Watershed Event Research Paper

Words: 630
Pages: 3

Throughout history there are many of what we term ‘watershed events’. These are events of such magnitude that they have a lasting impact on the world and have the capability to change the worlds for ever. One such watershed event is the Holocaust. In this essay we will explore what the lasting impact of this event has been and how it has changed the world that we live in.

The dictionary definition of ‘holocaust’ describes it as ”destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war.” This is actually a fairly accurate description of the event known simply as ‘The Holocaust’ During the period of time between 1933 and 1945, the German Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, engaged in the mass murder of approximately six million Jewish people leading up to and during
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As World War II came to an end and the dust began to settle, over the years it became clear that changes had to be made in order to address the moral failures that had allowed something like The Holocaust to have happened. Among some of these changes were legal changed and international agreements between various countries that were designed not only to punish those perpetrating such atrocities, but also to ensure that it never happened again. In 1948, The Genocide Convention was adopted and by 1950 more than the required 20 countries within the UN had signed it allowing it to come into effect. This essentially was a pledge by the United Nations members to prevent and punish the crime of genocide. However, it was not until 1994 that the convention was properly invoked when a tribunal was set up following genocide in Rwanda where Tutsis were slaughtered as they sought refuge in churches. In 1998, the first convictions for Genocide were secured and a permanent court was established to convict such