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Isabella I unified Spain through her marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon, and she financed the expedition of Christopher Columbus, leading to the discovery of the Americas.
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Henry VIII chose to abdicate after the British government, public, and the Church of England condemned his decision to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson.
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When his brother, Henry, died in 1612, Charles became heir to the throne. He formed an alliance with the duke of Buckingham.
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He was first among Catholic monarchs, responsible for spreading the faith to the Americas, fighting the Protestant Reformation, and stopping Ottoman incursions during his reign as Holy Roman Emperor.
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Charles hoped that Philip would eventually rule his whole empire, but the empire was too big to manage. Ferdinand and his son refused to accept Philip's succession and the Habsburg dynasty split into Austrian and Spanish branches.
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The Act of Supremacy is an English act of Parliament that recognized Henry VIII as the "Supreme Head of the Church of England." It required an oath of loyalty from English subjects that recognized Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn. -
El Greco was a master of Spanish painting, whose highly individual dramatic and expressionistic style met with the puzzlement of his contemporaries but gained newfound appreciation in the 20th century.
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Philip II was a member of the Habsburg dynasty. He served as king of the Spaniards from 1556 to 1598 and as king of the Portuguese. The Spanish empire under Philip prospered by attaining its greatest power, extent, and influence.
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She became queen after both her brother, Edward VI, and her sister, Mary I, had died. Despite inheriting all of these problems she brought many strengths, ruled well, and brought stability back to England.
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The Dutch Revolt was the revolt in the Low Countries against the rule of the Habsburg King Philip II of Spain, hereditary ruler of the provinces. The northern provinces eventually separated from the southern provinces, which continued under Habsburg Spain. -
The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement where a fleet of the Holy League inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. -
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion.
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Off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain’s so-called “Invincible Armada” is defeated by an English naval force under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake. After eight hours of furious fighting, a change in wind direction prompted the Spanish to break off from the battle and retreat toward the North Sea.
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Henry IV or Henry the Great, was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. Henry IV became heir to the French throne through his marriage to Margaret of Valois.
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James I, was the first Stuart king of England, who styled himself as king of Great Britain. James was a strong advocate of royal absolutism. He inherited the throne of England when Queen Elizabeth I died.
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Don Quixote is a Spanish novel titled The Ingenious "Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha." It is often labeled as the first modern novel and one of the greatest ever written. -
The Defenestration of Prague activated the Thirty Years' War which was the worst war in European history. There are three acknowledged Defenestrations of Prague. -
The Thirty Years' War was a conflict fought largely within the Holy Roman Empire. It is considered one of the most destructive wars in European history with many deaths, while some areas of Germany experienced population declines of over 50%.
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The Petition of Right was sent by the English Parliament to King Charles I to complain about a series of breaches of law he had made. He was compelled to agree to the petition in order to receive money for his lifestyle and policies. -
The Palace of Versailles is a former royal residence located in Versailles. Louis XIII built a simple hunting lodge on the site of the Palace of Versailles and replaced it with a small château. -
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament that followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament created by King Charles I. It had convened for only three weeks after an 11-year parliamentary absence.
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The English Civil War was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists, mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of religious freedom.
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Louis XIV , also known as Louis the Great, was King of France for 72 years and 110 days which is the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in history.
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The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. -
Charles was convicted of treason and executed by beheading outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall. -
The Navigation Acts were acts of Parliament intended to promote the self-sufficiency of the British Empire by restricting colonial trade to England and decreasing dependence on foreign imported goods. -
Leviathan, Hobbes's most important work and one of the most influential philosophical texts produced during the seventeenth century, was written partly as a response to the fear Hobbes experienced during the political turmoil of the English Civil Wars.
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Charles's reign saw the rise of colonization and trade in India, the East Indies and America, and the Passage of Navigation Acts that secured Britain's future as a sea power. The years of his reign are known in English history as the Restoration period.
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Having ruled jointly with his brother Ivan V, when Ivan died in 1696, Peter was officially declared Sovereign of all Russia. He commenced reforming the country, attempting to turn it into a modernized empire relying on trade and on an army and navy.
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Huguenots were French Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who followed the teachings of theologian John Calvin. They were persecuted by the French Catholic government during a violent period, therefore fleeding the country. -
He was admired by his contemporaries primarily as an outstanding harpsichordist, organist, and expert on organ building, Bach is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time and is celebrated as the creator of the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, and numerous other masterpieces of church and instrumental music.
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The Edict of Nantes was signed by King Henry IV and granted to the Calvinist Protestants of France. In the edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity. -
The Glorious Revolution was an invasion that overthrew the Catholic king James II, and replaced him with his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband.
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The English Bill of Rights was an act signed into law in 1689 by William III and Mary II, who became co-rulers in England after the overthrow of King James II.
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John Locke’s most well known and influential work was his Two Treatises on Government which is a piece of political philosophy intended to push forward the ideas of contract theory and natural rights.
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The Azov campaigns of 1695–1696, were two Russian military campaigns during the Russo-Turkish War, led by Peter the Great and aimed at capturing the Turkish fortress of Azov with the aim of controlling the southern mouth of the Don River gaining access to the Sea of Azov and entrance to the Black Sea.
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Philip V was King of Spain and the founder of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain. This led to the War of Spanish Succession.
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The Hohenzollerns gained sovereignty over Brandenburg when the empire dissolved in 1806, and Brandenburg was formally merged into Prussia. As a result of the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire was formed, and the King of Prussia, Wilhelm I was crowned German Emperor.
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The War of the Spanish Succession was a conflict involving many of the leading European powers that were triggered by the death in November 1700 of the childless Charles II of Spain.
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St. Petersburg played a vital role in Russian history since it was founded. For two centuries it was the capital of the Russian Empire.
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The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne of Spain and involved much of Europe for over a decade.
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Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe where the first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents. -
Robert Walpole was a British statesman, generally regarded as the first British prime minister. He deliberately cultivated a frank, hearty manner, but his political subtlety has scarcely been equaled.
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Jonathan Swift wrote that his satiric project in the “Gulliver’s Travels” was built upon a “great foundation of Misanthropy” and that his intention was “to vex the world”, not entertain it.
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Frederick II ruled Prussia from 1740 until his death, leading his nation through multiple wars with Austria and its allies. His military tactics expanded Prussian lands, while his domestic policies transformed his kingdom into a modern state.
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In 1740, Maria Theresa succeeded the Habsburg throne. She was the only woman ruler in the 650 history of the Habsburg dynasty.
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The War of the Austrian Succession was the last great power conflict with the Bourbon-Habsburg dynastic conflict at its heart. It marked the rise of Prussia as a major power.
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Handel wrote the Messiah for King George II as a statement of faith in Christ's divinity, in reaction to the increasing popularity of atheism.
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The Spirit of Law is a treatise on political theory, as well as a pioneering work in comparative law. -
The Encyclopedia was co-created with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. It was the first encyclopedia to include contributions from many named contributors and the first to describe the mechanical arts.
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The Seven Years' War is widely considered to be the first global conflict in history and was a struggle for global pre-eminence between Great Britain and France.
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Candid is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a witty, bantering tale, this eighteenth-century classic is actually a savage, satiric thrust at the philosophical optimism.
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George III was King of Great Britain and Ireland until the union of the two kingdoms after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death.
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Jean Jacque Rousseau's central argument in The Social Contract is that government attains its right to exist and to govern by “the consent of the governed.”
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The historiography of Catherine’s reign has been dominated by two approaches: a dramatization and romanticization of her personal life, which was indeed colorful for the number and variety of her lovers; and the viewpoint of 19th-century liberalism, which took literally her self-description as a “philosophe on the throne.”
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The Stamp Act, in U.S. colonial history, was the first British parliamentary attempt to raise revenue through direct taxation of all colonial commercial and legal papers, newspapers, pamphlets, cards, almanacs, and dice.
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The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred on King Street in Boston. It began as a fistfight between some American colonists and a British soldier but quickly rose to a bloody massacre. -
Russia, Prussia, and Austria signed a treaty that partitioned Poland. The agreement deprived Poland of approximately half of its population and almost one-third of its land area.
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The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts. -
The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their disobedience in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government.
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The first Continental Congress in the United States met in Philadelphia to consider its reaction to the British government's restraints on trade and representative government after the Boston Tea Party.
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The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. -
Adam Smith's “Wealth of Nations” is the shortened title of "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations."
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The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence occurred at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, later to become known as Independence Hall. The first and largest signature was that of the president of the Congress, John Hancock.
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The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War.
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The Articles were signed by Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification on November 15, 1777, after 16 months of debate.
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Joseph II was the eldest son of Maria Theresa and Francis I which made him the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the House of Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine.
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The outcome in Yorktown, Virginia marked the conclusion of the last major battle of the American Revolution and the start of a new nation's independence.
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The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States officially ended the American Revolutionary War and the overall state of conflict between the two countries.
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The members of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath in the tennis court which had been built for the use of the Versailles palace. The vote was not to separate and to reassemble wherever necessary until the Constitution of the kingdom is established.
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The Constitution became the official framework of the government of the United States of America when New Hampshire became the ninth of 13 states to ratify it. The journey to ratification, however, was a long and arduous process.
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The Women's March on Versailles, also known as the October March, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. This march ended the king's independence and signified the change of power and reforms about to overtake France.
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The Storming of the Bastille was an event that occurred in Paris, France, when revolutionaries stormed and seized control of the medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille.
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The Great Fear was a period of panic and riot by peasants and others of an aristocratic conspiracy by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate.
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Amadeus Mozart's height of his career of his success included the string quartets dedicated to Haydn, Lorenzo Da Ponte's librettos (The Marriage of Figaro), Don Giovanni, and Cosí fan tutte. -
Olympe de Gouges wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman in response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man. 17 articles, written by Gouge, included the basic rights that should be extended to women.
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The National Assembly completed the Constitution. Louis XVI had no other option but to accept the Constitution of 1791.
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Prussia and Austria issued the Declaration of Pillnitz when Louis XVI was captured and forced to return to Paris. This Declaration urged European powers to unite and restore the monarchy in France. This caused Louis XVI to be reduced to a constitutional monarch during the French Revolution.
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A Vindication of the Rights of Woman vehemently defends females as full human beings, who for several reasons deserve the same education that men receive. It is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy.
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The Radical Phase is when most atrocities took place. France was ruled by a Committee for Public Safety. From this moment they were seen as dangerous enemies of the nation.
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The National Convention was elected to provide a new constitution for the country after the overthrow of the monarchy. It was the first French government organized as a republic, abandoning the monarchy altogether.
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Ultimately unwilling to cede his royal power to the Revolutionary government, Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and condemned to death.
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The Committee of Public Safety was created with the intent to defend the nation against foreign and domestic enemies, as well as to oversee the new functions of the executive government. -
The Reign of Terror, commonly called The Terror, was a period of the French Revolution. With civil war spreading from the Vendée and hostile armies surrounding France on all sides, the Revolutionary government decided to make “Terror” the order of the day and to take harsh measures against those suspected of being enemies of the Revolution.
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Marie-Antoinette was executed in 1793 after the Revolutionary Tribunal found her guilty of crimes against the state. The royal family had been compelled to leave Versailles in 1789 and live in captivity in Paris.
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Group of five men who held the executive power in France according to the constitution of the French Revolution. They were chosen by the new legislature, by the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients.
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In an event known as the coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon was part of a group that successfully overthrew the French Directory. Napoleon then proclaimed himself the First Consul for Life.
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The Napoleonic Wars were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of French domination over most of continental Europe.
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Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution. After seizing political power in France, he crowned himself emperor.
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The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval battle fought between British and French forces during the Napoleonic Wars. The battle took place to the west of Cape Trafalgar, Spain. -
Battle of Austerlitz was the first engagement of the War of the Third Coalition and one of Napoleon’s greatest victories. His 68,000 troops defeated almost 90,000 Russians and Austrians. -
After the Allies entered Paris, Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba. He returned to France, rebuilt his army, and was finally defeated by Allied forces under the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher at Waterloo.
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The French invasion of Russia was begun by Napoleon to force Russia back into the Continental blockade of the United Kingdom. The invasion of Russia effectively halted Napoleon's march across Europe and resulted in his first exile.
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The battle of Leipzig was a decisive defeat for Napoleon, resulting in the destruction of what was left of French power in Germany and Poland.
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The Congress of Vienna was an international diplomatic conference to reconstitute the European political order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon I. -
Napoleon Bonaparte was banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba. However, Napoleon escaped Elba in February 1815 and took control of France.
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The reasons for sending Napoleon to St. Helena were two-fold: first because of a desire not to keep Napoleon in England or even in Europe, for fear that he would become the object of public curiosity, and perhaps ultimately of compassion, but above all due to the fear that he might once again be the source of a revolutionary uprising. -
The Concert of Europe refers to a general consensus among the Great Powers of 19th-century Europe to maintain the European balance of power, political boundaries, and spheres of influence.
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The Battle of Lexington was one of the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battle was fought at Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge. -
The Declaration of the Rights of Man specified the rights of liberty, private property, the inviolability of the person, and resistance to oppression. Its main principle was to prove that all men were created equal and had the same rights.