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Period: Jan 1, 1200 to
Commercial Revolution
The Commercial Revolution was a period of European economic expansion, colonialism, and mercantilism which lasted from approximately the late 13th century until the early 18th century. It was succeeded in the mid-18th century by the Industrial Revolution. -
Nov 27, 1529
Siege of Vienna
The Siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, to capture the city of Vienna, Austria. The Siege ended in a sound Christian victory. -
Height of Mercantilism in Europe
Mercantilism was an economic theory and practice, dominant in modernized parts of Europe during the 16th to the 18th century that promoted governmental regulation of a nation's economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers. This was the period where mercantilism was in its greatest effect and scope in European history. -
Agricultural Revolution
The Agricultural Revolution was a period of technological improvement and increased crop productivity that occurred during the 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe. This resulted in more population growth due to increased food supplies. -
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Dutch Golden Age
The time where the Netherlands were at their height. Their music, art, and culture were among the most acclaimed in the world. -
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Baroque Period of Art and Music.
A period of music and art that happened in Western Europe roughly in the 16th century. The Baroque style is characterized by exaggerated motion and clear detail used to produce drama, vibrance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music. -
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Consumer Revolution
The Consumer Revolution was an event in England in which there was a marked increase in the consumption and variety of "luxury" goods and products by individuals from different economic and social backgrounds. -
Trial of Galileo
The Galileo affair was a sequence of events, beginning around 1610, culminating with the trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633 for his support of heliocentrism. Galileo was ordered to turn himself in to the Holy Office to begin trial for holding the belief that the Earth revolves around the Sun, which was deemed heretical by the Catholic Church. -
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English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists over the manner of England's government. When the war was over, King Charles I had been executed, his son exiled, and a man named Oliver Cromwell took over ruler-ship of England. -
Peace of West Phalia
European settlements of 1648, which brought to an end the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch and the German phase of the Thirty Years' War. The peace was negotiated, from 1644, in the Westphalian towns of Munster and Osnabruck. -
Thomas Hobbes publishes The Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes publishes The Leviathan. The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. -
Reign of Louis XIV
Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a major country in European history. -
English Monarchy Restored
Parliament brought back Charles II after Oliver Cromwell turned England into a military dictatorship. The rule of Cromwell was extremely unsatisfactory to Parliament so they wanted the Monarchy restored. -
Navigation Acts
he Navigation Acts were a series of Acts passed in the English Parliament in 1663. The colonies represented a lucrative source of wealth and trade. The Navigation Acts were designed to regulate colonial trade and enabled England to collect duties (taxes) in the Colonies. -
Test Act of England
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and Nonconformists. -
Reign of Peter the Great
Peter the Great, Peter I or Peter Alexeyevich ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V.
He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized, and based on The Enlightenment. -
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The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century. The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and came to advance ideals such as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state. -
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes allowed the Huguenots, French protestants, to worship without prosecution from the state. This allowed the state to prosecute French protestants once again. -
Newton's Publication of the Principa Mathematica.
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, often referred to as simply the Principia, is a work in three books by Isaac Newton, in Latin, first published July 5th, 1687.
After annotating and correcting his personal copy of the first edition, Newton also published two further editions, in 1713 and 1726. -
Newton’s publication of the Principia Mathematica
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, often referred to as simply the Principia, is a work in three books by Isaac Newton, in Latin, first published 5 July 1687.
After annotating and correcting his personal copy of the first edition,Newton also published two further editions, in 1713 and 1726. -
John Locke publishes Two Treatises of Government.
Two Treatises of Government is a work of political philosophy published in 1689 by John Locke. It details his ideas for a civilized society based on natural rights. -
Glorious Revolution
Also called "The Bloodless Revolution", this revolution was to overthrow King James II. He was replaced by William II of Orange and Mary II, and resulted in England becoming a Constitutional Monarchy. -
Enclosure Movement
In the early 1700s, there was an "enclosure movement" that was a cause of the industrial revolution in England. Wealthy farmers bought land, and poor farmers became wage earners. -
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Rocco Period of Art and Music.
The word Rococo was a blend of the words Baroque and rocaille.
Rococo art extensively feature shell-shaped curves and wave-like motifs, particularly in its sumptuous furniture design and interior decor. -
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War of Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was the first world war of modern times with conflicts in Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, and at sea. Charles II, king of Spain, died in 1700 without an heir. In his will he gave the crown to the French prince Philip of Anjou. Was to prevent France from getting too much power. -
Reign of Frederick the Great of Prussia
Frederick II of was King of Prussia from 1740 until 1786, the longest reign of any Hohenzollern king. His most significant accomplishments during his reign included his military victories, his reorganization of Prussian armies, his patronage of the arts and the Enlightenment in Prussia, and his final success against great odds in the Seven Years' War. -
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War of Austrian Succession
War of the Austrian Succession was a combination of related wars, two of which developed directly from the death of Charles VI, Holy Roman emperor and head of the Austrian branch of the house of Habsburg, on Oct. 20, 1740. What is known collectively as the War of the Austrian Succession began on Dec. 16, 1740, when Frederick II of Prussia invaded Silesia, one of the richest Habsburg provinces. -
Reign of Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She started her 40-year reign when her father, Emperor Charles VI, died in October 1740. Charles VI paved the way for her accession with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and spent his entire reign securing it. -
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Seven Years War
The Seven Years' War was a war fought between 1754 and 1763, the main conflict occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. When the war resolved, France lost all land in the Indies and the New World. -
Diplomatic Revolution
The Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 was the reversal of longstanding alliances in Europe between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. The diplomatic change was triggered by a separation of interests between Austria, Britain, and France. -
Jean Jacques Rousseau publishes The Social Contract
In 1762, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote The Social Contract, where he believed in the popular sovereignty form of government. That is, the government should be ruled by the people. It was Rousseau's first successful published philosophical work, and it was the first expression of his influential views about nature vs. society, to which he would dedicate the rest of his intellectual life. -
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Reign of Catherine the Great of Russia
Under her reign, Russia expanded its territories and modernized, following the lead of Western Europe. Russia was revitalised under her reign, growing larger and stronger than ever and becoming recognised as one of the great powers of Europe. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution was a political upheaval during which colonists in the Thirteen American Colonies rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy, overthrew the authority of Great Britain, and founded the United States of America. -
First Partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. Frederick the Great engineered the partition to prevent Austria, jealous of Russian successes against the Ottoman Empire, from going to war. -
Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations
As the American Revolution began, a Scottish philosopher started his own economic revolution. In 1776, Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations, probably the most influential book on market economics ever written. -
French Revolution
The French Revolution is a period in the History of France, in which the monarchy was overthrown and radical reconstructing was forced upon the Roman Catholic Church. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies. -
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Slave Revolt in Haiti
Largest slave revolt in history. The Haitians completely wrested control of Haiti away from the French by 1804. -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication on the Rights of Women
In her best known work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft claims that the perceived idea that women are inferior to women is not due to any sort of natural inferiority, but rather to women's lack of access to education. It was a significant milestone in the arguments around women's rights and has since become a feminist classic. -
Smallpox Vaccine
Smallpox vaccine, the first successful vaccine to be developed, was introduced by Edward Jenner in 1796. On May 14, 1796, Jenner took fluid from a cowpox blister and scratched it into the skin of James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy -
Last Appearance of the Bubonic Plague
While Europe was devastated by the disease, the rest of the world fared much better. In India, population rose from a population of 91 million in 1300, to 97 million in 1400, to 105 million in 1500. Sub-Saharan Africa remained largely unaffected by the plagues. The Great Plague of Milan, the Great Plague of Seville, the Great Plague of London, the Great Plague of Vienna, Great Baltic plague and the Great Plague of Marseill were the last major outbreaks of the bubonic plague in Europe. -
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Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. -
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was convened in 1815 by the four European powers which had defeated Napoleon. The first goal was to establish a new balance of power in Europe which would prevent imperialism within Europe, such as the Napoleonic empire, and maintain the peace between the great powers.