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1440
The Printing Press is Invented
In 1436, Johaness Gutenberg invented the printing press because he wanted to offset the losses of his previous failed products. It was used to help people read and helped the Literacy Rate skyrocket. -
Period: 1478 to
Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition was a movement going on in Spain trying to combat heresy, or the allowing of multiple or a wrong religion. When Phillip ascended the throne in 1556, he tried to make everywhere he could Catholic, one of these examples was the Spanish Armada. If they were more accepting, they might have allowed heresy, causing a riot from the people. -
Oct 12, 1492
Christopher Columbus sails to United States
Christopher Columbus was an explorer for the Spanish that wanted to find the quickest way to the Spice Islands. He decided that if the Earth was round he could go to the west and it would be faster that trying to go around Africa. In doing so, he ended up in the Bahamas and being the first person to explore America. If he did not do this, that part of the world could still have some of their ancient traditions, but would be behind on all of the technological advancements -
May 4, 1493
Line of Demarcation
The Pope had just lost a lot of Catholic nations to other Protestant religions. He saw that Spain and Portugal were exploring and wanted to prevent them from fighting. He created he Line of Demarcation, which stated that the east of the world belonged to Portugal and the west belonged to Spain. If this line was not put into place Portugal and Spain could have fought, causing problems for the Pope. -
1498
Bartolomeu Dias sees the end of Africa
Bartolomeu Dias was a Portuguese explorer. In 1488, he went on a trip to go to the Spice Islands, the only problem being that no one knew if Africa ended. He set sail and went all the way to the southern tip of Africa and told the people that Africa did end. This caused the Portuguese not to give up and keep going, eventually reaching India. -
May 20, 1498
Vasco De Gama reaches India
Vasco De Gama was a Portuguese explorer. He was the first person to reach India by sea. This caused a lot of people to make a huge amount of money because they got the spices closer to the source. -
1500
Amerigo Vespucci explores America
Amerigo Vespucci was an explorer for both Spain and Portugal. He is known for being on of the first people to explore the Americas, which is where the name America is based off of. If he did not explore the Americas they could have a different name and have taken longer to explore. -
1512
Alfonso de Albuquerque sails to the Spice Islands
Alfonso de Albuquerque was a Portuguese general who did some minor exploration, one of which was to the Spice Islands. He became one of the first people to discover the source of the spices from the Spice Islands. If he did not, people would have thought that the source of the spices was still India. -
Period: 1516 to 1556
Charles V Reigns over Spain
Charles V was the the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire for 40 years. He was the king of Spain during the Protestant Reformation and was a very strict Catholocist and would not let any other religion inside of the Holy Roman Empire. If he was more lenient, the Holy Roman Empire could have been a protestant Empire, which could have changed the course of history. -
Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther Nails His 95 Theses
Martin Luther discovered that the church was not perfect and had a lot of issues. He waited until the day before All Saints Day he nailed 95 reasons on why the church was being corrupted. many people saw this and created their own religion to break away from Catholicism(Lutheranism). -
Period: 1519 to 1529
Ferdinand Magellan explores the world
Ferdinand was a very famous explorer who is credited for being the first leader of the ship that circumnavigated the globe. He was trying to disprove the Line of Demarcation, saying that everything is west because Earth is round, so he tried to go all the way around the world to prove it, dying before he got to the end. -
Sep 20, 1519
Ferdinand Magellan sailed west to prove everything belongs to Spain
Ferdinand Magellan was angry at the Pope by limiting Spain and Portugal from the land they could acquire. He tried to disprove the Line of Demarcation, saying that everything is west because Earth is round, so he tried to go around the world to prove it. While he was going around the world he got involved in a war and got shot, killing him. His crew then finished the voyage, disproving the Line of Demarcation. This is important because everything would still be split in half. -
1521
Diet of Worms
The Diet of Worms was a meeting of the Holy Roman Empire. They were discussing how to deal with Luther's teachings. They decided on a number of ways to increase the number of Catholics. This is important because if they would have left them alone then they might have lost almost of it's people on the religious side of things. -
1534
Henry VIII and England leave Catholicism
Henry VII was the king of England at the time. He thought that the way that the Pope was forcing Catholicism onto them was not right. He assembled a court of high officials and they broke away from Catholicism. If this did not happen then England would not have upset the Spanish and the Spanish Armada would have never happened. -
1536
John Calvin Influenced Calvinism
John Calvin thought that the church was wrong. He thought that life was already predetermined and that good deeds could not change your fate. this influenced aa bunch of people that believed in the same thing and they created a religion based on Predetermination(Calvinism), which became the dominant religion in France. This is important because if this did not happen, France would have still been a Catholic nation, which meant that there would not have been any civil wars or the Edict of Nantes. -
Period: Dec 13, 1545 to Dec 4, 1563
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was held by the Holy Roman Empire. They were trying to see how they could respond to all of the Protestant religions. It helped to widen the gap of the two types of religions. If this did not happen, people could have tried to overthrow the king or start a riot. -
Jan 15, 1549
Edward VI creates the Book of Common Prayer
Edward VI was the England after Henry VII. They had broke away from England but no real rules. He created the Book of Common Prayer as a set of rules to set things straight. If he had not, they could have done whatever they wanted , which could have ended badly. -
Mar 21, 1556
Mary Tudor Kills Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer helped was one of the people that helped England break away from Catholicism. Mary, who was one of Edward's many children, was furious, as she was a Catholic. when Edward died, she was the next one on the throne. She was ruthless, earning her the title "Bloody Mary". she tortured Thomas for a while before letting him go and publicly executing him. if this did not happen, the entire country of England would have been miserable. -
Jul 1, 1558
Spanish Armada Attacks England
Philip II was the king if the Holy Roman Empire in the 1550s. During his reign, he was becoming annoyed by Francis Drake and Queen Elizabeth I. He was so mad that he sent one of the biggest ships ever at England with the intent of destroying everything. If he did not send them, they would probably very bad enemies farther down the road. -
Jul 28, 1558
England Defeats the Spanish Armada
After Phillip II sent the Armada, Elizabeth sent Francis Drake to command the defending fleets. It looked like they were about to lose, but Francis was smart. He waited until night and pushed flaming boats at them. The Spanish was so freaked out that they sawed off their anchors, drifting them away, right back to Spain, which killed almost all of them on the way back because they had no food. If they did not defeat them, Spain would have destroyed them and England would have been part of Spain. -
May 1, 1559
Elizabethan Compromise
Queen Elizabeth was tired of flipping back and forth between religions. She created a compromise that made it so that if you were protestant, you could not convert, and if you were catholic, you could either convert to Anglicanism, leave the country, or die. If this did not happen, there might have been a lot of religions in England. -
Aug 24, 1572
Bartholomew's day massacre
France was having a lot of conflict between the Huguenots and the Catholics. One night the Catholic police officers came and started killing all of the Huguenots. It was so concerning that every catholic came out killing their neighbors and all the other Huguenots. If they did not kill them, there would have been a lot of conflict which could have led to a lot of very violent wars. -
Sep 26, 1580
Francis Drake circumnavigated the world
Francis Drake was an Englishman who was hired by Elizabeth to steal from the Spanish ships. during one of his missions, he ended up going around the world, becoming the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. If this did not happen then England would have been behind on the glory of the rest of the world for a long time. -
Henry IV signs Edict of Nantes
Henry IV was tired of the civil wars happening in France. He created the Edict of Nantes which allowed Protestantism in France. If this did not happen France would have had a lot more civil wars, possibly tearing the country apart. -
The Dutch East India Company is created
The Dutch was a very wealthy country because they had control of the spice islands. They were so rich that their company, the Dutch East India Company, was allowed their own army to attack people with. If this never happened the Dutch would still have been rich, but there would be less of a threat to the other countries of being attacked by a company. -
Period: to
The Stuarts Rule over England
The Stuarts ruled after the Tudors. Unlike the tudors, they did not appreciate parliament, or their government. Most of them believed in the Divine Right of Kings, meaning that they were put into that position by God, and if you said no to something they wanted you were disobeying God. This cuased a lot of tension between them and parliament. If the Stuarts never ruled, things would have been much calmer in England. -
Cavaliers vs. Roundheads
Charles I was a strong believer of Divine Right and did not assemble parliament more than needed. This caused a lot of conflict, which eventually led to a war between the king and his supporters(Cavaliers) and Parliament(RoundHeads), which the Roundheads eventually won. If this war never happened England would have been a very unsafe country during Charles I reign. -
Period: to
Commonwealth
The Commonwealth was the period after the war between the king and Parliament. Oliver Cromwell became the new leader, who was a military genius. He was a dictator and caused England to become unhappy. If this did not happen, England could have stayed a happy country. -
Louis XIV constructs Versailles
Louis XIV was the king of France after Cardinal Richelieu. He was very centralized and made a "game" out of the nobles. he built one of the biggest houses ever, called Versailles, and told the nobles the longer you stay in Versailles the more power you get, practically brainwashing them. This made France go bankrupt. If this did not happen, France could've been like it had been previously and would not have been bankrupt. -
The Bill of Rights(England)
England was fed up of going through so many religions they asked the Netherlands to conquer them because they were Calvinist and not Catholic. William and Mary(king and queen of Netherlands) graciously accepted and they signed the Bill of Rights, making William and Mary the new rulers of England, while also making Parliament have a say in the things that they did. If the Bill of Rights was not signed the Netherlands could have done what ever they wanted with England without England having a say.