Modern Era
Mount Tarawera Eruption (1886): The Lost Pink and White Terraces
About 120 people died, several villages were buried and the Pink and White Terraces were destroyed.
Region
Oceania
Modern Era
Gallipoli Campaign (1915-1916): Allied Failure at the Dardanelles
Ottoman victory; the Allies failed to force the Dardanelles and evacuated the peninsula by 9 January 1916.
Modern Era
Battle of Beersheba (1917): The Australian Light Horse Charge
British Empire victory; Beersheba and most of its wells were captured, turning the flank of the Ottoman Gaza-Beersheba line.
Modern Era
Hawke's Bay Earthquake (1931): New Zealand's Deadliest Quake
The earthquake killed 256 people, destroyed central Napier and Hastings, raised about 40 square kilometres of seabed and led to Napier's Art Deco rebuilding.
Modern Era
Attack on Pearl Harbor (1941): The Day the US Went to War
Japanese tactical success; eight US battleships damaged or sunk and 2,403 Americans killed, and the United States entered the Second World War.
Modern Era
Navajo Code Talkers: The Unbreakable Code of the Pacific War
Around 400 Navajo Marines served as code talkers; Japanese forces never broke their code, and the programme was declassified in 1968.
Modern Era
Battle of Milne Bay (1942): Japan's First Defeat on Land
Allied victory; the Japanese landing force was defeated and evacuated by sea, ending the attempt to seize the Milne Bay airfields.
Modern Era
Attack on Sydney Harbour (1942): Japan's Midget Submarine Raid
The depot ship HMAS Kuttabul was sunk and 21 sailors killed; all three midget submarines were lost.
Modern Era
Bombing of Darwin (1942): The Largest Attack on Australia
Japanese victory; Darwin's harbour, airfields and town were heavily damaged and at least 235 people were killed.
Modern Era
Kokoda Track Campaign (1942): Australia's Fight in New Guinea
Australian victory: the Japanese overland advance on Port Moresby was halted at Ioribaiwa in September 1942 and pushed back to the north coast by November.
Modern Era
Battle of Guadalcanal (1942–1943): The Allies Go on the Offensive
Allied victory; Japan evacuated its remaining troops in February 1943 and lost the strategic initiative in the South Pacific.
Modern Era
Battle of the Coral Sea (1942): The First Carrier Battle
Tactical edge to Japan in ships sunk, but a strategic Allied success: the seaborne invasion of Port Moresby was called off and two Japanese fleet carriers missed Midway.