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Jan 1, 1453
Ottomans capture Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, which occurred after a siege by the invading Ottoman Empire, under the command of 21-year-old Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. -
Jan 1, 1488
Dias rounded Cape of Good Hope
There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about 150 kilometres (90 mi) to the east-southeast. The currents of the two oceans meet at the point where the warm-water Agulhas current meets the cold water Benguela current and turns back on itself—a point that fluctuates between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point (about 1.2 ki -
Jan 1, 1492
Columbus / Reconquista of Spain
The Reconquista is a period of approximately 781 years in the history of the Iberian Peninsula, after the Islamic conquest in 711-718 to the fall of Granada, the last Islamic state on the peninsula, in 1492. It comes before the discovery of the New World, and the period of the Portuguese and Spanish colonial empires which followed. -
Jan 1, 1502
1st Slaves to Americas
The Atlantic Slave Trade. -
Jan 1, 1517
Martin Luther / 95 theses
The Ninety-Five Theses were written by Martin Luther in 1517 and are widely regarded as the initial catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. The disputation protests against clerical abuses, especially nepotism, simony, usury, pluralism, and the sale of indulgences. -
Jan 1, 1521
Cortez conquered the Aztecs
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most significant events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The campaign began in February 1519, and was declared victorious on August 13, 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish forces and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger captured Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. -
Jan 1, 1533
Pizarro toppled the Inca
The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168 Spanish soldiers under Francisco Pizarro and their native allies captured the Sapa Inca Atahualpa in the 1532 Battle of Cajamarca. It was the first step in a long campaign that took decades of fighting but ended in Spanish victory and colonization of the region as the Viceroyalty of Peru. The conquest of t -
Oct 7, 1571
Battle of Lepanto, (naval defeat of Ottomans)
The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of southern European Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece. The Ottoman forces sailing westwards from their naval station in Lepanto (Turkish: İnebahtı; Greek: Ναύπακτος or Έπαχτος Naupaktos or Épahtos) met the Holy League forces, which had come from Messina, Sicily, w -
Defeat of the Spanish Armada by the British
The Spanish Armada (Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada or Armada Invencible, literally "Great and Most Fortunate Navy" or "Invincible Fleet") was a Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from A Coruña in August 1588 under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia with the purpose of escorting an army from Flanders to invade England. The strategic aim was to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Tudor establishment of Protestantism in England, with the expectation that this would put a -
Battle of Sekigahara - beginning of Tokugawa
The Battle of Sekigahara (as a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Though it would take three more years for Ieyasu to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the daimyo, Sekigahara is widely considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Tokugawa bakufu, the last shogunate to control Japan. Japan had a long period -
Foundation of Jamestown
Jamestown[1] was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 4, 1607 and considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610, it followed several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Jamestown served as the capital of the colony for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699. -
30 Years War
The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) was a series of wars principally fought in Central Europe, involving most of the countries of Europe.[10] It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, and one of the longest continuous wars in modern history. -
Unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Vienna
Three hundred years ago, in the summer of 1683, the main army of the Ottoman Empire, a large and well-equipped force, besieged Vienna. The town was nearing the end of its ability to resist: but just as the capture of Vienna was becoming only a matter of time – not more than a week away, at most – an army came to its rescue. On September 12th, in an open battle before Vienna, the Ottoman army was defeated, and the city escaped pillage and destruction. There is probably no book on the general hist -
Glorious Revolution / English Bill of Rights
The Glorious Revolution,[b] also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England (James VII of Scotland and James II of Ireland) by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange). William's successful invasion of England with a Dutch fleet and army led to his ascending of the English throne as William III of England jointly with his wife Mary II of England. -
7 Years’ War / French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War. The war was fought between the colonies of British America and New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, who declared war on each other in 1756, escalating the war from a regional affair into a world-wide conflict. -
American Revolution / Smith writes Wealth ofNations
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, the book offers one of the world's first collected descriptions of what builds nations' wealth and is today a fundamental work in classical economics. Through reflection over the economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution the book touches upon such br -
French Revolution
The French Revolutionwas a period of radical social and political upheaval in France from 1789 to 1799 that profoundly affected French and modern history, marking the decline of powerful monarchies and churches and the rise of democracy and nationalism. Popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and aristocracy grew amidst an economic crisis following two expensive wars and years of bad harvests, motivating demands for change. These were couched in -
Haitian independence
The Haitian Revolution or revolting of slaves in France (1791–1804) was a slave revolt in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Republic of Haiti. The Haitian Revolution was the only slave revolt which led to the founding of a state. Furthermore, it is generally considered the most successful slave rebellion ever to have occurred and as a defining moment in the histories of both Europe and the Americas. The rebellion beg -
European revolutions / Marx & Engles writeCommunist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto is a short 1848 publication written by the political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.Commissioned by the Communist League, it laid out the League's purposes and program. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and -
End of Russian serfdom / Italian unification
Serfdom became the dominant form of relation between peasants and nobility in the 17th century, and it was abolished by a decree issued by czar Alexander II Serfdom was abolished in 1861, but its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants and served to increase revolutionary pressures.The political and social movement that agglomerated (Collect or form into a mass or group) different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century. -
Emancipation Proclamation in US
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states then in rebellion. The Proclamation immediately freed 50,000 slaves; with nearly all the rest (of the 3.1 million) freed as Union armies advanced. -
German Unification
At the Versailles Palace’s Hall of Mirrors in France, a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred. Unification exposed several glaring religious, linguistic, social, and cultural differences between and among the inhabitants of the new nation -
Berlin Conference - Division of Africa
The conference ushered in a period of heightened colonial activity by European powers, while simultaneously removing most existing forms of African laws and self-governance. -
Spanish-American War - US acquires Philippine, Cuba, Guam, & Puerto Rico
This was America's first war as a World Power. After defeating Spain, then conquered the Philippines and Cuba. But, they didn't fight the colony just to join another one. -
Spanish-American War - US acquires Philippine, Cuba, Guam, & Puerto Rico
This was America's first war as a World Power. After defeating Spain, then conquered the Philippines and Cuba. But, they didn't fight the colony just to join another one. -
Russo - Japanese War
The first great war of the 20th century. The cause of the war was the rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea. -
Chinese Revolution
This was the overthrowing of China's last Imperial Dynasty. Which was the Qing dynasty.
