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Overthrow of Louis Phillipe
Louis Phillipe was overthrown in 1848 during the second, smaller French revolution in which he found himself outcasted by the radical government in place at the time and was put to death. Louis Phillipe was forced to flee France in order to preserve his life and would go on to be the last monarch of France. -
Beginning of the Second Industrial Revolution
The Second Industrial Revolution was a period of time in which there was rapid advancement in technology across Europe. The invention of steel would be the spark that caused the rapid innovation from the 1870s to 1917. -
The Crimean War
The Crimean War was fought between Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. The Crimean War brought religious freedom to Christians in palestine and was a major defeat for Russia. -
Sepoy Rebellion
The Sepoy Rebellion was the rebellion of Indians against the British East India Company which had been occupying India since 1604. The Sepoy Rebellion ended the British East India Company’s control of India and put India under the control of the British monarchy. -
German Unification under the German Empire
Germany successfully unified itself in 1871 when German princes won the Franco-Prussian War. Nationalism in Germany had begun to centralize under a singular German identity which served as the pivot point for Germany's unification. -
Unification of Italy
The Unification of Italy took place in part due to the social conditions at the time such as Franco-Austrian War and the coalition of several Italian states. Italians soon invaded Rome which finally united them under a monarchy. -
Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference was a meeting with several powerful imperialist countries in Europe whose purpose was to divide up the African continent. A primary accomplishment of the Berlin Conference was establishing the Congo River Basin as a neutral territory that was not to be owned by any singular country in Europe. -
Beginning of Women Suffragettes in Great Britain
The WSPU was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst as a woman suffragist movement in 1903. The foundation of the WSPU would begin the Woman suffragettes in Great Britain. -
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday was caused by British soldiers opening fire on Irish protestors. They were protesting the unfair accusations brought against several Irishmen in Northern Ireland. The soldiers opened fire despite the protestors being entirely peaceful. -
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WWI
World War I was the first war of its scale in history and was fought between the Central Powers and the Allie powers. The Central powers were made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire while the Allie powers were made up of Britain, Russia, and France. The Central powers would eventually be defeated by the Allies and Germany would be forced to take all responsibility for the war. -
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The Armenian Genocide
The Armenian genocide was another result of a religious conflict between the Christian Armenians and the Muslim Turks. The Armenian genocide was the intentional starvation of the Armenian population by the Turkish government. -
The Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun took place in WWI in which France managed to defend the German advances and was one of the longest battles of the war. The battle resulted in heavy casualties on both sides with deaths around 600 thousand. -
February Revolution
The first part of the Russian revolution took place in February of 1917 with the overthrow of Tsar Nicolas II. This revolution replaced the tsar with a provisional government in its place. This provisional government would fail to consolidate its power and lead to the October Revolution. -
October Revolution/Bolshevik Revolution
The October revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution was the second part of the Russian Revolution in which the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government under the leadership of Lenin. The Bolshevik government would be the first socialist government in Europe and they would soon centralize and exit WWI. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the treaty established at the end of WWI. The treaty forced Germany to accept all responsibility for the war. Germany was forced to pay reparations to Britain and France and take on all of the war debt. -
The League of Nations
The League of Nations was established by Woodrow Wilson in 1920 to create a union between several European countries and the United States. The League of Nations would fail because congress would block Woodrow Wilson from joining an alliance and instead retreated into isolationism. The failure of the US to join the alliance undermined the importance of it in the first place and resulted in its dismemberment. -
Lenin's New Economic Plan(NEP)
Lenin’s New Economic Plan was created to lax the restrictions of Bolshevik communism by allowing markets and free trade. Lenin became the leader of the Soviet Union after the collapse of Russia during WWI. The Bolsheviks had grown in power in Russia and Lenin was the leader of the party. -
The March on Rome
The March on Rome was what helped Mussolini rise to power and the replacement of socialism and liberalism with fascism in Italy. The Italian army was not deployed to take back Rome and so Italy fell to fascism. -
German Hyperinflation
German hyperinflation was the result of the Weimer’s Republic economic collapse due to the straining economic toll of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was forced to pay heavy war reparations and in order to do so they tried to create more money which lead to the devaluation of their currency. -
Stalin's Five Year Plan
Stalin’s Five Year Plan was an economic plan to encourage economic growth in the Soviet Union by taking private businesses and putting them under the control of the state. This government control would lead to several famines in Ukraine leading to the Holodomor in which millions of Ukrainians would be killed by the Russian government intentionally. -
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The Great Depression
The Great Depression was the result of United States stock prices dropping in 1929 which would have worldwide consequences. The Great Depression would also have been caused by overproduction after WWI. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
Hitler took power in the Weimer Republic as the Nazi party gained more power in the government. Hitler was a very charasmatic leader who managed to gain the support of many Germans and soon started blaming minorities; primarily Jews for the economic ruin of Germany. -
The Munich Conference
The Munich Conference was the gathering of France, Great Britain, Italy, and Germany that allowed Germany’s unprecedented invasion of Czechoslovakia to go unpunished by the rest of Europe. The larger nations did not take into account what Czechoslovakia’s wishes were and would be the first use of the concept of appeasement. -
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World War II
WWII began after the Nazi party took control of Germany and began to break the Treaty of Versailles and invade countries in Europe. Nazi Germany would establish an alliance with Italy and Japan while the rest of Europe for the most part would align themselves: France, Great Britain, the United States, and Russia. The Allied forces would defeat Germany; however, there were heavy casualties and Germany committed an act of genocide against the Jewish people killing millions. -
Containment Theory
Containment was the political ideology surrounding the Cold War that communism needed to be contained within the Soviet Union. Containment policy was useful in providing aid to nations near the Soviet Union in order to prevent Soviet influence. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was Germany’s plan for invading the Soviet Union. Germany would have initial success with their invasion; however, as winter came in the Soviet Union they would be much less prepared and clothed for battle during the War. The failure of Operation Barbarossa would be a turning point in the war against Nazi Germany. -
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at the end of WWII to negotiate the terms of the Axis power’s defeat. The Potsdam Conference wanted to assure that the mistakes made at the Paris Peace Conference were not made again. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was the gathering of France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union to decide how to handle Germany and the rest of Europe after the war. The Yalta Conference intended to create a treaty for the end of the war that would not result in the same consequences as the Treaty of Versailles which lead to more warfare. -
The Creation of Atomic Weaponry
The First Atomic Bombs were created in 1945 under a project known as the Manhattan Project. The project was led by the United States and supported by Great Britain and Canada. The development of nuclear weaponry would be the forefront of a new type of warfar; nuclear warfare. The use of nuclear weapons on Japan in Nagasaki and Hiroshima would be a turning point in WWII against Japan. -
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The Cold War
The Cold War was a period of time in which Russia and capitalist nations in Europe and the United States fought battles indirectly in Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Korea. During the cold war, both sides sought to expand and advance their military arsenals. Tensions would rise between Russia and the United States as the possibility of nuclear war felt like a daily threat. Tensions would start to dwindle as treaties were signed between countries in order to prevent nuclear warfare. -
Iron Curtain Speech
The Iron Curtain Speech was a speech delivered by Winston Churchill that was seen as the first verbal mention of tension between the Soviet Union and western countries. In Churchill’s speech, he outlined his belief in the need to prevent Soviet communism from spreading further westward. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was directed by Harry Truman and intended to send economic aid to Western Europe post-WWII. The Marshall Plan further intended to influence countries in Eastern Europe to prevent the expansion of communism. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift was Western Europe and the United States response to the Berlin Wall and sought to help provide aid to East Germany. These Western countries wanted to prevent the spread of communism in Eastern Germany. -
Formation of NATO
NATO was formed by the United States, Great Britain, and France in 1949 to prevent the spread of Soviet communism to other European countries. NATO would form a wall of defense against Soviet influence. -
Stalin's Death
Stalin died of a stroke in 1953. His death would bring the start of the end of the Soviet Union. He would be replaced by Khrushchev who would attempt to rewrite Stalin as a terrible brutal leader. -
The Space Race
The Space Race was between the United States and Russia and started with the launch of Sputnik. JFK would be the president who established the goal of beating the Soviet Union to the moon. Among Cold War fear of the nuclear threat the ability to launch nukes from the moon or from a satellite seemed like an alarmingly real threat. -
The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was established between the Soviet Union and several other communist countries in Europe. Unlike NATO, rather than each member having an equal say the Warsaw Pact put the Soviet Union in charge of the alliance. -
Khrushchev's Secret Speech
Khrushchev spoke in a secret meeting of the Russian government intending to dismantle Stalin's image as the courageous leader of the Soviet Union, and paint him as a failed leader of WWI. Khruschev wanted to return to a Russia like the one Lenin imagined with the institution of Destalinization policies. -
Sputnik 1 is launched
Sputnik 1 was little more than a grapefruit-sized satellite that was launched by the Soviets in 1957; however, it would become the very start of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Space Race would soon be given the objective of landing a man on the moon by JFK. -
The Establishment of the Fifth French Republic
The Fifth French Republic was established post-WWII after having been occupied by Nazi Germany. The Republic seeked to return to a democratic republic and be one of the powerful capitalist nations in Western Europe -
Decolonization
The decolonization period during the 1960s was the result of the colonies becoming too expensive to be worth maintaining for the European countries. Colonies in Africa, Asia, and South America gradually started gaining their independence away from their mother countries. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was created to separate East and West Germany. The Soviet Union controlled East Germany while West Germany was managed by the United States, UK, and France. The Berlin Wall would be an important symbol in the Cold War and show the divide in economic policies between the Soviet Union and Western society. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a period of time in which Russia had given Cuba nuclear weaponry. This posed a great threat to the United States because of Cuba's proximity and created one of the highest points of tension during the Cold War. Thankfully, a treaty would be signed right when it seemed like war was inevitable to remove the missiles from Cuba. -
Detente
The Detente was the improving relations of the Soviet Union and the United States starting in 1972. The Detente led to treaties between the United States and Russia to prevent nuclear warfare. -
Helsinki Accords
The Helsinki Accords were created to help maintain the Detente that had been perceived from Western Europe and the United States, plus the Soviet Union. The Helsinki Accords sought to bring an end to the Cold War. -
Brezhnev's Death
The death of Brezhnev would lead Russia on the path towards its future political instability. His death would result in a lack of centralization of the Soviet Union that they would fail to reestablish with the replacement figurehead. -
Gorbachev Takes Power
Gorbachev was seen as a weak leader of Russia and led to the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev didn't believe in heavy governmental influence and wanted to gradually maintain Russia's economy. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall would be recognized as the end of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. Political protest in Germany and East German leader's decisions to open the borders more to allow travel would be the ultimate downfall of the wall. -
The Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution was a non-violent protest over communist party in Czechoslovakia. The Velvet Revolution resulted in the independence of Czechoslovakia from the Soviet Union. -
Treaty of Maastricht
The Treaty of Maastricht established the European Union: an alliance of western countries in Europe. The treaty allowed citizens under the EU to move between countries within the union freely.
