2014 was the 2014th year of the Common Era and the 13th year of the 21st century. It marked many changes in the world such as Israel's next war with the Gaza Strip, the creation of the Islamic State in the Middle East, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine to support a civil war.
Events[]
In February 2014, the pro-Russia government of Ukraine under Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in the Ukrainian Revolution by Euromaidan activists against his corruption. Oleksandr Turchynov took over as the interim president and separated from Russia's sphere of influence. In response, Russia invaded and annexed the Crimea with few losses and without international action, and in the months that followed, they gave military assistance to a large-scale insurgency by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region.
In June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took over most of northern Iraq with assistance from several Sunni militia forces and on 27 June they declared the Islamic State, a new caliphate with its capital at Ar-Raqqa, Syria. They played a huge role in both the Iraq Crisis and the Syrian Civil War. The Islamic State broke off from al-Qaeda and created a state the size of Belgium in Iraq and Syria. They also beheaded several American, French, British, and other western journalists, with their member Jihadi John becoming an icon of the group on the media.
From 8 July to 26 August, Israel savagely bombed Gaza Strip and sent in ground forces to attack Hamas forces in the city in response to Hamas' abduction and murder of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, and Naftali Frenkel, three Israeli teenagers. Egypt eventually mediated a truce between both sides to stop the war, which cost 2,191 Palestinian (mainly civilian) and 72 Israeli lives.
In late 2014, a coalition was formed by the United States to intervene in Syria, starting on 23 September. Australia was first to join, then the United Kingdom, France, and the Arab League. The intervention forces bombed ISIS fuel plants in Syria and convoys in Iraq, and assisted Kurdish forces in the defense of the town of Kobani, near border with Turkey.
Turkey resumed its conflict with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party on 14 October 2014 by bombing their positions in Kurdistan, after they resumed fighting Turkey due to their refusal to intervene in Syria unless the intervention forces also attacked government troops.
The government of Burkina Faso was overthrown in an uprising in November 2014 that led many to believe that an African Spring string of revolutions would begin against the dictatorships in sub-Saharan Africa.
The American and Canadian comedians James Franco and Seth Rogen attempt to release the comedy movie "The Interview", which depicts the assassination of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un by two television hosts. A hacking group threatens terrorist attacks against any cinemas that show the movie, and hacks Sony, the company that produces the movie. The Christmas Day release date is cancelled and the movie is instead shown online and in some small independent theatres, but Sony's PlayStation Network (as well as Microsoft's Xbox One) are hacked by "The Lizard Squad". North Korea also has internet outages due to hacking, and people fear that a cyber war will erupt. The censorship of The Interview due to terrorist threats lead many people to consider it a terrorist victory and a defeat of freedom of speech.
