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| In 2012, this country's leadership changed hands for only the second time in its history, when Kim Jong-Un succeeded his father as Supreme Leader | |
| In 2001, this country was invaded by US-led armed forces with aims of unseating the ruling Taliban regime | |
| Genghis Khan was born in this modern day country | |
| In 1917, the February Revolution, which occurred in this modern day country, led to the abdication of Nicholas II and the collapse of the Imperial Government | |
| In 1938, the discovery of oil in its eastern Al-Hasa region was instrumental in transforming this country from one of the world's poorest nations to one of the richest | |
| In 1990, this country was invaded by Iraq, under the command of Saddam Hussein, leading to the Gulf War | |
| In 1912, this country became a republic when Emperor Puyi abdicated, bringing an end to the Qing dynasty | |
| In 1954, the expulsion of French forces left this country divided in two, sparking a prolonged civil war, until it was unified under a communist government in 1975 | |
| In 1986, the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, who had ruled since 1965, was toppled in this country with the election of Corazon Aquino, Asia's first female president | |
| On May 25th 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set a historic first in this landlocked Asian country | |
| The ancient city of Petra, which is believed to date back to the 3rd/4th century BC, is located in this country | |
| In 2005, this small landlocked country became the first in the world to ban smoking in all public places | |
| In 2002, this country became the first new sovereign nation of the 21st century when it achieved independence from Indonesia after decades of struggle | |
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| In 1979, the signing of a peace treaty with Egypt culminated in the withdrawal of this country's armed forces and civilians from the Sinai peninsula | |
| In 1965, this small island country withdrew from the Federation of Malaysia becoming a republic | |
| From 1998 to 2004, this country's capital city was home to tallest buildings in the world, the Petronas Towers, before being surpassed by Taipei 101 in Taiwan | |
| Longstanding conflict in this country is the result of tension between the Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic groups | |
| In 1968, this island country and former British colony appointed Ibrahim Nasir as its first president | |
| In 1997, the capital city of this large central Asian country was moved from Almaty to its current location | |
| Since 2006, politics in this country has been dominated by the conflict between the Fatah and Hamas political group, sometimes referred to as a civil war | |
| From 1989 to 2010, democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi was held under house arrest in this country | |
| In 2008, tensions over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia resulted in armed conflict between neighboring Russia and this country | |
| The Khmer Rouge regime, led by Pol Pot, was responsible for 1-3 million deaths in this country, resulting in a 20% decrease in its population | |
| In 1979, a revolution ousted the ruling Pahlavi dynasty establishing this country as an Islamic republic | |
| Control of the small self-governed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is a longstanding source of tension between this country and its western neighbor, Armenia | |
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