9/11 was until 2001 a day like any other. Like every other day it has certain events trough history such as a military coup in Chile in 1973. However, not a date people acknowledged as a date important to remember. That was until 2001. The events which occurred this day would send shockwaves through the entire western world and has left a hysteria which has remained till this day.
Four airliners in USA were high jacked by 19 terrorists during the early morning hours of September 11th 2001. Each plane had its own target. Said targets were The Pentagon, The White House (allegedly) and two of The World Trade Center towers. The White House is only a speculation since the passengers and crew were able to retake the control of the plane. The three other planes reached their destination. The Pentagon was only damaged in its outer layers but led still to the death of 140 innocent people. The Twin Towers were so damaged by the attack that they after few hours collapsed entirely. This led to the death of 2750 innocent people.
The Twin Towers collapse is mostly associated with 9/11 due to the ramifications of each attack. America would not let this attack go unpunished, and the terrorist act was the direct cause for the invasion of Afghanistan October 2001. A famous Bush quote after 9/11 is “We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.”
9/11 caused a mass hysteria around terrorism. The fight against terrorism was intensified, precautions were made and paranoia spread like wild fire. Al-Qaida, the terrorist group behind the attack was a word on everybody’s lips and prejudice towards Muslims increased significantly. The mass hysteria has decreased over the years but the war on terrorism is far from over.
Sources: http://www.snl.no/11._september