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1453
The Fall of Constantinople
Constantinople's fall from the roman empire to the ottomans -
1455
War of the Roses
A series of English civil wars over control of the throne of England -
1455
The printing press is established
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press which allowed books to be printed more easily. -
1460
Vasco da Gama becomes the first European to have reached India
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1492
Columbus “discovers" the New World
Columbus was hired by Spain to find a new way to India and instead he found a “new” continent -
1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
Divided the newly discovered lands outside of Europe between the Spanish and the Portuguese -
1500
Triangle slave trade takes shape
A slave trade between Africa, Central Amarica, and “New England.” -
1517
The 95 Theses are nailed to a door by Martin Luther
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1519
Calvinism introduced by John Calvin
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1521
Diet of Worms
A council that was to decide Martin Luther’s ‘fate’ (mystical, I know) -
1524
The Peasant’s War
Peasants demanding agrarian rights and freedom from oppression by nobles started a war against the aristocracy -
1529
Marburg Colloquy
A meeting between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli that attempted to solve a dispute over the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. -
1530
Confession of Augsburg
The primary confession of faith of the Lutheran church, and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Reformation -
1530
Introduction of Mannerism
A style of painting, sculpture and (to a lesser extent) architecture, that emerged in Rome and Florence between 1510 and 1520, during the later years of the High Renaissance -
1531
Schmalkaldic League is formed
It was an alliance between Protestant princes and delegates of free cities, and a response to the threat of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to get rid of Lutheranism -
1534
The creation of the Anglican English church
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1534
Act of Supremacy
An act that showed that Henry VIII was more powerful than the church -
1534
Martin Luther translates the Bible to German
Creates an increase in simple education -
1534
Parmigianino paints “Madonna with Long Neck”
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1535
King Henry VIII officially declared himself the head of the church of England, not the Pope
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1543
Copernicus publishes On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres
Basically denounces geocentrism -
1545
Council of Trent
A council that represented the counter protestant reformation -
1546
Schmalkaldic War
A relatively short, violent war between the forces of Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire and the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League. -
1550
Introduction of Baroque Art
A style of art marked by heavy and dramatic ornamentation and curved rather than straight lines -
1555
Peace of Augsburg
A treaty between Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the Schmalkaldic League -
1562
Beginning of wars of religion in France
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1571
Birth of Baroque Artist Peter Paul Rubens
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1572
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
A massacre against the Protestant Huguenots -
1582
The Gregorian Calendar
A new way to keep track of time -
The Edict of Nantes
Granted Protestants rights -
Birth of Baroque Rembrandt van Rijn
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Consumer Revolution
There was a marked increase in the consumption and variety of luxury goods and products by individuals from different economic and social backgrounds. -
Kepler publishes The New Astronomy
Based on research by both him and Tycho Brahe; solved the problem of planetary motion and helped prove heliocentric theory -
King James Bible is published
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Beginning of the Thirty Years’s War
One of the most destructive conflicts in human history; it began as a religious civil war between the Protestants and Roman Catholics in Germany; soon became a power struggle throughout all of Europe -
The United States experienced successive waves of immigration
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Francis Bacon promotes the empirical (“scientific”) method instead of scholasticism
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René Descartes published his Discourse on Method
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Louis the XIV created many challenges to absolutism that had to do with religious and territorial conflicts.
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Beginning of the English Civil War
A series of wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists, principally over the manner of England’s governance -
Descartes published Principles of Philosophy
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Peace of Westphalia
A series of treaties that largely ended the European wars of religion, including the Thirty Years’ War -
End of the Thirty Years' War.
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Charles I of England beheaded by Cromwell and the "Rump" Parliament
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Restoration of the English Monarchy
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Repeal of the Edict of Nantes
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Isaac Newton founded Newtonian physics
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English Bill of Rights
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Neoclassicism
Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture -
Jethro Tull invents the seed drill
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Spanish Succession
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Four Year Crop Rotation is Introduced
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The world saw a major increase in population
Along with an increase in living standards, led to the depletion of natural resources. The use of chemicals and fuel in factories resulted in increased air and water pollution and an increased use of fossil fuels. -
The First Industrial Revolution
Over the next decade, manufacturing will move from hand production in the home to machine production in factories. -
Population starting moving to cities
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Invention of the Spinning Jenny
James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny allowing a worker to produce multiple spools of thread at the same time. -
American colonies become independent from Great Britain.
Decolonization, the process by which colonies become independent of the colonizing country. -
James Watt patents an improved steam engine
A power source in factories and other applications such as steam boats and trains. -
Seperation of Power in United States
Multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into different branches of government. Check and balances between the branches of government -
Beginning of French Revolution
A period of time in France when the people overthrew the monarchy and took control of the government. -
Romanticism
A movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual -
The Concert of Europe
A group of countries in Europe who worked together and agreed on policies to maintain a steady balance of power -
Napoleon abdicates the throne
Banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba. -
Congress of Vienna
After the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte, this international conference was called to create a balance among the European powers. -
Napoleon escapes from Elba and takes back the French throne during the period known as the “Hundred Days.”
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Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon's final army is decisively defeated. -
Nationalism in Germany
Communities of people started to identify themselves through institutions, common language and customs.Wanted to be unified as one German state and one central government. -
The telegraph is invented by Samuel Morse.
This changes the way people can communicate from long distances. -
The Revolutions of 1848
Known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Spring of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. -
Darwinism is introduced
Darwinism is a theory of how species change and grow overtime. Social Darwinism is the theory of evolution in cultural groups. -
Existentialism
A philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. -
The Transcontinental Railroad is completed.
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New Imperialism in Asia and Africa
Beginning in the 1870s, European states established most empires in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. -
German Unification
German Unification in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France. -
Zionism
A Jewish nationalist movement to create its own Jewish state. -
Modernism is created
Modernism is to step towards changing what the traditional beliefs are, due to new ideas coming into play. These changes affected beliefs on art, music, as well as the education of countries. -
Bloody Sunday
Troops and police open fire on a peaceful demonstration outside the Winter Palace -
Balkan Wars
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Archduke Franz Ferdinand is Assassinated
This is the last straw that sparks the world war -
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia
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February Revolution
Results in abolition of the monarchy in Russia -
July Days
A series of spontaneous armed anti-government demonstrations of industrial workers and soldier -
October Revolution
The Bolsheviks take control of the Winter Palace -
World War I occurred throughout Europe
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Brest-Litovsk Treaty
Russia ends its participation in the First World War -
Treaty of Versailles
Peace document signed at the end of World War I by the Allied and associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles -
League of Nations
An international organization to promote world peace and cooperation that was created by the Treaty of Versailles -
Fascism
Fascist parties were created and means a political movement that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a government headed by a dictatorial leader -
Totalitarianism
The term is coined by Benito Mussolini and means a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state -
The Women’s Bureau was established
A federal agency created to craft policy according to women workers’ needs -
The Soviet Union is Created
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Lenin dies and Stalin emerges as Party leader
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The start of the Great Depression
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The stock market crashed
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Britain Abandoned the Gold Standard
System by which the value of a currency was defined in terms of gold, for which the currency could be exchanged -
⅕ of the banks have failed
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Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany
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The Dachau concentration camp was established
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Jews barred from serving in the German armed forces
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Germany send troops into the Rhineland
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Germany joins with Austria
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The end of the Great Depression
The New Deal was signed into law with a series of relief programs -
Hitler takes of Czechoslovakia
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The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact is made
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Germany invades Poland
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Britain and France declare war on Germany
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Germany invades Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and France
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Postmodernism
Style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism that represents a departure from modernism and has at its heart a general distrust of grand theories and ideologies as well as a problematical relationship with any notion of “art.”. -
Pearl Harbor
Surprise Attack on the US from Japanese forces -
Stalingrad
A brutal military campaign between Russian forces and those of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
Liberation Soviet soldiers were the first to liberate concentration camp prisoners in the final stages of the war -
D Day
Allied forces invaded northern France by means of beach landings in Normandy -
Germany Surrenders
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Hiroshima
An American airplane dropped the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare -
Beginning of the Cold War
Took place between USSR and the United States -
Beginning of Baby Boom
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Winston Churchill gives a speech
He used the term “iron curtain” when saying “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” -
The Marshall Plan
Generated a resurgence of European industrialization and brought extensive investment into the region, stimulated the U.S. economy. Applied solely to Western Europe -
The Iron Curtain is reduced following Joseph Stalin’s death
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Brown v. Board of Education ruling
Made “separate but equal” educational facilities illegal, provided an essential legal basis for activism against the institutionalized racism of Jim Crow laws -
Berlin Wall Construction
Restores the Iron Curtain -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Prohibited sex discrimination for employment -
Combahee River Collective
one of the first black feminist organizations -
Poland overthrows communism.
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Berlin Wall demolished
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The Iron Curtain Dissipates
The communist’s abandoned one-party rule in easter Europe -
Fall of Communism
The fundamentals of communism allow people to gain ridiculous amounts of governmental power. The fall was due to political instability from the upset lower to middle class people, the lack of easily distributable money for the people, and the changing social climate of the 80s and 90s -
USSR collapsed, Cold War ended
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Formation of the European Union
Following the end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany, the European Union was created in 1992 by the Treaty of Maastricht
