Schools of Literary Thought Timeline

Archaic Greece

Period: 1200 BCE to 500 BCE

Ancient Olympic Games

776 BCE

Held in honour of Zeus in Olympia every four years, these were the oldest and most prestigious of all the festivals. Victors were crowned with an olive wreath. Last of these Games held in AD 392, following year they were prohibited anyway.

Illiad

750 BCE

Both the Iliad and the Odyssey, the sequel, were composed around 750 BC, give or take 50 years or so, but they describe events from the Trojan War, which is traditionally dated around 1200 BC, give or take a 100 years or so. So this material by Homer is our earliest written record of athletic games, pre-dating any writings on the ancient Olympic Games for example.

Classical Ancient Greece

Period: 500 BCE to 330 BCE

Hellenistic Ancient Greece

Period: 330 BCE to 146 BCE

Brittania

Period: 43 to 420

Romans conquer Britons, Brittania a province of the Roman Empire

Constantine the Great

307

307-337
Reign lead to adoption of Chrisitanity as official religion of the Roman Empire

Middle Ages

Period: 400 to 1350

The period of what we broadly call the Middle Ages extends from late 400AD to 1350AD, followed by the period of the Renaissance 1350AD to the sixteenth century. This period is known as the Middle Ages since it falls between the period of antiquity and more modern times. The impact of Christianity during this period cannot be overstated. It was the dominant cultural and religious force during the Middle Ages. The Church permeated every aspect of life.

Vulgate - latin translation of the Bible

405

Translated by St. Jerome, became standard for the Roman Catholic Church

St Patrick

432

Begins mission to convert Ireland

Conquest of Briton

450

Anglo-saxon conquest begins

Fall of Roman Empire

476

In 400-500 BCE saw the fall of the Roman Empire. The period that immediately follows was also known as the Dark Ages. There was an initial decline in learning and civilization. It was a period of political turmoil and a power vacuum existed. Rome had been Christianised
(Constantine was first Christian emperor in 326 AD) and in 393 AD the Olympic Games had been banned.

Boethius - Consolation of Philosophy

523

Latin

St. Augustine of Canterbury

597

Mission to Kent begins conversion of Anglo-saxons to Christianity. At the time of the reform of the Church, doctrinal theology of grace.

Caedmon's Hymn

Jan 1, 658

Earliest poem recorded in English (658-680)

Bede

Jan 1, 673

673-735
Famous literature - Caedmon's hymn

Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Jan 1, 731

by Bede

Beowulf

Jan 1, 750

Unknown author, believed to be composed aroun 750

Viking Raids

Apr 24, 787

First Viking Raids on England

King Alfred

Jan 1, 871

Reigned from 871 to 899

The Invention of Gunpowder ( I have given the date of "the invention of gunpowder" as the date of when the formula for gunpowder was first recorded in 1044)

Jan 1, 1044

Gunpowder is believed to have been invented in approxiametely 850 AD when it is suggested Chinese Alchemists were mixing elemental sulufr, charcoal and potassium nitrate to make artificial gold. The powder produced was called serpentine. It was employed in warfare to some effect from at least the 14th century, although the development of effective artillery took place during the 15th century, and firearms came to dominate early modern warfare in Europe by the 17th Century.

Norman Conquest

Jan 1, 1066

William I established French-speaking ruling class in England

Crusades

Period: Jan 1, 1095 to Jan 1, 1221

History of the Kings of Britain

Jan 1, 1135

Geoffrey of Monmout, written in Latin, gives pseudohistorical status to Arthurian and other legends

Henry II marries Eleanor of Aquitaine

Jan 1, 1152

Future Henry II marries Elanor of Aquitaine, bringin vast French territories to the English crown

Lais

Jan 1, 1165

By Marie de France, in Anglo-Norman French from Breton sources (1165-1180)

Chrietien de Troyes

Jan 1, 1170

Chivalric romances about knights of the Round Table (1170-1191)

Archbishop Thomas Becket murdered

Jan 1, 1170

Murdered in Canterbury Cathedral

St Francis of Assisi

Jan 1, 1182

Born 1182

Brut

Jan 1, 1200

by Layamon, approximately 1200

Magna Carta

Jun 1, 1215

Fourth Lateran Council requires annual confession. ENglish barons force King Jonn to seal Magna Carta (The Great Charter) gauranteeing baronial rights

Late Middle Ages - Historical Time period

Period: Jan 1, 1300 to Jan 1, 1500

The Late Middle Ages is one of 3 general periods of the Medievil Era. It can be characterized as a transformation from the medieval world to the early modern one. In this period of time, a series of famines and plagues reduced the population to around half of what it was. There was also social unrest and endemic warfare. France and England experienced serious peasant uprisings as well as over a century of ittermittent conflict. The unity of the Catholic Church was also shattered.

Divine Comedy

Jan 1, 1321

Written 1304-1321 by Dante Alighieri

Hundred Years' War

Period: Jan 1, 1337 to Jan 1, 1453

Giovanni Boccaccio

Jan 1, 1340

Writer in Naples and Florence (1340-1374)

Francis Petrarch

Jan 1, 1340

Active as writer (1340-1374)

Geoffrey Chaucer

Jan 1, 1343

Geoffrey Chaucer, known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages. (1343-1400) "Time and tide wait for no men" "The guilty think all talk is of themselves"

Black Death

Jan 1, 1348

Ravages Europe

Black Death in Europe

Period: 1348 to 1352

The Black Death was a plague of horrific proportions. Approximately 1/3 of Europe’s population perished in the years from 1347-1352 and ultimately the Church’s inability to show control over this event lead in part to a) a questioning of the Church’s power and b) an interest in human physiology and medicine. Dissections were allowed by the Church for the first time; treatment of the body after death changed (at least in the short term) there was an
interest in developing a more hygienic society.

English first used in courts and Parliament

Jan 1, 1362

Book of the Duchess

Jan 1, 1368

Chaucer

Chaucer's first journey to Italy

Jan 1, 1372

Book of Showings

Jan 1, 1373

Julian of Norwich (1373-1393)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Jan 1, 1375

(1375-1400) by author unknown

Performance of cycle drama at York

Jan 1, 1376

Earliest record of performance of cycle drama

Translation of Bible into English

Jan 1, 1380

Followers of John Wycliffe begin first complete translation of the Bible into English

People's uprising

Jan 1, 1381

Briefly takes control of London before being suppressed

Troilus and Criseyde

Jan 1, 1385

Chaucer (1385-1387)

The Canterbury Tales

Jan 1, 1387

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century (1387-1399). The tales are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

Confessio Amantis

Jan 1, 1390

John Gower (1390-1392)

Johannes Gutenburg

Jan 1, 1398

Johannes Gutenberg was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe. (1398-1468) "It is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams...Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men."

Richard II deposed

Jan 1, 1399

Deposed by his cousin who succeeds him as Henry IV

Richard II murdered

Jan 1, 1400

Firearms

Jan 1, 1400

Firearms were invented in the 14th century in China, after the invention of gunpowder in the 850's. These inventions were later transmitted to the Middle East and to Europe. A firearm is a weapon that launches one projectile or more at high velocity through the confined burning of a propellant. In older firearms, the propellant was typically black powder, but modern firearms use smokeless powder or other propellants. Most modern firearms have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile.

The Renaissance - Historical Time period

Period: Jan 1, 1400 to Jan 1, 1700

The Renaissance was a cultural movement in Europe which impacted and shaped the future. It is believed that the changes that happened in this time period led to a modern era. The Renaissance was a time of great beauty, art, creativity, curiosity, imagination and exploration. Artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci created most of their famous peices during this time, as well as writers like William Shakespeare. The Mona Lisa was created during the Renaissance.

William Sawtre executed

Jan 1, 1401

First Lollard burned at the stake under new law against heresy

John Lydgate

Jan 1, 1410

Active as a writer? 1410-1449

Henry VI defeats French at Agincourt

Jan 1, 1415

My compleinte

Jan 1, 1420

Thomas Hoccleve

York Play of the Crucifixion

Jan 1, 1425

Unknown author

Joan of Arc burnt

Jan 1, 1431

English burn Joian of Arc at Rouen

The Book of Margery Kempe

Jan 1, 1432

1432-1438 written by Margery Kempe

Printing Press

Jan 1, 1450

The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenburg, a German inventor. The printing press was invented around 1450 A.D. In the early 1450's the end of the middle ages was causing massive and rapid cultural changes in Europe. These changes fueled a growing need for the fast and inexpensive production of large quantaties of written documents. Gutenburg borrowed money from local businesses and banks to work on developing a technology that could address this serious economic demand.

Second Shepherd's Play

Jan 1, 1450

Wakefield mystery cycle (1450-1475)

Wars of the Roses

Period: Jan 1, 1455 to Jan 1, 1485

Sir Thomas Malory

Jan 1, 1470

In prison working on Morte Darthur

Robert Henryson

Jan 1, 1475

Active as a writer

Printing press in England

Jan 1, 1476

William Caxton sets up first printing press in England

Ferdinand Magellan

Jan 1, 1480

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. Magellan's expedition of 1519–1521 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean and the first to cross the Pacific. His expedition completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage, being killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines. (1480-1521)

Martin Luther

Nov 10, 1483

Martin Luther was a German monk, priest, professor of theology and seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. (1483-1546) "All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired."

Morte Darthur published

Jan 1, 1485

Caxton published, one of the first books in English to be printed

Earl of Richmond (Henry VII)

Jan 1, 1485

The earl of Richmond defeats the Yorkist king, Richard III, at Bosworth Field and succeeds him as Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty

Mona Lisa

Jan 1, 1504

Leonardo da Vinci painted

New World / Four Voyages

Jan 1, 1505

Amerigo Vespucci (1505-1507)

Sistine Chapel

Jan 1, 1508

Michaelangelo painted ceiling of the chapel -- (1508-1512)

Death Henry VII; accession of Henry VIII

Jan 1, 1509

Everyman

Jan 1, 1510

Unknown author

Praise of Folly

Jan 1, 1511

Desiderius Erasmus

James IV killed, succeeded by James V

Jan 1, 1513

James IV of Scotland killed at Battle of Flodden; succeeded by James V

John Knox

Jan 1, 1514

John Knox was a Scottish clergyman and a leader of the Protestant Reformation who brought reformation to the church in Scotland. He was educated at the University of St Andrews and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1536. (1514-1572) "No one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshipped; no other man has been so devoutly loved."

Utopia

Jan 1, 1516

Thomas More

The Tunning of Elinour Rumming

Jan 1, 1517

John Skelton

Martin Luther's 95 theses

Jan 1, 1517

Beginning of the Reformation in Germany

The Reformation - Historical Time Periods

Period: Oct 31, 1517 to Jan 1, 1700

The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of several other Christian churches, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. It began in the 15th century and ended around 1700.

Cortes invades Mexico

Jan 1, 1519

Circumnavigation of the Globe

Jan 1, 1519

One of the most noted of Portuguese-born explorers was Ferdinand Magellan who instigated and organized the first circumnavigation of the globe from 1519 to 1522. Sailing for the King of Spain, he set out with the objective of finding a route to the Orient by sailing westward around the southern tip of South America. Part of his legacy, especially in adding new place names to previously unmapped areas of the world, is reflected in this early eighteenth-century map of Magellanica.

Magellen begins his voyage around the world

Jan 1, 1519

Pope Leo X names Henry VIII "Defender of the faith"

Jan 1, 1521

English translation of New Testament

Jan 1, 1525

William Tyndale

The Courtier

Jan 1, 1528

Baldassacre Castiglione

More - Lord Chancellor

Jan 1, 1529

1529-1532

The Prince

Jan 1, 1532

Niccolo Machiavelli (written 1513)

Henry VIII

Jan 1, 1532

Divorces Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn; Elizabeth I born; Henry declares himself head of the Church of England (1532-1534)

More beheaded

Jan 1, 1535

Establishment of Calvin's theocracy at Geneva

Jan 1, 1537

Roman Inquisition

Jan 1, 1542

James V of Scotland dies; succeeded by infant daughter Mary

On the revolution of the Spheres

Jan 1, 1543

Copernicus

Death of Henry VIII; accession of Protestant Edward VI

Jan 1, 1547

Book of Homilies

Jan 1, 1547

Unknown author

Book of common prayer

Jan 1, 1549

Sir Walter Raleigh

Jan 22, 1552

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England. (1552-1618) "Whosoever, in writing a modern history, shall follow truth too near the heels, it may happily strike out his teeth."

Death Edward VI, Bloody Mary

Jan 1, 1553

Failed attempt to pur portestant Lady Jane Grey on throne; accession of Catholic Queen Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon

Archbishop Carnmer, former archbishops Latimer and Ridley burned at the stake

Jan 1, 1555

(1555-1556)

Songs and Sonnets

Jan 1, 1557

By Tottel, (printing poems by Wyatt, Surrey and others)

Mary dies; Elizabeth I

Jan 1, 1558

Catholic Mary (bloody Mary) dies; succeeded by Protestant Elizabeth I (daughter of Anne Boleyn)

Elizabethan Era - Historical Time periods

Period: Jan 1, 1558 to Jan 1, 1603

The Elizabethan era was the time of Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia was first used in 1572 and often thereafter to mark the Elizabethan age as a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion, and naval triumph over the hated Spanish foe.

Acts and Monuments

Jan 1, 1563

By John Foxe

Galileo

Feb 15, 1564

Galileo Galilei, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. (1564-1642) "We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves."

Cristopher Marlow

Feb 26, 1564

Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day. (1564-1593) "Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed In one self place, for where we are is hell, And where hell is there must we ever be."

William Shakespeare

Apr 23, 1564

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwrighter, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's most distinguished dramatist. (1564-1616) "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?"

Gorbodue (first English blank-verse tragedy)

Jan 1, 1565

By Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville (acted in 1561)

Mary Queen of Scots forced to abdicate

Jan 1, 1567

Succeeded by her son James VI; Mary imprisoned in England (1567-1568)

Translation of Metamorphoses

Jan 1, 1567

Arthur Golding translated Ovid's text

Elizabeth I excommunicated by Pope

Jan 1, 1570

Excommunicated by Pope Pius V

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of French Protestants

Jan 1, 1572

John Donne

Jan 22, 1572

John Donne was an English poet, a humorist who uses ridicule and irony and sarcasm, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. (1572-1631) "No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face."

Mystery plays last performance

Jan 1, 1575

At Chester

The Theater

Jan 1, 1576

James Burbage's playhouse, The Theater, built in London

Drake's circumnavigation of the globe

Period: Jan 1, 1577 to Jan 1, 1580

Euphues

Jan 1, 1578

By John Lyly

The Shepheardes Calender

Jan 1, 1579

By Edmund Spencer

Essais

Jan 1, 1580

By Montaigne

Irish rebellion crushed

Jan 1, 1583

Sir Walter Raleigh

Jan 1, 1584

Earliest attempts to colonize Virginia in 1584-1547

Mary, Queen of Scots, executed

Jan 1, 1586

Tried for treason and executed - cousin of Queen Elizabeth (1586-1587)

Tamburlaine (acted)

Jan 1, 1587

Marlow's Tamburlaine acted. Shakespeare begins career as actor and playwright (1587-1590)

Failed invasion of the Spanish Armada

Jan 1, 1588

A brief and true report of ... Virginia

Jan 1, 1588

By Thomas Hariot

The Principal Navigations ... of the English Nation

Jan 1, 1589

By Richard Hakluyt

Arcadia

Jan 1, 1590

Written by Sir Philip Sidney (posthumously published)

The Faerie Queene

Jan 1, 1590

By Spenser, The Faerie Queene books 1-3

Astrophil and Stella

Jan 1, 1591

By Sir Philip Sidney, published in 1591

John Donne

Jan 1, 1592

Earliest poems circulating in manuscript

George Herbert

Apr 3, 1593

George Herbert was a Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest. Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education that led to him gaining prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. (1593-1633) "Living well is the best revenge."

Raleigh's voyage to Guiana

Jan 1, 1595

The defense of Poesy

Jan 1, 1595

By Sidney, published 1595

The Faerie Queen (books 4-6)

Jan 1, 1596

Spenser, the Faerie Queene, books 4-6 (with 1-3)

Every Man in His Humor

Jan 1, 1598

By Ben Jonson

Globe Theater opens

Jan 1, 1599

Discovery of Heliocentrism

Jan 1, 1600

Heliocentrism refers to the Earth and planets revolving around a stationary Sun at the center of the Solar System. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center. The notion that the Earth revolves around the Sun had been proposed as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos. However many argue that Aristarcchus's heliocentricism appears to have attracted little attention until Capernicus revived and elaborated it in the 16th Century.

Elizabeth I dies

Jan 1, 1603

Succeeded by James VI of Scotland (as James I). inaugurating the Stuart dynasty

Doctor Faustus (Play)

Jan 1, 1604

The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe's death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play.

Othello

Jan 1, 1604

By William Shakespeare

King Lear

Jan 1, 1605

By William Shakespeare

The Advancement of Learning

Jan 1, 1605

By Francis Bacon

Gunpowder Plot

Jan 1, 1605

Failed effort by Roman Catholic extremists to blow up Parliament

Volpone

Jan 1, 1605

By Ben Jonson

The Masque of Blackness

Jan 1, 1605

By Francis Bacon

Macbeth

Jan 1, 1606

Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare. It is considered one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies. The play is set in Scotland and dramatizes the corrupting psychological and political effects produced when its protaginist, the Scottish lord Macbeth, chooses evil as his path to fulfill his hunger for power. The Play is believed to have been written between1603 and 1607.

Founding of Jamestown colony in Virginia

Jan 1, 1607

Galileo observing heavens with telescope

Jan 1, 1609

Sonnets

Jan 1, 1609

By William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Jan 1, 1609

Let me not to the marriage of true minds was a sonnet (Sonnet 116) written by William Shakespeare. Its structure and form are a typical example of the Shakespearean sonnet. The poet begins by stating he should not stand in the way of true love. Love cannot be true if it changes for any reason. Love is supposed to be constant, through any difficulties. In the sixth line, a nautical reference is made, all in all alluding that love should also not fade with time, but that true love lasts forever.

King James Bible

Jan 1, 1611

Authorised version

The Tempest

Jan 1, 1611

By William Shakespeare

The First Anniversary

Jan 1, 1611

By John Donne

Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum

Jan 1, 1611

By Aemilia Lanyer

The Second Anniversary

Jan 1, 1612

By John Donne

Death Prince Henry

Jan 1, 1612

The tragedy of Mariam

Jan 1, 1613

By Elizabeh Cary

The Duchess of Malfi

Jan 1, 1614

By John Webster

Death Shakespeare

Jan 1, 1616

Beginning of the Thirty Years War

Jan 1, 1618

African Slaves

Jan 1, 1619

First African slaves in North America exchanged by Dutch frigate for food and supplies at Jamestown

Pilgrims land at Plymouth

Jan 1, 1621

Donne appointed dean of St. Paul's Cathedral

Jan 1, 1621

The Countess of Montgomery's Urania, Pamphilia to Amphilanthus

Jan 1, 1621

By Mary Wroth

The Anatomy of Melancholy

Jan 1, 1621

By Robert Burton

Andrew Marvell

Mar 31, 1621

Andrew Marvell was an English metaphysical poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert. (1621-1678) "But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near."

Death James I; accession Charles I

Jan 1, 1625

Charles I marries Henrietta Maria

Essays

Jan 1, 1625

Bacon

Charles I dissolves Parliament

Jan 1, 1629

Validictation: forbidding mourning

Jan 1, 1633

"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" is a metaphysical poem written by John Donne. According to Donne's biographer Izaak Walton, Donne composed it for his wife, Anne More, in 1611, when Donne was about to embark on a trip to France and Germany. It was first published in the 1633 collection Songs and Sonnets, two years after Donne's death. This poem is written with an ABAB rhyme scheme in iambic tetrameter.

The Temple

Jan 1, 1633

By George Herbert

Poems

Jan 1, 1633

By John Donne

Galileo forced to recant Copernican theory

Jan 1, 1633

Forced by the Inquisition to recant the Copernican theory

Lycidas

Jan 1, 1637

By John Milton

Long Parliament called

Jan 1, 1640

1640-1653: Archbishop Laud impeached

First Civil War

Jan 1, 1642

(1642 - 1646), Parliament closes the theaters

Accession of Louis XIV of France

Jan 1, 1643

The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce

Jan 1, 1643

Archbiship Laud executed

Jan 1, 1645

Royalists defeated at Naseby

Second Civil War: "Pride's Purge"

Jan 1, 1648

Purge of Parliament

Trial/execution of Charles I

Jan 1, 1649

Republic declared. Milton becomes Latin Secretary (1649-1659)

Leviathan

Jan 1, 1651

By Thomas Hobbes

Anglo-Dutch War

Period: Jan 1, 1652 to Jan 1, 1654

Cromwell made Lord Protector

Jan 1, 1653

Death of Cromwell; son Richard made Protector

Jan 1, 1658

Restoration Charles II to throne

Jan 1, 1660

Royal Society founded, reopening of the theaters

Samuel Pepys begins his diary

1660

Charles II marries Catherine of Braganza

Jan 1, 1662

Act of Uniformity

1662

Requires all clergy to obey the Church of England. Chartering of the Royal Society

Hudibras, part 1

1662

By Samuel Butler

The Great Plague of London

Jan 1, 1664

1664-1666

The Great Fire

Jan 1, 1666

Fire destroys the City of London

Paradise List (in 10 books)

Jan 1, 1667

By John Milton

Dryden becomes poet laureate

1668

Paradise Regained

Jan 1, 1671

By John Milton

Test Act

1673

Requires all officeholders to swear allegiance to Anglicanism

Paradise Lost (in 12 books)

Jan 1, 1674

By John Milton

Death of Milton

Jan 1, 1674

"Popish Plot"

1678

Inflames anti-Catholic feeling

Pilgrim's Progress, part

1678

By John Bunyan

To his coy mistress

Jan 1, 1681

To His Coy Mistress is a metaphysical poem written by the English author and politician Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) either during or just before the Interregnum. This poem is considered one of Marvell's finest and is possibly the best recognized carpe diem poem in English. Although the date of its composition is not known, it may have been written in the early 1650s. At that time, Marvell was serving as a tutor to the daughter of the retired commander of Oliver Cromwell’s army, Sir Thomas Fairfax

Charles II dissolves Parliament

1681

Poems

Jan 1, 1681

By Andrew Marvell (published posthumously)

Death of Charles II

1685

James II, his Catholic brother, takes the throne

Principia Mathematica

1687

By Sir Isaac Newton

The Glorious Revolution

1688

James II exiled and succeeded by his Protestant daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange (1688-1689)

An Essay concerning Human Understanding

1690

By John Locke

Age of reason - Historical Time Period

Period: Jan 1, 1700 to Jan 1, 1800

The Age of reason (Also known as the Age of enlightenment) was a cultural movement of intellectuals in the 17th and 18th centuries, which began first in Europe and later in the American colonies. Its purpose was to reform the way of thinking using reason, to challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith, and advance knowledge through the scientific method. It promoted scientific thoughts, skepticism and intellectual interchange and completely opposed any kind of superstition.

War of the Spanish Succession begins

1702

Death of William III

1702

Succession of Anne (Protestant daughter of James II)

Act of Union with Scotland

1707

Tories take power

1710

Treaty of Utrecht ends War of the Spanish Succession

1713

Death of Queen Anne

1714

George I (great-grandson of James I) becomes the first Hanoverian king. Tory government replaced by Whigs.

South Sea Bubble collapses

1720

Robert Walpole comes to power

1721

George I dies. George II succeeds

1727

Sextant (Replacing Compass)

Jan 1, 1731

A sextant is an instrument used to measure the angle between any two visible objects. Its primary use is to determine the angle between a celestial object and the horizon which is known as the object's altitude. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight and it is an essential part of celestial navigation. The sextant was invented by John Hadley.

Licensing Act censors the stage

1737

Walpole Resigns

1742

Charles Edward Stuart's defeat

1746

At Culloden, ends the last Jacobite rebellion

Robert clive seizes Arcot

1751

The prelude to English control of India

Beginning of Seven Years War

1756

1756-1763

William Blake

Nov 28, 1757

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. (1757-1827) "To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour."

James Wolfe's capture of Quebec

1759

Ensures British control of Canada

George III succeeds to the throne

1760

Captain James Cook voyages to Australia and New Zealand

1768

Automobile

1769

The history of the automobile typically begins as early as 1769, with the creation of steam engined automobiles capable of human transport. In 1806, the first cars powered by an internal combustion engine running on fuel gas appeared, which led to the introduction in 1885 of the ubiquitous modern gasoline- or petrol-fueled internal combustion engine. Cars powered by electric power briefly appeared at the turn of the 20th century but disappeared from use until the turn of the 21st Century.

American Revolution

Period: 1775 to 1783

The American War of Independence

Apr 19, 1775

The American War of Independence (1775-1783) in the United States, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies, but gradually grew into a world war between Britain on one side and the newly formed United States, France, Netherlands and Spain on the other. The main result was an American victory and European recognition of the independence of the United States, with mixed results for the other powers.

Jane Austen

Dec 16, 1775

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. (1775-1817) "Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us."

Gordon Riots in London

1780

William Pitt becomes prime minister

1783

Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in Australia

Jan 24, 1788

Captain Arthur Phillip (1738-1814) arrived in Australia in 1778. The First Fleet of 11 ships, each one no larger than a Manly ferry, left Portsmouth in 1787 with more than 1480 men, women and children onboard. Although most were British, there were also African, American and French convicts. After a voyage of three months the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay on 24 January 1788. Here the Aboriginal people, who had lived in isolation for 40,000 years, met the British in an uneasy stand off.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Jan 1, 1789

Songs of Innocence and of Experience is an illustrated collection of poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases. First, a few copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789; 5 years later he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a collection titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.

The French Revolution

Jan 1, 1789

The French Revolution (1789–1799), was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France that had a lasting impact on French history and the rest of the world, The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed within three years. French society underwent an epic transformation, as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from radical left-wing political groups, masses on the streets, and peasants from the country.

Tyger Tyger

Jan 1, 1794

"The Tyger" is a poem by the English poet William Blake. It was published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794. It is one of Blake's best-known and most analyzed poems. The Cambridge Companion to William Blake (2003) calls it "the most anthologized poem in English." Much of the poem follows the metrical pattern of its first line and can be scanned as trochaic tetrameter catalectic. A number of lines, however—such as line four in the first stanza—fall into iambic tetrameter.

Factory acts are passed

Jan 1, 1802

The Factory Acts (1802-1961) were a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to limit the number of hours worked by women and children in all industries.The factory reform movement spurred the passage of laws to limit the hours that could be worked in factories and mills. The first aim of the movement was for a "ten hours bill" to limit to ten hours the working day of children. Richard Oastler was one of the movement's most prominent leaders.

Alexandre Dumas

Jul 24, 1802

Alexandre Dumas, also known as Alexandre Dumas, père, was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure. Translated into nearly 100 languages, these have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. (1802-1870) "A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it."

William Makepeace Thackary

Jul 18, 1811

William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society. (1811-1863) "If a secret history of books could be written, and the author's private thoughts and meanings noted down alongside of his story, how many insipid volumes would become interesting, and dull tales excite the reader!"

Charles Dickens

Feb 7, 1812

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. (1812-1870) "Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!"

Pride and Prejudice

Jan 28, 1813

Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London. To date, the book has sold roughly 20 million copies worldwide.

Charlotte Bronte

Apr 21, 1816

Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood. Her novels are of English literature standards. She wrote Jane Eyre under the pen name Currer Bell. (1816-1855) "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs."

Frankenstein

Jan 1, 1818

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by Mary Shelley about a creature produced by an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was nineteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley's name appears on the second edition, published in France in 1823.

Emily Bronte

Jul 30, 1818

Emily Jane Brontë was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her solitary novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. (1818-1848) "I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind."

George Eliot

Nov 22, 1819

Mary Anne Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. (1819-1880) "Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them."

Leo Tolsoy

Sep 9, 1828

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. (1828-1910) "I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back."

The Victorian Era - Historical Time Periods

Period: Jan 1, 1832 to Jan 1, 1901

The Victorian Era was characterised by rapid change and developments in nearly every sphere - from advances in medical, scientific and technological knowledge to changes in population growth and location. Over time, this rapid transformation deeply affected the country's mood: an age that began with a confidence and optimism leading to economic boom and prosperity eventually gave way to uncertainty and doubt regarding Britain's place in the world. It corresponds with the reign of Queen Victoria.

Louisa May Alcott

Nov 29, 1832

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist best known as author of the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. (1832-1888) "Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success."

Mark Twain

Nov 30, 1835

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. (1835-1910) "Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."

Thomas Hardy

Jun 2, 1840

Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist, in the tradition of George Eliot, he was also influenced both in his novels and poetry by Romanticism, especially by William Wordsworth. (1840-1928) "The sudden disappointment of a hope leaves a scar which the ultimate fulfillment of that hope never entirely removes."

The Count of Monte Cristo

Jan 1, 1844

The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is one of the author's most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. He completed the work in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.

The Three Musketeers

Jan 1, 1844

The Three Musketeers (French: Les Trois Mousquetaires) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. His friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis are inseparable friends who live by the motto "all for one, one for all" ("un pour tous, tous pour un"), a motto which is first put forth by d'Artagnan.

Jane Eyre

Oct 16, 1847

Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Bronte. It was published on 16 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London, England, under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York. Writing for the Penguin edition, Stevie Davies describes it as an "influential feminist text" because of its in-depth exploration of the main female character's feelings.

Wuthering Heights

Dec 1, 1847

Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Bronte, written between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in 1847 under the fictitious name "Ellis Bell." It was her first and only published novel: she died aged 30 the following year. The decision to publish came after the success of her sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.

Universal Male Suffrage in Australia

Jan 1, 1850

By the mid nineteenth century the desire for more representative and responsible government in colonial Australia permeated the community. It was fed by the ideas of the great reform movements (Chartism, Republicanism, etc.) which swept Europe, the United States of America and the British Empire, and by the colonists' spirit of practical self-reliance. The colonies of Australia began to grant universal male suffrage during the 1850s and women's suffrage followed from the 1890s onward.

David Copperfield

Jan 1, 1850

David Copperfield is the common name of the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Its full title is The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery.

Romanticism - Historical Time Periods

Period: Jan 1, 1850 to Jan 1, 1950

Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe. It characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in the Western civilization over a period of time from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century.

Robert Louis Stephenson

Nov 13, 1850

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. (1850-1894) "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."

Oscar Wilde

Oct 16, 1854

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. (1854-1900) "True friends stab you in the front."

Male Universal Suffrage in America

Jan 1, 1856

Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult males within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. Landless white men got voting rights by 1856, non-white men technically by 1870, and Native Americans by 1924.

George Bernand Shaw

Jul 26, 1856

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. (1856-1950) "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

May 22, 1859

Sir Arthur Doyle was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. (1859-1930) "We can't command our love, but we can our actions."

The Mill on the Floss

Jan 1, 1860

The Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), first published in three volumes in 1860 by William Blackwood. The first American edition was by Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York. The novel details the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister growing up at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss at its junction with the more minor River Ripple near the village of St. Ogg's in Lincolnshire, England. Both the river and the village are fictional.

The American Civil War

Apr 12, 1861

The American Civil War was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States and several Southern slave states that had declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America. The war had its origin in the fractious issue of slavery, and, after four years of bloody combat the Confederacy was defeated, slavery was abolished, and the difficult reconstruction process of restoring unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began.

Little Women

Jan 1, 1868

Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott. The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The novel follows the lives of four sisters (Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March) and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters. The first volume, Little Women, was an immediate success, prompting the composition of the 2nd book entitled "Good Wives".

War and Peace

Jan 1, 1869

War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature. It is considered Tolstoy's finest literary achievement, along with his other major prose work Anna Karenina (1873–1877).

Women's Suffrage in England

Jan 1, 1872

Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom was a national movement that began in 1872. Women were not prohibited from voting in the United Kingdom until the 1832 Reform Act and the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act. Both before and after 1832, establishing women's suffrage on some level was a political topic, although it would not be until 1872 that it would become a national movement with the formation of the National Society for Women's Suffrage and later the more influential NUWSS.

LM Montgomery

Nov 30, 1874

Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE, called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. (1874-1942) "In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends. "

Universal Male Suffrage in New Zealand

Jan 1, 1879

In New Zealand, as in Britain, the idea of Universal Male Suffrage was initially based on the possession of property. In October 1879 John Hall formed a new government and Whitaker returned to Cabinet. He introduced a new Qualification of Electors Bill, granting the vote to all adult European males after 12 months’ residence in New Zealand and six months in an electorate. This was comfortably passed on 19 December. The next election, on 9 December 1881, was the first held under the new law.

Compulsory education in England

Jan 1, 1880

The 1880 Education Act finally made school attendence compulsory for students aged 5-10 in England.

James Joyce

Feb 2, 1882

James Augusta Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century. (1882-1941) "Men are governed by lines of intellect - women: by curves of emotion."

The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin

Dec 1, 1884

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (or, in more recent editions, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism.

Kidnapped

Jan 1, 1886

Kidnapped is a historical fiction adventure novel by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. Written as a "boys' novel" and first published in the magazine Young Folks from May to July 1886, the novel has attracted the praise and admiration of writers as diverse as Henry James, Jorge Luis Borges, and Seamus Heaney. A sequel, Catriona, was published in 1893.

TS Elliot

Sep 26, 1888

Thomas Stearns Eliot OM was a publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and "arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century". (1888-1965) "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Jan 1, 1891

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic. Though now considered an important work of English literature, the book received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual mores of Hardy's day.

Woman's Suffrage in New Zealand

Sep 19, 1893

Women's suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late 19th century. Of countries presently independent, New Zealand was the first to give women the vote in modern times. The Electoral Bill granting women the franchise was given Royal Assent by Governor Lord Glasgow on 19 September 1893, and women voted for the first time in the election held on 28 November 1893 (elections for the Māori electorates were held on 20 December).

Universal Male Suffrage in England

Jan 1, 1900

Universal Male Suffrage was granted from the late 19th Century to the early part of he 20th Century acroos England. In 1918 in th UK the Representation of the People Act was passed and almost all men over 21 years old, and women over 30 years old now had the right to vote. In 1928 all women and men over 21 had the right to vote.

Modernism - Historial Time period

Period: Jan 1, 1900 to Jan 1, 1950

The central characteristic of Modernism is its rejection of tradition. It emphasises the return of the arts to their fundamental characteristics, as though beginning from scratch. This dismissal of tradition also involved the rejection of conventional expectations. Hence Modernism often stresses freedom of expression, experimentation, radicalism, and even primitivism.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Jan 1, 1901

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound. In 2003 the book was listed on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's "best-loved novel."

Woman's Suffrage in Australia

Jan 1, 1902

Women's suffrage in Australia began to be established during the late 19th century. In 1902, the newly established Australian Parliament passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, which enabled women to vote and stand for election for the federal Parliament. This eradicated gender as a point of discrimination in relation to electoral rights for federal elections in Australia. By 1911, the remaining states and territories had all granted women's suffrage for state elections.

Francis Bacon

Oct 28, 1909

Francis Bacon was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. (1909-1992) "Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is."

Compulsory education in Australia

Jan 1, 1915

The 1875 Education Act made it compulsory for children between the ages of seven and 13 to attend school in Australia. Full time compulsory attendance was legislated in 1915.

The Love song of J Alfred Prufrock

Jun 1, 1915

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", commonly known as "Prufrock", is a poem by T. S. Eliot,which was published in Chicago in June 1915. Described as a "drama of literary anguish," it presents a dramatic interior monologue, and marked the beginning of Eliot's career as an influential poet. With its weariness, regret, embarrassment, longing, emasculation, sexual frustration, sense of decay, and awareness of mortality, "Prufrock" has become one of the most heard voices in modern literature.

Compulsory education in America

Jan 1, 1918

By 1918 every state in America required students to complete elementary school. By 1929, every state in America required students to attend school.

Woman's Suffrage in America

Jan 1, 1920

Women's suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually, at state and local levels, during the late 19th century and early 20th century, culminating in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provided: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

Social Realism - Historical Timeline

Period: Jan 1, 1930 to Dec 31, 2013

Social Realism is a term that refers to the work of painters, printmakers, photographers and film makers who draw attention to the everyday conditions of the working classes and the poor, and who are critical of the social structures that maintain these conditions. While the movement's artistic styles vary from nation to nation, it almost always utilizes a form of descriptive or critical realism. Social realism represents a democratic tradition of independent socially motivated artists.

Doctor Faustus (Book)

Jan 1, 1947

Doctor Faustus (in German, Doktor Faustus) is a German novel written by Thomas Mann, which begun in 1943 and was published in 1947 as Doktor Faustus. Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde ("Doctor Faustus. The Life of the German composer Adrian Leverkühn, told by a friend").

Terry Pratchet

Apr 28, 1948

Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for the Discworld series of about 40 volumes. (1948) "Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

Post Modernism - Historical Time Periods

Period: Jan 1, 1950 to Dec 31, 2013

Post Modernism was the era that followed modernism. It was a movement in architecture that rejected the modernist, avant garde, passion for the new. Post modernism is a general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism, among others. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality.

Man first walked on moon

Jul 21, 1969

Apollo 11 was the name given to the mission that saw humans first step onto the moon. Neil Armstrong was the first human in recorded history to ever step foot on the moon and his famous quote is "That's one samll step for man, one giant leap for mankind". He was outside the spacecraft and on the moon for roughly two and a half hours whilst his fellow crew member (Buzz Aldrin) was on the moon for a slightly less period of time.

Mobile Phones

Jan 1, 1973

The first actual mobile phone was made in 1973 by Martin Cooper of Motorola and other assisting inventors who used the idea of the car phone and applied the technology necessary to make a portable cell phone possible. Mobiles were first made available to the public in 1984. Back then, they were very large, expensive instruments.

The Sniper

Jan 1, 2008

Stalingrad snipers were a legend in their time. Their patience, keen eyes and ruthlessness helped win the Battle of Stalingrad and turn the tide of the Second World War. This is the true story of a teenage sniper recruited in 1942 by Vasily Zaitsev to seek out and shoot German officers.

John Milton

Mar 5, 2013

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. "He that has light within his own clear breast May sit in the centre, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself his own dungeon."