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Jan 1, 1500
Geocentric & Heliocentric Conception
Two different theories about how the universe was set up emerged. The Geocentric conception had earth as the center of the universe whereas the Heliocentric conception has the sun as the center. -
The Scientific Method
The Scientific method is a list of steps that people use when conducting experiments. The scientific method was crucial to the evolution of science. This gave people a new way to test the theories that scientists of previous generations had come up with. -
Mercantilism
Mercantilism dealt with economic policy by placing a state at national economic development. According to mercantilism, wealth is power. The mercantilist policy was based on the use of import restrictions, export promotion, and other measures of trade war. -
Isaac Newton
Newton was the first person to make connections between the works of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. His laws of gravity were not fully practiced until a full century after he discovered them. Newton’s laws of gravity are still taught in schools across the country today. -
Sebastian Bach
Sebastian Bach first served as an organist and music director at a bunch of small German courts before getting the job as director of liturgical music at the church of Saint Thomas. Bach used music as a way of worshiping God. Every piece of music that he wrote was in the honor of God. -
Voltaire
Voltaire is known as the greatest figure of the enlightenment. He became most famous for challenging traditional religion. He felt that people should be tolerant of different religions. He believed in deism which is the religious ideas that were shared by most philosophers. -
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot is most famous for hiss contribution to the Enlightenment with his 28 volume Encyclopedia. This became a major tool for philosophers to challenge the old French society. Later editions of the encyclopedia were made cheaper and sales increased drastically. -
Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great is known for dividing Russia into 50 provinces and they were divided into districts ruled by officials. She ended up being a worthy successor to Peter the Great. She greatly affected Russia by the way she expanded the territory. -
The Seven Years War
The Seven Years War became a worldwide struggle. The different empires that were involved were the Spanish, Portuguese, British, Russian, Dutch, Ottoman, and French. There were three major areas of fighting which included Europe, India, and North America. -
Napoleon Bonaparte
In 1799 he was given the title of first council. This gave him the power to control the whole government basically on his own. He also created the Grand Empire which consisted of the French state, dependent states, and allied states. -
Invention of the Steam Engine
The main purpose of the steam engine was used to spin and weave cotton. This allowed Britain to produce mass amounts of products that use cotton. This soon made cotton Britain’s most valuable product. By the 1830’s steam engines were placed in locomotives which allowed them to travel at much faster speeds. -
Poverty & Bad Harvest
This was one of the main causes of the French Revolution. During this time period many people were heavily dependent on agriculture to continue their daily life style. Terrible weather was the cause of the bad growing seasons. -
Storming of Bastille
The prison of Bastille was a symbol of the royal authority of France during this time period. A group of over 8,000 Parisians went to storm the prison in the early afternoon and only fought for about three hours before the small army that was defending the prison surrendered. There were only about 115 men there to protect the prison. -
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin is an English scientist who developed the idea of natural selection and evolution. His theory of evolution said that we all have common ancestry that has evolved over time into modern day humans. His theory of natural selection which is also referred to as survival of the fittest, said that species learn to adapt by keeping skills that allow them to thrive. -
Concert of Europe 1815 / Congress of Vienna
Formulated in 1815, The Concert of Europe, a mechanism designed to enforce the decisions of the Congress of Vienna. The main principals included the establishment of a balance of power therefore preserving the status quo along with the legitimate governments. The Concert of Europe was one of the first serious attempts in modern times to establish an international society to maintain the peace. -
Revolution of 1830
The revolution of 1830 consisted of rebellions against conservative kings and governments by liberals and revolutionaries in different parts of Europe during 1830-1832. Louis-Philippe, a cousin of Charles X, appealed to become the constitutional king of France. The successful July revolution in France mobilized change in Britain. -
Improvement of Living Conditions
Improvement of living conditions included sanitation, plumbing, draining, nutrition, and medical officers. Board of Health brought governmental action to bear on public health issues. Urban medical officers and building inspect dwellings for public health hazards. -
Working Conditions of 1842
During the industrial revolution many people began to work in either the factories or coal mines. Working hours were usually around 16 hours a day and 6 days a week. They would only get a 30 minute break for lunch and dinner. These bad working conditions would eventually lead to workers rebelling until the conditions became better. -
Revolution of 1848
In France, the Revolution of 1848 began when the people wanted universal suffrage led by Louis Blanc. King Louis Philippe was overthrown. The second republic was established by Louis Blanc’s revolution. The revolution in France of February opened new ideas for other countries in Europe and in return started other revolutions. -
Growth of Cities
Cities and towns started to grow quickly in the first half of the 19th century and it was related to industrialization. Cities started to become a place where many people started living. By the year 1850 London’s population had grown to almost 2.4 million. -
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud constructed a series of theories based on the rational nature of the human mind. Based off of Freud’s beliefs, human behavior was strongly determined by the unconscious. He developed the three contending forces the id, ego, and super ego. -
The Civil War
The southern states who depended on their slaves to make profits decided to secede from the Union. This war caused close to 700,000 Americans to lose their lives. This war forced families to have to fight against each other.This also led to the Northern people feeling like the southerners were traitors, and the southerners were angry that the north was telling them how to live their life. -
Marie Curie
Marie Curie along with help from her husband discovered radium. Curie discovered the atom which contained subatomic parts such as protons and electrons. She was the first woman to receive two Nobel piece prizes, on in physics the other in chemistry. Most importantly, Marie Curie started and impacted the atomic age. -
Universal Elementary Education
During this time many governments began to offer education at the primary level for students between the ages of 6 to 12. They also started to allow girls to join boys inside the classroom. States took responsibility for finding teachers and deciding what they had to do to become a teacher. -
Trench Warfare
Trench warfare was a new style of warfare. Trenches were holes dug into the ground where the army was expected to be, out of sight, in hopes as an advantage. Trench warfare consisted of many disadvantages. Because trench warfare included little space, soldiers witnessed harsh conditions based upon weather and construction of the trenches. -
The Unification of Germany
The unification of Germany is the process in which many different city-states went through on their way to becoming one centralized state that came to be known as Germany. King William of Prussia is responsible for trying to make a unified state. -
Invention of the Telephone
The telephone was invented by an American named Alexander Graham Bell. This was the first type of machine that made communication between people far away easy. After a few years more people started to use the telephone because they didn’t have to wait for responses like they did when they wrote letters. -
Joseph Stalin
After the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924 Stalin took over as the head of the Soviet Union by defeating all other parties that tried to rise to take over. He then replaced the political views of the Soviet Union and incorporated socialist policies. -
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein influenced the field of physics with his theory of relativity. The theory of relativity defines that space and time are not absolute but relative to the observer. Einstein concluded that matter is made up of energy and therefore a form energy. -
Adolf Hitler
He became the leader of the Nazi party in 1921 but he didn’t get appointed chancellor until January 30th, 1933. That is when he changed Germany into a single party dictatorship. Hitler is best known for his role in the Holocaust where he killed over six million Jewish people. -
Total War
Total war is a war fought on all fronts. The support of the country assists with the war efforts. A nation at war engages in complete mobilization of all their valuable resources and population. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement that ended WWI. The treaty included the United States with President Wilson and Great Britain and France’s prime ministers. The terms stated under the treaty placed severe penalties on Germany. As a result, Germany’s attitude towards the war shifted and led to WWII. -
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was the most famous of the Pop artists during the pop art movement of the late 1950s and 1960s. Warhol rejected the still-prevalent style of abstract expressionism. Warhol adapted images from commercial art. He produced more than 2,000 images, including a silk-screen series of star portraits and a series of sculptures that duplicated product wrappings. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. is an African American man who helped lead the civil rights movements. He was a strong believer in peaceful protests and felt that African Americans would eventually become equals in American society. He is most noted for his “I Have a Dream” speech which was given on August 28, 1963. -
The Great Depression
Black Tuesday is often times looked at as the start of the great depression because of the giant stock market crash that took place. The depression saw many American families lose their homes and struggle to be able to adequately supply for their children. The unemployment rate during this time period was very high and there were just simply not enough jobs for the citizens. -
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was the mass murdering of about six million European Jews during World War II. The holocaust took part mainly in Germany when Adolf Hitler rose to power with his Nazi party. This event ruined many lives and it forced families to separate and in many cases never reunite. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was an American naval base in Hawaii attacked by the Japanese. 2,400 men were killed and about 1,300 more men that were hurt. This event then led to major changes in the American economy and the daily lives of the American citizens. -
The Atomic Bomb
The first Atomic Bomb that the United States was able to create was in 1945. “The Manhattan Project” was the name given to the secret tests by the United States army when they were trying to control uranium so that they could create a bomb that was stable and could do heavy damage. The United States used the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 and then used a second one on August 9, 1945. -
The Vietcong
The Vietcong consisted of Vietnamese supporters for the communist National Liberation Front in South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Between 1959 and 1975, the Vietcong fought against the United States and the government of South Vietnam. Initially, the Vietcong used subversive tactics to overthrow the South Vietnamese regime but the resorted to open warfare. -
The Vietnam War
The United States was forced to send in troops in order to keep the Communist regime of the north from uniting the entire country under its control. The United States failed to succeed over the determination of the North Vietnamese and especially the Vietcong. With the assistance of guerilla warfare, South Vietnamese villagers were able to disappear among people, attack when least expected, and live off the land. -
Elvis Presley & The Beatles
The Beatles "I Want to Hold your Hand"
Elvis Presley was the first real rock and roll star. Presley combined blues, country, and gospel in his flamboyant style which spread across America.
The Beatles, also rock and roll, proved to contain a limitless variety of harmonies, structures, and sounds within their music. The Beatles arrived on American shores in 1964 as they influenced the mass movement of rock and roll. -
The Space Race
The competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in efforts to explore outer space defined the space race. The technological skills in the areas of science, education, engineering, and managements all were fields used within the competition of demonstration. -
The Bay of Pigs / The Cuban Missile Crisis
The first U.S. government sponsor in efforts to overthrow the government of Cuba followed by the Cuban Revolution of 1959. The fighters involved in the in invasion were easily defeated and imprisoned. Most of the invaders were easily captured by Castro’s forces and were treated for food and medical supplies in December 1962. -
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier that separated West Berlin from East Berlin throughout much of the cold war. During the wave of reform that swept Eastern Europe in 1989, the East German government relaxed border controls and eventually dismantled portions of the wall to the great joy of residents on both sides. -
Watergate
Several men were caught breaking into the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate building. Revealed shortly after, active Cubans in the anti-Fidel Castro movement were involved in the burglary. Others were found to have relations to people in the presidential administration of Richard Nixon or to his campaign organization.
