44Well, she was a modern woman in a not-so-modern age.
16:48At a time when her contemporaries were wearing petticoats and corsets, Harriet Quimby, as
16:53you see, was climbing into a cockpit, decked out in her satin flying suit, and waving energetically
16:59to the crowd.
17:00Taking off in Dover, England on April 16th, 1912, she reached her destination in 59 minutes,
17:06landing on a beach in northern France.
17:08But where Quimby successfully completed her voyage, the same couldn't be said for the
17:13RMS Titanic.
17:14After hitting an iceberg, this passenger liner sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April
17:1815th, 1912, claiming over 1,500 lives.
17:27Overshadowed by this disaster, Quimby never got her moment in the sun and died in an aviation
17:32accident a couple of months later, leaving many to consider her an unsung hero.
17:41Number 5.
17:42The Death of Mother Teresa, Overshadowed by The Death of Princess Diana
17:47Mother Teresa and Diana, Princess of Wales, had a great deal in common.
17:54Both were known for their charity work, helping to raise awareness of leprosy and HIV-AIDS.
17:59Princess Diana notably visited Mother Teresa at a New York convent in June of 1997.
18:05On August 31st, just a couple of months after their meeting, the 36-year-old Lady Di died
18:10following a car crash in Paris.
18:22Less than a week after her untimely death, Teresa passed away due to heart failure on
18:26September 5th.
18:27But with the public already coping with the sudden loss of Diana, Teresa's death didn't
18:31receive nearly as much media attention.
18:33Nonetheless, these two women are still remembered for their dedication and compassion, ultimately
18:37making the world a better place.
18:40Number 4.
18:41Man Rowing Across an Ocean, Overshadowed by Man Walking on the Moon
18:46John Fairfax became the first man to row solo across an entire ocean, with the journey taking
18:51180 days.
19:02Starting his adventure at the Canary Islands, Fairfax crossed the Atlantic and arrived in
19:06Florida on June 19th, 1969.
19:09Unfortunately, this just so happened to be the day before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
19:13became the first humans to land on the moon.
19:20Armstrong's one small step for man might have eclipsed John Fairfax's crossing, but
19:31his incredible feat didn't go completely unrecognized.
19:34The Apollo 11 crew themselves sent Fairfax a congratulatory message, stating, quote,
19:39as fellow explorers, we salute you on this great occasion.
19:43But few others took notice.
19:45Number 3.
19:46The Death of Farrah Fawcett, Overshadowed by The Death of Michael Jackson
19:50Following a battle with cancer, Farrah Fawcett died on June 25th, 2009.
20:04Although Fawcett's deteriorating health was among the most widely discussed topics in
20:08the news, she ultimately had to share the spotlight with Michael Jackson, who was pronounced
20:13dead the same day.
20:25While Fawcett was still heavily mourned, the King of Pop's passing dominated popular culture.
20:31MJ's death was front-page news, but Fawcett's was relegated to back pages and entertainment
20:36sections.
20:37Worse, still, was the Oscars' In Memoriam segment the following year, which featured
20:42Jackson but saw Fawcett controversially excluded.
20:47Number 2.
20:481994 NBA Finals, Overshadowed by OJ Simpson's Car Chase
20:53The idea of a Major League Final getting overshadowed might seem unthinkable, but that's exactly
20:58what happened during the telecast of the 1994 NBA Finals.
21:08On June 13th, 1994, OJ Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and friend Ron Goldman
21:15were discovered murdered in Los Angeles, and OJ quickly became the prime suspect.
21:20Simpson was to turn himself into police custody on Friday, June 17th, but instead fled in
21:25his white Ford Bronco, triggering the now-infamous low-speed chase.
21:28With CNN, ABC, and CBS covering the live events, NBC followed suit, interrupting Game 5 between
21:36the Houston Rockets and the New York Knicks.
21:38While the game was still aired via split-screen, the juice breaking loose was clearly the bigger
21:43story.
22:07Number 1.
22:08The Capture of Rome, Overshadowed by Operation Overlord
22:17Even if you never paid attention in history class, you're familiar with Operation Overlord,
22:21aka D-Day.
22:23Taking place on June 6th, 1944, this operation commenced the invasion of Normandy, with Allied
22:28forces storming French shores.
22:31D-Day, however, occurred only a couple of days after American troops seized Rome on
22:36June 4th.
22:42Unlike the Normandy invasion, however, this mission wasn't entirely successful in the
22:46long run, as it resulted in German forces escaping due to a miscalculation that later
22:51resulted in Allied casualties.
22:53The Normandy landings, meanwhile, remain the largest beach invasion ever, with that day
22:58proving to be a major turning point in the course of the Second World War.
23:03What other events in history were completely overshadowed by something bigger?
23:07Let us know in the comments below.
23:28And as always, thanks for watching!