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Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes to grant the Huguenots religious toleration and freedom. -
The Thirty Years War began when three representatives of the Holy Roman Empire were thrown out the window of the royal castle in Prague in 1618, creating a religious conflict among the entire continent. -
The English Civil War began as a result of a conflict over the power of the monarchy and the rights of Parliament. King Charles battled Parliament for control of the English government. -
As a result of the Treaty of Westphalia, the Netherlands gained independence from Spain, Sweden gained control of the Baltic and France was acknowledged as the greatest Western power. -
Oliver Cromwell was appointed as Lord Protector and served in that role until his death in September 1658. -
Louis XIV hoped to gain more control of the government from the nobility and to distance himself from the population of Paris by building Versailles. His palace was meant to display the wealth and power of his nation. -
The English Bill of Rights was an act signed into law in 1689 by William III and Mary II. The bill outlined specific constitutional and civil rights and ultimately gave Parliament power over the monarchy. -
After being asked by Parliament to take action against King James, William arrived in England with an army to depose him. James fled the country, resigned, and Mary was invited to take the throne. -
After winning access to the Baltic Sea through his victories in the Great Northern War, Peter founds the city of St. Petersburg as the new Russian capital. -
Frederick and the French put together an agreement, the French hoping that Frederick would force Austria to withdraw their troops from Italy. The French agreed to attack Austria, and Frederick agreed to attack in the direction of Vienna. -
During desperate times due to the financial crisis, King Louis XVI summoned the Estates-General in 1789 to approve new taxation. This was a representative body that had not met since 1614, but once it had been called, it developed a momentum of its own. -
The National Assembly was created amidst the turmoil of the Estates-General that Louis XVI called in 1789 to deal with the economic crisis in France. -
The Tennis Court Oath was made to ensure the National Assembly would finish writing their new constitution. It declared that members of the National Assembly would stay in the tennis court until they finished writing the new constitution. -
The Storming of the Bastille took place in Paris, France. This violent attack on the government by the people of France signaled the start of the French Revolution. -
The women from the marketplaces of Paris led the March on Versailles due to the concern over the high price and scarcity of bread. This became one of the most significant events of the French Revolution, eventually forcing the royals to return to Paris. -
King Louis XVI was executed by the guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris one day after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention. -
The Committee of Public Safety was set up during one of the crises of the Revolution when France was beset by foreign and civil war. The new committee was to provide for the defense of the nation against its enemies, foreign and domestic, and to oversee the already existing organs of executive government. -
A group of Parisian radicals petitioned the National Convention to place “terror on the order of the day.” Seizing that mandate, the Committee of Public Safety in Paris responded with ruthless efficiency to real and perceived threats to its rule. -
Robespierre and a number of his followers were arrested at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. The next day Robespierre and 21 of his followers were taken to the Place de la Révolution, where they were executed by guillotine before a cheering crowd. -
The Battle of Waterloo, which took place in Belgium, marked the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century.