5,963 articles
Spillover of the Syrian civil war
Spillover of the Syrian civil war: the spread of Syria's 2011 conflict beyond its borders through refugee flows, economic losses, and militancy affecting Lebanon, Jordan, Türkiye, Iraq, and Europe, shifting to returns and border disputes after Assad's December 2024 fall.
Spinning bee
Spinning bee: a communal gathering where women spin yarn together. Known from early modern Europe (Spinnstube, veillée) and colonial New England, where 1766–1771 bees produced homespun as protest against British imports.
Sportpalast speech
Sportpalast speech (Sportpalastrede), Goebbels's February 18, 1943 Berlin rally address after Stalingrad, calling for 'total war' before a selected 14,000-strong audience; a staged, broadcast landmark of Nazi propaganda.
Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre: July 1995 mass killing of up to 8,000 Bosniak men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces after the fall of a UN-declared safe area; ruled genocide by the ICTY and ICJ.
Sri Lankan Civil War
The Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009) pitted the government against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who fought for a Tamil state in the north and east; over 100,000 died, ending with the LTTE's defeat in May 2009.
Srivijaya–Mataram war
The Srivijaya–Mataram war was a conflict between Srivijaya in Sumatra and the Mataram kingdom of Java, fought from about 937 to 1016. In 990 Dharmawangsa attacked Srivijaya's capital, Palembang, without success.
St Nedelya Church assault
The St Nedelya Church assault was a terrorist bombing by the Bulgarian Communist Party's Military Organization at Sofia's St Nedelya Cathedral on 16 April 1925, killing 213.
St. Clair's Defeat
St. Clair's Defeat, also called the Battle of the Wabash, was a 1791 victory of a Native confederacy over Arthur St. Clair's army, the worst defeat in US Army history.
Stalag
A Stalag, short for Mannschaftsstammlager, was a permanent World War II camp run by the German Wehrmacht for enemy enlisted men and NCOs, while officers were held in Oflags.
Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III (Sagan, now Żagań, Poland) was a Luftwaffe POW camp for Allied airmen, 1942–1945, site of the March 1944 Great Escape: 76 men escaped through tunnel Harry, 50 were executed, 3 reached safety.
Stalinist purges in Mongolia
The Stalinist purges in Mongolia, known in Mongolian as Ikh Helmegdel, were waves of repression in the 1920s and 1930s that killed tens of thousands, especially Buddhist lamas.
Stanley Praimnath
Stanley Praimnath, Guyanese-born American banker and pastor, assistant vice president of Fuji Bank on the 81st floor of the World Trade Center South Tower on 9/11; survived the Flight 175 impact zone under his desk and was freed by Brian Clark, descending 1,620 steps before collapse.
State Defence Committee
The State Defence Committee (GKO) was the supreme extraordinary organ of state power in the Soviet Union during World War II, chaired by Stalin from 1941 to 1945.
State Defense Committee
The State Defense Committee (GKO) was the extraordinary supreme organ of state power in the Soviet Union during World War II, chaired by Stalin from 1941 to 1945.
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Država SHS), short-lived state proclaimed in Zagreb 29 October 1918 from Habsburg South Slav lands; merged with Serbia 1 December 1918 into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Statue of Peace (평화의소녀상)
Statue of Peace (평화의 소녀상, Sonyeosang), bronze comfort women memorial by Kim Eun-sung and Kim Seo-kyung, erected December 14, 2011 before the Japanese Embassy in Seoul at the 1,000th Wednesday Demonstration; replicated worldwide amid Japanese removal demands.
Stavka of the Supreme High Command
The Stavka of the Supreme High Command (Ставка Верховного Главнокомандования) was the supreme military control organ directing the Soviet Armed Forces during World War II, created on 23 June 1941.
Stefan Korboński
Stefan Korboński (1901–1989) was a Polish lawyer and politician who led the civilian resistance of the Polish Underground State and was the last acting Government Delegate for Poland in 1945.
Stephen Paddock
Stephen Craig Paddock, American accountant and gambler, perpetrated the October 1, 2017 Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest festival massacre from Mandalay Bay's 32nd floor, killing 58 (later 60); no motive was ever established.
Steven Sotloff
Steven Joel Sotloff (1983–2014), American freelance journalist for TIME and The Media Line who covered the Arab Spring and Syria, was kidnapped in Syria in 2013 and beheaded by ISIS in September 2014, two weeks after James Foley.
Stockport air disaster
Stockport air disaster: crash of British Midland Airways Canadair C-4 Argonaut G-ALHG at Hopes Carr, Stockport, 4 June 1967, on approach to Manchester from Palma; 72 of 84 killed; cause fuel starvation from inadvertent fuel transfer.
Stonewall Brigade
Stonewall Brigade: Confederate Civil War unit of five Virginia regiments and a battery, formed April 27, 1861 under Thomas J. Jackson; named for his 'stone wall' stand at First Manassas; 210 of over 6,000 men remained at Appomattox.
Stono Rebellion
The Stono Rebellion, also known as Cato's Conspiracy, was a 1739 slave uprising near Charleston, South Carolina, in which about one hundred enslaved Africans marched toward Spanish Florida.
Storm Area 51
Storm Area 51, also known as the Area 51 Raid or Alienstock, was a satirical June 2019 Facebook event by Matty Roberts inviting millions to rush the Nevada base on September 20, 2019; about 3,000 showed up and the fallout included a $3.4 million judgment.
Storming of Yogyakarta
The Storming of Yogyakarta, remembered in Javanese as Geger Sepehi (the sepoy calamity), was the British-Indian assault on the royal palace of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta in June 1812, ending the sultanate's effective independence.
Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany)
Stoßtruppen (stormtroopers) were Imperial Germany's elite trench-assault infantry of World War I, first authorized 2 March 1915 and grown to 18 Sturmbataillone; they pioneered infiltration tactics used in the 1918 Spring Offensive.
Strategic bombing during World War II
Allied strategic bombing campaign of WWII: RAF night area bombing and USAAF daylight precision attacks on Germany and Japan, from the Butt report and Casablanca directive to Hamburg, Dresden, the oil offensive, and the Tokyo firebombing, with USSBS effectiveness findings.
Stutthof concentration camp
Stutthof: Nazi German concentration and extermination camp (1939-1945) near Sztutowo east of Gdansk, Poland; about 110,000 detainees and over 60,000 deaths, 105 subcamps, liberated by Soviet forces on May 9, 1945.
Subcomandante Marcos
Subcomandante Marcos, masked spokesperson and strategist of Mexico's Zapatista EZLN, led the January 1, 1994 Chiapas uprising, wrote its famous communiqués, was identified by the government as Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente, and became Subcomandante Galeano in 2014.
Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis: 1956 confrontation after Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal Company; Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt in October 1956 but withdrew under US and UN pressure, ending British great-power pretensions.