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3000 BCE
when humans first used bow and arrows
The earliest people known to have regularly used bows and arrows were the Ancient Egyptians, who adopted archery around 3,000 BC for hunting and warfare. -
3000 BCE
when horses were first domesticated
Humans acquire their most important single ally from the animal kingdom when they domesticate the horse, in about 3000 BC. Wild horses of various kinds have spread throughout most of the world by the time human history begins. -
Period: 499 BCE to 449 BCE
Greco Persian Wars
Greco-Persian Wars, also called Persian Wars, (492–449 bce), a series of wars fought by Greek states and Persia over a period of almost half a century. The fighting was most intense during two invasions that Persia launched against mainland Greece between 490 and 479. -
Period: 431 BCE to 404 BCE
the Peloponnesian War
The origins of the Peloponnesian War lay in Greece's victory over the Persian Empire. The Greeks had combined under the leadership of Sparta and Athens to defeat the Persians, then the most powerful empire in Asia. In the aftermath of the Persian Wars, the Greeks were unable to maintain their unity. -
300 BCE
the development of the trebuchet
The traction trebuchet is believed to be an ancient war engine which was invented in China in 300 BC. It is thought that the trebuchet may have developed from the stave sling. -
Period: 264 BCE to 146 BCE
Punic Wars
The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. At the time, they were some of the largest wars that had ever taken place. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus (or Poenicus), meaning "Carthaginian", with reference to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry. -
904
the invention of gunpowder
Gunpowder was invented in 9th-century China and spread throughout most parts of Eurasia by the end of the 13th century. Originally developed by the Taoists for medicinal purposes, gunpowder was first used for warfare about 904 AD. -
Period: 1095 to 1492
Crusades
The crusades were a series of religious wars sanctioned by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best-known crusades are the campaigns in the eastern Mediterranean aimed at recovering the Holy Land from Muslim rule. The term crusade is now also applied to other church-sanctioned and even non-religious campaigns. -
1180
the invention of the longbow
The longbow was invented by the Celts in Wales around 1180 C.E. but was not really used by the English military until the 1300s. The longbow is an incredibly strong piece of wood roughly 6 feet tall and 5/8 inch wide. -
1242
the development of the first hand cannon
The earliest reliable evidence of hand cannons in Europe appeared in 1326 and evidence of their production can be dated as early as 1327. Improvements in hand cannon and gunpowder technology corned powder, shot ammunition, and development of the flash pan led to the development of the arquebus in the 15th century -
Period: 1337 to 1453
One Hundred Years War
The Hundred Years' War was a long struggle between England and France over succession to the French throne. It lasted from 1337 to 1453, so it might more accurately be called the "116 Years' War." The war starts off with several stunning successes on Britain's part, and the English forces dominate France for decades. -
1515
the development of the first submarine
The first successful submarine was built by Cornelius Drebbel and tested in the Thames River, where it completed a three-hour journey. -
Period: 1519 to 1521
Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire
Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernán Cortés, overthrew the Aztec Empire. This event is called the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Cortés helped old enemies of the Aztecs defeat them in one of the most important events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. -
Period: to
Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years War began as a religious civil war between the Protestants and Roman Catholics in Germany that engaged the Austrian Habsburgs and the German princes. The war soon developed into a devastating struggle for the balance of power in Europe. -
Period: to
English Civil War
Fought between 1642–1651, the English Civil War saw King Charles I (1600–1649) battle Parliament for control of the English government. The war began as a result of a conflict over the power of the monarchy and the rights of Parliament. -
the development of the flintlock musket
A musket was a muzzle-loading smoothbore long gun that was loaded with a round lead ball, but it could also be loaded with shot for hunting. -
Period: to
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were wars which were fought during the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte over France. They started after the French Revolution ended and Napoleon Bonaparte became powerful in France in November 1799. -
the development of the revolver handgun
In 1836, Connecticut-born gun manufacturer Samuel Colt (1814-62) received a U.S. patent for a revolver mechanism that enabled a gun to be fired multiple times without reloading. Colt founded a company to manufacture his revolving-cylinder pistol; however, sales were slow and the business floundered. -
Period: to
The Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion was a revolt against the Qing dynasty in China, fought with religious conviction over regional economic conditions, and lasting from 1850 to 1864 -
the invention of the first ironclad warship
The first use of ironclads in action came in the U.S. Civil War. The U.S. Navy at the time the war broke out had no ironclads, its most powerful ships being six unarmored steam-powered frigates. ... The Union was also building a large armored frigate, USS New Ironsides, and the smaller USS Galena -
Period: to
the American Civil War
But the purpose of the Civil War had now changed. The North was not only fighting to preserve the Union, it was fighting to end slavery. Throughout this time, northern black men had continued to pressure the army to enlist them. -
the invention of the first machine gun
The first Gatling guns were used in the American Civil War. These guns were rapid-firing, but they depended on the arm of the operator to crank out the bullets. In 1884, Hiram Maxim invented the first machine gun. This weapon used the recoil from one bullet to initiate the firing of the next bullet. -
Period: to
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-imperialist uprising of peasants in northern China between Autumn 1899 - 7 September 1901 that was aimed at ousting foreign interlopers with their foreign religions and strange cultures from China -
the development of the first fighter aircraft
Powered aircraft were first used in war in 1911, by the Italians against the Turks near Tripoli, but it was not until the Great War of 1914–18 that their use became widespread. -
Period: to
World War I
The main purpose of World War l, was because of the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand by South Slav nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. -
the development of the first tank.
The history of the tank began in World War I, when armoured all-terrain fighting vehicles were first deployed as a response to the problems of trench warfare, ushering in a new era of mechanized warfare. Though initially crude and unreliable, tanks eventually became a mainstay of ground armies. -
Period: to
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War. The Russian Civil War was to tear Russia apart for three years – between 1918 and 1921. The civil war occurred because after November 1917, many groups had formed that opposed Lenin's Bolsheviks. These groups included monarchists, militarists, and, for a short time, foreign nations. -
Period: to
World War ll
The pact with Stalin meant that Hitler would not face a war on two fronts once he invaded Poland, and would have Soviet assistance in conquering and dividing the nation itself. On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland from the west; two days later, France and Britain declared war on Germany, beginning World War II. -
the use of the first atomic bomb
The atomic bomb, are powerful weapons that use nuclear reactions as their source of explosive energy. Scientists first developed nuclear weapons technology during World War II. Atomic bombs have been used only twice in war—both times by the United States against Japan at the end of World War II. -
the development of the AK-47
The AK-47 was designed to be a simple, reliable fully automatic rifle that could be manufactured quickly and cheaply, using mass production methods that were state of the art in the Soviet Union -
Period: to
Cold War
Cold War, the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. -
when the first hydrogen bomb was first tested
The first test took place on November 1, 1952 on the small Pacific island of Elugelab at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The explosion, nicknamed the "Mike Shot", was very successful. -
Period: to
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan genocide was a systematic campaign by the Hutu ethnic majority aimed at wiping out each and every member of the minority Tutsi group. The Hutu-controlled government and allied militias slaughtered between 800,000 and one million Tutsis before a Tutsi rebel group overthrew them. Over 100,000 Hutus were also killed, including both moderate Hutus killed by Hutu extremists and those killed by Tutsis in so-called "revenge killings." -
Period: to
Second Congo War
The war officially ended in July 2003, when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power. ... By 2008, the war and its aftermath had caused 5.4 million deaths, principally through disease and starvation, making the Second Congo War the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II. -
the development of the M.O.A.B. (Mother of all bombs)
The MOAB accomplishes its destructive purpose in a different manner. It explodes above the surface, creating an expanding sphere of debris behind a concussive wave.