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Marriage to Isabella and unification of Spain. He married the princess Isabella of Castile in Valladolid in October 1469.
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Charles V was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556
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Charles I of Spain, born on February 24, 1500, was king of Spain from 1516 to 1556 and Holy Roman emperor, as Charles V, from 1519 to 1558
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He 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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The Act of Supremacy was an English act of Parliament that recognized Henry VIII as the "Supreme Head of the Church of England." -
El Greco was the 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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Henry IV (French: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithet Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
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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 (as Philip I) from 1580 to 1598. The Spanish empire under Philip prospered: it attained its greatest power, extent, and influence.
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Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603.
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When Ferdinand died in 1564, the Habsburg lands were divided among his three sons. Maximilian II succeeded his father as Holy Roman Emperor and gained Bohemia, part of Hungary, and Upper and Lower Austria. His brother Charles acquired Inner Austria, while the third brother, Ferdinand, received lands in Germany.
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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 until 1714.
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The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement -
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 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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English guns damaged the Armada, and a Spanish ship was captured by Sir Francis Drake in the English Channel. The Armada anchored off Calais.
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The Edict of Nantes was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic -
James I, (born June 19, 1566, Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland—died March 27, 1625, Theobalds, Hertfordshire, England), king of Scotland (as James VI) from 1567 to 1625 and first Stuart king of England from 1603 to 1625, who styled himself “king of Great Britain.
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Don Quixote is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Its full title is The Ingenious Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha -
The Thirty Years' War was a 17th-century religious conflict fought primarily in central Europe. It remains one of the longest and most brutal wars in human history, with more than 8 million casualties resulting from military battles as well as from the famine and disease caused by the conflict.
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The Defenestrations of Prague were three incidents in the history of Bohemia in which people were defenestrated -
Petition of Right (signed 1628 retroactive to 1627) The Petition of Right was sent by 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.
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Charles II signed a secret treaty with King Louis XIV of France in which England offered to aid in a war against the Dutch
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It was a small country residence and, according to the Maréchal de Bassompierre, “a mere gentleman would not have been overly proud of the construction.” Louis XIII decided to rebuild it in 1631. Construction continued until 1634 and laid the basis of the Palace we know today.
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The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 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 (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days 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 October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster.
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Seven years of fighting between Charles' supporters and Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarians claimed the lives of thousands, and ultimately, of the King himself. -
Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly referred to as Leviathan, is a book written by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and published in 1651 (revised Latin edition 1668).
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The Navigation Acts (1651, 1660) 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.
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The Glorious Revolution, also called “The Revolution of 1688” and “The Bloodless Revolution,” took place from 1688 to 1689 in England. It involved the overthrow of the Catholic King James II, who was replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband, William of Orange.
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Two Treatises of Government, major statement of the political philosophy of the English philosopher John Locke, published in 1689 but substantially composed some years before then.
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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. The bill outlined specific constitutional and civil rights and ultimately gave Parliament power over the monarchy -
Peter the Great was the 14th child of Czar Alexis by his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Having ruled jointly with his brother Ivan V from 1682, when Ivan died in 1696, Peter was officially declared Sovereign of all Russia.
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The Azov campaigns of 1695–1696 were two Russian military campaigns during the Russo-Turkish War of 1686–1700, led by Peter the Great
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Philip V, also called (until 1700) Philippe, duc d'Anjou, (born December 19, 1683, Versailles, France—died July 9, 1746, Madrid, Spain), king of Spain from 1700 (except for a brief period from January to August 1724) and founder of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain.
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Huguenots were French Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who followed the teachings of theologian John Calvin. Persecuted by the French Catholic government during a violent period, Huguenots fled the country in the 17th century, creating Huguenot settlements all over Europe, in the United States and Africa.
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The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) has been described as 'the first world war of modern times' with major campaigns fought in Spain, Italy, Germany, Italy as well as at sea. It was triggered by the death in 1700 of the childless Habsburg King Charles II of Spain.
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The great Russian city was established on May 27th, 1703.
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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.
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The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author -
German composer and pianist was the tallest figure during transition period between Classical and Romantic, and also considered as one of the most famous classical music composers of all times.Feb
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Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG PC (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who is generally regarded as the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
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Swift claimed that he wrote Gulliver's Travels "to vex the world rather than divert it".
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Frederick II (1712-1786) ruled Prussia from 1740 until his death, leading his nation through multiple wars with Austria and its allies. His daring military tactics expanded and consolidated Prussian lands, while his domestic policies transformed his kingdom into a modern state and formidable European power
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Maria Theresa (1717-1780), archduchess of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, began her rule in 1740. She was the only woman ruler in the 650 history of the Habsburg dynasty.
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Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, began her rule in 1740. 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 occurred from 1740 to 1748 and marked the rise of Prussia as a major power.
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The Spirit of the Laws is a treatise on political theory that was first published anonymously by Montesquieu -
The Encyclopédie, Ou Dictionnaire Raisonné Des Sciences, Des Arts Et Des Métiers, often referred to simply as Encyclopédie or Diderot's Encyclopedia, is a twenty-eight volume reference book published between 1751 and 1772 by André Le Breton and edited by translator and philosopher Denis Diderot -
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. In Europe, the conflict arose from issues left unresolved by the War of the Austrian Succession, with Prussia seeking greater dominance
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The later 1780s were the height of his success, with the string quartets dedicated to Haydn.
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Candide, a satirical novel published in 1759 that is the best-known work by Voltaire. It is a savage denunciation of metaphysical optimism—as espoused by the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz—that reveals a world of horrors and folly. -
He was the third Hanoverian monarch and the first one to be born in England and to use English as his first language
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The Social Contract, originally published as On the Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right (French: Du contrat social; ou Principes du droit politique) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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Catherine II most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the last reigning Empress Regnant
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Parliament passed the Stamp Act on March 22, 1765 and repealed it in 1766, but issued a Declaratory Act at the same time to reaffirm its authority to pass any colonial legislation it saw fit.
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The first published score of Messiah was issued in 1767, eight years after Handel's death, though this was based on relatively early manuscripts
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The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston -
The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 123 years.
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The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston -
The Intolerable Acts (passed/Royal assent March 31–June 22, 1774) 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 defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government.
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On September 5, 1774, 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 British Army set out from Boston to capture rebel leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington as well as to destroy the American's store of weapons and ammunition in Concord.
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The British marched into Lexington and Concord intending to suppress the possibility of rebellion by seizing weapons from the colonists.
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"An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" was first published by a Scottish moral philosopher by trade -
On August 2, 1776, Congress members signed the declaration. Not every man who had been present on July 4 signed the declaration on August 2 -
The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign
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Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I and thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the House of Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine
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The Articles of Confederation are finally ratified. The Articles were signed by Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification on November 15, 1777
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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 of America officially ended the American Revolutionary War and the overall state of conflict between the two countries -
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. -
Tennis Court Oath, French Serment du Jeu de Paume, (June 20, 1789), dramatic act of defiance by representatives of the nonprivileged classes of the French nation (the Third Estate) during the meeting of the Estates-General (traditional assembly) at the beginning of the French Revolution.
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The Storming of the Bastille (French: Prise de la Bastille [pʁiz də la bastij]) was an event that occurred in Paris, France, on the afternoon of 14 July 1789, when revolutionaries stormed and seized control of the medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille.
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Great Fear, French Grande Peur, (1789) in the French Revolution, a period of panic and riot by peasants and others amid rumors of an “aristocratic conspiracy” by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate.
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The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolution -
The Women's March on Versailles, also known as the October March, the October Days or simply the March on Versailles, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. -
By September 1791, the National Assembly completed the Constitution. Louis XVI had no other option but to accept the Constitution of 1791.
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The Declaration of Pilnite, more commonly referred to as the Declaration of Pillnitz, was a statement of five sentences issued on 27 August 1791 -
The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, also known as the Declaration of the Rights of Woman, was written on 14 September 1791 by French activist, feminist, and playwright Olympe de Gouges -
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, written by the 18th-century British proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy.
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The Radical Phase of 1792-1794 is when most atrocities took place. France was ruled by a Committee for Public Safety. The Moderate Period1794-1799 was a where the middle class took over. Lastly, Napoleon's coup-d-etat occurred and he took over
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The National Convention was a parliament of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the great insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic, abandoning the monarchy altogether
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The Committee of Public Safety was created by the National Convention in 1793 with the intent to defend the nation against foreign and domestic enemies -
Ultimately unwilling to cede his royal power to the Revolutionary government, Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and condemned to death. He was guillotined on January 21, 1793.
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The Reign of Terror, also called the Terror, was a period of state-sanctioned violence and mass executions during the French Revolution. Between Sept. 5, 1793, and July 27, 1794, France's revolutionary government ordered the arrest and execution of thousands of people
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Marie-Antoinette was guillotined 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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Directory, group of five men who held the executive power in France according to the constitution of the year III (1795) of the French Revolution. They were chosen by the new legislature, by the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients; each year one director, chosen by lot, was to be replaced.
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In August 1802, Napoleon proclaimed himself 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 a fluctuating array of 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 (1789-1799). After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d'état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804.
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The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies -
The Battle of Austerlitz also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors was one of the most important and decisive engagements of the Napoleonic Wars -
The Hohenzollerns gained de jure sovereignty over Brandenburg when the empire dissolved in 1806, and Brandenburg was formally merged into Prussia. In 1871, in the aftermath 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 French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian Campaign, the Second Polish War, the Second Polish Campaign, the Patriotic War of 1812, and the War of 1812, was begun by Napoleon to force Russia back into the Continental blockade of the United Kingdom
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The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations -
Congress of Vienna, assembly in 1814–15 that reorganized Europe after the Napoleonic Wars. It began in September 1814
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On April 11, 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France and one of the greatest military leaders in history, abdicates the throne, and, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, is banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba. The future emperor was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15, 1769.
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The Hundred Days, also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July
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Concert of Europe, in the post-Napoleonic era, the vague consensus among the European monarchies favoring preservation of the territorial and political status quo
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Exiled to the island of Elba, he escaped to France in early 1815 and raised a new Grand Army that enjoyed temporary success before its crushing defeat at Waterloo against an allied force under Wellington on June 18, 1815. Napoleon was subsequently exiled to the island of Saint Helena off the coast of Africa.