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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. By their support of the explorations of Christopher Columbus, they also laid the foundations for Spain's colonies in the New World. -
Period: 1509 to 1547
Henry VIII resigns in England
Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until he died in 1547. -
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes granted religious tolerance and equality to the Huguenots (French Protestants) and ended the French Wars of Religion. King Henry IV of France also converted to Catholicism as a sign of good faith to the Catholics. France had been a mostly Catholic country until the French Protestants emerged. -
Elizabeth I reigns England
Elizabeth succeeded to the throne on her half-sister's death in November 1558. She was very well-educated (fluent in five languages) and had inherited intelligence, determination, and shrewdness from both parents. Her 45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English history. -
Don Quixote is published
Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. Considered a founding work of Western literature, it is often labeled as the first modern novel and one of the greatest works ever written. -
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Thirty Years War
Thirty Years' War, (1618–48), in European history, was 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 Rights passed on 7 June 1628, is an English constitutional document setting out specific individual protections against the state, reportedly of equal value to the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights 1689. -
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The Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. -
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Louis XIV reigns as king of France
Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was King of France from 1643 until he died in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign. -
Peace of Westphalia is signed
On October 24, 1648, the Peace of Westphalia formally ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe. -
Thomas Hobbes publishes “Leviathan”
Leviathan or The Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil, commonly referred to as Leviathan is a book written by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and published in 1651 (revised Latin edition 1668). -
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Peter the Great reigns as czar of Russia
The years 1682 to 1725 encompass the troubled but important regency of Sophia Alekseyevna (until 1689), the joint reign of Ivan V and Peter I (the Great), and the three decades of the effective rule of Peter I. -
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. -
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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, who was also his nephew. The two ruled as joint monarchs of England, Scotland, and Ireland until Mary died in 1694. -
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. -
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Sabastian Bach height of his career
In Köthen, Bach had reached the highest stage in his career. As the Kapellmeister, music director to the princely court of the young, music-loving Leopold, he could freely work on his music in an inspiring and creative environment from 1717 to 1723. -
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, satirizing both human nature and the "travelers' tales" literary subgenre. -
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Frederick II reigns Prussia
Frederick II (German: Friedrich II.; 24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786) was King of Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until he died in 1786. -
Baron de Montesquieu publishes “The Spirit of Laws”
The Spirit of the Laws is a treatise on political theory first published anonymously by Montesquieu in 1748. The book was originally published anonymously partly because Montesquieu's works were subject to censorship, but its influence outside France grew with rapid translation into other languages. -
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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. The opposing alliances were led by Great Britain, primarily supported by Prussia, and France, backed by Spain, Saxony, Sweden, and Russia. -
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. -
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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 priority and he never visited his family's home in Hanover. He was a well-intentioned and cultured family man. -
Jean Jacque Rousseau publishes “Social Contract”
The Social Contract, originally published as On the Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right (French: Du contrat social; ou, Principes du droit politique), is a 1762 French-language book by the Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which nine British soldiers shot several of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles. -
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 by André Le Breton and edited by translator and philosopher Denis Diderot. -
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 were the first major military campaigns of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in an American victory and an 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 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. -
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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, and ended on October 19, 1781, at exactly 10:30 am in Yorktown, Virginia. -
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. Based on a 1782 preliminary treaty, the agreement recognized U.S. independence and granted the U.S. significant western territory. -
US Constitution Ratified
Written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and operated since 1789, 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. -
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. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolution. -
English Bill of Rights signed
The Bill of Rights 1689: An Act declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and settling the Succession of the Crown. and was signed on October 2, 1789. -
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 armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille. After four hours of fighting and 94 deaths, the insurgents were able to enter the Bastille. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
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Radical Phase (French Revolution)
What happened in the radical phase of the French Revolution? During the radical phase of the French Revolution, France was made a republic, abolishing the monarchy and executing the king. The Reign of Terror when supposed enemies of the revolution were tried for treason and executed also occurred. -
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. -
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. They complained over the high price and scant availability of bread, marching from Paris to Versailles. -
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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, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervor, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public Safety. -
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 (4 Brumaire an IV) until 10 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and replaced by the Consulate. -
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. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III. -
Napoleon Bonaparte becomes Emperor
In May 1804, he 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 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. Around 158,000 troops were involved, of which around 24,000 were killed or wounded. -
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 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. 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. -
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 the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. -
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. 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.