I cannot recall any other ____________ in modern times

Solution

The word ‘instance’ means ‘a particular situation, event, or fact, especially an example of something that happens generally’. This is the correct word here. Instant- happening immediately, without any delay. Insistence- an occasion when you demand something and refuse to accept opposition, or when you say firmly that something is true. Intense- extreme and forceful or (of a feeling) very strong. I cannot recall any other instance in modern times in which a huge and mighty state crumbled to dust.