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1469
Isabella & Ferdinand unify Spain
Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile initiated a confederation of the two kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. -
Period: 1509 to 1547
Henry VIII reigns in England
This king was famous for his six wives he had while trying to have a son. -
Period: 1558 to
Elizabeth I reigns England
She was very well-educated (fluent in five languages), and had inherited intelligence, determination, and shrewdness from both parents. -
Edict of Nantes
Granted religious tolerance and equality to the Huguenots (French Protestants) and ended the French Wars of Religion. -
Don Quixote is published
Explores themes of honor, idealism, and the clash between reality and imagination. -
Period: to
Thirty Years War
A group of Bohemian Protestants led by Count Jindřich Matyáš Thurn-Valsassina threw two Catholic governors and their secretary out of a top-floor window of Prague Castle. -
Petition of Right signed
Legal petition asserting a right against the English crown. -
Period: to
The Long Parliament
An English Parliament that lasted 20 years. -
Period: to
Louis XIV reigns as king of France
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. -
Peace of Westphalia is signed
A series of peace treaties signed between May and October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. -
Thomas Hobbes publishes “Leviathan”
An example of social contract theory, which states that people should give up their individual will and desires for the greater good. -
Charles II reigns England
Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland and Henrietta Maria of France. -
Period: to
Peter the Great reigns as czar of Russia
He was determined that Russia become and remain a great European power and carried forward the Westernizing policies in a radical and uncompromising manner. -
Glorious Revolution
The series of events in 1688-89 culminated in the exile of King James II and the accession to the throne of William and Mary. -
English Bill of Rights signed
Outlined specific constitutional and civil rights and ultimately gave Parliament power over the monarchy. -
John Locke publishes “Two Treaties of Government”
Locke proposed that government emerges from the consent of the government to protect their natural rights. -
Sabastian Bach height of his career
Outstanding harpsichordist, organist, and expert on organ building. -
Daniel Dafoe publishes “Robinson Crusoe”
About a shipwrecked sailor in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe who lives for many years on a desert island. -
Jonathan Swift publishes “Gulliver’s Travels”
Satirising both human nature and the "travelers' tales" literary subgenre. -
Frederick II reigns Prussia
Led his nation through multiple wars with Austria and its allies. -
Baron de Montesquieu publishes “The Spirit of Laws”
Montesquieu was best known for The Spirit of Laws (1748), one of the great works in the history of political theory and of jurisprudence -
Denis Diderot publishes his “Encyclopedia”
Indicates its aims and then presents definitions and histories of science and the arts. -
Period: to
Seven Years War
Fought between 1756 and 1763, this conflict can claim to be the original world war. -
Voltaire published “Candid”
The story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds. -
Period: to
George III reigns England
The first truly British monarch of the Hanoverian kings. -
Jean Jacque Rousseau publishes “Social Contract”
Asserts that only the general will of the people has the right to legislate, for only under the general will can the people be said to obey only themselves and hence be free. -
Period: to
Catherine Great reigns Russia
Was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III. -
Period: to
Joseph II reigns Austria
He was co‐regent of Austria with his mother Maria Theresa from 1765 and sole ruler from 1780 to 1790. -
Boston Massacre
It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier but quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. -
Boston Tea Party
American political and mercantile protest on December 16, 1773, by the Sons of Liberty in Boston in colonial Massachusetts. -
Intolerable Acts
A series of four laws was passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. -
Battle of Lexington & Concord
The first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulted in an American victory and an outpouring of militia support for the anti-British cause. -
Adam Smith publishes ''Wealth of Nations''
His most famous book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, was published in 1776 and remains in print to this day. -
Declaration of Independence signed
The Congress members affixed their signatures to this parchment inside the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall. -
Period: to
American Revolution
Rebellion and political revolution in the Thirteen Colonies, which saw colonists initiate a war for independence against the Kingdom of Great Britain. -
Battle of Yorktown
Victory at Yorktown led directly to the peace negotiations that ended the war in 1783 and gave America its independence. -
Treaty of Paris
Recognized U.S. independence and granted the U.S. significant western territory. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolution. -
Storming of the Bastille
A symbol of the monarchy's abuse of power. -
Tennis Court Oath
The deputies swore never to separate until they had given France a Constitution -
Women’s march on Versailles
A riot that took place during this first stage of the French Revolution. -
U.S. Constitution ratified
Ratification by 9 of the 13 states enacted the new government. -
Declaration of the Rights of Woman
Women, just as men, are guaranteed natural, inalienable, sacred rights – and political institutions are instituted with the purpose of protecting these natural rights. -
Five Man Directory created
A five-member committee that governed France from November 1795 to November 1799. -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”
Argues for the empowerment of women in education, politics, society, and marriage. -
National Convention Formed
A single-chamber assembly in France from September 20, 1792, to October 26, 1795, during the French Revolution. -
Radical Phase
France was made a republic, abolishing the monarchy and executing the king. -
The Committee of Public Safety was created
Created with the intent to defend the nation against foreign and domestic enemies, as well as to oversee the new functions of the executive government -
Reign of Terror
A period of the French Revolution, from about March 1793, to July 1794, during which many persons were ruthlessly executed by the ruling faction. -
Napoleon Bonaparte becomes Emperor
Marked "the instantiation of [the] modern empire" and was a "transparently masterminded piece of modern propaganda". -
Battle of Austerlitz
The first engagement of the War of the Third Coalition and one of Napoleon's greatest victories. -
Battle of Trafalgar
Naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars. -
Battle of Leipzig
The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I and Karl von Schwarzenberg, decisively defeated the Grande Armée of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. -
Congress of Vienna
A series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political -
Napoleon exiled to Elba
After Napoleon Bonaparte's disastrous campaign in Russia ended in defeat, he was forced into exile in Elba. -
Napoleon exiled to St. Helena
He was denied newspapers, subjected to a curfew, watched all the time, and heavily guarded, with 125 men stationed around Longwood in the day and 72 at night.