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Jul 6, 1415
Jan Hus Dies
Jan Hus was burned as a heretic. He refused to recant his beliefs about the church and so he was killed. He was a Czech theologian priest who argued against ethical violations and transubstantiation. -
1436
Printing Press is Invented
The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany. The printing press basically worked by putting ink on movable type heads and then pressing them down on paper. -
May 22, 1455
War of Roses Starts
The War of Roses was a war between the Yorks and Lancasters. It started because Richard Duke of York thought that he had a better claim to the throne than the king, Henry VI. The War of Roses was a series of civil wars that happened in the aftermath of Richard and his descendants/family (Yorks) fighting against the Lancasters (Henry VI) for the throne. The war lasted for about 30 years. -
Oct 19, 1469
Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon's Marriage
The marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand was arranged by Ferdinand's father and predecessor John II of Aragon. John II arranged it because Aragon needed Castilian forces to help against the French. Isabella and Ferdinand combined their countries and therefore unifying Spain. Spain was still very different in the different regions but they were all under the same Monarchy. Often referred to as a dynastic union -
Nov 1, 1478
Spanish Inquisition Begins
The Spanish Inquisition began when The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. It was established by Ferdinand and Isabella who were both Catholic. Ferdinand and Isabella wanted all of their subjects to be Catholic and forced everyone to convert. The purpose of the Inquisition was to find people who were not actually Catholic even if they pretended to be. It lead to the death of at least 2,000 people. -
Aug 22, 1485
Battle of Bosworth Field
The Battle of Bosworth Field is basically what ended the War of Roses. It was between Henry VII and Richard III and Henry VII won which established the Tudor dynasty. Richard III was killed during the battle -
Oct 12, 1492
Columbus Lands in America
Christopher Columbus, a Spanish Explorer, landed in America and started to basically colonize it. This marked the start of American colonies as after this, many countries started to send people to create colonies in the New World. It also started the Colombian Exchange which helped the Europeans a lot more the the Americans because the Americans did not have any immunity to European Diseases and a lot of them died from things like Small Pox. -
1494
French Invasion of 1494
This is when Charles VIII invaded Italy because he wanted the Kingdom of Naples. This led to the Italian Wars which are also called the Hapsburg-Valois Wars. -
1504
The Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. It represents things like individualism, humanism, and things like that. Some artistic elements that were used are light vs. dark, near vs. far, shape, body, location, and color. It depicts a woman who is basically just sitting there. -
1511
School of Athens is Finished
This piece is a fresco created by Raphael. It depicts many great thinkers and scientists all gathered in one place. It is very symmetrical and shows a lot of individualism. -
1512
Michelangelo Finishes the Sistine Chapel Ceiling
He started painting in 1508 and it took him 4 years to finish it. The paintings were commissioned by Pope Julius II and the paintings covered over 5,000 square feet. -
Aug 18, 1516
Concordat of Bologna
This was an agreement between King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X. It allowed the King of France to nominate appointees to positions in the church and let the Pope collect all of the money the church generated. -
Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther Publishes the 95 Theses
The 95 Theses was written by Martin Luther who put it up on a church door. This is what officially started the Protestant Reformation. In the book, Luther lists 95 problems with the Catholic church, many about indulgences. Originally, he just wanted the Catholic Church to change but he ended up forming his own church and Protestantism was born. -
1519
Calvinism is Founded
It was founded by John Calvin and originated in Switzerland. The main belief is Predestination. Predestination basically means that people are going to hell or heaven based on what was decided for them before they were born. This means that their actions do not affect their place in the afterlife. -
Apr 17, 1521
Luther Appears in Front of the Diet of Worms
After Luther published the 95 Theses, the church was not happy and told him to appear in front of the Diet of Worms and either recant what he said or convince everyone there that he was right. He did not recant his work or convince them and they basically said that everyone had to burn the work. -
1524
The German Peasant Revolts
In Germany, the peasants revolted because they wanted economic and religious changes. They were paying a lot of taxes and did not have a lot of freedoms from the nobles. The revolts lasted for a year until the peasants were defeated. In the end, about 100,000 peasants were killed. -
1532
The Prince is Published
The Prince by Machiavelli was a very influential book about maintaining and getting power. It also talks about how to use the military, being loved/feared as the leader, and other things relating to how to be a good Prince. It was dedicated to Lorenzo de' Medici and people like King Charles V, Thomas Cromwell (he influenced Henry VIII), and Napoleon. -
1534
The Act of Supremacy
King Henry VIII of England declared himself the supreme head of the Church of England. He did this because the Pope would not let him get a divorce with Catherine of Aragon and he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. When he was not allowed to do this, he cut ties with the Pope and with the advice of Cromwell and Cranmer. The act also required an oath of loyalty from English subjects and was like you need to recognize the marriage between Henry and Anne. -
Aug 15, 1534
The Jesuits are Founded
The Jesuits were founded by Ignatius Loyola. He founded it after he was wounded in battle and then had a spiritual experience and decided to try and convert people to Catholicism. The Jesuits were one of the most successful counter reformation movements. -
Oct 2, 1536
Pilgrimage of Grace
When Henry VIII cut ties with the church with the Act of Supremacy, it made a lot of people mad. This led to the Pilgrimage of Grace which was a series of revolts that spread though England. It started in Yorkshire. They were especially mad about the loss of monasteries and nunneries because Henry VIII got rid of them. The one in Yorkshire lasted for two weeks but the other revolts occurred at different times. -
1543
Nicolaus Copernicus Publishes The Heliocentric Theory
The Heliocentric Theory states that the world revolves around the sun. Nicolaus Copernicus basically created the theory but over time, more evidence was added by people like Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. -
1545
The Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the meeting where the Catholic Church went though their doctrine and decided what to keep. It was inspired by the Reformation and was part of the Catholic Reformation/Counter Reformation. Some changes that were made were that bishops were required to preach regularly and spend time in their place where they preach, requirements for Priests. The changes were mostly focused on how the church was organized rather than the actual doctrine. -
Jan 28, 1547
Henry VIII Dies
King Henry VIII of England started off as a Catholic Monarch. Over the course of his rule, he cut ties with the church when the Pope would not let him divorce one of his wives so that he could marry someone else. This started England's turbulent relationship with religion and upon his death, his 10 year old son Edward VI became King. -
1553
Bloody Mary Becomes Queen
Bloody Mary became Queen after Edward VI died. Edward had made a lot of changes to the Church of England and made it more Protestant and when Mary became Queen, she changed it back to Catholicism. She then had a lot of Protestants killed which earned her the name Bloody Mary. -
Sep 25, 1555
Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg was a treaty between the Schmalkaldic League and The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. It basically made it so that Protestants and Catholics could exist in Germany at the same time with some form of peace. The Princes would basically choose whether they wanted to be Lutheran or Catholic and then whatever they decided, all of the people they were ruling would also become either Lutheran or Catholic. -
1566
The Dutch Revolt
Catholic Spain controlled mostly Protestant Netherlands and the Netherlands wanted independence so they started the Dutch Revolt. The Dutch did not want to be persecuted anymore and they also wanted a democratic republic. The Dutch won. -
Aug 24, 1572
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Catherine de Medici did not like Protestants and so she ordered that a few of them be killed. Her son, King Charles IX was then convinced by Catherine that the Protestants were about to revolt so he then decided to kill more Protestants. The murders then spread to the rest of France and 3,000 Protestants were killed in Paris and roughly 70,000 Protestants were killed in the rest of France. -
England Defeats the Spanish Armada
Spain did not want Elizabeth I to be the Queen of England so they attacked England in an attempt to overthrow her. However, England won and beat the Spanish Armada. It was mostly about religion as Spain was Catholic and Elizabeth was Protestant. -
Edict of Nantes
This was a law put into place by Henry IV which gave Protestants (Huguenots) religious freedom. It was one of the first signs of religious tolerance in Europe -
The Dutch East India Company is Established
The Dutch East India Company was founded after The Dutch wanted to trade more spices and stuff. This was partly because they were fighting Spain and saw a market and took it to kinda be like take that Spain. It ended up helping The Netherlands a lot and is a large reason for the Dutch Golden Age. -
The Telescope is Created
The Telescope was created in the Netherlands by Hans Lippershey, Zacharias Janssen, and Jacob Metius. They were all spectacle makers and used the lenses to create it. The telescope has been very important to our understanding of the universe around us and for things like getting more evidence for the Heliocentric Theory. -
Defenestration of Prague
At the Prague Castle, some Protestants came in and found three Catholic officials. They then threw the Catholics out of a window. This was one of the reasons for the Thirty Year's War. -
Construction of Versailles
Louis XIV ordered the construction of Versailles so that he could move the capital of France there. It was a power move and he wanted it to be beautiful to show that France is powerful and has a lot of money. He also used it as a way to control the nobles by having them fight themselves rather than him. -
The English Civil War Begins
The English Civil War started because King Charles I did not like Parliament and challenged their power. The war lasted for 5 years and ended with a Commonwealth being created although that did not last for long. After that, King James I took over as king and England was back to a monarchy. Eventually he was overthrown too and William and Mary were put in charge with the condition that they agree to the English Bill of Rights. -
Treaty of Westphalia
This was the treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War. It took about four years for the 194 states who were a part of the negotiating to agree and it gave the Swiss, Austria, and the Netherlands independence. -
The Great Fire of London
This was a huge fire that burned through London. It lasted for 4 days This happened while England was trying to figure out what government they want and religious stuff so people used it to say that the churches that were burned down were bad so god burned them down. -
The Two Treatises of Government is Published
The Two Treatises of Government by John Locke although it was published anonymously. John Locke is the person who created the idea of natural rights. -
English Bill of Rights is Signed
The English Bill of Rights was put into effect when William and Mary became the monarchs. It limited the Monarchy's power a lot while giving more power to Parliament. Some things that it gave to people were that people can be armed, guaranteed trial, more organized taxes, and freedom of speech. -
Steam Engine Is Created
The Steam Engine was created by Thomas Savery but in 1712, Thomas Newcomen improved the design. This was revolutionary and was really important for the Industrial Revolution. It helped in factories and made it so that transportation was much more efficient. -
St. Petersburg is Founded
Peter the Great the ruler of Russia wanted Russia to be more European. Part of this was to move the capital of Russia to St. Petersburg which is a lot closer to Europe than Moscow. In was built on land that was not super inhabitable so while it was being created 100,000 serfs died and were buried under the city. For this reason, it is called the city built on bones, -
Frederick the Great Becomes King of Prussia
Frederick the Great was an absolutist king of Prussia. One of the many things he did was reorganize the Prussian Army and the Drafts. Using the Army, he won the Silesian Wars. -
The Birth of Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton created Calculus, and is considered the father of Physics. He created the Newton's Laws as well as gravity. -
Britain Industrializes
Britain was the first country to industrialize because of their coal, geography, colonies, and their agricultural empire. This was when Britain would start the shift from manual and animal power to machines. After Britain industrialized, other countries around the world started to as well. -
Spinning Jenny was Invented
The Spinning Jenny was one of the many machines that made spinning cotton much faster which then made it easier to make textiles. This led to the textile industry booming which was the first industry to industrialize during the industrial revolution. -
Voltaire Dies
Voltaire was a philosopher and writer. He believed that reason was the most important thing. His most famous work was Candide. -
The Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate in France was not happy with the famine, taxes and price of bread and after the meeting with the other estates, they left the meeting because the voting system was not fair. Afterwards, they went to a Tennis Court and created the National Assembly. -
Women's March on Versailles
The people were not happy with the lack of and high price of bread and so the women marched on Paris. The royal family was not injured but many of the nobility found their head on spikes. -
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is Published
This book written by Mary Wollstonecraft who argued for women's rights. It contained the basis for feminist theory and talked about issues like family politics and marriages. -
Reign of Terror Begins
The Reign of Terror was the period in France where a lot of people were killed with a guillotine including the king and queen. Anyone could be killed if they were accused of even not actively supporting the Committee of Public Safety. -
Concordat of 1801
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between the Pope and Napoleon. It basically repaired the relationship between the two after the Reign of Terror and instability in France. -
The Napoleonic Code is Created
The Napoleonic Code was created by Napoleon. It put the laws of France into writing and increased the rights of men while decreasing the rights of women. -
Napoleon Crown's Himself as Emporer
After overthrowing a government and then being a First Consul for a while, Napoleon decided to increase his power by making himself Emperor. He had the support of his people and he also crowned himself in the ultimate power move. -
French Invasion of Russia Starts
Napoleon and his troops invaded Russia in Napoleon's dream to control as much land as possible. It ended horribly because Russia kept retreating and using a slash and burn method so there was no resources left for the French Army. By the time the French left Russia, they lost most of their troops from things like disease, hunger, and freezing to death. -
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was the conference that happened after Napoleon was defeated to organize territory. They also tried to implement measures to prevent another Napoleon. Mostly they just took away land from France and restored the monarchs that had previously been in power. -
Corn Laws are Passed
The Corn Laws were laws that imposed tariff and other trade restriction things that made it a lot harder to buy grain like corn from other countries so the people had to buy food from domestic sources instead of buying imports. This was a reaction after the Napoleonic Wars to try and protect English farmers from expensive imports. -
The 100 Days Starts
Napoleon was exiled to Elba but left exile and returned to France. This led to the 100 Days which ended with Napoleon being exiled again. -
Napoleon is Exiled to St. Helena
After the 100 Days, Napoleon was exiled again but this time to St. Helena. He died there at the age of 51. -
Decembrist Revolt
When Tsar Alexander died, Constantine was in line to take the throne but he did not want to rule so gave the throne to Nicholas. However, the royal guards were still loyal to Constantine. Those who were loyal to Constantine gathered in Senate Square where they then said they would not support Nicholas and wanted a constitution. After that, they were killed or exiled. -
Reform Act of 1832
At this point in England, only a very select group of people had the right to vote. The working class did not really like this and wanted universal male suffrage while others wanted universal suffrage. This act gave a few more people the right to vote but mostly paved the way for more voting reform. -
The Chartist Movement
The Chartist movement was the first major movement of the middle class. They wanted more voting rights after the Reform Bill of 1832 only gave people who owned property a vote and they wanted more than that. -
The Irish Potato Famine
The Irish Potato Famine was when there were not enough potato to support the Irish population. The Irish had been very reliant on potatoes as a food source because they were nutritious, easy to grow, and very versatile. It lasted until 1852, killed millions of people and there was a rise of the Irish moving to other countries to escape the famine and political tensions. -
Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848 were a series of uprising that started in 1848. The people were mainly revolting against monarchs but were not successful which really affected the liberal movement. -
Womens' Suffrage Movement
This was the movement to get the votes for women. In response to this, there was an increase of trying to make women subscribe to traditional gender roles while worrying that women would not do anything that resembled those traditional gender roles. -
Public Health Act is Passed
During the industrial revolution, living conditions were horrible as disease was prevalent, smoke was everywhere, and the water was really dirty. This act was one of the first steps to improving those conditions. -
Communist Manifesto was Published
The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It was one of the first things about communism and would inspire communist and socialist movements around Europe and lead to the creation of communist sates like the USSR. -
Frankfurt Parliament Convened
This was the first elected parliament in Germany and they were supposed to make a constitution, reforms, and unify Germany but the King refused to agree to the constitution. In addition to that, the middle class of Germany thought that these changes were too little to late and so the Frankfurt Parliament was not successful. -
The Crimean War
The Crimean War was when Russia wanted part of the Ottoman Empire so they attacked. England and France reacted by helping the Ottoman Empire and Russia lost. -
Emmaline Pankhurst
Emmaline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union and fought for women's' suffrage. She was imprisoned many times and ultimately died before universal suffrage to women was granted. -
The Origin of Species is Published
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin basically explained evolution and how it came to be. Unfortunately, social Darwinism came about afterwards which was used to persecute minorities like Jews. -
Mustard Gas was Created
Mustard Gas is a poisonous gas that irritates/burns the skin, makes it hard to breathe, and can cause eye damage. It was most commonly used during WWI where chemical warfare became very popular and killed roughly 4,000 people. -
Alexander II Emancipates Russian Serfs
While Tsar Alexander II was in power, he enacted many reforms throughout Russia so Russia could compete with the rest of Europe a little better. Part of these reforms was to free all the serfs in Russia which then increased industrialization in Russia. -
Unification of Germany
Germany took a long time to unite and it really happened in a few stages. The first was the German Revolution of 1848, then Prime Minister Otto von Bismark unified them even more. After that, the unification happened mainly though wars including The Danish War in 1862, the Austro-Prussia War and the Franco-Prussia War. -
Mussolini is Born
Benito Mussolini was a fascist dictator who took control of Italy around the time of WWII. He wanted Italy to become a superpower and allied himself with Hitler for a while because they had similar goals and similar enemies. -
Berlin Conference
This was a conference where many major European superpowers essentially divided up Africa among themselves. This was part of the colonizing that was happening at the time as these European countries were invading/colonizing so many countries in places like Africa for their natural resources. -
Bloody Sunday
At this point in Russia, the working class was demanding for reforms but the Tsar Nicholas refused. So a group of workers marched to the Winter Palace to make their demands but imperial forces just killed them. Strikes and riots broke out after that and eventually the Durma was created to bring about reform. -
Assisination of Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand was the Archduke of Austria and was killed by a Serbian nationalist. This is typically viewed as the catalyst of WWI. Serbia and Austria did not like each other because Serbia wanted independence. -
WWI Starts
After the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the increase of militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism all allowed a world war to break out. Austrian allies and Serbian allies joined their ally and started fighting each other and then those allies allies joined as well. -
Lusitania Sinks
The Lusitania was a British ocean liner that was sunk by a German U-boat. There were a few Americans on it and the US was so mad that those Americans were killed, the US joined WWI. -
Battle of Somme
The Battle of Somme was the first battle of WWI where Germany fought France and England. It took place on the upper reaches of the Somme river. Most of the fighting during WWI fought with trench warfare and were mostly stalemates. -
Bolshevik Revolution
The Bolshevik Revolution was when the Bolsheviks lead by Lenin overthrew the Russian government the Durma though a coup. They then took over and Russia became the USSR. Under Lenin, the USSR became a communist country -
USSR leaves WWI
After the Bolsheviks took over, they did not want to be a part of WWI anymore as they had lost so many people, money, and resources in general. The government was more concerned with winning the war against their opponents instead of fighting in a world war and so they left by signing a treaty with the central powers. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the treaty that was created after WWI ended to deal with the aftermath. It redistributed some territory and smaller changes like that but the most important part of it was that it made Germany pay reparations to other countries. -
League of Nations
The League of Nations was the first world wide organization that was supposed to try and maintain peace. It was founded by US President Woodrow Wilson even though the US did not join. -
Lenin Dies
Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks during the revolution and afterwards. He was really the one who made the USSR communist and after he died, Stalin took over even though Stalin was not Lenin's first choice. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a world wide depression that started after the US stock market crashed. This lead to economic crisis in many countries and inflation was becoming very common. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
In Germany, Hitler and the Nazi party slowly rose to power as their support grew which was furthered along by propaganda. Once Hitler was elected Chancellor, he became a dictator and ruled until he died. -
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws were two laws that targeted German Jews. These laws banned Jews from being German citizens and banned interracial marriages and relationships. -
Spanish Civil War
Spain was hit hard by the Great Depression which led to the polarization of the people. The Civil War was fought between the two extremes of communists (Republicans) and fascists (Nationalists). The Nationalists won and Franco took over. -
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass was two days where there were widespread violent anti-Semetic acts where many Jews were killed and Synagogue and Jewish owned land were destroyed. -
WWII Starts
WWII started when Germany invaded Poland. Great Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany and then eventfully other countries joined which then became the Allied and Axis powers. -
Liberation of Auschwitz
The Red Army liberated Auschwitz which was a concentration camp in Poland. Millions of people died there most of which were Jewish. -
Holocaust Ends
The Holocuast was where millions of Jews were systematically murdered by Nazis. A lot of the victims were sent to concentration camps or places like that. It only ended when Nazi Germany was defeated. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the US's plan to help European countries after the war by just giving them money. It was mainly to help countries rebuild after the devastation caused by the war. -
Berlin Airlift
After Germany lost, the country and Berlin were split into four parts controlled by the US, USSR, France, and Great Britain. The USSR cut off their part of Germany from the rest and made it so that supplies could not get in so the US started the Berlin Airlift to get supplies into Berlin. They mainly just used airplanes and other things that could fly to get resources in. -
The US Drops the Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
After Germany had surrendered, Japan kept fighting and eventually the US dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. -
Warsaw Pact
After NATO was created, the USSR decided that they needed their own version of it and so they created the Warsaw Pact which many Eastern European countries joined. The Warsaw Pact and NATO were just groups of allies but the USSR used the Warsaw Pact to control their allies while NATO did not really have one country trying to control the others. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was technically between Northern Vietnam (communist) and Southern Vietnam but the US and communist countries also got involved and was part of the Cold War. -
Hungarian Uprising
The USSR controlled many Eastern European countries either though force or just by the countries doing what the USSR wanted. Hungary was controlled by the USSR but did not want to be so they revolted under the leadership of Nagy. They then tried to pull out of the Warsaw Pact but the USSR invaded Hungary and the USSR killed a lot of Hungarians. -
Sputnik is Launched
A large part of the Cold War was the Space Race where the US and USSR were both trying to beat the other into space. Ultimately, the Soviet Union was the first to make it into space when they launched Sputnik which was the first space satellite. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union allied with Cuba decided to place some missiles on Cuba which was in range of the US. The US then put in place some naval blockade and some demands. Things escalated until the Soviet Union and US agreed to remove their respective missiles from Cuba and Turkey. If things had gone the wrong way, it could have lead to a nuclear war.