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Johannes Kepler invents the telescope
Johannes Kepler was a very important astronomer. He studied and mapped over 700 stars very accurately without a telescope. He then remarked how much better stars could be seen if used by a telescope. And so he invented the Keplerian telescope. People started building large ones too. -
King Charles I Marries
King Charles married Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV of France at St Augustine’s Church. The problem for Parliament and the people was that she was Catholic, and the country was on the verge of becoming Protestant. -
Petition of Rights
Charles had too much power. He could do what he wanted and what he did didn't always make sense and was sometimes petty. So the Parliament made up a document that limited the king from doing whatever he wanted. Charles reluctantly signed the document. -
Galileo convicted of heresy
Galileo was convicted of heresy because of his teachings being contradictory to the church's teaching. After he was convicted, he was forces to recant his teachings and was put under house arrest for the rest of his life. -
English Civil War start
This was an important turning point in England's history. The country was becoming a democratic country and a Protestant country and people were becoming more independent. -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau was one of the Enlightenment thinkers that influenced people very much and in a positive way. He wrote the Social contract, which favored a form of government based on small, direct democracy that directly reflects the will of the people. -
THe High Enlightenment
The biggest notion of the Enlightenment was that everything in the universe could be rationally demystified and cataloged.This was also a time of religious innovation, as Christians sought to reposition their faith along logical lines and deists and materialists argued that the universe had its own course without God’s intervention. Coffeehouses, newspapers and literary salons emerged as new places for ideas to gather and discuss ideas. -
Start of the French Revolution
Since the enlightenment spread, places such as Germany, France, and the Dutch heard about the ideas and essays and what people were promoting. The French were most affected by this and started the French Revolution. -
Meeting of the Estates-General
This meeting was to decide whether to tax the Second Estate. There was a voting process: one representative from each Estate would vote, but that was unfair to the Third Estate, and when they protested against it, the other two Estates locked them out of the meeting place. The Third Estate went to the Tennis Court and made and wouldn't leave until they got a constitution. The King 'agreed', but didn't follow through. -
Bastille Stormed by a Parisian mob.
The reason these Parisian people stormed this prison was that they were looking for ammunition. This was also a prison where people were kept if they didn't agree with the leaders. This was the start of the French Revolution. -
Bread March and King is Taken
There were women marching to protest against the high price of bread, which they basically lived off of. The group got larger and larger and the anger of them increased until they thought, 'This is the King's fault!', and they get to the King and take him to Paris. -
The National Convention
The National Convention's first act was to formally abolish the monarchy. The National Convention also sent out a Decree of Fraternity, which offered French assistance to any subject people who wanted to overthrow their government. -
Maximilian Robespierre sent to the Guillotine
Maximillian was the ruler at the time of the Reign of Terror. There was a law of suspects made under him, that was so widely drawn that anyone not expressing enthusiastic support for the Republic could be placed under arrest. There was also a de-christianizarion program under him, and soon the Convention blamed him for the Reign of Terror, and sent him to the guillotine. This marked the end of the Reign of Terror. -
Napoleon's First Mistake
The Continental System was Napoleon's first mistake. He wanted to isolate Britain. This system made sure that France couldn't trade with Britain, which was not good, because they traded a lot with Britain, and if other countries wouldn't comply to the System, he would make war with them. -
Napoleon's Second Mistake: the Peninsular Campaign
Napoleon wanted Portugal to comply with the Continental System, but Portugal wouldn't comply, and France wanted Spain to support the invasion of Portugal. Spain refused, so Napoleon decided to raid them too. Napoleon tricked the king and the prince of Spain into coming to France, where he imprisoned them. However, the British saw is as an opportunity to weaken Napoleon, and aided the Spanish guerilla fighters. The operation was unsuccessful as the French were pushed back. -
Napoleon's Third and Last Mistake: Invading Russia
Napoleon led his Grand Armee of over 600,000 men eastward across Central Europe and into Russia. When they got to Moscow, however, they found it largely abandoned and the city was on fire. The army also was not at all equipped for the harsh long winters of Russia. This was his last major offense. -
Napoleon First Exiled
Napoleon was first exile at Elba in Italy, but he then escaped, and the period of time from his first exile to his second and last exile was called the "Hundred Days". -
Greeks celebrate their War of Independence
Greece was the only successful war to break away from the Ottoman Empire in the 1800s. -
Sadler makes proposals
Sadler introduced legislation that proposed limiting the hours of all persons under the age of 18 to ten hours a day. -
The Great Boer trek
During the Napoleonic wars, the British established themselves in South Africa by taking control of Cape Town, which was originally founded by the Dutch. After the wars, the British encouraged settlers to come to what they called the Cape Colony. British policies disgusted the Boers, or Afrikaners, as the descendants of the Dutch colonists were called, and led them in 1835 to migrate north. -
The “Peoples’ Charter” drafted
Drafted in 1838 by William Lovett. It called for votes for all men,
equal electoral districts, abolition of the requirement that
Members of Parliament be property owners, payment for Members of Parliament, annual general elections, and the secret ballot. -
Treaty of Nanjing
The result of the Opium wars was a disaster for the Chinese. By the summer of 1842 British ships were victorious. The Chinese emperor had no choice but to accept the British demands and sign a peace agreement. This treaty gave rights to British citizens & businesses in China. In effect, this treaty forced the Chinese government to surrender its sovereignty in its own country. -
Potato Famine
Ireland had a huge potato famine in which the leaves of the potato plants that were so largely grown turned black and eventually rotted. This devastated the Irish, and many of them emigrated to the United States to make a better life for themselves. -
Constitution of 1848
The delegates debated two types of legislature power, unicameral and bicameral legislatures. Many delegates believed that two houses would slow the pace of political progress happening in France. Tocqueville believed that two houses were necessary to prevent abuses by the executive power as well as prevent political passions from being exerted on the laws. -
Crystal Palace Exhibition starts
The largest enclosed space in the world at the time. It held all kinds of bizarre thing from all across the world. This gave people the opportunity to experience the world without actually traveling. The Crystal Palace Exhibition burnt down October 16, 1851. -
Elias Howe no Isaac Singer invent the sewing machine.
The sewing machine was made initially by Elias Howe. Isaac Singer made improvements and him and Isaac Singer battled over the patent for it. However, Elias Howe was the winner. Isaac started mass producing the product, however, making a less clumsy design and making it less pricey. -
London Necropalis Railway Opens
The Necropalis Railway was to carry dead bodies out of the city because it was so crowded. Ironically, it was barely used, since the deceased' family wanted their family to stay with them. -
Japan Observes China
Tokugawa sent officials and scholars to China to study the situation there. They observed that “the Chinese had become servants to the foreigners.” -
Suez Canal Opens
Europeans needed a faster way to get from
the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. The French and the Egyptians, with funding from France, began a canal to connect the two water bodies, opening in 1869. -
Famous Golden Spike driven into Ground
The famous Golden Spike was driven into the ground to complete The First Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit in Utah. The project was authorized by President Abraham Lincoln. It linked the eastern railways with the Pacific Ocean -
Indian National Congress Founded
Indian National Congress, first nationalist group, founded by English-speaking Indians. Their initial requests of the Congress to British were modest, such as more positions for Indians in the ICS, and better representation on government councils. However, they became radical when the British East Indian Co. decided to partition Bangal. As a result, the British are convinced to make
concessions to the Indian people. -
Nicholas II becomes Czar
Nicholas II became czar when his father, Alexandrovich, died. When Nicholas succeeded his father. He was very inexperienced in matters of war. Also, he married a German princess, which made her unpopular, and believed in divine right, so while he was tender and loving to his family, he was seen as cold and uncaring in the eyes of his people. -
Vladmir Lenin is Exiled to Siberia
Lenin and other Marxists united different groups in the Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class. It was meant to support workers and educate them in Marxism. However in December of 1895, him and other Union leaders were arrested, and were exiles to Siberia. This is also where he marries his fiance. -
The Boer War Starts
The Boers, Dutch settlers living in South Africa, had gold in their country and when the British asked them for political rights, they refused. Also, British tried to make the Boer territory part of their territory. So war started. The Boer forces were outnumbered and the British defeated the Boers. -
China is controlled by America
Ninety Chinese ports were under the effective control of foreign powers, foreign merchants controlled much of the Chinese economy, Christian missionaries were converting Chinese throughout the country, and foreign gunboats patrolled Chinese waters -
Australia becomes a Nation
Australia became an independent nation on 1 January 1901 when the British Parliament passed legislation allowing the six Australian colonies to govern in their own right as part of the Commonwealth of Australia. -
Alexei Romanov if born
When Alexei was born, Nicholas was very happy, because they had all girl before that, and they needed a successor to the throne. However, he was born with hemophilia, which prevented his blood from clotting, and when he got a cut, blood wouldn’t stop flowing. He also had violent spells of pain, which left him very weak. The Romanov family kept this a secret, which left their subjects suspicious. -
Muslim League Founded
This league was formed to protect the interests of Indian Muslims. The Indian National Congress and Muslim League led in their fight for independence. -
Archduke Assassination
Because the assassin was Serbian, the Austro- Hungarian leaders blamed Serbia and vowed to punish the country. However, Serbia was allied with Russia, who started moving troops to its borders in support. Austria-Hungary was allied with Germany, so Germany started moving troops too. France was allied with Russia, so it had to move troops too. -
Lusitania Sinks
The Germans sank a British passenger ship, which also had Americans onboard. People from both Britain and America were outraged. The Germans excuse was that the Lusitania had ammunition at the bottom of it. -
Zimmerman note Revealed
The Zimmerman note was intercepted and sent to America by the British from the Germans, containing a promise of financial aid and help to regain lost territory to the Mexicans if they would join the war. -
America Joins the War
America joined the war because of two major things: the sinking of the Lusitania, which was a British ship but also had Americans on it, and the Zimmerman note, which was intercepted on its way from the Germans to Mexico, telling them that if they join them in the war, Germany wouldn’t help them get back territory that they lost. -
October Revolution
Armed Bolshevik factory workers, Red Guard, attacked provisional government, November 1917. Kerensky’s government collapsed after a nearly bloodless struggle. Lenin established a radical Communist program. He made private ownership of land illegal, gave the land to the peasants, and gave control of factories to the workers. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Sent Leon Trotsky to negotiate peace with Central Powers. Russia’s army was virtually powerless. Trotsky had to accept the agreement, but it a was harsh on Russia. Russia gained peace, but gave up large parts of their empire. -
The Last Czar and His Family Killed
After being detained by the Bolsheviks, the czar Nicholas, his family, servants, and family doctor were woken up in the middle of the night. The Bolsheviks said that they were going to take a family photo, claiming it was to show the subjects that they were alright. However, when the family came down to the basement, the Bolsheviks lined up a firing squad and fired continually until every last Romanov was dead. Afterwards, they pillaged the bodies, doused them in acid, and buried them. -
Weimar Republic Established
This was proclaimed by the Social Democratic leadership. The city of Weimar, a traditional center of German culture removed from the crisis of Berlin, was chosen as a safe place to draft a new Constitution, which was signed on August 11, 1919. -
Mussolini forms the Milan Fascio
Mussolini formed the Milan fascio in March of 1919. It supported universal sufferage, abolition of the senate, land for poor farmers, improved conditions for workers, and strong foreign policies. Mussolini and one of his associates failed in their attempts to win seats in the elections for the Chamber of Deputies. -
Hitler makes Speech to Fascist Party
Hitler made one of his early speeches to members of his new fascist political party. Anti-Semitism was a key message. This speech made Hitler popular with the German people, and raised money. Many of the party's members at the time were members of the German Workers Party. -
Soviet Party Issues the New Economic Policy
After the defeat of the Whites within Russia, peasants refused to surrender their grain to the government, which was necessary to implement communism in the new Soviet state. In March 1921 Lenin issues the New Economic Policy, which allows peasants to sell their grain on an open market. -
March on Rome
Mussolini threatened a March on Rome if he wasn't given a position in the cabinet, causing the Liberal Premier to resign. Wanting to avoid violence, King Victor Emmanuel made Mussolini the Prime Minister of Italy. -
National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) Reestablished by Hitler
After being released from prison Hitler re-formed the NSDAP. The political party was organized using the Fuhrer principle. Hitler planned to gain power, but wanted to do so legally, rather than taking it by force. -
Night of Murdered Poets- Thirteen Soviet Jews murdered
Stalin orders the execution of 13 Soviet Jews, including five Yiddish poets, who are accused of treason and of being spies. This was the beginning of Stalin's plans to purge the Soviet Union of Jews.
