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Aug 18, 1352
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. -
Sep 27, 1529
Ottoman siege of Vienna
The Siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, to capture the city of Vienna, Austria. -
Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years War
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster, effectively ending the European wars of religion. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the independence of the Dutch Republic. -
Consumer Revolution
The term Consumer revolution refers to the period from approximately 1600 to 1750 in England in which there was a marked increase in the consumption and variety of "luxury" goods and products by individuals from different economic and social backgrounds. -
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 (Italian: il processo a Galileo Galilei). ... Galileo was kept under house arrest until his death in 1642. -
The English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations. They were between Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of England's government. -
Reign of Louis XIV
Louis XIV known as Louis the Great or the Sun King was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. -
The Baroque Period in art and music
The Baroque is often thought of as a period of artistic style. It used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, theater, and music. -
The "Golden Age" of the Netherlands
The Dutch Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, around the 17th century, Dutch trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterized by the Eighty Years' War which ended in 1648. -
The Leviathan
The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. -
Oliver Cromwell’s Navigation Acts
The Navigation Act was passed on 9 October 1651 by the Rump Parliament led by Oliver Cromwell. It authorised the Commonwealth to regulate trade within the colonies.[6] It reinforced a long-standing principle of government policy that English trade should be carried in English vessels. -
The English Monarchy Restored
King Charles II, the first monarch to rule after the English Restoration. The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when 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
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws. They served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. -
Reign of Peter the Great
Peter the Great was born Pyotr Alekseyevich on June 9, 1672 in Moscow, Russia. Peter the Great was the 14th child of Czar Alexis by his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Having ruled jointly with his brother Ivan V from 1682, when Ivan died in 1696, Peter was officially declared Sovereign of all Russia. -
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Fontainebleau was an edict issued by Louis XIV of France, also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes had granted the Huguenots the right to practice their religion without persecution from the state. -
The Enlightenment
European politics, philosophy, science and communications were radically reoriented during the course of the “long 18th century” (1685-1815) as part of a movement referred to by its participants as the Age of Reason, or simply the Enlightenment. -
Newton’s publication of the Principia Mathematica
The Principia states Newton's laws of motion, forming the foundation of classical mechanics; Newton's law of universal gravitation; and a derivation of Kepler's laws of planetary motion. The Principia is "justly regarded as one of the most important works in the history of science". -
The “Glorious Revolution”
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688. It was the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau. -
Two treatises of government
The first treatise is based on the refutation of sir Robert Filmer, which argued that civil society was founded on a divinely sanctioned patriarchalism. The second outlines a theory of civil society. -
Enclosure Movement
The enclosure movement was this: 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. -
Enclosure Movement
In the early 1700s, there was an "enclosure movement" that was a cause of the industrial revolution in England. The enclosure movement was this: wealthy farmers bought land from small farmers, then benefited from economies of scale in farming huge tracts of land. -
War of Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was the first world war of modern times with theaters 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. -
Jean Jacques Rousseau publishes The Social Contract
Context. With the famous phrase, "man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains," Rousseau asserts that modern states repress the physical freedom that is our birthright, and do nothing to secure the civil freedom for the sake of which we enter into civil society. -
Reign of Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria. Maria Theresa (1717-1780), 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. -
Last appearance of Bubonic plague in Western Europe
Bubonic plague is one of three types of bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis.[1] Three to seven days after exposure to the bacteria flu like symptoms develop. This includes fever, headaches, and vomiting. -
The Classical Period in art and music
Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is a clear melody above a subordinate chordal accompaniment. Counterpoint was by no means forgotten, especially later in the period, and composers still used counterpoint in religious pieces, such as Masses. -
The Rococo Period in art and music
is an 18th-century artistic movement and style.It was affecting many aspects of the arts including painting, sculpture, architecture, interior design, decoration, literature, music, and theater. -
Reign of Frederick the Great of Prussia
Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great, was Prussia's king from 1740 to 1786. By winning wars and expanding territories, he established Prussia as a strong military power. -
War of Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession involved most of the powers. Like Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Hapsburg. -
The Agricultural Revolution
The Agricultural Revolution was a period of technological improvement and increased crop productivity that occurred during the 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe. In this lesson, learn the timeline, causes, effects and major inventions that spurred this shift in production. -
Seven Years War
The Seven Years' War was a war fought between 1754 and 1763, the main conflict occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. It involved every European great power of the time except the Ottoman Empire, spanning five continents, and affected Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain on one side and the Kingdom of France on the other. -
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. -
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. -
Height of Mercantilism in Europe
Mercantilism was an economic theory and practice, dominant in modernized parts of Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, that promoted governmental regulation of a nation's economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers. -
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. -
Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). -
First Partition of Poland
he First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as 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. -
Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations
"The Wealth of Nations")was first published. 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. -
French Revolution
The French Revolution (French: Révolution française [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France. It lasted from 1789 until 1799, and was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the French Empire. -
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
Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a treatise on overcoming the ways in which women in her time are oppressed and denied their potential in society, with concomitant problems for their households and society as a whole. -
Edward Jenner’s Smallpox Vaccination
May 14, 1796, Jenner took fluid from a cowpox blister and scratched it into the skin of James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy. A single blister rose up on the spot, but James soon recovered. On July 1, Jenner inoculated the boy again, this time with smallpox matter, and no disease developed. The vaccine was a success. -
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was convened in 1815 by the four European powers which had defeated Napoleon. The first goal was to establish a new balance of power in Europe which would prevent imperialism within Europe, such as the Napoleonic empire, and maintain the peace between the great powers.