major events in world history

8/10/2019 Major Events in World History

1/19

10001099 (A.D.)World History

c. 10001300

ClassicPuebloperiod of Anasazi culture; cliff dwellings.

c. 1000

Hungary and Scandinavia converted to Christianity. Viking raider Leif

Eriksson discovers North America, calls it Vinland.Beowulf,Old

English epic.

c. 1008

Murasaki Shikibu finishesThe Tale of Genji,the world's first novel.

1009

Muslims destroy Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

1013 Danes control England.Canutetakes throne(1016),conquers

Norway(1028),dies(1035);kingdom divided among his sons: Harold

Harefoot (England), Sweyn (Norway), Hardecanute (Denmark).

1040

Macbeth murders Duncan, king of Scotland.

1053

Robert Guiscard, Norman invader, establishes kingdom in Italy,

conquers Sicily(1072).

1054

Final separation between Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman)

churches.

1055Seljuk Turks, Asian nomads, move west, capture Baghdad, Armenia(1064),Syria, and Palestine(1075).

1066

William of Normandy invades England, defeats last Saxon king, Harold II, at Battle of Hastings,

crownedWilliam Iof England (the Conqueror).

1068

Construction on the cathedral in Pisa, Italy, begins.

1073

Emergence of strong papacy when Gregory VII is elected. Conflict with English and French kings and

German emperors will continue throughout medieval period.

1095

At Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II calls for a holy war to wrest control of Jerusalem from Muslims, whichlaunches the First Crusade (1096), one of at least 8 European military campaigns between 1095 and 1291

to regain the Holy Land. (For detailed chronology, seeThe Crusades.)


Mesa VerdeCliff Dwellings(c. 10001300)

Pete Maio

Cathedral and Tower at Pisa

Tasha Vincent
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2/19

11001300

Construction of Cathedral at Chartres, France.

1144

Second Crusade begins.c. 1150

Angkor Watis completed.

11501167

Universities of Paris and Oxford founded in France and England.

1162

Thomas Becketnamed Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered by Henry II's men(1170).Troubadours

(wandering minstrels) glorify romantic concepts of feudalism.

1169

Ibn-Rushd begins translating Aristotle's works.

1189

Richard I (the Lionhearted) succeeds Henry II in England, killed in

France(1199),succeeded by King John. Third Crusade.


12001204

Fourth Crusade.

1211

Genghis Khan invades China, captures Peking(1214),conquers Persia(1218),invades

Russia(1223),dies(1227).

1212

Children's Crusade.

1215

King John forced by barons to signMagna Cartaat Runneymede, limiting royal power.

1217

Fifth Crusade.

1228

Sixth Crusade.

1231

TheInquisitionbegins as Pope Gregory IX assigns Dominicans responsibility for combating heresy. Torture

used(1252).Ferdinand and Isabella establish Spanish Inquisition(1478).Tourquemada, Grand Inquisitor,

forces conversion or expulsion of Spanish Jews(1492).Forced conversion of Moors(1499).Inquisition in

Portugal(1531).First Protestants burned at the stake in Spain(1543).Spanish Inquisition abolished(1834).

1241

Mongols defeat Germans in Silesia, invade Poland and Hungary, withdraw from Europe after Ughetai,

Mongol leader, dies.

Chartres Cathedral

Tasha Vincent

The Crusades King John(11671216)

Thomas Aquinas

(12251274)
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3/19

1248

Seventh Crusade.

1251

Kublai Khan governs China, becomes ruler ofMongols(1259),establishes Yuan dynasty in

China(1280),invades Burma(1287),dies(1294).

1260 Chartres cathedral consecrated.

1270

Eighth Crusade.

1271

Marco Poloof Venice travels to China, in court of Kublai Khan(12751292),returns to Genoa(1295)and

writesTravels.

1273

Thomas Aquinasstops work onSumma Theologica,the basis of all Catholic theological teaching; never

completes it.

1295

English King Edward I summons the Model Parliament.


13121337

Mali Empire reaches its height in Africa under King Mansa Musa.

c. 1325

The beginning of theRenaissancein Italy: writers Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio; painter Giotto. Development

ofNohdrama in Japan.Aztecsestablish Tenochtitln on site of modern Mexico City. Peak of Muslim culture

in Spain. Small cannon in use.

13371453

Hundred Years' WarEnglish and French kings fight for control of France.

13471351

At least 25 million people die in Europe's Black Death (bubonic plague).

1368

MingDynasty begins in China.

13761382

John Wycliffe, pre-Reformation religious reformer, and followers translate Latin Bible into English.

1378

The Great Schism (to1417)rival popes in Rome and Avignon, France, fight for control of Roman CatholicChurch.

c. 1387

Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales.

1398

Tamerlane, the Mongol conqueror, begins last great conquestDelhi.
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4/19


1407

Casa di San Giorgio, one of the first public banks, founded in Genoa.

1415

Henry V defeats French at Agincourt. Jan Hus, Bohemian preacher

and follower of Wycliffe, burned at stake in Constance as heretic.

14181460

Portugal's PrinceHenry the Navigatorsponsors exploration of Africa's

coast.

1420

Brunelleschi begins work on the Duomo in Florence.

1428

Joan of Arcleads French against English, captured by

Burgundians(1430)and turned over to the English, burned at the

stake as a witch after ecclesiastical trial(1431).

1438

Incasrule in Peru.

1450

Florence becomes center of Renaissance arts and learning under theMedicis.

1453

Turks conquer Constantinople, end of theByzantine empire, beginning of theOttoman empire.

1455

The Wars of the Roses, civil wars between rival noble factions, begin in England (to1485). Having inventedprinting with movable type at Mainz, Germany, Johann Gutenberg completes first Bible.

1462

Ivan the Great rules Russia until1505as first czar; ends payment of tribute to Mongols.

1492

Moors conquered in Spain by troops of Ferdinand and Isabella.Columbusbecomes first European to

encounter Caribbean islands, returns to Spain(1493).Second voyage to Dominica, Jamaica, Puerto

Rico(14931496).Third voyage to Orinoco(1498).Fourth voyage to Honduras and Panama(15021504).

1497

Vasco da Gama sails around Africa and discovers sea route to India(1498).Establishes Portuguese colony

in India(1502).John Cabot, employed by England, reaches and explores Canadian

coast.Michelangelo'sBacchussculpture.


The Duomo in

Florence

Linda J. Barnes

Joan of Arc

(14121431)
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5/19

1501

First black slaves in America brought to Spanish colony of Santo

Domingo.

c. 1503Leonardo da Vincipaints theMona Lisa.Michelangelo sculpts

theDavid(1504).

1506

St. Peter's Church started in Rome; designed and decorated by such

artists and architects as Bramante, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Raphael,

and Bernini before its completion in1626.

1509

Henry VIIIascends English throne. Michelangelo paints the ceiling of

the Sistine Chapel.

1513

Balboa becomes the first European to encounter the Pacific Ocean.

Machiavelli writesThe Prince.

1517

Turks conquer Egypt, control Arabia.Martin Lutherposts his 95

theses denouncing church abuses on church door in Wittenberg

start of theReformationin Germany.

1519

Ulrich Zwingli begins Reformation in Switzerland. Hernando Cortes

conquers Mexico for Spain. Charles I of Spain is chosen Holy Roman

Emperor Charles V. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sets out

to circumnavigate the globe.

1520

Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X.Suleiman I(the Magnificent)becomes Sultan of Turkey, invades

Hungary(1521),Rhodes(1522),attacks Austria(1529),annexes

Hungary(1541),Tripoli(1551),makes peace with

Persia(1553),destroys Spanish fleet(1560),dies(1566).Magellan

reaches the Pacific, is killed by Philippine natives(1521).One of his

ships under Juan Sebastin del Cano continues around the world,

reaches Spain(1522).

1524

Verrazano, sailing under the French flag, explores the New England

coast and New York Bay.

1527

Troops of the Holy Roman Empire attack Rome, imprison PopeClement VIIthe end of the Italian Renaissance. Castiglione

writesThe Courtier.The Medici family expelled from Florence.

1532

Pizarro marches from Panama to Peru, kills the Inca chieftain,

Atahualpa, of Peru(1533).Machiavelli'sThe Princepublished

posthumously.

1535

Michelangelo's David

(1504)

Tasha Vincent

Martin Luther

(14831546)

Henry VIII(14911547)

Queen Elizabeth I

(15331603)
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6/19

Reformation begins as Henry VIII makes himself head of English Church after being excommunicated by

Pope.Sir Thomas Moreexecuted as traitor for refusal to acknowledge king's religious authority. Jacques

Cartier sails up the St. Lawrence River, basis of French claims to Canada.

1536

Henry VIII executes second wife, Anne Boleyn. John Calvin establishes Reformed and Presbyterian form of

Protestantism in Switzerland, writesInstitutes of the Christian Religion.Danish and Norwegian Reformations.

Michelangelo'sLast Judgment.

1541

John Knox leads Reformation in Scotland, establishes Presbyterian church there(1560).

1543

Publication ofOn the Revolution of Heavenly Bodiesby Polish scholar Nicolaus Copernicusgiving his

theory that the earth revolves around the sun.

1545

Council of Trent to meet intermittently until1563to define Catholic dogma and doctrine, reiterate papal

authority.

1547

Ivan IV(the Terrible) crowned as czar of Russia, begins conquest of Astrakhan and Kazan(1552),battles

nobles (boyars) for power(1564),kills his son(1580),dies, and is succeeded by his weak and feeble-minded son, Fyodor I.

1553

Roman Catholicism restored in England by Queen Mary I.

1556

Akbar the Great becomesMogulemperor of India, conquers Afghanistan(1581),continues wars of conquest

(until1605).

1558

QueenElizabeth Iascends the throne (rules to1603). Restores Protestantism, establishes state Church of

England (Anglicanism). Renaissance will reach height in EnglandShakespeare,Marlowe, Spenser.

1561

Persecution ofHuguenotsin France stopped by Edict of Orleans. French religious wars begin again withmassacre of Huguenots at Vassy. St. Bartholomew's Day Massacrethousands of Huguenots

murdered(1572).Amnesty granted(1573).Persecution continues periodically until Edict of

Nantes(1598)gives Huguenots religious freedom (until1685).

1568

Protestant Netherlands revolts against Catholic Spain; independence will be acknowledged by Spain

in1648.

1570

Japan permits visits of foreign ships. Queen Elizabeth I excommunicated by Pope. Turks attack Cyprus and

war on Venice. Turkish fleet defeated at Battle of Lepanto by Spanish and Italian fleets(1571).Peace of

Constantinople(1572)ends Turkish attacks on Europe.

1580

Francis Drake returns to England after circumnavigating the globe; knighted by Queen ElizabethI(1581).Montaigne'sEssayspublished.

1582

Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregoriancalendar.

1583

William of Orange rules the Netherlands; assassinated on orders of Philip II of Spain(1584).

1587
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7/19

Mary, Queen of Scots,executed for treason by order of Queen Elizabeth I.

Monteverdi'sFirst Book of Madrigals.

1588

Defeat of the Spanish Armada by English. Henry, King of Navarre and Protestant

leader, recognized as Henry IV, first Bourbon king of France. Converts to Roman

Catholicism in1593in attempt to end religious wars.

1590

Henry IV enters Paris, wars on Spain(1595),marries Marie de

Medici(1600),assassinated(1610).Spenser'sThe Faerie Queen.El Greco'sSt.

Jerome.Galileo's experiments with falling objects.

1598

Boris Godunov becomes Russian czar. Tycho Brahe describes his astronomical

experiments.

1600

1699 (A.D.)WorldHistory

1600

Giordano Bruno burned as a heretic. English East India Company established.

1603

Ieyasu rules Japan, moves capital to Edo (Tokyo). Shakespeare'sHamlet.

1605

Cervantes'sDon Quixote de la Mancha,the first modern novel.1607

Jamestown, Virginia, establishedfirst permanent English colony on American

mainland.Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, saves life of John Smith.

1609

Samuel de Champlain establishes French colony of Quebec. TheRelation,the first

newspaper, debuts in Germany.

1610

Galileosees the moons of Jupiter through his telescope.

1611

Gustavus Adolphus elected King of Sweden. King James Version of the Bible

published in England. Rubens paints hisDescent from the Cross.1614

John Napier discovers logarithms.

1618

Start of theThirty Years' War> Protestants revolt against Catholic oppression;

Denmark, Sweden, and France will invade Germany in later phases of war. Kepler

proposes last of three laws of planetary motion.

1619

A Dutch ship brings the first African slaves to British North America.

The Revolutionary War

Pocahontas

(c. 15951617)

The Library of Congress Picture Coll

Galileo

(15641642)

Johannes Kepler

(15711630)

Taj Mahal

The Library of Congress Picture Coll
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8/19

1620

Pilgrims, after three-month voyage inMayflower,land at Plymouth Rock. Francis Bacon'sNovum Organum.

1623

New Netherland founded by Dutch West India Company.

1630

Massachusetts Bay Colony.1632

Maryland founded by Lord Baltimore.

1633

Inquisition forces Galileo (astronomer) to recant his belief in Copernican theory.

1642

English Civil War. Cavaliers, supporters of Charles I, against Roundheads, parliamentary forces. Oliver

Cromwell defeats Royalists(1646).Parliament demands reforms. Charles I offers concessions, brought to

trial(1648),beheaded(1649).Cromwell becomes Lord Protector(1653).Rembrandt paints hisNight Watch.

1643

Taj Mahal completed.

1644

End of Ming Dynasty in ChinaManchus come to power.Descartes'sPrinciples of Philosophy.

1648

End of the Thirty Years' War. German population about half of what it was in1618because of war and

pestilence.

1658

Cromwell dies; son Richard resigns and Puritan government collapses.

1660

English Parliament calls for the restoration of the monarchy; invites Charles II to return from France.

1661

Charles II is crowned King of England. Louis XIV begins personal rule as absolute monarch; starts to build

Versailles.

1664British take New Amsterdam from the Dutch. English limit Nonconformity with reestablished Anglican

Church. Isaac Newton's experiments with gravity.

1665

Great Plague in London kills 75,000.

1666

Great Fire of London. Molire'sMisanthrope.

1667

Milton'sParadise Lost,widely considered the greatest epic poem in English.

1682

Pennsylvania founded byWilliam Penn.

1683War of European powers against the Turks (to1699). Vienna withstands three-month Turkish siege; high

point of Turkish advance in Europe.

1684

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's calculus published.

1685

James II succeeds Charles II in England, calls for freedom of conscience(1687).Protestants fear restoration

of Catholicism and demand Glorious Revolution. William of Orange invited to England and James II
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9/19

escapes to France(1688).William III and his wife, Mary, crowned. In France, Edict of

Nantes of1598,granting freedom of worship to Huguenots, is revoked by Louis XIV;

thousands of Protestants flee.

1689

Peter the Greatbecomes Czar of Russiaattempts to westernize nation and build

Russia as a military power. Defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava(1709).Beginning

of theFrench and Indian Wars(to1763), campaigns in America linked to a series of

wars between France and England for domination of Europe.

1690

William III of England defeats former king James II and Irish rebels at Battle of the

Boyne in Ireland.John Locke'sHuman Understanding.

17001799 (A.D.)World

History

1701

War of the Spanish Successionbeginsthe last of Louis XIV's wars for domination of

the continent. The Peace of Utrecht (1714) will end the conflict and mark the rise of the

British Empire. Called Queen Anne's War in America, it ends with the British taking New

Foundland, Acadia, and Hudson's Bay Territory from France, and Gibraltar and Minorca

from Spain.

1704Deerfield (Mass.) Massacre of English colonists by French and Indians.Bach's first

cantata.Jonathan Swift'sTale of a Tub.Boston News Letterfirst newspaper in

America.

1707

United Kingdom of Great Britain formedEngland, Wales, and Scotland joined by

parliamentary Act of Union.

1729

Bach'sSt. Matthew Passion.Isaac Newton'sPrincipiatranslated from Latin into English.

1732

Benjamin Franklinbegins publishingPoor Richard's Almanack.James Oglethorpe and

others found Georgia.

1735

John Peter Zenger, New York editor, acquitted of libel in New York, establishingpress

freedom.

1740

Capt. Vitus Bering, Dane employed by Russia, discovers Alaska. Frederick II the Great

crowned king of Prussia.

1746

French Revolution (17891799)

Benjamin Franklin

(17061790)

Frederick the Great

(17121786)

Samuel Johnson

(17091784)

George Washington (17321799
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10/19


11/19

Russians settle Aleutian Islands.

1787

TheConstitution of the United Statessigned. Lavoisier's work on chemical nomenclature. Mozart'sDon

Giovanni.

1788

FrenchParlementpresents grievances to Louis XVI who agrees to convening of Estates-General in1789

not called since1613.Goethe'sEgmont.Laplace'sLaws of the Planetary System.

1789

French Revolutionbegins with the storming of the Bastille. (For detailed chronology, seeFrench Revolution

(17891799).) In U.S., Washington elected president with all 69 votes of the Electoral College, takes oath of

office in New York City. Vice President: John Adams. Secretary of State: Thomas Jefferson. Secretary of

Treasury: Alexander Hamilton.

1790

H.M.S.Bountymutineers settle on Pitcairn Island. Aloisio Galvani experiments on electrical stimulation of the

muscles. Philadelphia temporary capital of U.S. as Congress votes to establish new capital on Potomac.

U.S. population about 3,929,000, including 698,000 slaves. Lavoisier formulatesTable of 31 chemical

elements.

1791U.S. Bill of Rights ratified. Boswell'sLife of Johnson.

1792

Mary Wollstonecraft'sVindication of the Rights of Woman.

1793

Louis XVIandMarie Antoinetteexecuted. Reign of Terror begins in France. Eli Whitney invents the cotton

gin, spurring the growth of the cotton industry and helping to institutionalize slavery in the U.S. South.

1794

Kosciusko's uprising in Poland quelled by the Russians. In U.S., Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania as

farmers object to liquor taxes. Reign of Terror ends with execution ofRobespierre.

1796

Napolon Bonaparte,French general, defeats Austrians. In the U.S., Washington's Farewell Address(Sept.

17);John Adamselected president; Thomas Jefferson, vice president. Edward Jenner introduces smallpox

vaccination.

1798

Napoleon extends French conquests to Rome and Egypt. U.S. Navy Department established.

1799

Rosetta Stone discovered in Egypt. Napoleon leads coup that overthrows Directory, establishes the

Consulate, becomes First Consulone of three who rule France together.

New Zealand becomes first country in the world to grant women the vote.

1894

Sino-Japanese Warbegins (ends in1895with China's defeat). In France, Capt. AlfredDreyfusconvicted on

false treason charge (pardoned in1906). In U.S.,Jacob S. Coxeyof Ohio leads Coxey's Army of

unemployed on Washington.Eugene V. Debscalls general strike of rail workers to support Pullman

Company strikers; strike broken, Debs jailed for six months.Edison's kinetoscope given first public showing

in New York City.

1895
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12/19

X-rays discovered by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen. Auguste and Louis Lumire premiere motion

pictures at a caf in Paris.

1896

Supreme Court'sPlessyv.Fergusondecisionseparate but equal doctrine. Alfred Nobel's will

establishesprizesfor peace, science, and literature.Marconireceives first wireless patent in Britain.William

Jennings Bryandelivers Cross of Gold speech at Democratic Convention in Chicago. First modernOlympic

gamesheld in Athens, Greece.

1897

Theodor Herzl launches Zionist movement.

1898

ChineseBoxers, anti-foreign organization, established. They stage uprisings against Europeans

in1900;U.S. and other Western troops relieve Peking legations. U.S. BattleshipMaineis sunk in Havana

Harbor.Spanish-American Warbegins. U.S. destroys Spanish fleet near Santiago, Cuba. (For detailed

chronology,seeSpanish-American War.) Pierre and MarieCuriediscover radium and polonium.

1899

Boer War(or South African War): conflict between British and Boers (descendants of Dutch settlers of South

Africa). Causes rooted in longstanding territorial disputes and in friction over political rights for English and

other uitlanders following 1886 discovery of vast gold deposits in Transvaal. (British victorious as war endsin1902.) Casualties: 5,774 British dead, about 4,000 Boers. Union of South Africa established in1908as

confederation of colonies; becomes British dominion in1910.

World War I (19141918)

Imperial, territorial, and economic rivalries led to the Great War between the Central Powers (Austria-

Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey) and the Allies (U.S., Britain, France, Russia, Belgium, Serbia,

Greece, Romania, Montenegro, Portugal, Italy, and Japan). About 10 million combatants killed, 20 million

wounded.

1914

Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and wife assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo

Princip(June 28).Austria declares war on Serbia(July 28).Germany declares war on Russia(Aug. 1),on

France(Aug. 3),invades Belgium(Aug. 4).Britain declares war on Germany(Aug. 4).Germans defeat

Russians in Battle of Tannenberg on Eastern Front(Aug.).First Battle of the Marne(Sept.).German drive

stopped 25 miles from Paris. By end of year, war on the Western Front is positional in the trenches.

1915

German submarine blockade of Great Britain begins(Feb.).Dardanelles CampaignBritish land in

Turkey(April),withdraw from Gallipoli(Dec.Jan. 1916).Germans use gas at second Battle of

Ypres(AprilMay).Lusitaniasunk by German submarine1,198 lost, including 128 Americans(May 7).On

Eastern Front, German and Austrian great offensive conquers all of Poland and Lithuania; Russians lose 1

million men (bySept. 6). Great Fall Offensive by Allies results in little change from 1914(Sept.

Oct.).Britain and France declare war on Bulgaria(Oct. 14).

1916

Battle of VerdunGermans and French each lose about 350,000 men(Feb.).Extended submarine warfare

begins(March).British-German sea battle of Jutland(May);British lose more ships, but German fleet never
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13/19

ventures forth again. On Eastern Front, the Brusilov offensive demoralizes Russians, costs them 1 million

men(JuneSept.).Battle of the SommeBritish lose over 400,000; French, 200,000; Germans, about

450,000; all with no strategic results(JulyNov.).Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary(Aug.

27).Bucharest captured(Dec.).

1917

U.S. declares war on Germany(April 6).Submarine warfare at peak(April).On Italian Front, Battle of

CaporettoItalians retreat, losing 600,000 prisoners and deserters(Oct.Dec.).On Western Front, Battles

of Arras, Champagne, Ypres (third battle), etc. First large British tank attack(Nov.).U.S. declares war on

Austria-Hungary(Dec. 7).Armistice between new Russian Bolshevik government and Germans(Dec. 15).

1918

Great offensive by Germans(MarchJune).Americans' first important battle role at Chteau-Thierryas

they and French stop German advance(June).Second Battle of the Marne(JulyAug.)start of Allied

offensive at Amiens, St. Mihiel, etc. Battles of the Argonne and Ypres panic German leadership(Sept.

Oct.).British offensive in Palestine(Sept.).Germans ask for armistice(Oct. 4).British armistice with

Turkey(Oct.).German Kaiser abdicates(Nov.).Hostilities cease on Western Front(Nov. 11).

World War II (19391945)

Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria)versusAllies (U.S., Britain, France,

USSR, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,

Poland, South Africa, Yugoslavia).

1939

GermanyinvadesPolandand annexes Danzig;BritainandFrancegiveHitlerultimatum(Sept. 1),declare

war(Sept. 3).Disabled German pocket battleshipAdmiral Graf Speeblown up off Montevideo, Uruguay, onHitler's orders(Dec. 17).Limited activity (Sitzkrieg) on Western Front.

1940

Nazis invade Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg(May 10).Chamberlainresigns as Britain's prime

minister;Churchilltakes over(May 10).Germans cross French frontier(May 12)using air/tank/infantry

Blitzkrieg tactics.Dunkerque evacuation> about 335,000 out of 400,000 Allied soldiers rescued from

Belgium by British civilian and naval craft(May 26June 3).Italy declares war on France and Britain;

invades France(June 10).Germans enter Paris; city undefended(June 14).France and Germany sign

armistice at Compigne(June 22).Nazis bomb Coventry, England(Nov. 14).

1941

Germans launch attacks in Balkans. Yugoslavia surrendersGeneral Mihajlovic continues guerrilla warfare;

Tito leads left-wing guerrillas(April 17).Nazi tanks enter Athens; remnants of British Army quit

Greece(April 27).Hitler attacks Russia(June 22).Atlantic CharterFDR and Churchill agree on war

aims(Aug. 14).Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, Philippines, Guam force U.S. into war; U.S. Pacific fleet

crippled(Dec. 7).U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. Germany and Italy declare war on U.S.; Congress

declares war on those countries(Dec. 11).

1942

British surrender Singapore to Japanese(Feb. 15).Roosevelt orders Japanese and Japanese Americans in

western U.S. to be exiled to relocation centers, many for the remainder of the war(Feb. 19).U.S. forces on

Bataan peninsula in Philippines surrender(April 9).U.S. and Filipino troops on Corregidor island in Manila
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14/19

Bay surrender to Japanese(May 6).Village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia razed by Nazis(June 10).U.S. and

Britain land in French North Africa(Nov. 8).

1943

Casablanca ConferenceChurchill and FDR agree on unconditional surrender goal(Jan. 1424).German

6th Army surrenders at Stalingradturning point of war in Russia(Feb. 12).Remnants of Nazis trapped on

Cape Bon, ending war in Africa(May 12).Mussolini deposed; Badoglio named premier(July 25).Allied

troops land on Italian mainland after conquest of Sicily(Sept. 3).Italy surrenders(Sept. 8).Nazis seize

Rome(Sept. 10).Cairo Conference: FDR, Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek pledge defeat of Japan, free

Korea(Nov. 2226).Tehran Conference: FDR, Churchill, Stalin agree on invasion plans(Nov. 28Dec. 1).

1944

U.S. and British troops land at Anzio on west Italian coast and hold beachhead(Jan. 22).U.S. and British

troops enter Rome(June 4).D-DayAllies launch Normandy invasion(June 6).Hitler wounded in bomb

plot(July 20).Paris liberated(Aug. 25).Athens freed by Allies(Oct. 13).Americans invade Philippines(Oct.

20).Germans launch counteroffensive in BelgiumBattle of the Bulge(Dec. 16).

1945

Yalta Agreement signed by FDR, Churchill, Stalinestablishes basis for occupation of Germany, returns to

Soviet Union lands taken by Germany and Japan; USSR agrees to friendship pact with China(Feb.

11).Mussolini killed at Lake Como(April 28).Admiral Doenitz takes command in Germany; suicide of Hitlerannounced(May 1).Berlin falls(May 2).Germany signs unconditional surrender terms at Rheims(May

7).Allies declare V-E Day(May 8).Potsdam ConferenceTruman, Churchill, Atlee (afterJuly 28), Stalin

establish council of foreign ministers to prepare peace treaties; plan German postwar government and

reparations(July 17Aug. 2).A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima by U.S.(Aug. 6).USSR declares war on

Japan(Aug. 8).Nagasaki hit by A-bomb(Aug. 9).Japan agrees to surrender(Aug. 14).V-J Day

Japanese sign surrender terms aboard battleshipMissouri(Sept. 2).

Th Holo!a"st (19331945)

Holocaust is the term describing the Nazi annihilation of about 6 million Jews (two thirds of the pre-World

War II European Jewish population), including 4,500,000 from Russia, Poland, and the Baltic; 750,000

from Hungary and Romania; 290,000 from Germany and Austria; 105,000 from The Netherlands; 90,000

from France; 54,000 from Greece.

The Holocaust was unique in its beinggenocidethe systematic destruction of a people solely because

of religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, or sexual preferenceon an unmatched scale. Along with the Jews,

another 9 to 10 million peopleGypsies, Slavs (Poles, Ukrainians, and Belarussians), homosexuals, and

the disabledwere exterminated.

1933

Hitler named German Chancellor(Jan.).Dachau, first concentration camp, established(March).Boycotts

against Jews begin(April).

1935

Anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws passed by Reichstag; Jews lose citizenship and civil rights(Sept.).

1937


15/19

Buchenwald concentration camp opens(July).

1938

Extension of anti-Semitic laws to Austria after annexation(March).Kristallnacht(Night of Broken Glass)

anti-Semitic riots and destruction of Jewish institutions in Germany and Austria(Nov. 9).26,000 Jews sent to

concentration camps; Jewish children expelled from schools(Nov. 910).Expropriation of Jewish property

and businesses(Dec.).

1940

As war continues, Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing squads) follow German army into conquered lands,

rounding up and massacring Jews and other undesirables.

1941

Goering instructs Heydrich to carry out the final solution to the Jewish question(July 31).Deportation of

German Jews begins; massacres of Jews in Odessa and Kiev(Nov.);and in Riga and Vilna(Dec.).

1942

Mass killings using Zyklon-B begin at Auschwitz-Birkenau(Jan.).Nazi leaders attend Wannsee Conference

to coordinate the final solution(Jan. 20).100,000 Jews from Warsaw Ghetto deported to Treblinka death

camp(July).

1943

Warsaw Ghetto uprisings(Jan.andApril);Ghetto exterminated(May).

1944

476,000 Hungarian Jews sent to Auschwitz(MayJune).D-day(June 6).Soviet Army liberates Maidanek

death camp(July).Nazis try to hide evidence of death camps(Nov.).

1945

As Allies advance, Nazis force concentration camp inmates on death marches. Americans liberate

Buchenwald and British liberate Bergen-Belsen camps(April).Nuremberg War Crimes Trial(Nov. 1945

Oct. 1946).

#ill$$i"% #ilsto$s

The 100 Most Significant Events of the Last Thousand

Years

Reducing the millennium to a laundry list of highlights cannot pretend to be a definitive or accurate

exercise. Note that only events judged to haveworldsignificance are included. Apologies for the inevitable

bias toward Western as well as twentieth century eventswe are all prisoners of our own history. For a

less whirlwind glance at the last thousand years, see ourMillennium Timeline.

1066Norman Conquestof Britain

1095Pope Urban II calls for theCrusades

1100sAngkor Watis built

1206Genghis Khanbegins creation of largest land empire in history

1215Magna Cartasigned

1260Chartres Cathedralconsecrated

1271Marco Polobegins travels to Asia
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16/19

1273Thomas Aquinas'sSumma theologica

1300sRenaissancebegins in Italy

1347Bubonic plague(Black Death) spreads in Europe

c.1387Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales

1399Tamerlanebegins last great conquest

1438Incan Empireformed in Peru

1455Gutenberg's movable-type printing press produces the Bible

1492Columbusreaches the New World

1509Michelangelobegins painting Sistine Chapel

1513Machiavelli'sThe Prince

1517Martin Lutherinitiates Reformation

1519Aztec Empireat height as Spanish arrive

1520Suleiman Ithe Magnificent presides over the Ottoman Empire's greatest period

1522Magellan's expedition circumnavigates the globe

1543Copernicuspostulates aheliocentric universe

1582Pope Gregory XIIIreformscalendar

1603Shakespeare'sHamlet

1605Cervantes'sDon Quixote,first modern novel

1609Galileomakes first astronomical observations with a telescope

1637DescartespublishesDiscours de la mthode

1643Taj Mahalcompleted

1664Newton's theory of universalgravitation

1667Milton'sParadise Lost

1684Leibniz'scalculuspublished

1690Locke'sEssay Concerning Human Understanding

1721Bachcompletes the Brandenburg Concertos
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17/19

1755Johnson'sDictionary of the English Language

1760Industrial Revolutionbegins in England

1762Rousseau'sThe Social Contract

1764Mozart(aged eight) writes first symphony

1769Wattpatents first practicalsteam engine

1776U.S.Declaration of Independence;Adam Smith'sWealth of Nations

1787U.S. Constitutionsigned

1789French Revolutionbegins

1792Wollstonecraft'sVindication of the Rights of Woman

1796Jennerdiscoverssmallpox vaccine

1808Beethoven'sFifth Symphony

1815Battle of Waterloo crushesNapoleon

1819Bolvardefeats Spanish forces at Boyac

1826Niepce takes firstphotograph

1833Slavery abolishedin British Empire

1842Long usesfirst anesthetic(ether)

1859Darwin'sOn the Origin of Species;Lenoir builds first practical internal-combustion engine

1862Pasteur's experiments lead to germ theory; Salon des Refuss introducesimpressionism

1867Japan ends 675-yearshogun rule

1876Bellpatents the telephone

1879Edisoninvents electric light

1880sEurope colonizesAfrican continent

1885World'sfirst skyscraperbuilt in Chicago

1893New Zealandbecomes first country in the world to grantwomen the vote

1895Lumire brothers introducemotion pictures;Marconisends first radio signals

1897Herzl launchesZionist movement
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18/19

1900Freud'sInterpretation of Dreams

1903Wright brothersfly first motorized airplane

1905Einsteinannounces theory of relativity

1907Picasso'sLes Demoiselles d'Avignonintroduces cubism

1911Rutherforddiscovers structure of atom

1913Forddevelops first movingassembly line

1914World War Ibegins

1916Sangerfounds internationalbirth control movement

1917Leninleads theBolshevikRevolution

1918GlobalSpanish flu epidemic

1922Joyce'sUlyssespublished

1927Farnsworthdemonstrates working model of atelevision;Lemaitreproposesbig bang

theory

1928Flemingdiscoverspenicillin

1929Hubbleproposestheory of expanding universe; U.S. stock market crash precipitates

global depression

1936Keynes'sThe General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money

1939Hitlerinvades Poland;World War IIbegins

1942Nazi leaders atWannsee Conferencecoordinatefinal solution to the Jewish question

1945Atomic bombsare dropped onHiroshimaandNagasaki;first electronic computer, ENIAC,

is built;Arab Leaguelaunches modernpan-Arabism

1946First meeting ofU.N. General Assembly;Churchill's Iron Curtain speech marks

beginning ofcold war

1947Gandhi's civil disobedience movement leads to an independent India

1949Communist victory inChinaunderMao Zedong

1950sAbstract expressionismintroduced

1953Watson, Crick, and Franklin discoverDNA's structure

1954Brownv.Board of Educationbegins unraveling ofU.S. racial segregation
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19/19

1957Russia launchesfirst satellite,Sputnik I

1959Mary and Louis Leakeyuncoverhominid fossils

1969Armstrong and Aldrinwalk on the Moon;Internet(ARPA) goes online

1980Smallpoxeradicated

1981Scientists identifyAIDS

1989Fall of Communismin Eastern Europe

1991Breakup of Soviet Union;apartheid endsin South Africa
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major events in world history

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