What were some of the major cultural and political events that directly preceded 1968? how did they influence the events which occurred in 1968?

A portion of the major social and political occasions that specifically went before 1968 are the Vietnam War, medicate war culture, hostile to war culture, the death of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy and ladies' rights dissenting. 

I hope the answer will help you. 

The Italian Renaissance was a time of cultural differentiation;

With various types of cultures - which had distinct religions - changing the life of those who were Italian, the Italian race or you could say, power prevailed greatly.  With more cultures colliding towards one another during the Italian Renaissance, there was, of course, a lot of wars or hostile behaviour against one another.

In the future, this lead to many successes during the Italian Renaissance such as technology levels rising and the race of all Italians began to expand worldwide.

Hope this helped! :)