The following timeline is a chronological list of all the major events leading up to, during, and immediately following the September 11 attacks against the United States in 2001, through the first anniversary of the attacks in 2002.

Background history

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Day

!Month

!Year(s)

!Location

!Notes

|-

| -

| -

|1950

|Egypt

|Sayyid Qutb returns to Egypt from a two-year visit to the United States sponsored by the Ministry of Education, and joins the Muslim Brotherhood due to his disgust towards American culture.

|-

| -

| -

|1951-1965

|

|Qutb writes the book Fi Zilal al-Quran while in prison for an assassination attempt against Gamal Abdel Nasser. The book claims that Israel and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf are American satellite states and calls for an Islamist revolution against secularism—including Arab nationalism, socialism, and liberal democracy—to establish a Middle Eastern theocracy rooted in sharia law. The book becomes highly influential towards Islamic terrorists.

|-

| -

| -

|1976

|Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

|Osama bin Laden, son of Saudi billionaire businessman Mohammed bin Laden, is radicalized by Qutb while attending King Abdulaziz University for business administration.

|-

| -

| -

|1981

|

|Bin Laden's future deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Jama At al-Jihad, is arrested for his role in the assassination of Anwar Sadat and imprisoned for three years.

|-

| -

|Oct

|1984

|Republic of Afghanistan (1978–1992) and Pakistan

|Bin Laden cofounds a network, the Maktab al-Khidamat, with Abdullah Yusuf Azzam in Afghanistan and Pakistan to recruit Muslims for the Afghan resistance.

|-

| -

| -

|1986

|Republic of Afghanistan (1978–1992)

|Bin Laden travels to Afghanistan to lead MAK forces in combat.

|-

| -

| -

|1988

|

|Osama bin Laden forms a computer database of Islamist militants, founding Al-Qaeda. He declares that Muslims must protect the holy sites of Mecca and Medina from foreign control as a religious duty.

|-

| -

| rowspan="2" |Nov

|Saudi Arabia

|Bin Laden returns to Saudi Arabia and Prince Turki bin Faisal rejects his offer to send al-Qaeda to overthrow the Communist government in South Yemen.

|-

| -

|Sept

|

|Bin Laden makes an offer to Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to defend Saudi Arabia from Ba'athist Iraq with 100,000 fighters after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He is turned down, and becomes embittered by the intervention of non-Islamic troops from the U.S.-led international coalition in the Gulf War.

|-

| -

|Apr

|1991

|Sudan, East Africa

|Bin Laden moves to Sudan and begins expanding al-Qaeda using legitimate businesses as front organizations.

|-

| -

| -

| rowspan="3" |1992

|Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa

|Bin Laden begins to target U.S. military forces in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, as well as to consider alliances with Shiite Iranian-backed organizations such as Hezbollah.

|-

|6

|Jan

| rowspan="3" |1995

|Doña Josefa apartments in Manila, Philippines,

|Operation Bojinka, a planned terrorist attack, is discovered by the Filipino police in Manila on a laptop computer in an apartment after a fire.

|-

|7

|Feb

|Pakistan

|Ramzi Yousef is arrested in Pakistan, and is discovered to have financial links to Bin Laden. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York open a criminal file on him under the charge of seditious conspiracy.

|-

| -

| -

| rowspan="6" |1998

|Hamburg, Germany

|9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and associates are monitored some by US and Germany in their Hamburg apartment.

|-

| -

|Feb

|

|Bin Laden expands religious edict against US and allies by issuing a second fatwa calling on Muslims to join a jihad against Jews and Christians until the United States and Israel evacuate the Middle East, and reiterates the themes in a televised interview with ABC News. The Federal Aviation Administration instructs airlines to maintain "a high degree of alertness" against the organization.

|-

|15

|New York City, New York, United States

|The United Nations Security Council passes a resolution demanding that the Taliban extradite bin Ladin.

|-

|31

|Atlantic Ocean, 100 km (62 mi; 54 nmi) south of Nantucket

|Suicide pilot crashes EgyptAir Flight 990 into the ocean.

|-

| -

|Nov-Dec

|

|The 2000 millennium attack plots for bombings in Jordan and Los Angeles International Airport are discovered and prevented.

|-

| -

|Dec

|Hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal and Delhi, India; landed at Amritsar, India; Lahore, Pakistan; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Kandahar, Afghanistan.

|Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacked. One passenger dies while the others are released.

|-

|12

|Oct

|2000

|Yemen, West Africa

|The USS Cole is bombed in Yemen by Al-Qaeda.

|-

|10

|Jul

| rowspan="4" |2001

|

|FBI Agent Kenneth Williams writes a memo warning that al-Qaeda members are training at flight schools in the United States, and CIA Director George Tenet briefs officials such as National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

|-

|6

|Aug

|

|President George W. Bush receives the President's Daily Brief Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US warning of an imminent attack on the United States by al-Qaeda.

|-

|4

| rowspan="2" |Sept

|

|The United States National Security Council prepares a $200 million plan to aid opponents of the Taliban in the Afghan Civil War, but it is not presented to President Bush.

|-

| -

| -

| rowspan="10" |1999

|Hamburg, Germany

|Hamburg cell is fully formed.

|-

| -

| -

| rowspan="2" |Germany

|German authorities monitors call to 9/11 hijacker al-Shehhi, shares information with CIA.

|-

| -

| -

|Germans monitor call mentioning key al-Qaeda Hamburg cell members, including 9/11 hijacker Atta's full name and number.

|-

| -

| -

|

|9/11 hijacker Jarrah has unofficial wedding; photograph later suggests German intelligence has informant.

|-

| -

| -

|

|Three 9/11 hijackers obtain US visas.

|-

| -

| -

|

|Hani Hanjour obtains pilot's license despite dubious skills.

|-

| -

| -

|Germany

|German intelligence records calls between 9/11 hijacker al-Shehhi and others linked to al-Qaeda.

|-

| -

| -

|

|Watch list importance is stressed but procedures are not followed.

|-

| -

| -

|United States

|NSA tells CIA about planned al-Qaeda summit involving future hijackers.

|-

| -

| -

|2000

|Malaysia and United States

|2000 al-Qaeda Summit in Malaysia, pilots head to the United States and attend flight training schools.

|-

| -

| -

|

|

|Saudi ambassador's wife gives funds that are possibly passed to 9/11 hijackers.

|-

| -

| -

|2001

|United States

|Remaining hijackers go to the United States, Zacarias Moussaoui goes to the United States and is arrested, other cell members flee Germany.

|}

September 11, 2001

All times are in local time (EDT or UTC−4).

{| class="wikitable"

!Time (a.m)

H:M:

!Location

!Notes

|-

| 7:59

|Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts

|American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Boston Logan, bound for Los Angeles.

|-

|8:14

|Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts

|United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston Logan, also bound for Los Angeles.

|-

| 8:14–8:18

|United States airspace

|Flight 11 is hijacked.

|-

|8:20

|Washington Dulles International Airport, Dulles, Virginia

|American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Washington Dulles International Airport, also bound for Los Angeles.

|-

|8:42

|Newark International Airport, Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey

|United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark International Airport, bound for San Francisco International Airport.

|-

|8:42–8:46

|United States airspace

|Flight 175 is hijacked.

|-

|8:46:40

|North Tower, World Trade Center, New York City, New York

|Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center between the 93rd and 99th floors.

|-

|8:50–8:54

|United States airspace

|Flight 77 is hijacked.

|-

|9:03:02

|South Tower, World Trade Center, New York City, New York

|Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Center between the 77th and 85th floors.

|-

|9:28

|United States airspace

|Flight 93 is hijacked.

|-

|9:37:46

|The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia

|Flight 77 crashes into the western side of The Pentagon.

|-

|9:59:00

|South Tower, World Trade Center, New York City, New York

|The South Tower collapses.

|-

|10:03:11

|Shanksville, Pennsylvania

|Flight 93 crashes into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

|-

|10:28:25

|North Tower, World Trade Center, New York City, New York

|The North Tower collapses.

|}

Rest of September

  • September 13: On the personal orders of Queen Elizabeth II, The "Star-Spangled Banner" is played during the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace in London, marking the first time a foreign national anthem is played outside Buckingham Palace on an occasion other than a state visit. Russia observes a minute's silence.
  • September 14 to September 21: Worldwide stock markets plummet.
  • September 15: CIA director George Tenet presents the Worldwide Attack Matrix.
  • September 20: George W. Bush announces that the US is at war.

October

  • October 1: Rudy Giuliani speaks to the United Nations General Assembly.
  • October 7: U.S. attack on Afghanistan commences.

Beyond October

  • March 2002: The Tribute in Light project begins.
  • September 11, 2002: First anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks commemorations are held throughout the world, particularly the U.S.

References

  • "Complete 911 Timeline"—Provided by the Center for Cooperative Research.
  • "White House whitewashers" (written September 27, 2001)
  • "Attacks prompt widespread closings" (written September 11, 2001)
  • Barter, Sheila, "How the World Trade Center fell". BBC News

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