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Period: 1466 to
Absolutism timeline
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1469
Isabella & Ferdinand unify Spain
By their marriage in October 1469, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile initiated a confederation of the two kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. -
1485
Elizabeth I reigns England
Queen Elizabeth I was the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, which ruled England between 1485 and 1603. The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth became Queen in 1558 aged 25, at a time of political crisis. -
1547
Henry VIII resigns in England
Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. -
Edict of Nantes
Edict of Nantes, law promulgated at Nantes in Brittany on April 13, 1598, by Henry IV of France, which granted a large measure of religious liberty to his Protestant subjects, the Huguenots. -
Don Quixote is published
On January 16, 1605, Miguel de Cervantes' El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, better known as Don Quixote, is published. The book is considered by many to be the first modern novel and one of the greatest novels of all time. -
Thirty Years War
Thirty Years' War, (1618–48), in European history, a series of wars fought by various nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries. -
Petition of Right signed
The Petition of Right, passed on 7 June 1628, is an English constitutional document setting out specific individual protections against the state. -
Charles II regions England
Charles II 29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685 was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until he died in 1685. -
The Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. -
Louis XIV reigns as king of France
was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign. -
Peace of Westphalia is signed
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Munster. -
Thomas Hobbes publishes “Leviathan”
is a book written by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and published in 1651 (revised Latin edition 1668). -
Peter the Great reigns as czar of Russia
The reign of Peter I (1682–1725) was a turning point in Russian history. -
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution is the sequence of events that led to the deposition of James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange. -
English Bill of Rights signed
The Bill of Rights 1689 was An Act declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and settling the Succession of the Crown. -
John Locke publishes “Two Treaties of Government”
John Locke's Two Treatises of Government were published anonymously in 1689. In it, Locke proposed that government emerges from the consent of the government to protect their natural rights. -
Daniel Dafoe publishes “Robinson Crusoe”
Robinson Crusoe is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary, confessional, and didactic forms. -
Jonathan Swift publishes “Gulliver’s Travels”
Gulliver's Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift. -
Frederick II reigns Prussia
Frederick II German: Friedrich II.; 24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786 was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. -
Baron de Montesquieu publishes “The Spirit of Laws”
Montesquieu's greatest work, De le sprit des lois The Spirit of Laws, was published in 1748. It is a comparative study of three types of government: republic, monarchy, and despotism. -
Denis Diderot publishes his “Encyclopedia”
The Encyclopédie, Ou Dictionnaire Raisonné Des Sciences, Des Arts Et Des Métiers, often referred to simply as Encyclopédie or Diderot's Encyclopedia, is a twenty-eight-volume reference book published between 1751 and 1772. -
Reign of Terror (French Revolution)
The Reign of Terror (French: la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when following the creation of the First Republic. -
Seven Years War
The Seven Years' War was a global conflict involving most of the European great powers, fought primarily in Europe and the Americas. -
Voltaire publishes “Candid”
All this makes Voltaire's Candide even more of an extraordinary case. It was written between July and December 1758 and published simultaneously in Geneva, Paris and Amsterdam in January 1759. -
George III reigns England
George III, who ruled between 1760 and 1820, was the first truly British monarch of the Hanoverian kings. Ruling Britain was his first priority and he never visited his family's home in Hanover. -
Catherine Great reigns Russia
Catherine II born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 1729 – 17 November 1796, most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. -
Jean Jacque Rousseau publishes “Social Contract”
is a 1762 French-language book by the Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest on December 16, 1773, by the Sons of Liberty in Boston in colonial Massachusetts. -
Intolerable Acts
The Coercive Acts of 1774, known as the Intolerable Acts in the American colonies, were a series of four laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. -
Battle of Lexington & Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, the famous shot heard round the world, marked the start of the American War of Independence (1775-83). -
Adam Smith publishes “Wealth of Nations”
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nation commonly referred to simply as The Wealth of Nations. -
Declaration of Independence signed
The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It was engrossed on parchment and on August 2, 1776, delegates began signing it. -
Joseph II reigns Austria
Holy Roman Emperor (1765–90). He was co‐regent of Austria with his mother Maria Theresa from 1765 and sole ruler from 1780 to 1790. -
Battle of Yorktown
The siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown and the surrender at Yorktown, began September 28, 1781. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris was signed by U.S. and British Representatives on September 3, 1783, ending the War of the American Revolution -
US Constitution ratified
Written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, the United States Constitution is the world's longest surviving written charter of government. Its first three words -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolution. -
Storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, when revolutionary insurgents attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, -
Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was a key moment that set off the French Revolution. On June 20, 1789, the Tennis Court Oath was taken. -
Women’s march on Versailles
The Women's March on Versailles was a riot that took place during this first stage of the French Revolution. -
Declaration of the Rights of Woman
The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, also known as the Declaration of the Rights of Woman, was written on 14 September 1791 by French activist, -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”
Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) made a pioneering and durably influential argument for women's equality. -
National Convention Formed
The National Convention was established in 1792 during the French Revolution to replace the previous legislative bodies after the end of the monarchy. -
Radical Phase (French Revolution)
The radical phase of the French Revolution is usually defined as occurring between August 1792 and July 1794. -
Committee of Public Safety created
The Committee of Public Safety was a committee of the National Convention that formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. -
Five Man Directory created
The Directory also called Directorate, French: le Directoire was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 26 October 1795. -
Napoleon Bonaparte becomes Emperor
In May 1804, he became Emperor of the French under the name of Napoleon I. -
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most important military engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. -
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies -
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. -
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of European political. -
Napoleon exiled to Elba
The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. He was exiled to the island of Elba, between Corsica and Italy. -
Napoleon exiled to St. Helena
Not that it was his home by choice. Napoleon had been exiled to St. Helena after he was defeated by the British at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. -
Sabastian Bach height of his career
Lead vocalist Sebastian Bach replaced original singer Matt Fallon after the band spotted Bach singing at rock photographer Mark Weiss's wedding at the age of 18, and the members asked him to join in early 1987.