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Nov 7, 1507
Copernicus' Theory
Copernicus saw that the geocentric theory was not correct. Geocentric means the Earth is at the center. He came up with the correct theory, the heliocentric theory. Heliocentric means the Sun is the center. -
Nov 6, 1546
Ivan the Terrible
In 1546, a young prince claimed the title of the czar of Russia. His name was Ivan IV but commonly known as Ivan the Terrible. He deafeated the Tatars and expanded Russian territory. His was known as "terrible" because of his strict policies and viloent actions. Ivan first sent his advisers away and killed many of their supporters. Then he thought people were conspiring against him and so he created a private police forse who controlled about half of the Russian territory. -
Start of the Time of Troubles
Ivan the Terrible died playing chess in 1584. Because he killed his son, it left no heir to rule the throne next. This started the Time of Troubles which is known as the time period between the rule of the Rurick Dynasty and the Romanov Dynasty. During this period, there were many rulers in short time and they were also unstable. -
Galileo's Telescope
Copernicus' Theory was supported by Galileo, an Italian scientist, who built the first telescope in 1609. He wa sthe first to observe Saturn, sunspots, the moons of Jupiter, and the craters of the moons. Galileo was also the first to discover the Milky Way was actually made up of stars. In 1610, he published a book called Starry Messenger that described these discoveries. -
Rise of the Romanov Dynasty
After Ivan IV's death, there was no heir to take the throne. This period was known and the Time of Troubles until in 1613, Ivan's first wife's relative Michael was crowned czar, He was the first of the Romanov dynasty whish lasted until 1917. -
3o Years War Starts
The 30 Years' War started as a religious dispute because an official representing the Roman Catholic, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, ordered for two Protestant churches to be shut down. The emperor was trying to control the people's religion and that sparked revolt throught the region of what is now known as Czech Republic. -
The Sun King
The Sun King or originially known as Louis XIV. Louis developed the imaghe of the "Sun King" becaus ehe wanted his people to believe that he was the source of light and life in France. He removed nobles from the Royal Council and worked against Protestants in France. Louis died in 1715, leaving many debts and enemies. -
End of 30 Years' War
The 30 Years War ended with the Treaty of Westphalia. The treaty extended religous toleration to both Protestants and Catholics. It also further reduced the power of the Holy Roman Emperor and strengthened the rulers of the states within it. -
The Leviathan
In 1651, Thomas Hobbes wrote a book on his views on the goverment. He thought people were selfish and greedy and will naturally live their lives "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." This thought was due to his experience on the English civil war. -
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
Sir Issac Newton was an English scientist who brought together astronomy, physics, and mathematics. In 1687, he published The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. This book explained his law of universal gravitation. It states that gravity affects objects in the universe as well on Earth. Newton also developed using these findings a math called calculus. -
Glorious Revolution
The Glorous Revolution is known as the transfer of power to James II's daughter and her husband. His daughter was Mary II and William III. Both were protestants and living in the Netherlands. James II fled to france and Parliment gave the throne to Mary and William as joint rulers. Before taking the throne, however, they had to sign the English Bill of Rights to ensure the monarch could not levy taxes with out the consent of Parliment along with many other provisions. -
John Locke
John Locke was another philosopher of the Enlightment. He thought people were naturally good and happy. He thought the purpose of goverment was to protect people's natural rights. John also believed that the people could overthrow the goverment if they weren't doing their job. -
Treaty of Utrecht
This treaty was accepted by Louis XIV in 1713. It said that Louis' grandson got the Spanish throne. It also said that France and Spain would never be ruled by the same monarch. He had also given up most of the territory he had taken and when he died in 1715, it was still an absolute monarch. -
Voltaire
Volatire wrote about injustice with the nobility, goverment, and the church with his book Candide written in 1759. He critizized the church and many people were against him. Voltaire was imprisoned twice and also was exiled from England for 2 years. -
The Encyclopedia and Diderot
The great expansion of human knowledge during hte mid 1700s convinced the French philosopher Denis Diderot to put all the knowledge in a book called the encyclopedia. He worked on it for 27 years. The goverment tried to stop the publishing of the Encyclopedia so the remaining volumes Diderot had to write in secret. -
Meeting of the Estates-General
This was a French assembly that met to make decisions. Each estate had representatives determined by the population and all had 1 vote overall: the First Estate had 300 representatives, the Second Estate had 300, and the 3rd had 600 representatives. The Thrid Estate wanted to establish a constitutional democracy but the nobles disagreed and locked them out of the assembly. -
Storming of the Bastille
A mob of people went to the Bastille (which was a prison and an armory) looking for weapons. The prison only had seven prisoners, but they needed weapons so they tried to negogiate with the prison guard. Eventually, they exchanged fire and the mob killed the commander and stuck his head on a stick, parading it around through the streets. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
This document was written by the New Assembly. It emphasized basic rights were available to everyone. It states "men are born and remain free and equal in rights". -
French Revolution Begins
The French Revolution began because of inequlaities in society, ideas from the enlightment, and financial crisis'. The enlightment helped to start the revolution because they read about different occurences of people overthrowing their goverment. The French people thought that if other people could overthrow their goverment, they could too. -
Completion of the Constitution
The National Assembly completed its constitution in 1719 and it created a new body called the Legislative Assembly. Even though it kept the monarchy, it restricted the King's powers to a great extent. The constitution also gave the citizens broad voting right, but only men at least 25 years old and who were taxpayers could vote.
