Western European History

By jajtown
  • 1543

    Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

  • 1576

    Tycho Brahe sets up Uraniborg observatory

  • Johannes Kepler (1571-1643) Astronomia Nova

  • Galileo (1564-1642) The Starry Messenger

  • Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Novum Organum

  • Galileo Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems

  • Galileo's Trial

  • Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Discourse on Method

  • Royal Society of London founded

  • French Academy of Sciences founded

  • Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Principia Mathematica

  • Voltaire (1694-1778) Philosophical Letters

  • Period: to

    Maria Theresa of Austria

  • Period: to

    Frederick II of Prussia

  • Baron Montiesquieu (1689-1755) The Spirit of Laws

  • Denis Diderot (1713-84) Encyclopedia

  • Period: to

    The Seven Years War

  • Rousseau (1712-78) The Social Contract

  • Period: to

    Catherine The Great of Russia

  • The American Revolution

  • Adam Smith (1723-90) The Weatlth of Nations

  • Industrialization begins in Britain

  • British establish colony in New South Wales, Australia

  • The Tennis Court Oath

  • The Estates General meets

  • The Fall of the Bastille

  • Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97) Vindication of the Rights of Women

  • First French Republic

  • Execution of King Louis XIV

  • Period: to

    The Terror

  • Period: to

    Brits expand foothold in India

  • Napoleons Invasion of Egypt

  • Haitian Independence

  • Napoleon Crowned Emperor

  • Civil (Napoleonic) Code

  • Invasion of Spain

  • Slave trade prohibited by Britain and the US (slavery not prohibited)

  • Period: to

    South American Revolutions

  • Invasion of Russia

  • Napoleon's abdication and defeat

  • Congress of Vienna

  • Greek War for Independence

    1821-1827
  • France restores King Ferdinand of Spain

  • First Railroad in Britain

  • Decembrist Revolt in Russia

  • Industrialization begins in France and Belgium

  • Revolutions in France and Belgium

  • France invades Algeria

  • British Reform Bill

  • British Empire abolishes slavery

  • Period: to

    Unification of Germany

  • Period: to

    Opium Wars in China

  • Chartist Movement in Britain

  • Brits establish colony in New Zealand

  • Period: to

    Irish Potato Famine

  • British Corn Laws Repealed

  • France and Denmark abolish slavery

  • Revolutions of 1848

  • Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto published

  • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

  • Period: to

    Revolutions and Nation Building

  • Period: to

    Unification of Italy

  • Production of steel alloys revolutionized

    1850s-1870s
  • Industrialization begins in Prussia and German states of central Europe

  • Period: to

    Crimean War

  • Sepoy mutiny in India

  • Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species

  • Russian Tsar emancipates the serfs

  • Period: to

    American Civil War

  • January Rising in Poland

  • Period: to

    Imperialism and Colonialism

  • Period: to

    European scramble for Africa

  • Period: to

    Modern Industry and Mass Politics

  • Paris Commune

  • Period: to

    Bismarck's Kulturkampf

  • Britain gains control of Suez Canal

  • Russia launches industrialization program

    1880-1890s
  • British occupation of Egypt begins

  • Period: to

    France moves into Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

  • Berlin West Africa Conference

    1884-1885
  • Electricity becomes available in many European cities

    1890s
  • Dreyfus Affair (France)

    1894-1906
  • Ethiopians defeat Italian forces

  • Fashoda Crisis

  • Spanish-American War

  • Period: to

    Boer War

  • Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams

  • London Pan-African Conference

  • Labour Party founded in Britain

  • Russian Marxists split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks

  • Period: to

    Russo-Japanese War

  • The First Russian Revolution