A TIMELINE: BRIEF HISTORY OF WESTERN HISTORY FOCUS ON CONFLICTS

Year Government, Politics and War Religion& Philosophy
(1) Stonehenge in Southern England
(2) Epic of Gilgamesh is first written myth
c. 4300 BC Megalithic tombs in Western Europe
1800 BC c. 1800-1750; Hammurabi establishes Babylonian Empire Earliest prohibitions against pork among shepherd tribes in Middle East
2000 BC Hittites establish empire in Anatolia (modern Turkey)
1813 BC Emergence of Assyrian power under Shamshi-Adad I
2100 BC First Ziggurats in Sumer
2334 BC c. 2334-2193; First deification of kings in Sumer
2700 BC Yin and Yang theory developed in China
1333 BC Tutankhaman (King Tut) reestablishes polytheism as official religion in Egypt
1353 BC Amenhotep IV introduces monotheism to Egypt
1450 BC Mycenaean Greeks conquer Minoan Civilization on Crete Brahma worship in India
1500 BC c. 1504-1492; Thutmose I expands Egypt into Palestine, Syria, and Nubia
1700 BC c. 1700-1650; Chariot-equipped Hyksos begin invasions and conquer Middle Kingdom Egypt
1750 BC Collapse of Indus River Valley civilization at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa
1200 BC c. 1200-1100; Judaism established in Palestine
GOD CREATED THE WORLD
Page 1 of 57 pages

957 BC Solomon builds first Jewish temple in Jerusalem
800 BC Olmecs build pyramids in Central America (modern Mexico)
850 BC
c. 850-750; Approximate date of written transcriptions of
Homer'sIliad and Odyssey from existing oral tradition
883 BC Revival of Assyrian power under Ashurnasirpal II
1006 BC c. 1006-965; David becomes king of Israel and conquers Jerusalem
612 BC Babylonians sack Nineveh; Assyrian power collapses
671 BC Assyrians conquer Egypt
722 BC Sargon II seizes power in Assyria; destroys the Kingdom of Israel
744 BC Tiglath-Pileser III succeeds in Assyria; Conquers Syria, Palestine, Israel, and Babylon
772 BC
Construction begins on Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World
776 BC First Olympic Games held in Greece
553 BC
c. 553; Death of Zoroaster; Teachings emphasizing monotheism and eschatology
become official religion of Persian Empire
565 BC Spread of Taoism in China
587 BC Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon destroys Jerusalem; Babylonian Captivity of the Jews begins
600 BC c. 600; Greeks colonize southern France c. 600; Sappho is priestess of love cult on Lesbos
605 BC Babylonians defeat last Assyrian army at Megiddo; End of Assyria as an independent kingdom
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(1) c. 500; Polynesian culture develops in Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga
(2) Earliest versions of Sun Tzu's The Art of War
(3) Heraclitus becomes one of the earliest dialectical philosophers
(1) Spartan army under King Leonidas defeated by Persians at Battle of Thermopylae
(2) Greek fleet defeats Persian fleet at Battle of Salamis
469 BC Socrates' birth
539 BC Babylonian empire conquered by Cyrus the Great of Persia
498 BC Pindar begins composing his Odes
500 BC
499 BC Ionian Revolt marks beginning of Persian-Greek Wars
515 BC c. 515; Birth of Parmenides, who becomes founder of metaphysics
517 BC Hsiao Yen (Wu Ti) backs Buddhist missionary efforts in central China
522 BC Darius I rises to power in Persia; Expands Persian Empire to its maximum extent
472 BC Aeschylus's tragedyPersae performed
478 BC Athens founds Delian League to lead the Greek war against Persia
480 BC
479 BC
Battles of Plataea and Mycale mark the end of Spartan leadership of the Greek coalition against
Persia
490 BC Athenians defeat Persians at Battle of Marathon
495 BC c. 495-483; Confucius teaches throughout China
466 BC Delian League decisively defeats Persian fleet at Battle of Eurymedon River
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(1) Death of Empedocles, who developed Four Elements theory of the natural
world
(2) c. 430; Herodotus writes his History
427 BC Plato's Birth
438 BC Phidias completes Parthenon
440 BC Sophocles' tragedyAntigone
441 BC First stage success of Euripides in Athens
455 BC Anaxagoras teaches atomistic theory of the natural world
457 BC First Peloponnesian War; Sparta dominant in Peloponnesian Peninsula
423 BC Aristophanes' comedyThe Clouds
426 BC Euripides' Andromache
428 BC Euripides' Hippolytus ; portrays struggle between sexual desire and asceticism
430 BC
429 BC c. 429, Sophocles'Oedipus Rex
431 BC Second Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta begins Euripides' Medea
415 BC Athens sends large expeditionary force to Sicily; Athenians are decisively defeated Euripides' The Trojan Women
420 BC c. 420-413; Sophocles'Electra
421 BC Aristophanes' comedyThe Peace
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(1) Posthumous production of Sophocles'Oedipus at Colonus
(2) Death of Thucydides, who leaves behind The History of the Peloponnesian War
380 BC Plato wrote the Republic
384 BC Aristotle's Birth
350 BC Aristotle wrote the "Politics"
347 BC Plato's Death
336 BC Philip II of Macedon assassinated; Alexander rises to power in Macedon
404 BC Athens surrenders, marking end of Peloponnesian War
405 BC With Persian aid, Spartan fleet decisively defeats Athenians at the battle of Aegospotami
411 BC Outnumbered Athenian fleet defeats Spartans at Battle of Cynossema Aristophanes' anti-war satire Lysistrata
343 BC Rome subdues Campania in First Samnite War
367 BC Aristotle begins study at Plato's Academy
371 BC Thebes defeats Sparta at Battle of Leuctra; Spartan helots freed
385 BC Plato establishes his Academy
401 BC Battle of Cunaxa; Xenophon and 10,000 Greek mercenaries retreat through Persian Empire
399 BC Trial and death of Socrates
335 BC Alexander destroys the rebellious city of Thebes and enslaves its population Aristotle opens the Lyceum
338 BC
Philip II of Macedon defeats Greek army at Battle of Chaeronea; End of independent Greek city-
states
340 BC Athens forms Hellenic League to resist Philip II of Macedon
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(1) Alexander the Great enters Babylon; Conquers Persian Empire
(2) Darius III assassinated by Persian satrap Bessus
(1) Alexander's general Ptolemy establishes control of Egypt
(2) Alexander the Great dies; Wars of the Diadochoi (Successors) begin
322 BC Aristotle's Death
290 BC Rome completes conquest of Samnites; Effectively controls Italy Approximate date for the construction of the Library of Alexandria
283 BC Pharos lighthouse in Alexandria
332 BC Alexander conquers Palestine and Egypt
334 BC Alexander the Great Invades Asia Minor and defeats Persians at Granicus River
312 BC Seleucus establishes Seleucid Empire in Mesopotamia
323 BC
324 BC Menander introduces 'New Comedy' to Greece
326 BC
Macedonian army defeats King Porus at the battle of The Hydaspes River; Alexander the Great's
army mutinies and refuses to march farther into India
330 BC
329 BC Alexander the Great reaches India
331 BC Alexander defeats Persians at Gaugamela; Effectively destroys Persian army
281 BC Completion of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
289 BC Chinese ruler/philosopher Mencius dies; Responsible for refining Confucianism
300 BC c. 300 BCE; Epicurus founds school of philosophy in Athens
301 BC Antigonus dies at battle of Ipsus; Dissolution of Alexander's empire is confirmed Zeno introduces Stoic philosophy in Athens
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(1) c. 260; Mauryan king Ashoka converts to Buddhism
(2) c. 260; First gladiatorial games in Rome
(1) c. 150; El Mirador (Guatemala) has become largest center of Mayan civilization
(2) c. 150; Polybius publishes first part of The Histories
150 BC
219 BC Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage begins
221 BC Chinese Emperor Shih Huang-ti outlaws and persecutes Confucianism
241 BC
First Punic War ends after Carthaginian defeat at the battle of the Aegates Islands; Rome
conquers Sicily and makes it the first Roman province
260 BC
264 BC First Punic War begins between Rome and Carthage
272 BC Rome conquers Tarentum and unifies Italian Peninsula
171 BC Third Macedonian War between Rome and Macedon
190 BC
Rome defeats Seleucid king Antiochus III at battle of Magnesia; Rome secures control of Greece
and gains territory in Asia Minor
202 BC
Roman army under Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal at Zama; Second Punic War ends with
Rome dominant in the Mediterranean
206 BC
Roman army under Scipio Africanus defeats Carthaginians at battle of Ilipa; Rome conquers
Hispania
216 BC Hannibal's Carthaginian army destroys 16 Roman legions at Battle of Cannae
217 BC Roman army ambushed and destroyed at Battle of Lake Trasimene
167 BC Mattahias the Hasmonian begins Maccabean Revolt against Seleucid rule in Judea
168 BC Rome defeats Philip V of Macedon at battle of Pydna; Rome assures dominance in Greece
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(1) Romans capture Carthage; Carthaginian territory incorporated into Roman province of Africa
(2) Rome eliminates democracies in Greece
(1) Virgil begins hisEclogues
(2) Second Triumvirate deifies Julius Caesar; Origin of Caesar worship
35 BC First volume of Horace'sSatires
19 BC Virgil dies; Augustus immediately publishes theAeneid
105 BC Proto-Germanic Cimbri and Teutones destroy a Roman army at battle of Arausio
144 BC Mithridates I of Parthia conquers Babylonia, Media, and Persia
146 BC
149 BC Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage begins; Roman army besieges Carthage
51 BC Cicero's De Republica
53 BC Parthians crush Roman army at battle of Carrhae; Crassus killed afterward
58 BC Julius Caesar invades Gaul; Gallic Wars begin
63 BC Judea becomes client-kingdom of Rome
102 BC Roman army under Gaius Marius defeats Teutones at battle of Aquae Sextiae
104 BC Second Slave Revolt in Sicily
42 BC Marcus Junius Brutus defeated at the Second Battle of Philippi; Commits suicide soon after
45 BC
Julius Caesar defeats conservative republican army at the Battle of Munda; Caesar returns to
Rome to rule as dictator
Julius Caesar enforces the Julian Calendar developed by Sosigenes of Alexandria
48 BC Caesar defeats Senetorial army under Crassus at Pharsalus
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70 Roman army under Titus captures Jerusalem and destroys Jewish Temple
73 Jewish Zealots commit mass suicide at Masada
18 BC Ovid's Amores
16 Romans defeat Arminius but German tribes remain independent
9
Germanic revolt against Rome under Arminius; Destroys Varus and three legions at battle of
Teutoburg Forest
7 Ovid's Metamorphoses
6 AD Rome incorporates client-kingdom of Judea into new province of Iudaea
4 c. 4; Approximate date of the birth of Jesus
15 BC Augustus expands Rome's frontier to the Danube River
64 Fires destroy half of Rome; Nero blames Christians and begins persecutions
63 Seneca's work of stoic philosophy, Epistolae Morales
46 Paul of Tarsus begins missionary work in Asia Minor
30 c. 30; Crucifixion and death of Jesus
27 c. 27; Jesus is baptized and begins ministry
17
Livy, Roman historian, dies leaving behind his 142-volume history of Rome, Ab
Urbe Condita
67 Official introduction of Buddhism into China
66 First Jewish Revolt against Roman rule in Judaea Petronius' Satyricon
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122 Hadrian's Wall built in Britain
132 c. 132-135; Jewish Rebellion in Jerusalem
79 Pliny the Elder killed in Pompeii during eruption of Vesuvius
76 Chinese army defeats Xiongnu nomads (Probably the early Huns)
115 Emperor Trajan expands the Roman frontier to the Tigris River
114 Rome annexes Armenia
113 Trajan's Column erected in newly rebuilt Roman Forum
106
105 Tacitus' Historiae
80 Colosseum opens in Rome
125 Approximate date of completion of the Pantheon in Rome
121 Seutonius' Lives of the Caesars
120 c. 120; Plutarch's Parallel Lives
117 Tacitus' Annales
167 Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius leads series of successful campaigns against Germanic tribes
155
Martyrdom of Polycarp, an early Christian bishop in Smyrna; His Letter to the
Philippians among earliest Christian writings to survive
135 Hadrian orders destruction of Jerusalem and enforces a diaspora of the Jews
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301 Armenia becomes first state to officially adopt Christianity
200 Judah haNasi compilesMishnah , the foundation of Talmudic Law
197
Approximate date of Tertullian's conversion to Christianity; Introduced the term
Trinity into Christian theology
180 Marcus Aurelius'Meditations ; Stoic philosophy
268 Roman emperor Claudius II repels invasion of Goths; Gains title Gothicus
260 Persian King Shapur I defeats Roman army and seizes emperor Valerian
250
Roman emperor Decius begins systematic persecution of Christians to ensure
dominance of paganism
247 Philippus holds games to celebrate millennial anniversary of the founding of Rome
244
241 Shapur I expands the Sassanid Empire at the expense of Roman territory
306 Baths of Diocletian open in Rome, the most lavish public bath in Rome
303
Roman emperor Diocletian begins the Great Persecution of Christians and
Manicheans in the empire
276
Mani executed; Teachings will become Manichaeism, which combines Christian
salvation and Zoroastrian dualism
275 c. 275; Anthony begins hermetic life of study; Beginning of Christian Monasticism
274 Aurelian defeats rebels at Châlons to restore Roman authority in Gaul
313
Constantine issues the Edict of Milan granting official toleration to Christianity in
the Roman Empire
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354 St. Augustine's Birth
(1) Huns invade Europe
(2) Picts invade Roman Britain
379 Roman emperor Theodosius makes treaty with Visigoths as military allies of Rome
341 Coptic Christianity introduced to Ethiopia
335 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is consecrated in Jerusalem
330 Construction begins on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome
325 Council of Nicaea; Arian Christianity condemned
321 Sunday becomes the Sabbath in Roman Empire
378 Visigoth cavalry destroys Roman army and kills emperor Valens at battle of Adrianople
376 Visigoths permitted to settle in Balkans by Rome
372 Spread of Buddhism in China and Korea
362
Roman emperor Julian decrees religious toleration in the empire and attempts to
reestablish paganism
360
350 Huns invade Persia
391 Roman emperor Theodosius orders all non-Christian books burned
390
Bishop Ambrose of Milan forces emperor Theodosius to do public penance for a
massacre of 7,000 in Thessalonica
380
Theodosius I establishes Catholic Christianity as the official state religion of the
Roman Empire
Page 12 of 57 pages

(1) Vandals invade Iberian Peninsula
(2) Revolt in Britain marks the end of Roman rule
430 St. Augustine's Death
396 Visigoths under Alaric invade Greece
393 Olympic games forbidden by Emperor Theodosius
411 Augustine's The City of God
409
410 Visigoths under King Alaric sack Rome
406 Vandals invade Gaul, sacking numerous Roman cities
401 Visigoths under Alaric invade Italy
397 Augustine's Confessions
473 King Euric of the Visigoths declares Gaul independent of Roman rule
453 Attila dies; Huns expelled from Italy
451
Attila and Huns defeated in Gaul at battle of Chalons; Last great military campaign by Western
Roman Empire
449 Saxons and Angles invade Britain
438 Roman law since 312 published in Codex Theodosianus
431 Council of Ephesus exiles Nestorius; Emergence of cult of the Virgin Mary
Page 13 of 57 pages

(1) Cosmas Indicopleustes'Topographica Christiana attempts to demonstrate the
truth of the biblical Creation story and posits a flat Earth
(2) Christian chronology established by Dionysius Exiguus
(1) Benedict of Nursia founds monastic order at Monte Casino
(2) Byzantine Emperor Justinian I closes Plato's Academy
(1) Benedict of Nursia writes Regula monachorum to regulate daily life in the
monastary
(2) Roman statesman Cassiodorus retires and founds monastery at Viverium;
Becomes major center for translation of ancient Greek texts
537 Hagia Sophia completed and dedicated in Constantinople
535 Belisarius conquers the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy for Byzantine Empire
533 Belisarius conquers the Vandal kingdom in North Africa for the Byzantine Empire
529
525
507 Clovis defeats Visigoths at Vouillé; Unites all Frankish lands on the left bank of the Rhine
481
561 Chlothar I dies; Frankish kingdoms are redivided
558 Chlothar I temporarily reunites Clovis' Frankish kingdoms
553 Procopius' Anecdota (Secret History) of the Byzantine Empire
540
541 Justinian I abandons plans to conquer Gaul and Britain after plague strikes Constantinople
MIDDLE AGES
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628 Muslim army captures Mecca
582 Cassiodorus' History of the Goths
579
King Chosroes of Persia dies after 48 year reign; Reestablished Persian power from Red Sea to
Oxus River
594 Empress Suiko of Japan converts to Buddhism
593 Empress Suiko becomes first Japanese ruler to gain official recognition from China
589 Sui emperor Wendi reunites China
588 Lombards convert to Christianity
587 First Buddhist monastery in Japan
585 Soga clan adopts Buddhism in Japan
622
Muhammad forced to flee Mecca for Medina; Becomes basis for Islamic tradition
of the hijra
620
Persian king Chosroes II conquers Rhodes; Persian Empire reaches extent of Darius' 6th Century
BCE empire
610 Muhammad begins preaching in Mecca
604
Japanese crown prince issues the Shotoku Taishi, which requires veneration of the
Buddha and Buddhist laws
603 First St. Paul's Cathedral built in London
601 The Vaghbata , a collection of Indian medical knowledge compiled
630 Muhammad returns to Mecca with the Koran
Page 15 of 57 pages

710 Islamic forces conquer Tangiers; Caliphate controls entire North African coast
711 Islamic army invades Iberian Peninsula
638 Islamic forces capture Jerusalem
637 Islamic armies invade Mesopotamia
636 Battle of Yarmuk; Islamic forces under Khalid ibn al-Walid conquer Syria and Palestine
633 East Anglia converted to Christianity
661 Sunni and Shi'a branches of Islam split over succession to the Caliphate
659 c. 659; First Shinto shrines built in Japan
645 Buddhism reaches Tibet
643 Construction on the Dome of the Rock begins
642 Islamic forces decisively defeat Persians at the battle of Nihawand
639 Islamic armies conquer Egypt
700 Dandin's The Adventures of the Ten Princes , Sanskrit poetry
692 Dome of the Rock is completed by Caliph Abdel-Malik
690 Shinto Shrine of Ise first built in its current form in Japan
680 Hussein killed at battle of Karbala; Battlefield will become site for Shiite holy city
678
Umayyad forces forced to lift siege of Constantinople after decisive naval defeat at the battle of
Syllaeum
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(1) Pope Gregory II excommunicates Leo III for iconoclasm
(2) Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum by Bede
796 Palatine Chapel built in Aix-la-Chapelle
801 Charlemagne conquers Barcelona from the Moors
804 Charlemagne completes conquest and conversion of Saxony
730
732 Frankish army under Charles Martel defeats Umayyad army at the battle of Tours
726 Byzantine emperor Leo III initiates iconoclastic movement in Constantinople
717 Second Siege of Constantinople; Byzantines decisively defeat Umayyad navy using Greek fire
712 Muhammad ibn Kasim makes first Islamic conquests in India Ono Yasumara's Kojiki , the first written history of Japan
790 Carolingian Renaissance begins
787 Danes invade England
774 Charlemagne visits Rome; Absorbs Lombardy into Frankish kingdom
766 York becomes English center for learning
756 Donation of Pepin creates Papal States and establishes temporal power of the papacy
752 55 ft. statue of the Buddha, Rushanabutsu , completed in Japan
814 Doge's Palace built in Venice
800 Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans
Alcuin of York works on corrected version of the Bible and compiles Lives of the
Saints
Page 17 of 57 pages

900 Laguna Copperplate Inscription
930 Althing established in Iceland; Early representative assembly in Europe
942 Edmund I of England conquers the Danelaw
820 Islamic law school established in Medina
850 Vikings seize Kiev; Origin of Varangian empire of the Rus
845 Chinese government launches persecution of Buddhists
843 Treaty of Verdun permanently splits Charlemagne's empire
836 Vikings sack London
830 Einhard's Life of Charlemagne
825
King Egbert of Wessex conquers Kent, Sussex, and Essex; Wessex becomes dominant power in
England
909 Abbey of Cluny founded in eastern France
895 Magyars raid Bulgaria; Settle in Central Europe
886 Alfred the Great expels the Vikings from London; Establishes the Danelaw
874 Christians defeat Moors at Orbedo; Beginning of theReconquista in the Iberian Peninsula
862
Byzantine emperor Michael III sends Cyril and Methodius to convert slavs; Origin of
Cyrillic alphabet
859 Arabs complete conquest of Sicily
939 Ngo Quyen defeats Chinese army and establishes independent kingdom in northern Vietnam
Page 18 of 57 pages

1050 Tughril Beg conquers Isfahan and establishes Seljuk capital there
1051 Cathars executed in Germany
969 Fatimids conquer Egypt and move capital to Cairo
956 Oghuz Turks led by Seljuk move into Transoxiana
955 Otto I of Germany defeats Magyar army at the battle of Lechfeld
1018
Council of Pavia; Pope Benedict VIII declares clerical marriage and concubinage
illegal
1010 Robert II proclaims the 'Peace of God' in France to curb aristocratic violence
993
Pope John XV canonizes Ulric, bishop of Augsburg; First documented papal
canonization
992 Venice gains independence from Byzantine Empire
988
Vladimir the Great of Kiev converts to Christianity; Foundation of Russian Orthodox
Church
982 Eric the Red begins viking invasion of Iceland Direct Chinese contact with the Philippines
1048 Seljuk Turks sack Erzurum; Maintain presence in Anatolia Henry III appoints Pope Clement II
1040 Seljuk Turks conquer territories in Persia
1035 King Cnut dies; England, Denmark, and Norway redivided
1031 Umayyad caliphate abolished in Spain; Rise of minor Moorish kingdoms
1022 Bogomils burned in France
1052 Construction on Westminster Abby begins
Page 19 of 57 pages

1115 Peter Abelard becomes chair of theology at Notre Dame
1065 Westminster Abby consecrated
1061 The Norman conquest of Arab-controlled Sicily
1055 Seljuk Turks conquer Baghdad; Tughril Beg becomes sultan
1054
Pope Leo IX and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicate each other; Final
step in the Great Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches
1080
The Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England, is
commissioned
1079 Peter Abelard born
1078 Construction on the Tower of London begins
1075
Pope Gregory VII decrees papal supremacy inDictatus papae ; Beginning of Investiture
Controversy between the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor
1071
Seljuk army decisively defeats Byzantine army at battle of Manzikert; Conquer parts of Anatolia
and Syria
1066 William the Conqueror defeats Harold at the battle of Hastings; Normans conquer England
1119 The Knights Templar founded in Jerusalem
1100 Baptistery in Florence built
1099 Crusaders capture Jerusalem; First Crusade ends
The Order of the Knights Hospitaller chartered in Jerusalem to protect pilgrims to
the Holy Land
1095 Pope Urban II proclaims First Crusade against Islamic conquests in the Middle East
1091 Roger Guiscard completes the Norman conquest of Sicily
Page 20 of 57 pages

(1) Peace of Constance confirms the autonomy of Italian cities from Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I (Barbarossa)
(2) Saladin captures Aleppo; Moves his capital to Damascus
(1) Pope Gregory VIII calls for Third Crusade to halt Saladin's conquests in the Middle East
(2) Saladin captures Jerusalem from the European crusaders
1200 Lay order of the Beguines founded in Liège
1175 Saladin recognized as sultan of Egypt and Syria
1173 Thomas Becket canonized
1170
The Almohads move their capital to Seville; The Almohad Dynasty has conquered much of North
African and consolidated the smaller Islamic kingdoms in Spain
Thomas Becket murdered by nobles loyal to King Henry II of England
1145
Pope Eugene III proclaims Second Crusade to recapture Crusader Kingdom of
Edessa
1123 The First Lateran Council condemns simony and clerical marriage in Europe
1122
Concordat of Worms ends the Investiture Controversy between the Pope and Holy Roman
Emperor
1192
Richard I of England and Saladin sign truce which allows Christian access to Jerusalem; Richard
leaves the Holy Land
1191 Crusading army under Richard I of England captures Acre and defeats Saladin's army at Arsuf
1190
Emperor Frederick I drowns while crossing the Saleph River; German crusader army
disintegrates
1188 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) leads crusader army from Germany
1187
1183
1179 Third Lateran Council declares crusade against Albigensian heresy
1193 Saladin dies
Page 21 of 57 pages

(1) Western façade of Notre Dame Cathedral completed
St. Thomas Aquinas' birth
(2) Francis of Assisi'sCanticle to Brother Sun
1231 Gregory IX establishes the Papal Inquisition
1210 Foundation of the Franciscan Order
1209 Foundation of Cambridge University
1208 Pope Innocent III declares crusade against Albigensian heresy in Languedoc
1204
Crusaders capture and sack Constantinople; Baldwin count of Flanders crowned Latin Emperor
and Byzantine territory partitioned with Venice
1222 Genghis Khan conquers Khwarezmid Empire (Afghanistan)
1216 Foundation of the Dominican Order
1215 Mongols under Genghis Khan sack Beijing
1214
Philip II of France decisively defeats Emperor Otto IV at battle of Bouvines; Confirms French
conquest of Normandy and other English territories
1212
Alfonso VIII of Castile and Sancho VII of Navarre decisively defeat Almohad army at battle of Las
Navas de Tolosa
Failed Children's Crusade in Europe
1211 Genghis Khan conquers Kara-Khitai empire in Turkestan and invades China
1236 Ferdinand III of Castile conquers Muslim Cordoba
1227 Genghis Khan dies; Mongol empire divided among his sons
1225
1226
The Golden Bull of Rimini authorizes the Teutonic Knights to conquer and convert pagan
Prussian tribes in the Baltic
Page 22 of 57 pages

(1) Mohammed ibn Nasr founds Nasrid Dynasty in Granada
(2) Mongol leader Batu Khan sacks Vladimir; Establishes the Golden Horde
1266 Thomas Aquinas begins work on his Summa theologica
1274 Thomas Aquinas dies
1290 Edward I expels the Jews from England
1297 William Wallace leads uprising in Scotland; Defeats English army at Stirling Bridge
1298 Edward I of England defeats William Wallace at Falkirk Marco Polo's Travels to Tartary and China
(1) Papal and Neapolitan armies destroyed by malaria; Truce ends the War of the Sicilian
Vespers
(2) Fleming militiamen defeat French army at Courtrai
1259 Henry III of England renounces claims to Normandy and other Angevin territories in France
1238
1279 Kublai Khan completes the Mongol conquest of China
1277 Edward I of England conquers Wales
1265 Dante born
1260 Mamluks defeat Mongol army at Ain Jalut; Egypt avoids conquest Chartres Cathedral consecrated
1296 Edward I of England defeats Scottish army at Dunbar; Scottish king John Balliol abdicates
1295 France and Scotland form alliance against England; Origin of the "Auld Alliance" Marco Polo returns from China
1291 Mamluks destroy Acre and end the existence of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem
1282 Beginning of the War of the Sicilian Vespers
1281
Typhoon destroys Mongol invasion fleet off the coast of Japan; Japanese call itKamikaze (Divine
Wind)
1302
Boniface VIII asserts papal supremacy over secular power in the bull, Unam
sanctum
Page 23 of 57 pages

(1) Edward III of England lands in Antwerp with his army
(2) Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV supports Edward III's claim to the French throne
(1) Edward III declares himself King of France
(2) Battle of Sluys
1309 Pope Clement V moves the papacy to Avignon, France
1307 Dante's Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy )
1305 William Wallace executed in London
1338
1340
1337 Philip VI of France confiscates English territory in Gascony; Beginning of the Hundred Years War
1328 Edward III recognizes Scottish independence
1331 Ottoman Turks capture Nicaea, the last remaining Byzantine territory in Asia
1315 Swiss militia defeat Habsburg army at Morgarten and secure Swiss autonomy
1314 Robert the Bruce defeats English army at Bannockburn; English forces withdraw from Scotland
1353 Boccaccio's The Decameron
1346 English defeat French at battle of Crécy; Emergence of the English longbow
1342 Scottish troops take Roxburgh; English expelled from Scotland
1341 English garrison expelled from Edinburgh, Scotland Petrarch crowned in Rome
Page 24 of 57 pages

(1) Emperor Charles IV issues Golden Bull establishing a system of seven Electors in the Holy
Roman Empire
(2) English longbowmen defeat French army at the Battle of Poiters; French King John II
captured and held for ransom
1364 Papal Palace completed in Avignon, France
1370 Hubert van Eyck born
(1) End of Babylonian Captivity for Roman Catholic Church
(2) Filippo Brunelleschi, early Renaissance architect and engineer born
(1) Ghiberti born
(2) The Great Schism & the election of Clement VII
1380 Islam arrived in Sulo Archipelago and Jolo
1382 Bible translated into English by Wycliffe
1390 Jan Van Eyck born
1360 Timur begins rise to military prominence; Conquers Transoxiana
1356
1377
1378
1371
Ottoman army under Murad I defeats Byzantine army at battle of Chernomen; Ottomans
conquer most of the Balkans
1365
Charles V recognizes John de Montfort as Duke of Brittany in the Treaty of Guérande; End of the
Breton War of Succession
1363 John II gives Burgundy to son Philip; Burgundy will emerge as independent rival to French throne
1397 Treaty of Kalmar stipulates perpetual union of the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden & Norway
1389
Ottoman army under Murad I defeats Serbian army at the battle of Kosovo; Ottoman Empire
conquers Serbia
1386 Old Swiss Confederation defeats Habsburg army at the Battle of Sempach
Last pagan ruler in Europe, Jogalia of Lithuania, converts to Christianity;
Foundation of Polish-Lithuanian dynastic union
Page 25 of 57 pages

(1) Frederick VI of the House of Hohenzollern recognized as Margrave and Prince-elector of
Brandenburg
(2) English army under Henry V decisively defeats French army at the Battle of Agincourt
(1) Vietnam gains independence from Ming China
(2) English army begins siege of Orleans
1450 Florence becomes center of Italian Renaissance
(1) Leonardo da Vinci born
(2) Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise
(1) Turks capture Constantinople and end the Byzantine Empire
(2) French army defeats English at Castillon; End of English presence in Aquitaine
(3) French forces enter Bordeaux; End of the Hundred Years' War
1453
1414 1414-1418; Council of Constance resolves the Western Schism of the Catholic Church
1444 Botticelli born
1438 Charles VII and the Pragmatic Sanction
1436 Verrocchio born
1428
1423 Venetian-Turkish Wars begin
1415 John Huss burned at the stake
1419 John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy assassinated by servants of the Dauphin Charles
1452
1447 Pope Nicholas V, the Builder Pope
1446 Filippo Brunelleschi, early Renaissance architect and engineer dies
Page 26 of 57 pages

Machiavelli's Birth
1492 Spanish forces conquer final Moorish stronghold in Granada
1494 Savonarola's Reforms
1498 Albrecht Durer's Self Portrait
1499 Michelangelo's Pietà
1455 Pope gives approval to the slave trade
1454 The Treaty of Lodi establishes peace and a stable political framework in Italy
1477
Charles the Bold killed in Switzerland; Burgundian territories divided between French and
Habsburgs
1475 Michelangelo born
1471 Albrecht Durer born
1469 Florence at its cultural height
1466 Donatello dies
1465 Erasmus born
1488 Verrocchio dies
1484 Birth of Venus by Botticelli
1483 Martin Luther born
1482 Battle of Alhama de Granada
1478 Pope Sixtus IV ratifies the Spanish Inquisition
Page 27 of 57 pages

1513 Machiavelli wrote "The Prince"
(1) Portugal rules Bahrain 1521 - 1602
(2) Battle of Tenochtitlan; Cortes completes conquest of Aztec Empire
Ferdinand Magellan Arrived in the Cebu, Battle of Mactan w/ Lapu-lapu
(1) Spanish army defeats French at Battle of Pavia; Spain becomes dominant power in Italy
(2) Imperial-Spanish army commanded by Charles de Lannoy defeats a French army at the Battle
of Pavia and takes French king Francis I captive
(1) Battle of Panipat
(2) Mogul-Afghan War
1527 Imperial troops sack Rome Machiavelli's Death
1506 Charles of Ghent inherits the Burgundian possessions of his father Philip I Francis Xavier born
1503 Leonardo's Mona Lisa
1500 Madonna and Child by Michelangelo
1525
1521
At the Imperial Diet of Worms, Martin Luther refuses to recant his critique of the
Catholic Church and Charles V declares him a heretic
1520
Field of the Cloth of Gold; Fabulous meeting between Francis I of France and Henry
VIII of England
1519
Charles of Ghent secures election as King of the Romans with financial support from the Fugger
banking family
1517 Martin Luther's 95 Theses begins the Reformation
1516
Charles of Ghent proclaimed king of Aragon and Castile after the death of his grandfather
Ferdinand II
1508 Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel
1526
16TH CENTURY TIMELINE
Page 28 of 57 pages

(1) Martin Luther publishes a full translation of the Old and New Testaments in
German
(2) England splits from Roman Catholic Church; Henry VIII confiscates church
property and establishes Church of England
(1) Erasmus dies
(2) John Calvin's Protestant theological tractInstitutes of the Christian Religion
1542 Roy Lopez de Villalobos arrived in the Visayas and Mindanao
1549 Christianity reaches Japan
1532 Battle of Cajamarca Machiavelli's The Prince phosthumously published
1531 Spanish Conquest of Peru begins
1530 Pope Clement VII crowns Charles as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V Augsburg Confessions
1528 Albrecht Durer dies
1546 Smalkaldic War
1545 First Council of Trent meets in response to the Protestant Reformation
1541 El Greco born
1540 Order of the Jesuits founded
1536
1534
1535 Sir Thomas More executed
1552 Charles V loses power Francis Xavier dies
Page 29 of 57 pages

(1) St. Basil in Moscow completed
(2) St Paul's in London burns
(3) Francis Bacon born
(1) Shakespeare born
(2) Michelangelo dies
(3) Calvin Hobbes dies
Miguel Lopez de Leazpi arrived in the Philippines
1584 William of Orange Assassinated
1564
1559 John Knox
1561
1558 Battle of St. Quentin
1555 Peace of Augsburg
1577 Peter Paul Rubens born
1576 First theatre in England built
1573 Caravaggio born
1572
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre begins in France; Thousands of Calvinist
Huguenots killed throughout France
1571 Combined Spanish, Venetian, and Papal fleet destroys Ottoman fleet at Battle of Lepanto
1566 Netherlands revolt against Spain
1587 Mary, Queen of Scots dies
1581 Cossacks conquer Siberia
Page 30 of 57 pages

1613
(1) Sir Walter a Raleigh writes The History of the World
(2) El Greco dies
1621 12 Years' Truce expires; Dutch and Spanish resume war
1593 Henry IV of France converts to Catholicism to secure the French crown
1592 Pompeii discovered
1588
Spanish Armada defeated by English fleet; Spanish invasion of England fails due to battle and
weather
Thomas Hobbes was born.
1612 British to India
1611 King James version of the Bible
1606 Rembrandt born
1602 Persia rules Bahrain 1602 - 1783
1601 Conversion of St. Paul by Carravaggio
1600 Shakespeare's Hamlet
1620
Imperial forces under Tilly defeat Bohemian rebels at White Mountain; Effective end of
Bohemian Revolt
1619 Dutch take over East Indies
1618 Defenestration of Prague begins the Bohemian Revolt and Thirty Years' War
1614
1615 Inquisition questions Galileo
17TH CENTURY
Page 31 of 57 pages

(1) Jan Vermeer born
(2) John Locke born
1637
(1) Educational reforms by Comenius
(2) Anne Hutchinson expelled from Massachusetts and moves to Rhode Island
1647 Masaniello's Revolt in Naples
1626 Francis Bacon dies
1636 Harvard founded in Cambridge, Massachussets
1635 France enters Thirty Years' War as an active combatant; Franco-Spanish War begins
1634 Catholic Imperial army defeats Swedish army at the Battle of Nördlingen Anne Hutchinson settles in Massachusetts
1632 Gustavas Adolphus killed at Battle of Luetzen
1631 Gustavus Adolphus destroys Imperial Army at Breitenfeld
1630 Gustavus Adolphus invades Germany
1648 Peace of Westphalia (ends Thirty Years War)
1644 Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini
1642 The Night Watch by Rembrandt
1643 Westminster Assembly
1638
Page 32 of 57 pages

Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan was published
1672 English and French war against Dutch
1675 King Philip's War Jan Vermeer dies
1660
Louis XIV marries Maria Teresa, the daughter of Philip IV of Spain, as part of the Treaty of the
Pyrenees
1659 Franco-Spanish War ends with Treaty of the Pyrenees Moliere and Comedy
1658 Battle of the Dunes
1653 Taj Mahal is completed
1651 Nell Gwyn born
1649 Religious toleration in Maryland
1650 Rene Descartes dies
1671 Morgan sacks Panama Rob Roy born
1669 Rembrandt dies
1666 London burns for five days
1664 English take New York
1661 Daniel Defoe born
1663 Ottoman army defeated at Vienna
Page 33 of 57 pages

1684
(1) Bach born
(2) Handel born
(3) Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes and begins persecutions of Huguenots
1689 John Locke's "Second Treatise" was published.
(1) Salem witch trials
(2) College of William and Mary, Virginia, founded
(1) Charles II of Spain dies; Leaves inheritance to Dauphin of France
(2) Great Northern War begins
(1) Prussia becomes a kingdom
(2) War of the Spanish Succession begins
(1) 47 Ronin assassinate Kira Yoshinaka in Japan
(2) The first regular English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant , published for
first time
1703 Sir Isaac Newton becomes chairman of the Royal Society
1704 Battle of Blenheim John Locke dies.
18TH CENTURY
1700
1701
1692
1685
1683 Turks lay siege to Vienna, Turks later defeated
1679 Thomas Hobbes dies
1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England creates Kingdom of Great Britain
1702 William III dies; Netherlands regain status as true republic
Page 34 of 57 pages

John Rosseau was born.
1724 Immanuel Kant born
1709 Battle of Poltava
1708 J.S. Bach appointed as chamber musician at the court in Weimar
1716 Edward Teach, or "Blackbeard," begins two years of piracy in the Caribbean
1714 War of the Spanish Succession ends
1713 Treaty of Utrecht; all states except Austria make peace with France
1712 John Arbuthnot creates John Bull to represent Britain
1711 David Hume born
1710 English conquer French colony at Nova Scotia
1722 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
1721 Great Northern War ends
1720 Emperor Kangxi restricts European traders to Guangzhou
1719 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
1718 Voltaire imprisoned for criticizing the French aristocracy
1717 Prince Eugene and the Battle of Belgrade
1723 St John Passion by Bach
Page 35 of 57 pages

(1) Bach dies
(2) The Great Awakening ends in America
1750
1729 Jonathan Swift publishesA Modest Proposal
1727 American Philosophical Society established
1726 Voltaire exiled from France
1725 Cassanova born
1738 John Wesley, George Whitefield & Methodism
1737 Edward Gibbon born
1735 Euler-Maclaurin formula developed
1733 The Great Awakening begins in America
1731 Treaty of Vienna
1730 Glasite sect founded in Scotland
1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends War of Austrian Succession
1746 Goya born
1743 Treaty of Worms between Great Britain, Austria, and Sardinia
1740 First Silesian War; Frederick II of Prussia conquers Austrian province of Silesia The Messiah by Handel
1739 Nadir Shah and the capture of New Delhi Moravians established in America
Page 36 of 57 pages

(1) Braddock defeated at Fort Duquesne (1) Voltaire in Geneva
(2) Acadians exiled (2) Montesquieu born
Handel dies
Mary Wollstonecraft born
(1) Pontiac's conspiracy
(2) Seven Years' War ends
(3) French and Indian War ends
1772 First Partition of Poland by Prussia, Russia, and Austria
1773 Johann Pestalozzi
(1) American Revolution begins
(2) Battle of Lexington and Concord
1759 Battle of Quebec
1758 Noah Webster born
1757 Edmund Blake born
1755
1756 Seven Years' War begins Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born
1754 French and Indian War begins John Jacque Rosseau's "Second Discourse on Inequality" was written
1752 Political Discourses by David Hume
1770 Beethoven born
1768 Philip Astley stages first modern circus
1763
1764 Battle of Buxar establishes British East India Company as dominant force in India
1761 Slave trade to and within Portugal forbidden
1775 Jane Austen born
Page 37 of 57 pages

(1) Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
(2) David Hume dies
1778 John Jacque Rosseau dies.
The word Liberal was popularised with rise of the Age of Enlightenment
(1) Treaty of Paris ends American Revolution
(2) Sheikhs of Khalifa begin rule of Bahrain
1791 Mozart dies
1782 Americans and British discuss peace
German philosopher Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
1780
League of Armed Neutrality created by Russia, Sweden, and Denmark to protest British seizures
of neutral shipping
1777 Burgoyne defeated at Saratoga
1776 American Declaration of Independence
1781 American and French forces trap British army of Cornwallis at Yorktown
1789 German States, Wars of the begins James Fenimore Cooper born
1788 Lord Byron born
1786 The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart
1783
1784 Treaty of Constantinople
Page 38 of 57 pages

(1) French Revolutionary Wars begins
(2) Battle of Valmy
(1) Napoleon Bonaparte is named Commander of the French Armies in Italy
(2) Third Partition of Poland by Prussia, Russia, and Austria; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
destroyed
(1) Napoleon assumes command of the Army of Italy; marries Josephine
(2) British conquer Ceylon
(3) Battle of Arcola; France takes control of Italy
1797 Mary Wollstonecraft dies
(1) Delacroix born
(2) Rosetta Stone discovered
1802 Treaty of Amiens
19TH CENTURY
1799
1798 Battle of the Nile; Napoleon's army stranded in Egypt
1796
1794 Edward Gibbon dies
1795 John Keats born
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft wrote "A Vindication of the Rights of Women"
1793 Second Partition of Poland by Prussia, Russia, and Austria France bans Catholicism
1801
Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland creates the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland
1800
Page 39 of 57 pages

(1) Battle of Austerlitz
(2) Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar to maintain naval
supremacy
(3) Treaty of Pressburg formally dissolves the Holy Roman Empire
(1) French army destroys Prussian army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
(2) British acquire Cape Colony
(1) Bolivar in South America
(2) Mexican War of Independence begins
1811 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
(1) Napoleon leads French invasion of Russia, resulting in catastrophic defeat for Franch
(2) War of 1812 begins with U.S. declaration of war on the United Kingdom
(1) Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to St. Elba according to the terms of the Treaty of
Fontainebleau
(2) Representatives from Austria, Russia, Prussia, Britain, and France meet at the Congress of
Vienna to discuss future of Europe
1804 Tripolitan War Immanuel Kant dies
1805
1803
Louisiana Purchase Treaty signed in Paris; The United States purchases rights to 828,800 square
miles of territory from France
1813
The Sixth Coalition defeats Napoleon's army at the Battle of Leipzig, forcing French withdrawal
from German territory
1812
1810
1808 French occupy Spain; Peninsular War begins
1806 Joh Stuart Mill born
1807 Treaty of Tilsit marks high-water mark of Napoleon's empire Slave trade abolished in the British Empire
1814
Page 40 of 57 pages

(1) The War of 1812 ends with the Treaty of Ghent, reaffirming prewar status quo between the
United States and United Kingdom
The word Liberalism appeared first in English vocabulary
(2) Napoleon escapes Elba in an attempt to reestablish his power. Coalition forces defeat him at
the battle of Waterloo.
(1) John Keats's Romantic epic Endymion
(2) Don Juan by Lord Byron
Karl Marx was born
1820 Friedrich Engels was born.
(1) Maori civil wars begin
(2) Greek War of Independence begins
(3) Mexico gains independence under Treaty of Cordoba
(1) Leo Tolstoi born
(2) Goya dies
(3) Catholics allowed to hold office in England
1823
The Monroe Doctrine declares that European powers must not colonize or interfere with
independent nations in the Americas
1821
1822 Brazil gains independence from Portugal Jean-François Champollion announces the deciphering of the Rosetta stone
1818
1819 Spain cedes Florida to United States
1816 Emma by Jane Austen
1815
1830
Bourbon monarchy overthrown during the July Revolution in France. Louis-Philippe becomes
constitutional monarch of France
Emily Dickinson born
1829 Catholic Emancipation
1828
1827 Beethoven dies
1824 Battle of Ayacucho leads to Peruvian independence
Page 41 of 57 pages

(1) Edouard Manet born
(2) Lewis Carroll born
(3) Louisa May Alcott born
(1) Slave trade abolished
(2) James Holtzclaw born
(1) Edgar Degas born
(2) Spanish Inquisition ends
(1) Winslow Homer born
(2) Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
(3) Ralph Waldo Emerson establishes the principles of American Transcendentalism
in his essay "Nature"
1837 The word Feminism started to flourish
(1) First Opium War begins (1839-1842)
(2) Afghan-British War, First begins
(1) Britain claims Hong Kong (1) The Murders on the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe
(2) Canada united (2) Oliver Wendell Holmes, Supreme Court Justice, born
(1) Second Seminole War ends
(2) First Afghan-British War ends
(3) Treaty of Nanjing ends First Opium War; Britain gains Hong Kong
1831 Belgium declares independence from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris (or The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
1840 Britain annexes New Zealand Claude Monet born
1839
1838 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
1836 Texan War of Independence
1834
1835 Second Seminole War begins Mark Twain born
1832 Treaty of Constantinople grants Greek independence
1833
1841
1842
Page 42 of 57 pages

(1) YMCA founded
(2) Friedrich Nietzsche born
(1) Revolution of 1848 begins in France resulting in the establishment of the Second French
Republic and spread of revolutionary movements throughout Europe
(1) Paul Gauguin born
(2) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends U.S.-Mexican War; U.S. gains California and other Mexican
territory
(2) Mormons to Utah
(3) Pius IX flees Rome
(4) Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto in London
Realism started to flourish
Robert Lewis Stevenson born
1853 Gadsden Purchase Treaty Vincent van Gogh born
1847 English novelist Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre
1846 U.S.-Mexican War begins
1844
1845 First publication of Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven"
1843 Noah Webster dies
1852 Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
1850
1851 Moby Dick by Herman Melville
1848
1849 Feminist novelist George Sand's La Petite Fadette
Page 43 of 57 pages

(1) The Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Tennyson
(2) Oscar Wilde Born
(1) Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt publishes first suite ofAnnées de
Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage)
(2) Walt Whitman publishes first edition of his collection of poetry Leaves of Grass
(1) Massacre of Potawatomie Creek
(2) Declaration of Paris
(3) Second Opium War begins (1856-1860)
1857 The Indian Mutiny
(1) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
(2) Alexis de Tocqueville dies
(3) Georges Seurat born
(4) Liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill's On Liberty
1860 Anton Chekhov born
(1) Federal garrison at Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces; Abraham Lincoln calls for
75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
(2) Great Britain declares its neutrality in the American Civil War Jose Rizal was born
(1) Lucien Pissarro born
(2) Edvard Munch born
Andres Bonifacio was born
1854 Crimean War begins
1855 Crimean War ends
1861
1862
Union army under George B. McClellan inflicts strategic defeat on Confederate army led by
Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Antietam; Approximately 23,000 casualties mark the bloodiest day
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
1859 The Battles of Magenta & Solferino
1858 The Paulist Fathers founded
1856 George Bernard Shaw born
1865 Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House; Effectively ends U.S. Civil War
1863 Battle of Gettysburg
1864
Prussia and Austria invade Schleswig and Holstein after Denmark effectively annexes the
territories
Henri Toulouse-Lautrec born
Page 44 of 57 pages

(1) Peace of Prague between Prussia and Austria; Austria excluded from German affairs
(2) Austro-Prussian War (Seven Week's War) begins after disagreements over the administration
of Schleswig-Holstein
(1) Fall of Maximilian das Kapital by Karl Marx
(2) United States buys Alaska
1868 Cincinnati Reds established; First Major League Baseball team
(1) Siegfried Wagner born
(2) Mahatma Ghandi born
(3) Leo Tolstoy's novelWar and Peace
John Stuart Mill wrote "On The Subjection of Women"
(1) Battle of Sedan; Napoleon III captured along with 104,000 soldiers
(2) Siege of Paris begins
(3) Italian forces capture Rome; Kingdom of Italy annexes the Papal State completing the
unification of Italy
(4) Franco-Prussian War begins following Spanish Succession Crisis
1872 Geneva Arbitration
1873 John Stuart Mill dies
(1) 1st Impressionist exhibit
(2) Gertrude Stein born
(1) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
(2) Impressionist Camille Pissarro's The Garden of Pontoise
(1) Jack London born
(2) George Sand dies
(1) Satsuma revolt
(2) Crazy Horse surrenders to General George Crook in Nebraska
1869 Suez Canal opens
1866
1867
1876 Korea gains independence
1877
1874
1875
1870 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
1871
Treaty of Frankfurt ends Franco-Prussian War; German Empire recognized and France loses
Alsace-Lorraine
Stephen Crane born
Page 45 of 57 pages

(1) Greco-Turkish War
(2) Afghan-British War, Second begins
(1) Zulu-British War
(2) Battle of Isandhlwana
(3) Battle of Rorke's Drift
(1) Sudan, War for the begins (1) Edgar Degas's sculpture Little Dancer of Fourteen Years
(2) British forces defeat rebel Egyptian army at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir, marking the beginning
of British military occupation of Egypt
(2) Booker T. Washington founds the Tuskegee Institute, a major center for African-
American higher education
(1) Edouard Manet dies
(2) Karl Marx dies in London
Friedrich Engels wrote The Origins of the Family …"
(1) Franz Liszt dies
(2) Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York
(1) The Cardplayers by Cezanne
(2) Publication of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes first published
(2) Georges Seurat dies
(3) Agatha Christie born
Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum
1885 Victor Hugo dies
1883
Mahdist Sudanese army besieges and defeats British-led Egyptian garrison at the Siege of
Khartoum
First publication of Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1881
1882 France takes Annam
1880 Afghan-British War, Second ends
1878
1879
1884
1891
1890 Lakota Sioux defeated by U.S. Army at Wounded Knee
1886
1888 Jack the Ripper active in London; Commits series of brutal murders
Page 46 of 57 pages

(1) At the Moulin Rouge by Toulouse-Lautrec
(2) The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaiovsky
(3) Walt Whitman dies
(4) Post-Impressionist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec paints At the Moulin Rouge
(1) New Zealand grants women's suffrage
(2) Publication of French novelist Émile Zola's Le Docteur Pascal , the final
installment of his 20-volume Les Rougon-Macquart
(3) Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne's still life Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier
Mao Zedong born
(1) The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
(2) Publication of Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage
Friedrich Engels died
Jose Rizal executed
Constructivism is believed to flourish
Andres Bonifacio executed at Mt. Buntis
Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin's Where Do We Come From? What Are We?
Where Are We Going?
(1) British and French resolve the Fashoda Incident over colonial boundaries in Africa,
confirming British control over Sudan; Seen as important precursor to the Entente Cordiale
(1) Ernest Hemingway born
(2) The United States defeats Spain in the Spanish-American War and annexes the Philippines,
Guam, and Puerto Rico
(2) H. G. Wells' science fiction novel The War of the Worlds
(3) President William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution, officially annexing Hawaii to the
United States
Philippine Independence declared by Emilio Aguinaldo
Theodore Herzl writes Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State )
1895
1893
1894 Sino-Japanese War
1892
Ethiopia defeats Italy in the First Italo-Ethiopian War after decisive victory at the Battle of Adwa;
Marks first victory of an African state over a European colonial power
1896
1897
1898
Page 47 of 57 pages

(1) Peace Conference at the Hague
(2) Second Boer War begins
(3) Boxer Rebellion against foreign influence in China First Philippine Commission
(4) The Philippine-American War begins after a Filipino soldier is shot by an American in Manila.
U.S. forces battle those of the First Philippine Republic in Manila
Picasso begins his Blue Period
(1) President Theodore Roosevelt offers pardon and amnesty to all Filipinos who participated in
the Philippine-American War. Considered the official end of the conflict.
Auguste Rodin's sculptureThe Thinker
(2) Second Boer War ends Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenie born
1908 Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina leads to the Bosnian Crisis
1904
Japan defeats Russia in the Russo-Japanese War; First victory of an Asian state over a European
one in modern era
1902
1903 Jack London's novel The Call of the Wild
1901
1899
1900 German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche dies
20TH CENTURY
1910 First Jewish kibbutz -- Kibbutz Degania -- is founded
1909
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in
the United States
1907 Cubist Exhibition in Paris;Demoiselles d'Avignon by Picasso
1906
1905 The First Moroccan Crisis; Germany disputes status of French protectorate in Morocco
Page 48 of 57 pages

(1) The First World War (World War I) begins after Germany declares war on Russia
(2) Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo, Serbia.
(3) The German Schlieffen Plan fails when French forces defeat the German army at the First
Battle of the Marne; Four years of trench warfare ensue on the Western Front
(1) British forces invade Mesopotamia (Iraq)
(2) British suffer over 50,000 casualties in first day of the Battle of the Somme
(3) Battle of Verdun begins as German General Erich von Falkenhayn attempts to bleed the
French Army white
(1) Battle of Cambrai; First use of tanks in warfare
(2) United States formally declares war against Germany.
(3) The Balfour Declaration expresses official British support for the establishment of a Jewish
homeland in Palestine
(1) Bolshevik government of Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, surrenders large territories
to Germany, and formally withdraws from World War I.
(2) Germany requests armistice; World War I ends
(3) German Army begins the Great March Offensive and drives the Allied army back 40 miles
before losing momentum
(1) The Treaty of Versailles is signed, blaming Germany for World War I and creating a League of
Nations
(2) Turkish War of Independence begins
1917
1918 Leonard Bernstein born
1916 Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
1914
1915 The Ottoman government and military systematically deport and kill over 1 million Armenians
1913
Treaty of Bucharest confirms territorial acquisitions of Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria at the
expense of Ottoman Empire during the First and Second Balkan Wars
1912 Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic
1919
1920 Mesopotamia becomes a British mandated territory under Article 22 of the League of Nations
Page 49 of 57 pages

(1) Three Musicians by Picasso
(2) Wall Street bomb explodes
(1) Turkish War of Independence ends
(2) Charles G. Dawes presents a plan for restructuring Germany's war debt
Michael Foucault's birth
(1) First appearance of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse in the silent cartoonPlane
Crazy
(2) The Representation of the People Act grants British women electoral equality
with men
(1) A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
(2) Lateran Treaty
(1) Surrealist Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory
(2) Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali
(3) John Le Carre born
God's Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell
(1) Germany regains possession of the Saar
(2) Italy invades Ethiopia
(3) Anglo-German Naval Treaty signed 1935 Philippine Constitution
1927 The Jazz Singer debuts as first talking film
Claude Monet dies
1925
John Scopes, a Tennessee high school teacher, is indicted for teaching the theory
of evolution to students of his science classes.
1923
1921
1926 Germany is admitted to the League of Nations
1935
1933 Hitler withdraws Germany from the League of Nations
1932 Iraq becomes an independent country
1931 Japan invades Manchuria
1928
1929 Independent State of Vatican City comes into existence.
Nuremburg Racial Laws limiting Jewish rights announced at Nazi Party Rally
Page 50 of 57 pages

(1) Germany occupies the Rhineland
(2) Spanish Civil War breaks out between Republican and Nationalist forces
(3) 1936 - 1939 Arabs revolt across Palestine
(1) Japan invades China; Sino-Japanese War begins
(2) Nanking Massacre
(3) Italy withdraws from the League of Nations
(1) Germany invades and annexes Austria (Anschluss)
(2) Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier, and Mussolini sign the Munich Agreement, which transfers the
Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany
(1) Germany occupies Moravia and Bohemia
(2) Britain and France declare war on Germany
(3) Soviet Union invades Poland
(4) Italian forces invade Albania
(5) Signing of the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
(6) World War II begins when Germany invades Poland
(1) German forces invade Denmark and Norway
(2) Russo-Finnish war ends; Finland cedes land to the Soviet Union
(3) Battle of Britain begins in earnest as the first large air offensive begins with almost 500
bombing sorties by Germany
(4) Italian Tenth Army commanded by Marshal Rodolpho Graziani invades Egypt
(5) Italy declares war on Britain and France
(6) France under Petain signs armistice with Germany at Rethondes
(7) Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact
(1) Germany invades Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa Orson Welle's film Citizen Kane
(2) United States declares war on Japan
(3) Germany and Italy declare war on United States
(4) The US Congress passes the Lend-Lease Bill which will provide billions of dollars of war
materials to the Allied powers
(5) Japanese launch surprise attack on U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor
(6) Britain and US sign the Atlantic Charter
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
1937 Guernica by Picasso
1938
Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass); Jewish synagogues and businesses
destroyed throughout Germany
1936
1941
1939 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
1940
Page 51 of 57 pages

(1) Battle of Stalingrad begins
(2) Americans destroy 4 Japanese aircraft carriers at the battle of Midway
(3) Allies sign the UN Declaration
(4) American forces at Corregidor in the Philippines surrender
(5) United States Marines land on Guadalcanal
(6) The British 8th Army under General Bernard Montgomery defeats Axis army at the Second
Battle of El Alamein
(7) Allied forces land in North Africa
(1) Remnants of the German 6th Army surrender at Stalingrad
(2) Allied forces launch amphibious invasion of Sicily
(3) Italy surrenders to the Allies
(4) Teheran Conference
(5) The North African campaign of WWII ends as German forces surrender
(6) The Combined Bomber Offensive launches Operation Pointblank, a strategic bombing
campaign against German industry and civilian morale
(7) American forces defeat remaining Japanese forces on Guadalcanal
(1) Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes) begins
(2) D-Day, the Allied Invasion of Normandy, France
(3) Allied armored and airborne forces fail to secure Rhine crossing in Operation Market-Garden
(4) Dumbarton Oaks Conference
(5) Allied forces launch amphibious invasion of the Philippines
(1) U. S. Marines land on the island of Iwo Jima
(2) Germany surrenders (V-E Day)
(3) Potsdam Conference begins
(4) Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan
(5) Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan
(6) Japanese sign surrender terms on board the USS Missouri
1947
UN takes over Palestinian issue from Britain. UN votes to divide Palestine into a Jewish state and
an Arab state; Jerusalem is to be an international city.
Dead Sea Scrolls found
1945
1946
Viet Minh forces launch rebellion against French authority in Vietnam; Beginning of the First
Indochina War
Philippine Independence from the US
1943
1944 Lucien Pissarro dies
1942
Page 52 of 57 pages

(1) Abstract-Expressionist Jackson Pollock's Number 5
(2) Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar named Desire debuts on Broadway
Mahatma Gandhi dies
(1) The Algerian War of Independence: French forces fight Algerian guerrilla forces for 8 years
before granting independence to Algeria
(1) William Golding's novelLord of the Flies
(2) French forces of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps surrender to Viet Minh forces at the
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
(2) Henri Matisse dies
(3) The Supreme Court unanimously outlaws racial segregation in public schools in
Brown vs. BOE
(1) Disneyland theme park opens in Anaheim, California
(2) Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets becomes the first Rock &
Roll song to top the U.S. record charts
(1) Hungarian Revolution of 1956; Spontaneous revolt against Soviet-installed government in
Hungary; Soviets crush rebellion militarily
(2) Sudan granted independence by Great Britain
1958 Guggenheim Museum opens
1960 Chad gains independence from France Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird
Ernest Hemingway dies
Elvis Presley's first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show
1954
1955
1953 Korean War ends
1952 Turkey becomes a member of NATO
1950 Korean War begins when North Korean forces invade South Korea George Bernard Shaw dies
1948 First Arab-Israeli Wars begins
1949 Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan, and Syria sign armistice agreement with Israel
1961 East Germany begins construction of the Berlin Wall
1956
1957
The Treaty of Rome creates the European Economic Community; West Germany, Italy, France,
and the Benelux nations are founding members
Page 53 of 57 pages

(1) OAU formed
(2) Kenya becomes independent from Great Britain; Jomo Kenyatta's Kenya African National
Union (KANU) party forms the first independent government
(1) Massive riot erupts in Detroit after confrontation between police officers and
African American bar patrons. In 5 days, 43 people dead, 467 injured, and
thousands of buildings destroyed.
(2) Montreal Expo
(1) Indo-Pakistan War begins
(2) Bahrain declares its independence from Britain
1972 Ferdinand Marcos declares Martial Law in the Philippines
(1) Iraq joins Arab coalition against Israel during the October War (1) Pablo Picasso dies
(2) Yom Kippur War (2) Noel Coward dies
1973 Philippine Constitution
(1) All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
(2) Patty Hearst kidnapped
1963
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
1971
1970 President Gamal Abdel-Nasser Dies, Anwar Sadat becomes president of Egypt Postmodern Feminism started to flourish
1969 Hurricane Camille
1967
1968 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launch Tet Offensive throughout South Vietnam
1965 First U.S. ground combat forces arrive in South Vietnam
1966
President Charles de Gaulle withdraws French military forces from NATO's integrated military
command
1973
1974 Turkey starts occupying northern Cyprus to prevent Greek takeover of island
Page 54 of 57 pages

(1) The last group of Americans are evacuated from Saigon, South Vietnam during North
Vietnamese invasion
(1) Patty Hearst caught
(2) Under the Alvor Agreement, Portugal grants independence to Angola; anti-Communist
UNITA, Communist MPLA, and other factions engage in civil war for control of Angola
(2) Elizabeth Seton canonized
(3) Civil war breaks out in Lebanon
(1) Agatha Christie dies
(2) Episcopal Church ordains women
Mao Zedong dies
(1) Elvis Presley dies
(2) Philip of Macedon's tomb found
(3) Singer/actor Bing Crosby dies
Pope John Paul II shot
(1) Israel invades Lebanon
(2) Falklands War
1983 Senator Ninoy Aquino of Philippines Assassinated
1984 Michael Foucault dies
(1) Cary Grant dies
(2) Sultan Qaboos University founded
Philippine EDSA I Revolution
(1) Iraqi Exocet missile hits American Destroyer USS Stark; 37 crewmen are killed. Andy Warhol dies
(2) Palestinian uprising 'Intifada' breaks out in Gaza strip 1987 Philippine Constitution was enacted
1981 Israeli troops bomb the PLO headquarters in Beirut
1982
1979
Soviet-Afghan War begins as Soviet forces invade and occupy important locations throughout
Afghanistan
1977
1978
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin named winners of
the Nobel Peace Prize.
John Paul II becomes Pope
1975
1976
1987
1986
Page 55 of 57 pages

(1) U. S. actress Bette Davis dies.
(2) Globe Theatre found
(3) Salvador Dali dies
(4) Laurence Olivier dies
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenie dies
(1) The European Community establishes a unified European market by removing trade barriers (1) Steven Spielberg's filmSchindler's List
(2) 19 American soldiers die during the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia
(2) President Bill Clinton announces "don't ask, don't tell" policy concerning gays
serving in the U.S. military
(1) O.J. Simpson acquitted
(2) Timothy McVeigh bombs the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 and
wounding 450
1994 Hutu militias kill 500,000-1,000,000 Tutsis during Rwandan Genocide
1991 U.S. led coalition defeats Iraqi military forces and liberates Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm USSR was disintegrated. End of Cold War
1989
1990 Iraq invades Kuwait, beginning the Persian Gulf War Berlin Wall was destroyed. Reunification of Germany
1988 The USS Vincennes shoots down Iranian Airbus Flight #655; 290 civilians are killed
1999 NATO engages in 78-day bombing campaign against Serbia for occupation of Kosovo
1998 U.S. singer Frank Sinatra dies
1997 Mother Teresa dies
1995 Dayton Agreement ends Bosnian War and confirms Bosnian independence.
1996 George Burns dies
1993
Page 56 of 57 pages

(1) Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon
(2) USS Cole Attacked in Aden
(1) U.S. actress Katharine Hepburn dies at age 96.
(2) Former U. S. poet laureate Josephine Jacobsen dies.
2005 Pope John Paul II dies
2012 US Election Re-election of Barack Obama
2013 Xavier University IS 11 Class
21ST CENTURY
2003 United States and allied forces invade Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom
2009 US Election Barack Obama, first Black President of USA
2002 U.N. Security Council passes resolution demanding that Iraq disarm
2000
2001
Terrorists destroy World Trade Center in New York City and damage the Pentagon in
Washington, D.C.
EDSA II Revolution in the Philippines
Page 57 of 57 pages

A TIMELINE: BRIEF HISTORY OF WESTERN HISTORY FOCUS ON CONFLICTS

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A TIMELINE: BRIEF HISTORY OF WESTERN HISTORY FOCUS ON CONFLICTS