September 11th 2001's Importance to World History


September 11th 2001 began as a regular day in the world. A regular peaceful day. Peace of which would be broken unexpectedly in the United States at 8:45am. Complete destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City broke the peace. They were destroyed by two planes. One for each tower. First the North tower was hit. Eighteen minutes after the North tower was hit, the South tower was hit by U.S. Airlines Flight 175. The planes were part of a suicide attempt by 19 militants involved with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda who hijacked four airliners. The Pentagon, just outside of Washington D.C., was targeted and hit by the third plane. The fourth and final plane crashed into a field located in the state of Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 lives, included those of whom were responding to the attacks to help, were lost that terrible day in America's history. The attacks were reported to have been financed by Osama bin Laden.

One factor from the entire situation that is important to remember is that Americans learned to stick together. American learned to put others before themselves. Passengers on the fourth and final plane that had been hijacked fought until their deaths for this country. They knew death was ahead and chose to save others lives. They could have sat there and allowed whatever would happen to happen. United Flight 93 left New York and got hijacked 40 minutes after takeoff. The flight had been delayed allowing passengers on the plane to have heard about the other hijacks by phone and internet. A few passengers knew they would die on that plane and decided to die saving lives. They fought their way to the cockpit and crashed the plane in a field before it could reach it's unknown destination. From the mouth of ex President George W. Bush, "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve." American's have learned to stick together from that incident.

Since 9/11, Airports have become more safe. That is another important factor since 9/11. They have buckled down on the airport rules and security. That is very important. That day over 3,000 lives were lost. With the updated security and rules, we now may have prevented many other attacks from occurring, saving the lives of thousands.

Osama, being the “mastermind” behind the attacks, would become the obvious target of American's. He was around until May 2nd 2011 when he was killed by U.S. Forces while hiding away in Pakistan. This led up to President Barack Obama's June 2011 announcement of the removal process of troops from Afghanistan set to end in 2014. This is also important because many lives have been lost while fighting in Afghanistan and that will now come to an end. It took ten years but a feeling of relief had come over American's. More lives will be saved.

You see, September 11th 2001 will never be forgotten. That day was the most important day in America's history. A day of heartbreak, death, danger, and helplessness. That day not only tore friendships and families apart but it also brought them together. We as American's learned to fight for each other. We as American's learned to stick together. We as American's learned to watch our surroundings and to put others before ourselves. You see, that day changed to definition of an American. An American was no longer defined as a person living in American but also fighting for lives of others. It was now defined as loving one another enough to work as a team.