through the eyes and minds of my colleagues and friends, where it happened right from the start. january 2011, the rumblings of an uprising in cairo. crowds begin to gather in tahrir square. a revolution has begun. what is your message to president mubarak? >> he should leave tonight. >> mubarak has been the leader for 30 years, and the growing number of protesters want him out. mubarak digs in and the once peaceful protest grows violent. >> reporter: this is an unmistakable show of military force. fighter jets flying low over tahrir square, liberation square, a symbol of defiance. >> what you are hearing them say is "go, go" in arabic. >> flying in the air. the demonstrators say that's the army firing to warn them to stay away. >> reporter: pro-mubarak forces target the protesters. journalists come under attack. >> it's completely surreal experience. okay. okay. i'm not -- okay, i'm being told to walk. don't stay -- okay. [ crowd noise ] >> we have been hit now like ten times. the egyptian soldiers are doing nothing. >> we would like to be showing you instead of this picture, the strange image of us sitting on the floor in dim lighting, we would like to be showing you live pictures of what's happening in liberation square. we can't do that. the cameras have been taken down through threats, intimidation, through actual, physical attacks. 18 days of clashes and with mubarak stepping down from power. just one country away, another revolution begins in benghazi. >> we are the first television crew to get to this city. we were overwhelmed by the welcome here. people were throwing candy inside the car, clapping, shaking our hands, telling us you're welcome, thank you for coming here. incredible experience. >> the uprising against gadhafi turns into a seven-month war. in the capital, government minders try to force feed journalists total gadhafi control. this is really what the libyan government wants to get out, this message that in the capital of tripoli, support for gadhafi is strong. support for the government is strong. >> nato begins its campaign to protect civilians. the battle intensifies. >> reporter: this is proving to be a tougher battle than anyone anticipated. this territory, should the pr pro-gadhafi elements push in here, the concern is this could turn into a bloodbath. >> we are leaving this area. there's gunfire all around us. we believe that gadhafi's forces are doing a -- a round about movement, so we are rushing out of this area. >> guys? >> everybody's fine. >> we are going as fast as we can. >> as the fight draws closer to tripoli, gadhafi loyalists trap journalists inside the rixos hotel. >> reporter: in the past few seconds, few minutes, we've learned that security that has been so prevalent around this hotel has all of a sudden decided to leave, essentially the government minders that are armed with assault rifles and things like that, they have departed the hotel. apart from a few security staff, it's pretty empty in the lobby apart from a few security staff or rather a few hotel staff. it makes it a very, kind of uncertain time. >> tripoli begins to fall and the journalists are free. days later, opposition fighters storm gadhafi's compound. >> these are cars that belong to the gadhafi regime. they are blowing up rounds on the top of them. that is obviously a -- close security -- [ gunfire ] >> i'm going to try not to get hit by any of those rounds. >> gadhafi is later found and killed. in 2011, the world also watches a natural disaster unfold on live tv. the most powerful earthquake to hit japan causes a massive tsunami. widespread destruction. it feels like this is the ground, but this isn't the ground. this is probably ten feet up off where the actual ground is. there's so much debris piled on. there's actually an entire van under me. more than 15,000 people are killed. >> when the earthquake happened, students at the elementary evacuated out of the school. they had no idea a tsunami was coming. out of 108 students at the school that day, 77 are either dead or missing. that's 70% of the children at the school. >> the quake causes a nuclear emergency after floodwaters damaged some of the country's largest nuclear reactors. the radiation leak forces the evacuation of 200,000 people. only the animals are left behind. journalists retreat to tokyo. >> it has an alarm. >> nuclear concerns continue. >> if you suddenly find yourself in an area where there's too much radiation, it will alarm. >> the country continues to rebuild. another story where journalists watched history as it happened. the different seismic events, some begin when the earthquakes others when people won't move. most amazingly, early on in egypt, the largest population in the arab world. we asked reporters to tell us what they remember most about covering the stories. >> reporter: 2011 has been a year of unrelenting news. here in cairo, the biggest news came on the 25th of january when we were told there would be another demonstration against hosni mubarak. we attended one that went to tahrir square, but it was relatively small. we headed back to the office. i started to write a script about that demonstration, then i got a phone call there was tear gas being fired in tahrir square. we went down to the street, we jumped in a taxi, started to go there. we went over or rather under what is known as the six october bridge. by chance, i look behind me and i saw thousands and thousands of students coming down the bridge shouting, "down, down with the regime," and heading to tahrir square. when i saw that, i realized, this regime is going down. >> ben wedeman joins me now with our guests. what was it about what was happening on that bridge that made you realize, this is really it? >> it was the sheer number of people. i have seen demonstrations against mubarak and others. it was a handful, maybe 100 or 200. the bridge was full. we're talking thousands and thousands of people. what became apparent that day, the regime was outnumbered by the people. i think that realization spread so quickly that three days later, basically the regime gave up and handed over the country to the army. >> people died on the bridge. you were beat up, pushed around on the bridge, weren't you? >> that was on the 28th. in cairo, you get shoved around quite a lot. by the security forces -- this goes back many years. >> which day? >> yeah. yeah, on the 28th, we were filming and this was clearly the day when it was all going to come down and sort of with finality. we were with tommy evans and mary rogers. and basically we were surrounded by plain-clothed policemen and basically hired thugs. they looked like they were under the influence of narcotics. they were insisting on taking away the camera. i said no. we had great footage of incredible scenes and what ensued was a very long pushing and shoving event. eventually they just cracked the camera. the viewfinder, right off, and took it away. i went back to argue with the superior officer -- >> you are fluent in arabic? >> yes. i was using words that i wouldn't in polite company. i argued with the guy for quite some time. we lost the camera and footage. got roughed up, but it got me going. i was angry. >> i remember that. i got there days later. for all of us, for me that was the most remarkable reporting experience to witness it, to be there. what about for you guys? i mean, you, ivan, were trapped in tahrir square in a run down hotel during the worst of the violence. we were worried about you. we were on the other side. >> that was the famous day of the battle of the camel where we all saw scenes we thought we would never see before. the rock fight breaks out. you got attacked that day. we were getting pushed and shoved around. we were caught -- my cameraman joe duran and i, were caught in the middle of this horrendous rock fight between two sides and basically ran, did a commando run. our hotel, the door was chained shut. we managed to squeeze in, got to the roof and suddenly these camels started charging into the square and beating up the demonstrators and the riders were ripped off. we were stuck in that hotel in tahrir square as it was encircled by the thugs and we didn't know if we would get out that night. >> the fear was that they would come into the hotel -- there was nothing to stop them if they had that area. >> we didn't think they could hold out against the regime and they did, for days. they won in the end. >> what i find fascinating, this battle of the camels was seen from so many perspectives. you were up top. i was there when the camels came in. i was trying to badly take blackberry pictures. it just -- it just symbolized the historical nature of what was happening. all of a sudden, this epic, surreal, bizarre camel charge in tahrir square. we were seeing it from -- >> that was the moment when many egyptians realized the regime was bankrupt, had no idea how to deal with it other than to pay a bunch of camel drivers to put down the revolt. >> when you resort to the camel drivers, it's over at that point. it was interesting because of technology and because of the resources, frankly, of cnn, you are able to be in the midst of stories in a way and broadcast live during them in a way we have never been able to do before. we saw that whether you being in tahrir square broadcasting live -- i remember being in the balcony with you in the area where the thugs were. we didn't know if it was the laser sight or what? >> we were surrounded. our hotel, as well. you were completely under siege. you could not leave without getting beaten up. we nicknamed it sarcastically the beat a journalist day. so many were getting smacked around. so many pro-mubarak and hating us, labeling us as spies. >> we not to continue our discussion when we come back and also what's happening in egypt right now. we'll look at what happens after a dictator falls, struggles with the military and now elections. here's ivan watson. >> reporter: this year, tahrir square has been the scene of incredible drama. the sensational images of the famous battle of the camel, people fighting each other with clubs and sticks, making weapons and shields out of the most basic tools. but it has also become a symbol, tahrir square behind me, of a struggle for freedom, a struggle for dignity in the arab world. first in january and february as egyptians gathered and said no to the dictatorial regime of hosni mubarak. and once again, nine, ten months later as they gather again and said no to the ruling military council here. tahrir square has become a symbol of this struggle in the arab world. i predict we'll see more drama as egyptians continue to see this square as a sign and symbol of their struggle for freedom. okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. forty years ago, he wasn't worried about retirement. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa. i was able to witness firsthand the birth of something that i thought i would never see in the middle east. protesters demanding accountability from their i never thought in the years i i never thought, in the years i spent covering in the middle east and the time i spent going back and forth to the middle east, my family is from syria. i never thought i would see a dictator taken down by the power of street protests. in egypt, it's freer. the press can travel to cairo and report. i have come to love that country and the people in egypt, i truly have, over the several years i spent reporting there. so, it's almost, i almost -- it's almost like wishing family well when you know a country intimately in a way i have grown >> holly browning and the transformation in egypt. i spent time there and our fellow colleagues had a chance to see the chapter. back with hala, ivan, nic, arwa and ben. you live in cairo, your family was there. the same time this was all happening, you are concerned about your family and their well-being. >> i was completely split, ripped in two. on one hand, i wanted to cover the resolution. my neighborhood was an armed camp. my neighbors put barricades on the roads. they pulled out weapons i didn't know they had. shotguns, machine guns, samurai swords. my 17-year-old son was out with a baseball bat and our german shepherd. we live in a nice neighborhood surrounded by slums. >> we snuck from the hotel to the bureau for a better satellite feed. moments before we went on the air, security saw people coming from the back alley. the bureau is open. anybody can get into the building. that's when we decided to turn off all the lights, get down on the floor. the security guy suddenly jammed the couch in front of the door. that's our high-tech security? jammed the couch in front of the door. we went ahead with the broadcast on the floor. that, for me, was one of the most intense moments. >> surreal. >> absolutely surreal. did you ever expect to be seeing the things you are now seeing? >> never. >> never. >> absolutely not. not across all of africa. the way we've seen it change. i think this is only the beginning. we are looking forward to next year. the revolutions happened. we know what happens after revelation, the country -- revolution, the country's going through convulsions and contortions. syria is an event, in a way that we are waiting to happen. >> syria is going to have a huge -- >> a huge knockoff effect. >> to be watching the middle east completely and utterly change, who would imagine that sitting here? >> recently came out with a report, they believe there's a civil war there. you were there. i want to show you what arwa had to say about her experience there. >> i was hiding in the back of a white van with two activists who were absolutely terrified, who i never met them my entire life. they took me through the damascus suburbs to link up with a doctor that set up a secret underground clinic. part of a network of doctors trying to save wounded demonstrators' lives. they were taking an incredible risk because they wanted us to see some of their patients. people with gunshot wounds who weren't able to go to hospitals. a young boy, a teenager, the doctor didn't have the medical equipment to understand the scope of his injuries. so he said this little boy was partially paralyzed from the waist down. the doctor was a young man. he said it was terrible for people to die in his hands because he couldn't save them. >> for month the syrian government has been lying, saying ambassadors are here, journalists are free to travel wherever they want. they can do whatever they want. what was your experience? >> you are free to travel as long as you take a government minder with you. he's not a minder, he's a facilitator. he's not there reporting, he's there to help you out. >> to protect you against those elements that might want to do you harm. we are not keeping you from traveling around the country because we want to hide things from you. we are keeping you from that because we want to protect you. >> it was better to be there with those restrictions than not to be there at all. we were able, in the end, to get the stories, get away from our minders. >> the street whispers to you and talks to you. >> what do you mean the street whispers to you? >> people slide paper in your hands. >> that's how we would slide -- >> in this age of twitter and facebook, the most old-fashioned way of communicated is how i got the best contact in syria, i am in contact with a man with a fake e-mail account. he said they are lying to you, e-mail me. it was amazing how they get around the controls. >> when you think about the risk they are taking, i mean they could die so easily or be tortured. things we can't imagine. we hear the stories coming out of syria, they are terrifying. they are taking this risk all the time. we are surrounded by government minders and they are saying they are lying. >> do you get used to seeing the bravery and seeing people killed on the streets for speaking out? >> no. never. >> the bravery we have seen, it makes you want to weep to see them that come out, they are at a funeral of their friend who was killed, then the security forces start shooting at the funeral procession and they still keep chanting, you know, democracy or down with the regime when fired on that way. >> now, on my show, i talk to people in syria on the phone who insist on using their real name. they are no longer afraid. they want the government to know they are not afraid. >> that's the biggest unifying factor. people saying we lost our fear. it started there and rolled across. when people say they lost their fear, that's when government should worry. >> much more ahead with our correspondents. libya 2011 brought incredible change there. forces took on moammar gadhafi. david and goliath story, if ever there was one. plenty of hair-raising moments in tripoli. matthew became a prisoner along with other journalists in his hotel. >> we have been living in fear for five days. we are being held against our well by these crazy gunmen. the disaster that left 15,000 dead in japan. a monster tsunami. is it because taking a step represents hope? or triumph? at genworth, we believe in taking small steps every day to keep your promises, protect what matters, and prepare for a secure financial future. no matter where you want to go, one step at a time is the only way to get there. go to genworth.com/promises. i joined the navy when i was nineteen. i was a commissioned officer at twenty-three. i was an avionics... tactical telecommunications... squad leader. i think the hardest transition as you get further into the military is... you know it's going to end one day. chase hired me to be a personal banker. i'm a business analyst... manager. i'm very proud to work for chase. when you hire a veteran, you get... great leadership... decisiveness... focus. chase knows, when you hire a veteran, you're hiring america's best. chase is proud to help 100,000 veterans find jobs at home. gives you a 50 percent annual bonus. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain. it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. the unrest sweeping egypt reached libya. demonstrators took the streets in benghazi. they demanded an end to gadhafi's rule. the army met them with force. a blood bath began and wouldn't end for eight more months. they make a major advance throughout the country with the help of nato. we were one of the first reporters there. >> we are going into tripoli at the end of february. we had no idea what to expect. some journalists pulled out. some were beaten up driving from the airport to the hotel. an amazing thing happened on the first day there. the government drivers and minders took us where the rebels has control of the city. amazingly, the government drivers dropped us off and let us go where we wanted. we walked to where we saw a crowd of people around a tank. we thought it was the government showing pro-gadhafi supporters. as i climbed on the tank, i reali