ultimate timeline Flashcards
1100s CE
The Inca Empire emerges in the Valley of Cusco in South America.
1120s CE
The Song government begins issuing paper money.
1200s CE
Height of the Swahili city states, East African port cities ruled by kings wealthy from trade.
1200s CE
Height of Great Zimbabwe, a cattle-herding society in Southwest Africa.
1200s CE
The House of Solomon becomes the ruling dynasty of Ethiopia in East Africa.
1200s CE
The kingdom of Tyo emerges in central Africa.
1200s CE
Expansion of the Crown of Castille against the Almohad Caliphate in southern Spain.
1200s CE
Iroquois chiefs of North America form the confederation the Haudenosaunee (Five Nations).
1202 CE
The Fourth Crusade is formed to recapture Jerusalem, instead, the Crusaders attack Constantinople.
1206 CE
Founding of the Delhi Sultanate in northwestern India.
1206 CE
Genghis Khan united the tribes of the steppes into a confederation.
1215 CE
The Magna Carta is first issued in England limiting certain rights of the king.
1240 CE
The kingdom of Mali is founded in West Africa.
1250 CE
Founding of the Mamluk (manumitted slave soldiers) Sultanate in Cairo, Egypt.
1258 CE
A Mongol army destroys the city of Baghdad, thus ending the Abbasid Caliphate.
1258 CE
The kingdom of Dai Viet repels the first of four failed Mongol invasions of Vietnam.
1271 CE
Marco Polo, a Venetian traveler, begins his 24 year journey across the Silk Road.
1274 CE
The Japanese shogunate repels the first of two massive invasions by the Mongols.
1279 CE
The Mongols conquer the Song Dynasty, fully establishing their own dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty.
1300s CE
The kingdom of Kongo emerges in central Africa.
1300s CE
The Little Ice Age (cooling period) begins in Europe causing sudden turmoil and crisis.
1300s CE
The Northern Crusades began in Europe spreading Christianity by conquest into the Baltic region.
1300s CE
Height of Mayapan as the cultural and political enter of the Yucatecan Maya civilization.
1312 CE
Mansa Musa becomes ruler of Mali.
1325 CE
Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveler, begins his 29 year journey across Africa and Asia.
1325 CE
The Aztec (Mexica) build their capital city Tenochtitlan on an island in the lake in the valley of Mexico.
1337 CE
The Hundred Years War begins between the kingdoms of France and England.
1346 CE
The Black Death reached Europe through Kaffa, and the Middle East through Baghdad.
1368 CE
General Taizu leads armies against the Mongols and founds a new dynasty, the Ming Dynasty.
1368 CE
The Red Turban Rebellion led to the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty.
1370 CE
Timur establishes his empire in Samarkand, attacking Persia, Russia, and north India.
1380s CE
Gunpowder began being used for cannons in military warfare.
1380 CE
The Grand Dukes of Moscow led a combined army to drive the Mongols out of Muscovy.
1392 CE
Founding of the Choson Dynasty in Korea.
1405 CE
Chinese admiral Zheng He began his first of seven expeditions of huge treasure fleets into the Indian Ocean.
1430 CE
The Empire of Songhai was founded.
1433 CE
“China’s turn inward” saw the Ming re-focus on the increased threat from the Mongols and rebuilding the Great Wall.
1439 CE
Johannes Gutenberg created his famous printing press.
1450 CE
Height of manorial system and feudalism in Europe.
1453 CE
Sultan Mehmet II conquered the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, renaming it Istanbul.
1478 CE
The Grand Duke Ivan III defeated the principality of Novgorod, and claimed to rule all of the Russians.
1494 CE
The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the “New World” of the Americas between Portugal and Spain.
1498 CE
Portuguese mariner Vasco da Gama arrived at the Indian port of Calicut.
1501 CE
The Safavid Dynasty was founded by Ismail I using gunpowder weapons and a modern bureaucracy.
1504 CE
Christopher Columbus led his fourth and final expedition for Spain, but got stranded in Jamaica for two years.
1513 CE
Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean for Spain.
1517 CE
Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation with the publication of his Ninety-Five Theses.
1517 CE
Sultan Selim I conquered Egypt and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina reinforcing his claim as caliph.
1519 CE
Magellan led the Spanish expedition to the East Indies across the Pacific to open a new maritime trade route to Asia.
1521 CE
Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire of Central America for Spain.
1526 CE
Babur established a new state in northern India, which would soon grow to become the Mughal Empire.
1529 CE
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to the Hapsburg capital of Vienna.
1543 CE
Portuguese mariners are the first Europeans to reach Japan.
1550s CE
Under Czar Ivan IV, Russia turned southward and conquered the Muslim Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan.
1550s CE
Africans were forced to work on sugar plantations in the Caribbean islands after the arrival of sugar to Brazil.
1556 CE
Akbar led the Mughal Empire’s expansion east into Bengal, and southwards to the central Indian Deccan.
1570 CE
The Ming Empire required all taxes be paid in silver.
1571 CE
Spain set up a colony in the Philippines for trans-Pacific trade from its colonies in the Americas.
1588 CE
Britain defeats the ships of the Spanish Armada and becomes ruler of the Atlantic Ocean.
1595 CE
Shah Abbas I built an army of enslaved people known as ghulams from Christian slaves taken from Armenia and Georgia.
1600 CE
The British East India Company is established and sets up trading posts in India.
1600s CE
The “time of troubles” saw Russia fall into civil war, divided between two nobles who claimed the throne.
1613 CE
A unified Russia re-emerged when a new ruler, Michael Romanov, was elected as emperor, or czar.
1620s CE
The Ming Empire spent a lot of money helping the Korean government stave off attacks from Japan.
1631 CE
Shahjahan began the building of the Taj Mahal, a white marble mausoleum in memory of his wife Mumtaz Maha.
1650s CE
The Safavids fought with the Mughal Empire in their eastern provinces and in Afghanistan.
1652 CE
Calvinist Dutch farmers set up a colony in southern Africa near the Cape of Good Hope.
1657 CE
Aurangzeb imposed Sharia laws and brought back the jizya tax that Hindu residents had to pay in return for protection.
1661 CE
The Kangxi Emperor ended resistance to his rule and decreased the size of his army to keep costs low.
1721 CE
Under Czar Peter the Great, a war with Sweden finally led to the annexation of the Baltic Coast.
1722 CE
The Yongzheng Emperor cracked down on corruption and reformed the financial administration of the Qing Empire.
1726 CE
The last shah of the Safavid Dynasty is assassinated.
1735 CE
The Qianlong Emperor conducted a series of military campaigns that eliminated the Turk and Mongol threats to China.
1760 CE
James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny in England.
1763 CE
Treaty of Paris is signed ending the Seven Years War, leading to the British gaining control of Canada and parts of India.
1769 CE
Richard Arkwright patents the spinning frame, also known as the water frame.
1770 CE
Captain James Cook claims Eastern Australia for Britain.
1773 CE
The Boston Tea Party takes place in which colonists protest British taxes by throwing tea into Boston Harbor.
1776 CE
The Declaration of Independence is issued by the thirteen British colonies in North America.
1781 CE
The surrender of British troops at Yorktown, effectively ends the Revolutionary War.
1784 CE
The British East India Company is granted a monopoly on trade with the Qing Dynasty.
1789 CE
The French Revolution begins.
1791 CE
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is adopted in France.
1793 CE
Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin in the United States.
1794 CE
The Reign of Terror begins a period of violence and mass killings during the French Revolution.
1798 CE
Henry Cort patents the puddling process for refining iron.
1803 CE
The Louisiana Purchase allows the United States to purchase a vast North American territory from France.
1804 CE
Richard Trevithick builds the first steam-powered road vehicle.
1804 CE
Haiti declares its independence from France, becoming the first black republic in the world.
1807 CE
The British Parliament passes the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.
1808 CE
Napoleon invades Spain and Portugal, leading to the Peninsular War, and the overthrow of the Spanish monarchy.
1814 CE
George Stephenson opens the first steam-powered railway in England.
1815 CE
The Congress of Vienna marks the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the restoration of monarchies in Europe.
1842 CE
The Opium Wars between the Qing Dynasty and Britain ends in Qing defeat and the Treaty of Nanking.
1848 CE
The Mexican-American War ends in which the United States expands its territory to its present day borders in the SW.
1853 CE
The Crimean War begins in which Russia fights against the alliance of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia.
1853 CE
The Bessemer process for mass-producing steel is patented.
1858 CE
The British royal government takes control of India from the East India Company after the Sepoy Mutiny.
1864 CE
The Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan against the Qing dynasty, killed 20 million people.
1876 CE
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.
1879 CE
The invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas Edison.
1884 CE
The Berlin Conference is held to organize how European powers divide Africa among themselves.
1885 CE
The Congo Free State is established under the personal rule of King Leopold II of Belgium.
1895 CE
The First Sino-Japanese War ends with Japan defeating Qing, leading to the cession of Taiwan to Japan.
1896 CE
Ethiopia defeats Italy in the the Battle of Adwa due to its modern military weapons and tactics.
1898 CE
The Spanish-American War results in the independence of Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines from Spain.
1900
The Boxer Rebellion, led by the “Righteous and Harmonious Fists,” rises up against foreign influence and control in China.
1901
The first transatlantic radio transmission is sent by Guglielmo Marconi.
1905
Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War forcing Russia to cede its claims in Korea and Manchuria.
1907
The Triple Entente between France, Russia, and Britain was formed to counterbalance the Triple Alliance in Europe.
1914
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was the catalyst for the start of World War I.
1915
The Ottoman Empire began an eight year campaign of genocide against its Armenian minority population.
1917
The US entered World War I as a result of the Zimmermann Telegram and Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare.
1917
The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, seized power in Russia and established the world’s first communist state.
1918
The H1N1 flu pandemic, sometimes referred to as the “Spanish flu,” began and killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.
1919
The Treaty of Versailles was signed, officially ending World War I, and imposing heavy reparations on Germany.
1928
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed, renouncing war as a means of resolving conflicts.
1929
The stock market crash of 1929 triggered the start of the Great Depression, which lasted for over a decade.
1931
Japan invaded Manchuria leading to the creation of a puppet state called Manchukuo.
1933
Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany and began implementing Nazi policies.
1935
Italy launched a full-scale invasion of Ethiopia annexing it into its African colonies.
1937
Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China with the goal of expanding its territorial control over China.
1938
The Munich Agreement was signed between Germany, Britain, France, and Italy allowing Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia
1939
Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact, which led to the invasion of Poland and the start of World War II.
1940
The Battle of Britain was a major air campaign fought between Britain and Germany during World War II.
1941
Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, which led to the United States’ entry into World War II.
1942
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major victory by the Soviet Union against Germany, and considered a turning point in World War II.
1944
Allied forces landed in Normandy, France, in a massive invasion that led to the liberation of western Europe from Nazi control.
1945
Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz, the largest Nazi killing center and concentration camp complex.
1945
The leaders of the Allied powers met at Yalta to discuss the post-war reorganization of Europe including Germany.
1945
The US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan’s surrender in World War II.
1945
The United Nations was formed to promote international cooperation and prevent future wars.
1947
India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain as part of the Indian Independence Act passed by parliament.
1948
Israel declared independence from Britain, following a UN plan to partition Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states.
1948
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN, establishing a common standard of human rights for all.
1949
The Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, defeated the Nationalist Party and established the People’s Republic of China.
1950
The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea with the aim of unifying the country under communist rule.
1954
The Viet Minh defeated France in the First Indochina War and led to the division of the country into North and South Vietnam.
1955
Asian and African leaders met to discuss post-colonial economic and political cooperation at the Bandung Conference in Indonesia.
1956
Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and in response Britain, France, and Israel invaded in the event known as the Suez Crisis.
1957
Ghana gained independence from Britain, marking the start of decolonization in Africa.
1957
The Treaty of Rome was signed between six countries to establish the European Economic Community.
1960
OPEC was founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela to coordinate the policies of their oil industries.
1961
The Communist government of East Germany constructs a wall separating East and West Berlin.
1962
The United States and Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
1973
Arab members of OPEC imposed an embargo against the US in retaliation for the US. decision to support the Israeli military.
1975
North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam and reunites the country under communist rule ending the Vietnam War.
1979
Islamic fundamentalists overthrew the US-backed Shah of Iran in an event known as the Iranian Revolution.
1980
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to subdue the Afghan civil war and maintain a socialist government on its border.
1986
An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine caused the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
1989
The Berlin Wall was torn down, a barrier that for almost 30 years had symbolized the Cold War division of Europe.
1990
Germany was officially reunified when East Germany formally joined the Federal Republic of Germany.
1990
A US led coalition invaded Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait.
1991
The Soviet Union collapsed due to economic stagnation, political unrest, and independence movements in its republics.
1994
Ethnic tensions between Hutus and Tutsis lead to the killing of over 800,000 people in the Rwandan Genocide.
1997
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to Chinese sovereignty ending 156 years of British rule.
2001
Terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four planes and carried out suicide attacks on the US, killing nearly 3,000 people.
2001
A US led coalition invaded Afghanistan to wage a war against the Taliban who had given al-Qaeda terrorists safe haven.
2003
A US led coalition in a second invasion of Iraq overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein.
2010
A wave of protests and uprisings swept across the Middle East and North Africa, collectively known as the Arab Spring.
2011
A civil war broke out in Syria, pitting government forces against opposition groups and leading to a humanitarian crisis.
2014
Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea, leading to ongoing conflict between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
2014
An outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa killed over 11,000 people and highlighted the importance of global health security.
2015
196 countries signed the Paris Agreement, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change.
2016
The Brexit referendum is passed and the United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union.
2019
A novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerged in China, and quickly became a global pandemic, resulting in millions of deaths.
2022
Russia launched a large-scale military invasion of Ukraine, citing the need to protect the Russian-speaking population.
The Inca Empire emerges in the Valley of Cusco in South America.
1100s CE
The Song government begins issuing paper money.
1120s CE
Height of the Swahili city states, East African port cities ruled by kings wealthy from trade.
1200s CE
Height of Great Zimbabwe, a cattle-herding society in Southwest Africa.
1200s CE
The House of Solomon becomes the ruling dynasty of Ethiopia in East Africa.
1200s CE
The kingdom of Tyo emerges in central Africa.
1200s CE
Expansion of the Crown of Castille against the Almohad Caliphate in southern Spain.
1200s CE
Iroquois chiefs of North America form the confederation the Haudenosaunee (Five Nations).
1200s CE
The Fourth Crusade is formed to recapture Jerusalem, instead, the Crusaders attack Constantinople.
1202 CE
Founding of the Delhi Sultanate in northwestern India.
1206 CE
Genghis Khan united the tribes of the steppes into a confederation.
1206 CE
The Magna Carta is first issued in England limiting certain rights of the king.
1215 CE
The kingdom of Mali is founded in West Africa.
1240 CE
Founding of the Mamluk (manumitted slave soldiers) Sultanate in Cairo, Egypt.
1250 CE
A Mongol army destroys the city of Baghdad, thus ending the Abbasid Caliphate.
1258 CE
The kingdom of Dai Viet repels the first of four failed Mongol invasions of Vietnam.
1258 CE
Marco Polo, a Venetian traveler, begins his 24 year journey across the Silk Road.
1271 CE
The Japanese shogunate repels the first of two massive invasions by the Mongols.
1274 CE
The Mongols conquer the Song Dynasty, fully establishing their own dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty.
1279 CE
The kingdom of Kongo emerges in central Africa.
1300s CE
The Little Ice Age (cooling period) begins in Europe causing sudden turmoil and crisis.
1300s CE
The Northern Crusades began in Europe spreading Christianity by conquest into the Baltic region.
1300s CE
Height of Mayapan as the cultural and political enter of the Yucatecan Maya civilization.
1300s CE
Mansa Musa becomes ruler of Mali.
1312 CE
Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveler, begins his 29 year journey across Africa and Asia.
1325 CE
The Aztec (Mexica) build their capital city Tenochtitlan on an island in the lake in the valley of Mexico.
1325 CE
The Hundred Years War begins between the kingdoms of France and England.
1337 CE
The Black Death reached Europe through Kaffa, and the Middle East through Baghdad.
1346 CE
General Taizu leads armies against the Mongols and founds a new dynasty, the Ming Dynasty.
1368 CE
The Red Turban Rebellion led to the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty.
1368 CE
Timur establishes his empire in Samarkand, attacking Persia, Russia, and north India.
1370 CE
Gunpowder began being used for cannons in military warfare.
1380s CE
The Grand Dukes of Moscow led a combined army to drive the Mongols out of Muscovy.
1380 CE
Founding of the Choson Dynasty in Korea.
1392 CE
Chinese admiral Zheng He began his first of seven expeditions of huge treasure fleets into the Indian Ocean.
1405 CE
The Empire of Songhai was founded.
1430 CE
“China’s turn inward” saw the Ming re-focus on the increased threat from the Mongols and rebuilding the Great Wall.
1433 CE
Johannes Gutenberg created his famous printing press.
1439 CE
Height of manorial system and feudalism in Europe.
1450 CE
Sultan Mehmet II conquered the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, renaming it Istanbul.
1453 CE
The Grand Duke Ivan III defeated the principality of Novgorod, and claimed to rule all of the Russians.
1478 CE
The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the “New World” of the Americas between Portugal and Spain.
1494 CE
Portuguese mariner Vasco da Gama arrived at the Indian port of Calicut.
1498 CE
The Safavid Dynasty was founded by Ismail I using gunpowder weapons and a modern bureaucracy.
1501 CE
Christopher Columbus led his fourth and final expedition for Spain, but got stranded in Jamaica for two years.
1504 CE
Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean for Spain.
1513 CE
Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation with the publication of his Ninety-Five Theses.
1517 CE
Sultan Selim I conquered Egypt and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina reinforcing his claim as caliph.
1517 CE
Magellan led the Spanish expedition to the East Indies across the Pacific to open a new maritime trade route to Asia.
1519 CE
Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire of Central America for Spain.
1521 CE
Babur established a new state in northern India, which would soon grow to become the Mughal Empire.
1526 CE
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to the Hapsburg capital of Vienna.
1529 CE
Portuguese mariners are the first Europeans to reach Japan.
1543 CE
Under Czar Ivan IV, Russia turned southward and conquered the Muslim Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan.
1550s CE
Africans were forced to work on sugar plantations in the Caribbean islands after the arrival of sugar to Brazil.
1550s CE
Akbar led the Mughal Empire’s expansion east into Bengal, and southwards to the central Indian Deccan.
1556 CE
The Ming Empire required all taxes be paid in silver.
1570 CE
Spain set up a colony in the Philippines for trans-Pacific trade from its colonies in the Americas.
1571 CE
Shah Abbas I built an army of enslaved people known as ghulams from Christian slaves taken from Armenia and Georgia.
1595 CE
Britain defeats the ships of the Spanish Armada and becomes ruler of the Atlantic Ocean.
1588 CE
The British East India Company is established and sets up trading posts in India.
1600 CE
The “time of troubles” saw Russia fall into civil war, divided between two nobles who claimed the throne.
1600s CE
A unified Russia re-emerged when a new ruler, Michael Romanov, was elected as emperor, or czar.
1613 CE
The Ming Empire spent a lot of money helping the Korean government stave off attacks from Japan.
1620s CE
Shahjahan began the building of the Taj Mahal, a white marble mausoleum in memory of his wife Mumtaz Maha.
1631 CE
The Safavids fought with the Mughal Empire in their eastern provinces and in Afghanistan.
1650s CE
Calvinist Dutch farmers set up a colony in southern Africa near the Cape of Good Hope.
1652 CE
Aurangzeb imposed Sharia laws and brought back the jizya tax that Hindu residents had to pay in return for protection.
1657 CE
The Kangxi Emperor ended resistance to his rule and decreased the size of his army to keep costs low.
1661 CE
Under Czar Peter the Great, a war with Sweden finally led to the annexation of the Baltic Coast.
1721 CE
The Yongzheng Emperor cracked down on corruption and reformed the financial administration of the Qing Empire.
1722 CE
The last shah of the Safavid Dynasty is assassinated.
1726 CE
The Qianlong Emperor conducted a series of military campaigns that eliminated the Turk and Mongol threats to China.
1735 CE
James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny in England.
1760 CE
Treaty of Paris is signed ending the Seven Years War, leading to the British gaining control of Canada and parts of India.
1763 CE
Richard Arkwright patents the spinning frame, also known as the water frame.
1769 CE
Captain James Cook claims Eastern Australia for Britain.
1770 CE
The Boston Tea Party takes place in which colonists protest British taxes by throwing tea into Boston Harbor.
1773 CE
The Declaration of Independence is issued by the thirteen British colonies in North America.
1776 CE
The surrender of British troops at Yorktown, effectively ends the Revolutionary War.
1781 CE
The British East India Company is granted a monopoly on trade with the Qing Dynasty.
1784 CE
The French Revolution begins.
1789 CE
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is adopted in France.
1791 CE
Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin in the United States.
1793 CE
The Reign of Terror begins a period of violence and mass killings during the French Revolution.
1794 CE
Henry Cort patents the puddling process for refining iron.
1798 CE
The Louisiana Purchase allows the United States to purchase a vast North American territory from France.
1803 CE
Richard Trevithick builds the first steam-powered road vehicle.
1804 CE
Haiti declares its independence from France, becoming the first black republic in the world.
1804 CE
The British Parliament passes the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.
1807 CE
Napoleon invades Spain and Portugal, leading to the Peninsular War, and the overthrow of the Spanish monarchy.
1808 CE
George Stephenson opens the first steam-powered railway in England.
1814 CE
The Congress of Vienna marks the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the restoration of monarchies in Europe.
1815 CE
The Opium Wars between the Qing Dynasty and Britain ends in Qing defeat and the Treaty of Nanking.
1842 CE
The Mexican-American War ends in which the United States expands its territory to its present day borders in the SW.
1848 CE
The Crimean War begins in which Russia fights against the alliance of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia.
1853 CE
The Bessemer process for mass-producing steel is patented.
1853 CE
The British royal government takes control of India from the East India Company after the Sepoy Mutiny.
1858 CE
The Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan against the Qing dynasty, killed 20 million people.
1864 CE
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.
1876 CE
The invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas Edison.
1879 CE
The Berlin Conference is held to organize how European powers divide Africa among themselves.
1884 CE
The Congo Free State is established under the personal rule of King Leopold II of Belgium.
1885 CE
The First Sino-Japanese War ends with Japan defeating Qing, leading to the cession of Taiwan to Japan.
1895 CE
Ethiopia defeats Italy in the the Battle of Adwa due to its modern military weapons and tactics.
1896 CE
The Spanish-American War results in the independence of Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines from Spain.
1898 CE
The Boxer Rebellion, led by the “Righteous and Harmonious Fists,” rises up against foreign influence and control in China.
1900
The first transatlantic radio transmission is sent by Guglielmo Marconi.
1901
Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War forcing Russia to cede its claims in Korea and Manchuria.
1905
The Triple Entente between France, Russia, and Britain was formed to counterbalance the Triple Alliance in Europe.
1907
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was the catalyst for the start of World War I.
1914
The Ottoman Empire began an eight year campaign of genocide against its Armenian minority population.
1915
The US entered World War I as a result of the Zimmermann Telegram and Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare.
1917
The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, seized power in Russia and established the world’s first communist state.
1917
The H1N1 flu pandemic, sometimes referred to as the “Spanish flu,” began and killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.
1918
The Treaty of Versailles was signed, officially ending World War I, and imposing heavy reparations on Germany.
1919
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed, renouncing war as a means of resolving conflicts.
1928
The stock market crash of 1929 triggered the start of the Great Depression, which lasted for over a decade.
1929
Japan invaded Manchuria leading to the creation of a puppet state called Manchukuo.
1931
Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany and began implementing Nazi policies.
1933
Italy launched a full-scale invasion of Ethiopia annexing it into its African colonies.
1935
Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China with the goal of expanding its territorial control over China.
1937
The Munich Agreement was signed between Germany, Britain, France, and Italy allowing Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia
1938
Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact, which led to the invasion of Poland and the start of World War II.
1939
The Battle of Britain was a major air campaign fought between Britain and Germany during World War II.
1940
Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, which led to the United States’ entry into World War II.
1941
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major victory by the Soviet Union against Germany, and considered a turning point in World War II.
1942
Allied forces landed in Normandy, France, in a massive invasion that led to the liberation of western Europe from Nazi control.
1944
Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz, the largest Nazi killing center and concentration camp complex.
1945
The leaders of the Allied powers met at Yalta to discuss the post-war reorganization of Europe including Germany.
1945
The US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan’s surrender in World War II.
1945
The United Nations was formed to promote international cooperation and prevent future wars.
1945
India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain as part of the Indian Independence Act passed by parliament.
1947
Israel declared independence from Britain, following a UN plan to partition Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states.
1948
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN, establishing a common standard of human rights for all.
1948
The Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, defeated the Nationalist Party and established the People’s Republic of China.
1949
The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea with the aim of unifying the country under communist rule.
1950
The Viet Minh defeated France in the First Indochina War and led to the division of the country into North and South Vietnam.
1954
Asian and African leaders met to discuss post-colonial economic and political cooperation at the Bandung Conference in Indonesia.
1955
Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and in response Britain, France, and Israel invaded in the event known as the Suez Crisis.
1956
Ghana gained independence from Britain, marking the start of decolonization in Africa.
1957
The Treaty of Rome was signed between six countries to establish the European Economic Community.
1957
OPEC was founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela to coordinate the policies of their oil industries.
1960
The Communist government of East Germany constructs a wall separating East and West Berlin.
1961
The United States and Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
1962
Arab members of OPEC imposed an embargo against the US in retaliation for the US. decision to support the Israeli military.
1973
North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam and reunites the country under communist rule ending the Vietnam War.
1975
Islamic fundamentalists overthrew the US-backed Shah of Iran in an event known as the Iranian Revolution.
1979
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to subdue the Afghan civil war and maintain a socialist government on its border.
1980
An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine caused the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
1986
The Berlin Wall was torn down, a barrier that for almost 30 years had symbolized the Cold War division of Europe.
1989
Germany was officially reunified when East Germany formally joined the Federal Republic of Germany.
1990
A US led coalition invaded Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait.
1990
The Soviet Union collapsed due to economic stagnation, political unrest, and independence movements in its republics.
1991
Ethnic tensions between Hutus and Tutsis lead to the killing of over 800,000 people in the Rwandan Genocide.
1994
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to Chinese sovereignty ending 156 years of British rule.
1997
Terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four planes and carried out suicide attacks on the US, killing nearly 3,000 people.
2001
A US led coalition invaded Afghanistan to wage a war against the Taliban who had given al-Qaeda terrorists safe haven.
2001
A US led coalition in a second invasion of Iraq overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein.
2003
A wave of protests and uprisings swept across the Middle East and North Africa, collectively known as the Arab Spring.
2010
A civil war broke out in Syria, pitting government forces against opposition groups and leading to a humanitarian crisis.
2011
Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea, leading to ongoing conflict between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
2014
An outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa killed over 11,000 people and highlighted the importance of global health security.
2014
196 countries signed the Paris Agreement, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change.
2015
The Brexit referendum is passed and the United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union.
2016
A novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerged in China, and quickly became a global pandemic, resulting in millions of deaths.
2019
Russia launched a large-scale military invasion of Ukraine, citing the need to protect the Russian-speaking population.
2022
