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Nov 3, 1300
Commercial Revolution
The Commercial Revolution was a period of European economic expansion, colonialism, and mercantilism which lasted from approximately the late 13th century until the early 18th century. It was succeeded in the mid-18th century by the Industrial Revolution. -
Consumer Revolution
The term Consumer revolution refers to the period from approximately 1600 to 1750 in England. There was a marked increase in the consumption and variety of "luxury" goods and products by individuals from different economic and social backgrounds. -
Baroque Period in Art and Music
Baroque was a serious and dark style, risen by the Roman Catholic Church. Many artists started using it as it got more popular. -
The Trial of Galileo
The Galileo affair was a sequence of events, beginning around 1610, culminating with the trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633 for his support of heliocentrism. Galileo was kept under house arrest until his death in 1642. -
Reign of Louis XIV
72-year ruler of France. In that time, he transformed the monarchy, ushered in a golden age of art and literature, presided over a dazzling royal court at Versailles, annexed key territories and established his country as the dominant European power -
Height of Mercantilism in Europe
Mercantilism was a system of statism which employed economic fallacy to build up a structure of imperial state power, as well as special subsidy and monopolistic privilege to individuals or groups favored by the state. Thus, mercantilism held exports should be encouraged by the government and imports discouraged -
The "Golden Age" of Netherlands
The dutch had gained a lot of wealth through the dominance of the world trade system. They used that wealth to become the world's center for arts and sciences. -
Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years War
Ended one of the most destructive conflicts in history. It gave independence from Spain to Austria and the Netherlands -
English Civil War
Conflict between Charles I and the Parliament. Ended with execution of Charles and Oliver Cromwell taking over. -
Oliver Cromwell’s Navigation Acts
The colonies represented a lucrative source of wealth and trade. The Navigation Acts were designed to regulate colonial trade and enabled England to collect duties (taxes) in the Colonies. -
Thomas Hobbes publishes The Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes believed in equal rights and that no one should have more power than another. This influenced the constitution of the United States -
The English Monarchy Restored
The English Monarchy was abolished by Oliver Cromwell. The English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. -
Test Act in England
This act took away rights from Catholics. This excluded Catholics from both houses. -
Ottoman Siege of Vienna
Ottoman's attempt to besiege Vienna. They ended up losing in an open battle. -
The Enlightenment
European politics, philosophy, science and communications were radically reoriented during the Enlightenment. This led to the Scientific Revolution, which was a major turning point in history. -
Revocation of the Evict Nantes
Ended the Edict of Nantes, which led Protestants into exile or hiding. This made them lose all social identity. -
Newton’s publication of the Principia Mathematica
It was focused on gravity, science of physics, and applied mathematics. This played a huge role in the Scientific Revolution. -
The “Glorious Revolution”
Overthrow of King James II of England. Established a constitutional monarchy in Great Britain -
John Locke publish Two Treatises of Government
The Two Treatises of Government were focused on the belief in reason, and democracy. Locke also influenced the United States with his ideas of democracy. -
Reign of Peter the Great
Attempted to establish Russia into a great nation. He created a strong navy, reorganized his army according to Western standards, secularized schools, administered greater control over the reactionary Orthodox Church, and introduced new administrative and territorial divisions of the country. -
War of Spanish Succession
he War of the Spanish Succession was the first world war of modern times with theatres of war in Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, and at sea. Charles II, king of Spain, died in 1700 without an heir. In his will he gave the crown to the French prince Philip of Anjou. -
Rococo Period in Art and Music
The Rococo style was pretty much the opposite of Baroque; fun and playful. No religion played a role in its rise, which shows France was less devoted to religion. -
Reign of Frederick the Great of Prussia
Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great, was Prussia's king. By winning wars and expanding territories, he established Prussia as a strong military -
Reign of Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria. Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, began her rule in 1740. She was the only woman ruler in the 650 history of the Habsburg dynasty. -
War of Austrian Succession
The war was a conglomeration of related wars, two of which developed directly from the death of Charles VI, Holy Roman emperor and head of the Austrian branch of the house of Habsburg. -
The Agricultural Revolution
The Agricultural Revolution involved many agricultural methods that are still used today. It greatly increased crop productivity. -
Jean Jacques Rousseau publishes The Social Contract
The theory of an implicit social contract holds that by remaining in the territory controlled by some society, which usually has a government, people give consent to join that society and be governed by its government, if any. This consent is what gives legitimacy to such government. -
Last appearance of Bubonic plague in Western Europe
Greatly decreased amount of deaths. One of the factors that led to the population explosion. -
Diplomatic Revolution
The Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 was the reversal of longstanding alliances in Europe between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. Austria went from an ally of Britain to an ally of France, and Prussia became an ally of Britain. -
Seven Years War
The Seven Years’ War essentially comprised two struggles. One centered on the maritime and colonial conflict between Britain and its Bourbon enemies, France and Spain; the second, on the conflict between Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia and his opponents: Austria, France, Russia, and Sweden. -
Enclosure Movement
Wealthy farmers bought land from small farmers, then benefited from economies of scale in farming huge tracts of land. The enclosure movement led to improved crop production, such as the rotation of crops. -
Reign of Catherine the Great of Prussia
Catherine II, often called Catherine the Great, was born on May 2, 1729, in Stettin, Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland), and became the Russian empress in 1762. Under her reign, Russia expanded its territories and modernized, following the lead of Western Europe. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution was a political upheaval that took place between 1765 and 1783 during which colonists in the Thirteen American Colonies rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy, overthrew the authority of Great Britain, and founded the United States of America. -
First Partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland was when the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. Growth in the Russian Empire's power, threatening the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg Austrian Empire, was the primary motive behind this first partition. -
Classical Period in Art and Music
Classical was an objection to the Rococo Style. There are many famous musicians with classical symphonies, such as Beethoven. -
Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations
Smith, a Scottish philosopher by trade, wrote the book to upend the mercantilist system. Mercantilism held that wealth was fixed and finite and that the only way to prosper was to hoard gold and tariff products from abroad. According to this theory, this meant nations should sell their goods to other countries while buying nothing in return. -
French Revolution
A watershed event in modern European history, the French Revolution began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. During this period, French citizens razed and redesigned their country’s political landscape, uprooting centuries-old institutions such as absolute monarchy and the feudal system. -
Slave Revolt in Haiti
Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere. Slaves initiated the rebellion in 1791 and by 1803 they had succeeded in ending not just slavery but French control over the colony. -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication on the Rights of Women
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was the first great feminist treatise. Wollstonecraft preached that intellect will always govern and sought “to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonimous with epithets of weakness.” -
Edward Jenner’s Smallpox Vaccination
Edward Jenner, an English country doctor from Gloucestershire, administers the world’s first vaccination as a preventive treatment for smallpox, a disease that had killed millions of people over the centuries. This leads to population explosion. -
Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte
Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d'état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. -
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from November 1814 to June 1815. The delegates had arrived and were already negotiating by late September 1814.
