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Period: to
1750-1918
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THE BOSTON MASSACRE
The presence of brittish troops in boston were unwelcome.as the tension increased riots broke out with rioters throwing snowballs stones, sticks and anything that they could find the brittish troops
the brittish troops agessively retaliated by killing two rioters and wounding 8 more.who later died -
JAMES HARGREAVES INVENTS THE SPINNING JENNY
Hargreaves patented a sixteen spindle spinning jenny on July 12, 1770. The courts rejected his patent application for his first spinning jenny because he had made and sold several too long before he filed for a patent. The labor saving devices threatened workers and in 1768 a group of spinners broke into Hargreaves' house and destroyed his spinning jenny machines, fearing that the machines would take work away from them. -
ALESSANDRO VOLTA INVENTS BATTERY
Constructed of alternating discs of zinc and copper, with pieces of cardboard soaked in brine between the metals, the voltaic pile produced electrical current. The metallic conducting arc was used to carry the electricity over a greater distance. Alessandro Volta's voltaic pile was the first battery that produced a reliable, steady current of electricity. -
JOHN FITCH INVENTS STEAMBOAT
On August 26, 1791, John Fitch was granted a United States patent for the steamboat. Four years earlier, on August 22, 1787, John Fitch demonstrated the first successful steamboat, launching a forty-five-foot craft on the Delaware River in the presence of delegates from the Constitutional Convention. He went on to build a larger steamboat which carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Burlington and New Jersey. -
FRENCH REVOLUTION
early stages it portrayed itself as a triumph of the forces of reason over those of superstition and privilege, and as such it was welcomed not only by English radicals like Thomas Paine and William Godwin and William Blake, who, characteristically, saw it as a symbolic act which presaged the return of humanity to the state of perfection from which it had fallen away — but by many liberals as well, and by some who saw it, with its declared emphasis on "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity," -
1801 STEAM LOCOMOTIVE
Richard Trevithick is said to be the 'father' of the steam locomotive. In 1801 he patented a 'steam carriage' which he developed into a steam engine for use on railway track. His first successful locomotive ran on the Pen-y-Darren tramway in Wales in 1804. This locomotive showed that steam haulage was practical. It pulled five wagons carrying ten tonnes of iron ore and seventy people over nine miles of a level track, at an average of 8 kilometres per hour. -
THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE
When Harrison's forces approached the town late on November 6, a young Indian, named Marvin Reed, rode on horseback out from the town waving a white flag. He carried a message from the Prophet requesting a cease fire until the next day when the two sides could hold a peaceful meeting. Harrison agreed but was wary of the Prophet's overture and kept sentinels on duty over night.Although existing accounts are unclear about exactly how the skirmish began, Harrison’s sentinels encountered advancing -
NAPOLEON INVADES RUSSIA
Napoleon entered Russia with the largest army ever seen. The Russians, could not hope to defeat him in a direct confrontation. Instead, they begin a defensive strategic retreat, devastating the land as they retrated and harassing the flanks of the French. As the summer wore on, Napoleon's supply lines thinned, and his force declined. By September, without having engaged in a single battle,the French Army had been reduced by more than two thirds from fatigue, hunger, desertion,and russian raids -
OPENING OF MENAI SUSPENSION BRIDGE
Built between 1819 and 1826, the Menai Bridge was the major structure on Britain's strategically important Holyhead Road connecting London with Holyhead and by sea to Ireland. Designed by Thomas Telford, the bridge's main span was 579 feet from tower to tower, the longest that had ever been attempted at this time. He used four sets wrought-iron eyebars to suspend the deck. These were made by William Hazledine at his Upton forge near Shrewsbury. Each bar being carefully tested in his Coleham shop -
INDIAN REMOVAL ACT
On May 26, 1830, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed by the Twenty-First Congress of the United states of America. After four months of strong debate, Andrew Jackson signed the bill into law. Land greed was a big reason for the federal government's position on Indian removal. This desire for Indian lands was also abetted by the Indian hating mentallity that was peculiar to some American frontiersman. -
SLAVERY IS ABOLISHED THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH EMIPRE
The struggle for the emancipation of slaves throughout the British Empire was known as the abolitionist movement. Protests against slavery date back to the 18th century, in which Enlightenment thinkers and religious groups like the Quakers highlighted the inhumane nature of the slave trade. In Britain, the cause of the abolitionist movement was taken up by William Wilberforce, who started the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787. Although Wilberforce succeeded in having the -
THE GREAT FIRE OF NEW YORK
December, 1835, was cold in New York City, and as
was often the case, cold weather lead to building fires. On
December 14, the entire New York City Fire Department
(1500 firefighters) battled 2 major blazes that would leave
the men exhausted and the City’s water supply severely
depleted. On the evening of December 16, a night watchman discovered the Comstock & Andrews Warehouse (dry
goods) on Merchant Street on fire and within 20 minutes,
the fire had spread beyond control. So stro -
SAMUEL COLT INVENTS REVOLVER
Samuel Colt invented the first revolver in 1836, of which he recived was granted a U.S. patent for the Colt revolver, it had a revolving cylinder containing five or six bullets and an innovative cocking device.Before the Colt revolver only one and two-barrel flintlock pistols had been invented for hand held use. Colt revolvers were all based on cap-and-ball technology until the Smith and Wesson licenseon the bored-through cylinder (bought from Rollin White) expired around 1869.. -
THE GREAT STORM OF IRELAND
Hurricane force winds began to batter the west and north of Ireland, as a freak storm roared out of the Atlantic. For most of the night, until just before dawn, the winds mauled the countryside, uprooting large trees, tearing the thatched roofs off houses, and toppling barns and church spires. There were even reports that grass was torn off hillsides. -
BRITISH ARMY RETREATS FROM KABUL
Akbar khan revolted against the brittish ocupation A British supply fort outside Kabul was attacked and taken on November 9; two weeks later, the cantonment of the British forces outside Kabul was bombarded from nearby hills The British retreated to their cantonment, leaving 300 wounded men to the "mercy" of the Afghanis.to defuse the situation, Governor Macnaghten agreed to meet with Afghani diplomats .when he arrived at his destination Macnaghten and his delegation were seized and killed -
US CONGRESS DECLARES WAR ON MEXICO
On this day in 1846, Congress voted overwhelmingly to approve a declaration of war against Mexico sought by President James Polk. By the war’s end in 1848, Mexico had lost nearly half its territory. Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Rio Grande became the southern boundary of Texas. Mexico ceded California and New Mexico to the United States. In return, the United States paid Mexico $15 million, or about $373 million in today’s dollars. -
GOLD RUSH CONFIRMED IN CALIFORNIA
in 1849 the President confirmed the discovery.In a matter of months, the word spread eastward all across the world
At first gold was easy to find, but soon it became difficult to find. The ones who did find it, used it on the basic things that were needed to live. In the end, the biggest money-makers were the ones who sold the supplies to the miners. When the gold became hard to find, most miners stayed in California and became farmers and merchants -
HENRY BESSMER INVENTS STEEL CONVERTER
In Europe before Henry Bessemer invented his Converter in 1856, steel had been an expensive, high-quality metal made by artisans. It was used mainly for tools and weapons while engineers generally preferred wrought and cast iron. The Bessemer Converter had a huge impact on the use of steel. Its cheap, easily produced, medium-quality steel quickly replaced iron for all large-scale engineering work and transformed both industry and society. -
ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN ELECTED
Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States over a deeply divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates: Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois. -
AMARICAN CIVIL WAR
The War Between the States, as the Civil War was also known, pitted neighbor against neighbor and in some cases, brother against brother. By the time it ended in Confederate surrender in 1865, the Civil War proved to be the costliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and the population and territory of the South devastated. -
MAXIM INVENTS MACHINE GUN
Maxim triumphantly demonstrated his new invention to, firstly, the British Army Although his invention passed all stipulated tests it was nevertheless not picked up the British; the military high command envisaged limited infantry use of the weapon.
Later the same year, 1887, Maxim's gun was demonstrated to the German Army. Kaiser Wilhelm II personally attended trials and, duly impressed, authorised its use. -
TITANIC
the Titanic carried 2,200 staff and passengers of which were a mixture of the world's wealthiest basking in the elegance of first class accommodations and immigrants packed into steerage.Four days into her journey,she struck an iceberg. the collision was fatal and the icy water soon poured through the ship.The ship slid beneath the waters two hours and forty minutes after the titanic sunk
the liner Carpathia rescued 705 survivors. One thousand five hundred twenty-two passengers were lost -
ARCHDUKE FRANZ FEDINAND ASSASSINATED
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, on 28 June 1914, set a series of diplomatic events that led to the outbreak of war in Europe at the end of July 1914. Ferdinand - and his wife Sophie - were killed by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip while on a formal visit to Sarajevo. Princip shot Ferdinand at point blank range while the latter was travelling in his car from a town hall reception, having earlier that day already survived one
