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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.)
11001199 (A.D.)World History
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.
2001299 (A.D.)World History
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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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.
13001399 (A.D.)World History
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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14001499 (A.D.)World History
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.
15001599 (A.D.)World History
The Duomo in
Florence
Linda J. Barnes
Joan of Arc
(14121431)
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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
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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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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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