-
May 29, 1453
Ottomans Conquer Constantinople
The Ottoman Empire, an Islamic empire, conquered Constantinople and took over trade operations in the Middle East. This empire would spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa until 1919. -
Nov 17, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England
In 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. Elizabeth I was queen of England from November 17th, 1558 until her death in March 24th, 1603. -
England defeats the Spanish Armada
When the British attacked the spanish, they were completely caught off guad. After an decisive battle, the english won and the spanish were forced to retreat north to Scotland. Queen Elizabeth’s decisive defeat of the Invincible Armada made England a world-class power and introduced effective long-range weapons into naval warfare for the first time -
Tokugawa Shogunate
Tokugawa clan takes over imperial Japan and establishes itself as the Shogun. They establish the capital at Kyoto and rule until 1867. -
The Thirty Years Wars
Series of wars in central Europe, started as a war between Protestant and Catholic states but then developed into a more general conflict involving most of the great powers. It came to an end on May 15, 1648. This was the longest and most destructive conflict in European history. -
The English Civil War
Was a series of conflicts between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers) over, principally, the manner of England's government. -
Manchus found the Qing Dynasty in China
The Qing dynasty was first established in 1644 by the Manchus to designate their system of government. The Qing dynasty lasted from 1644 to 1912 and formed territorial base for the modern Chinese state. It lasted almost three centuries. -
Peter the Great becomes Czar of Russia
Peter the Great ruled Russia alone after his brother died in 1696. He ruled until his own death in February 8th, 1725. With a number of successful wars he expanded Tsardom into a much larger empire that became a major European power. -
The Industrial Revolution
It was a period in which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. The Industrial Revolution changed the way factories and products were made. The switch was from human labor to machine labor. -
Catherine the Great becomes Czarina of Russia
Catherine the Great was one of the most prominent rulers of Russia and a figure deserving of admiration. She reigned from 1762 until her death in 1796. Under her reign, Russia expanded its territories and modernized, following the lead of western Europe. -
The British Colonies of North America Declare Their Independence
They were thirteen British colonies on the east coast of North America in the 17th and 18 centuries. They declared independence in 1776 and formed the United States. Each of the colonies developed its own system of government under an appointed governor. The United States slowly started to grow economically and socially. -
The French Reveloution
It wasn't a period of social and political chaos in France that's lasted from 1789 until 1799. It was partially carried forward by Napoleon Bonaparte during the later expansion of the French Empire. The outcomes:
- armed conflicts with other European countries
- establishment of a secular and democratic republic that became increasingly militaristic
- the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte -
The Napoleonic Age
The era in which french military and political leader Napoleon Bonaparte sought out to extend his authority throughout Europe. Napoleon did take over almost all of Europe (except Russia). He led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary War. -
The Unification of Italy
The political and sockal movement that consolidated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy. The process began in 1815 and ended in 1871 when Rome became the capitol of Italy. -
Mexico declares its independence from Spain
A progressive priest named Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla urged his fellow Mexicans to stand up against the Spanish government. He led his growing militia from village to village until he was finally defeated and captured. Others took the call of rebellion to fight. The conflict went on until 1821, when the Treaty of Córdoba established Mexico as an independent constitutional monarchy under Agustín de lturbide. -
The Great Reform Bill of 1832
The Whigs (a British political party) introduced the Great Reform Bill. It Was an act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. This act was taken mainly in order to increase the number of voters for the election in the House of Commons. -
The Opium Wars
The Opium wars were two a wars involving the Anglo-Chinese disputes over British trade in China. The events that happened between the wars and the wars themselves weakened the Qing dynasty. This forced China to trade with the rest of the world. The Opium wars lasted from 1839 to 1860. -
The Great Potato Famine
It was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland. This period lasted from 1845 to 1852. It is also referred as the Irish Potato Famine because about two-fifths of the population was solely reliant on this cheap crop. -
Karl Marx and Frederic Engels publish "The Communist Manifesto"
This political manuscript is arguably the most influential in history. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle and the problems of capitalism and the capitalist mode of production, rather than a prediction of communism's potential future development. The manuscript summarizes Marx and Engels' theories about the nature of society and politics. -
The Taiping Rebellion
It wasn't a massive rebellion or civil war in China fought between the established Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the millenarian movement of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace. This last from 1850 to 1864. -
The British Colonization of India
The British Crown rule was established in India, so the East India Company was now under direct British rule. The company's effectiveness in India was examined by the British Crown. As a result, this is how the company lost its powers of government. The British now controlled all of India from trade to government. -
The Suez Canal
The Suez Canal is an artificial (man-made) sea-level waterway in Egypt. It connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Construction began in 1859 and ended in 1869 by the Suez Canal Company. -
Charles Darwin publishes "The Origin of Species"
It is a work of scientific literature and it is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. The book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. The book uses many scientific discoveries in order to prove this theory. -
The Civil War begins in the United States
The Union faced secessionists in eleven southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America. The Union won the Civil War. This war remains the bloodiest war in U.S. history. The Civil War was fought over the moral issue of slavery. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
Soon after the Union victory president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It stated that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states "shall be then, thence forward, and forever free." Around 20,000 to 50,000 slaves in regions where rebellion had already subdued were immediately emancipated. In areas where it was still under rebellion, this could not be enforced. This was was an important turning point. -
The Meiji Restoration
It was a chain of events that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. The events restored practical abilities and consolidated the political system under the emperor of Japan. This period went from 1868 to 1912 and was responsible for the emergence of Japan as a modernized nation and its rapid rise to great power. -
The Unification of Germany
The political and social movement that administratively integrated Germany into a nation state. The Princes of the German states gathered in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France to proclaim Wilhelm l of Prussia as German emperor. -
The Berlin Conference
The conference regulated European colonization and trade in Africa. They negotiated and formalized claims to territory in Africa. -
The Russo-Japanese War
This war developed out of the rivalry for dominance in Manchuria and Korea between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan. The war ended on September 5, 1905 with the Japanese winning every battle of the war, it was the first war in which a non-European nation defeated a great European country using all of the resources of modern technology. After the war, with the win of the Japanese, it led to many revolts in Russia that caused the Russian Revolution of 1917. -
The Mexican Revolution
It was a bad bloody conflict that arguably spanned two decades. The revolution began with a call to arms on November 20th, 1910 to overthrow the current president (dictator) Portifirio Díaz Mori. Within six months Díaz was overthrown, but the violence continued. He wasn't overthrown by Francisco Madero, and he wasn't inaugurated president. -
World War l begins
The start of WWI began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenburg on June 28, 1914. They were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, who was a member of the nationalist group Black Hand. The event followed a series of diplomatic clashes among the Great Powers (Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Austria-Hungary and Russia) over European and colonial issues from decades before 1914. -
The Russian Revolution
Was a pair of revolutions in Russia in 1917, that replaced Russia's traditional monarchy with the world's first Communist state (the Soviet Union). It also involved the collapse of an empire under Tsar Nicholas II and the rise of Marxian socialism under Lenin and his Bolsheviks. The causes of the revolution were the long term effects of poverty, industrial revolution, and the ineffective rule and growing political unrest. -
The Chinese Revolution
The Chinese communist Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). This lead to a full-scale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist Party. The creation of the PRC caused the long process of governmental chaos, which began the Chinese Revolution. This was the "fall" of China.
