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1469
Isabella & Ferdinand unify Spain
By their marriage Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile initiated a confederation of the two kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. -
1547
Henry VIII resigns in England
When Henry sought to annul his marriage to Catherine, the Catholic Church wouldn't recognize it so he decided to separate completely from the Catholic Church -
Period: 1558 to
Elizabeth I reigns England
Her 45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English history. -
Edict of Nantes
granted religious tolerance and equality to the Huguenots (French Protestants) and ended the French Wars of Religion. -
Don Quixote is published
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. -
Period: to
Thirty Years War
a series of wars fought by various nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries. -
Petition of Right signed
is an English constitutional document setting out specific individual protections against the state, reportedly of equal value to Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights 1689. -
Period: to
Charles II regions England
Charles was proclaimed king in May 1660. Landing at Dover on May 25, he reached a rejoicing London on his 30th birthday -
The Long Parliament
During its first nine months it brought down the king's advisers, swept away the machinery of conciliar government developed by the Tudors and early Stuarts, made frequent sessions of Parliament a statutory necessity, and passed an act forbidding its own dissolution without its members' consent. -
Period: to
Louis XIV reigns as king of France
His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign -
Peace of Westphalia is signed
the Peace of Westphalia formally ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe. -
Thomas Hobbes publishes “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. -
Period: to
Peter the Great reigns as czar of Russia
was a turning point in Russian history. He was determined that Russia become and remain a great European power and carried forward the Westernizing policies in a radical and uncompromising manner. -
Period: to
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution is the sequence of events that led to the deposition of James II and VII in November 1688. -
English Bill of Rights signed
The English Bill of Rights is an act that the Parliament of England passed on December 16, 1689. The Bill creates separation of powers, limits the powers of the king and queen, enhances the democratic election and bolsters freedom of speech. -
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, which is the thesis of what is now called social contract theory. -
Period: to
Sabastian Bach height of his career
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music -
Daniel Dafoe publishes “Robinson Crusoe"
Robinson Crusoe is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. -
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, satirising both human nature and the "travellers' tales" literary subgenre. -
Period: to
Frederick II reigns Prussia
was the elector of Brandenburg (as Frederick III), who became the first king in Prussia (1701–13), freed his domains from imperial suzerainty, and continued the policy of territorial aggrandizement begun by his father, Frederick William, the Great Elector. -
Baron de Montesquieu publishes “The Spirit of Laws”
t is a comparative study of three types of government: republic, monarchy, and despotism. -
Period: to
Denis Diderot publishes his “Encyclopedia”
is a twenty-eight volume reference book published between 1751 and 1772 by André Le Breton and edited by translator and philosopher Denis Diderot -
Period: to
Seven Years War
was a global conflict involving most of the European great powers, fought primarily in Europe and the Americas. -
Voltaire publishes “Candide”
Candide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. -
Period: to
George III reigns England
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. -
Jean Jacque Rousseau publishes “Social Contract”
The Social Contract, originally published as On the Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right, is a 1762 French-language book by the Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. -
Period: to
Catherine Great reigns Russia
most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III. -
Boston Massacre
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
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 was the first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in an American victory and outpouring of militia support for the anti-British cause. -
Adam Smith publishes “Wealth of Nations”
On March 9, 1776, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations—commonly referred to simply as The Wealth of Nations—was first published. 1 Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher by trade, wrote the book to describe the industrialized capitalist system that was upending the mercantilist system. -
Declaration of Independence signed
The Declaration of Independence states the principles on which our government, and our identity as Americans, are based. Unlike the other founding documents, the Declaration of Independence is not legally binding, but it is powerful. -
Period: to
Joseph II reigns Austria
The busy Joseph inspired a complete reform of the legal system, abolished brutal punishments and the death penalty in most instances, and imposed the principle of complete equality of treatment for all offenders. He lightened censorship of the press and theatre. In 1781–82 he extended full legal freedom to serfs. -
Battle of Yorktown
At Yorktown, in the fall of 1781, General George Washington, with allied American and French forces, besieged General Charles Lord Cornwallis's British army. On October 19, Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending the war and ensuring independence. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States on September 3, 1783, officially ended the American Revolutionary War. -
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. There, the men of the National Assembly swore an oath never to stop meeting until a constitution had been established. -
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, fortress and political prison known as the Bastille. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
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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. It was spontaneously organized by women in the marketplaces of Paris, on the morning of October 5, 1789. -
US Constitution ratified
The United States Constitution is the world's longest surviving written charter of government. Its first three words – “We The People” – affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. -
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, feminist, and playwright Olympe de Gouges in response to the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. -
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. Emerging from the turbulent decade of the French Revolution, her vindication delivered a systematic critique of the treatment of women across time and place. -
Period: to
Radical Phase (French Revolution)
The Revolution became more radical because the French were losing badly in their war with Austria and Prussia. The radicals believed that if they lost the war, they would be punished and the monarchy and Ancien Regime would be put back in place. -
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. Largely composed of three political factions, the body served as a legitimate government body until its end in 1795. -
Committee of Public Safety created
The Committee of Public Safety was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. -
Period: to
Reign of Terror (French Revolution)
The Reign of Terror was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public Safety. -
Five Man Directory created
The Directory, a five-member committee that governed France from November 1795 to November 1799, failed to reform the disastrous economy, relied heavily on army and violence, and represented another turn towards dictatorship during the French Revolution. -
Napoleon Bonaparte becomes Emperor
In May 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor of the French under the name of Napoleon I, and was the architect of France's recovery following the Revolution before setting out to conquer Europe, which led to his downfall. -
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 during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars. -
Battle 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. The battle occurred near the town of Austerlitz in the Austrian Empire. -
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought on October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. 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. -
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. In France, the Bourbons were restored to power. -
Period: to
Congress of Vienna
What was the Congress of Vienna and what did it do?
The Congress of Vienna | History of Western Civilization II
The Congress of Vienna was the first of a series of international meetings that came to be known as the Concert of Europe, an attempt to forge a peaceful balance of power in Europe. It served as a model for later organizations such as the League of Nations in 1919 and the United Nations in 1945. -
Period: to
Napoleon exiled to St. Helena
Napoleon had been exiled to St. Helena after he was defeated by the British at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Having escaped his previous exile from Elba, off the coast of Italy, the French emperor was a flight risk to his fellow European rulers who wanted rid of him.