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Steam engine created
The steam engine was first made for mining coal but was later utilized for more things. It was a big reason for the Industrial Revolution because a lot of inventions used it for power. It powered many things like factories, locomotives, and boats. -
First Steamboat made
The steam engine was finally made to power a boat. No boats could travel much faster. This was good for trade and transporting resources. It also allowed boats to go upstream which meant boats could travel in both directions. -
First locomotive made
The introduction to the first train was very important to the Industrial Revolution. With the train, resources like coal and wood could be transported much more efficiently by land. This helped aid the Industrial Revolution and helped it even happen. -
The fall of the Holy Roman Empire
After about 1,000 years the Holy Roman Empire finally fell when the last emperor abdicated. The empire had been at a decline and then Napoleon and the French defeated them. This led to the states being broke apart and Napoleon getting some of them. -
Karl Marx
(1818-1883) Karl Marx was a German socialist philosopher. He was one of the most important people to socialism. He invented his own type of socialism called Marxism. -
Greek Revolt against the Ottoman Empire
Greek nationalism was on the rise, so they revolted against the Ottoman Empire. Austria and Russia were in favor of this because they wanted more influence there. This completely undermined the Continental System. The Greeks ended up getting their independence. -
Combination Acts Repealed
This laws prohibited unions in Britain. With it being repealed workers now had more power. This was an important step in workers getting more powerful and more rights. -
Decembrist Revolution in Russia
After the death of Tsar Alexander I, there were two options for the next tsar, his sons Constantine and Nicholas. The north wanted Constantine and had troops declaring his name in town. Nicholas got troops to gun them down and stop them. -
Treaty of London
The European governments supported the freedom of Greece. This put them against the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain, France, and Russia signed the Treaty of London which was made to try to get the Ottoman Empire to agree to an armistice. However, this didn't work and the Ottomans refused. -
Louis-Philippe crowned king of France
King Charles X of France was not very popular. He did a lot of things that the people didn't like and this caused the revolution of 1830. The French wanted the more liberal Louis Philippe to be crowned king of France. Eventually, Charles X abdicated and Louis became king. -
The Polish rise up against the Russians
After the Congress of Vienna, Poland became part of Russia but still had somewhat of their own government. Polish nationalism was on the rise and they didn't want to be apart of Russia. This caused them to revolt. However, this didn't go well and they got some of their privileges taken away. -
Belgium declares their independence
Belgium was part of the Netherlands but it was very different from it. This caused the people to want independence. Some fighting happen and the people of Belgium made a provisional government. The European power supported it and made it official. -
Reform Act of 1832 passed
The act was extremely important to the future of democratic Britain. It almost doubled the electorate and let more people vote. Although it didn't give anything like universal suffrage, it was still a step in the right direction. Now the Parliament was more accurate on its reflection of the people. -
The 1833 Factory Act in Britain was made
Under this act the work of younger children was banned. It also limited their hours. Before this, children were taken advantage of and heavily overworked. This was one of the first pieces of legislation to help this. -
Zollverein established
This was a free trade union between most of the Germanic states. This made the states more connected and this was a step toward their later unification. It also was important to the German economy and free trade. -
Voyage to Icaria published
It was written by the socialist philosopher Étienne Cabet. In this book he writes about what he describes as a communist utopia. This work became important to communist thought. -
Irish Potato Famine
(1845-1852) During this time, the Irish heavily depended on the potato crop. Ultimately the crop failed and left the Irish destroyed. There was mass hunger in Ireland and the people starved. A lot of people even had to leave Ireland and the population took a major hit. -
New liberal constitution adopted in Switzerland
The people of Switzerland were inspired by the Revolution of 1830 in France. The government decided to make a new more liberal constitution. This angered the poeple of the Congress of Vienna. -
Revolutions of 1848
Europe was thrown into revolution fever in 1848. These revolutions were due to rising nationalism and liberalism in Europe. A revolution happened in France, Italy, Austria, and Germany. Most of these revolutions were crushed by conservatives, but were good steps toward more nationalism and liberalism in Europe. -
Italian Unification
(1859-1870) Italian nationalism was on the rise and people began to call for a unified Italy. The Carbonari started this but were put down. Eventually Garibaldi and Emmanuel II conquered all of Italy thus unifying it. -
Serfdom Abolished in Russia
After many centuries, Tsar Alexander I finally abolished serfdom in Russia. This was much later than all of the other European countries. This was a huge step to modernizing and liberalizing Russia. -
German Unification
(1864-1871) German nationalism had been on the rise for quite some time. However, the poeple didn't agree on all the specifics. Eventually, Bismarck of Prussia united all of Germany. -
Vladimir Lenin
(4/22/1870-1/21/1924) Vladimir Lenin was a Russian communist leader. He was the leader of the Bolsheviks who took power in the Bolshevik Revolution. He helped start the base for the Soviet Union and after death was looked upon as a Russian hero. -
Berlin Conference
As colonization was happening in Africa, there were some problems. The Berlin Conference was called to fix these problems. The major nations regulated the colonization and formed borders. They also regulated trade. -
Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated
Tensions between Serbia and Austria were extremely high, so when the archduke was in Serbia he was killed by nationalists. This directly led to the start of WWI because of all the alliances. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and then it had a domino effect of people declaring war. -
Treaty of Versailles signed
The Treaty of Versailles finally ended WWI. It put most of the blame of the war on Germany, and they had to pay a lot of reparations. It was really draining on the already bad German economy. It also helped lead to WWII. -
Lenin's NEP
Lenin knew that Russia wasn't ready for communism and their economy couldn't support it yet, so he implemented his New Economic Plan. It was a mix of capitalism and communism. All heavy industry would be managed by the state but smaller things could be managed by people. -
Stalin's Five Year plan set into place
At the time, Russia was not very industrialized and was behind the other nations in industrialization. Stalin knew this so he developed his five year plan. This plan was to quickly industrialize Russia and up its agriculture production. It succeeded in industrializing and many machines were built. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
Hitler and the Nazi party had been rising in power and popularity. Finally, Hitler was appointed chancellor. This started his take over of the government. In a few months he had full control of the government. -
Nuremberg Laws
One of the first things Hitler did was create the Nuremberg laws. They made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany. They also were extremely antisemitic. They got rid of Jews' citizenship and made them identify themselves. -
Munich Conference
This was part of the appeasement of Hitler. After WWI, the European powers didn't want another war and just wanted peace. They thought if they just let Hitler have some land he would stop; that didn't work. At this conference Germany got the Sudetenland. -
Germany invades Poland
Germany made a pact with the USSR to not attack each other in preparations for an attack on Poland. They then attacked Poland and it quickly fell. This started WWII. -
Germany invades the Soviet Union
At the beginning of WWII Germany and the Soviet Union had a pact that they wouldn't fight each other. Unfortunately, Hitler broke this agreement and invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. This made the Soviet Union join the allies in the war. This was also a bad move for Hitler because his invasion didn't go as planed. -
Pearl Harbor bombed by Japanese
The Japanese made a surprise attack on a naval base in Hawaii. They did it in hopes that it would stop the Americans from interfering with their conquest by badly hurting their navy. This strategy did not work and the Americans entered WWII with the Allies. -
Italy signs armistice with the Allies
The allies had invaded Italy and helped take out the fascist leader Mussolini. With that, a government was put into place that didn't want to fight and be in the war. Italy then signed a secret armistice with the Allies despite fears that Germany would be angered. -
Iron Curtain
An imaginary line was drawn through Europe creating the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc. Everything east of the line was influenced by the Soviets and everything in the west was influenced by the allies (mainly the US). This was part of the start of the Cold War. Both sides ended up making alliances. -
Yalta Conference
At the end of WWII, all of the Allies met to decide what would happen to the territory of the losing nations (mainly Germany). The Allies decided that they shouldn't be to hard on Germany like in the Treaty of Versailles. They decided to split Germany and also decided on the influence they would have in some of the broken nations. This helped lead to the Cold War. -
India gains independence from Britain
Nationalism had been growing in India, especially in the elite. Britain made a deal with the Indians that in exchange for soldiers in WWII that they would let them have self-government. Then, after the war, the Labour Party went into power in Britain. They granted India their long awaited independence. -
Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech
Winston Churchill's speech really brought in the Cold War. In his speech he made the idea of the Iron Curtain popular. He said that the US and Britain need to try to stop the Soviet threat. -
Paris Peace Treaties signed
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Marshall Plan made
WWII was very strenuous on Europe, especially on the economy. The US wanted to help with that which would give them more influence. A plan was made to send $13 billion in aid to Western Europe to help them out. -
Berlin Blockade
Tensions were high between the Western powers and the USSR. The USSR decided to try to starve out west Berlin because it was in the middle of East Germany. They put a blockade on the border and didn't let any resources in. However this didn't work because the western powers created the Berlin Airlift and still got much needed supplies to west Berlin. The Soviets ultimately abandoned this plan. -
Korean War started
Korea was split into two parts at the 38th parallel: the communist north influenced by the USSR and the south influenced by the USA. The North made an attack on the South and tried to take land. America immediately sent troops to aid the South Koreans and a proxy war was started. Progress was made on both sides but the war ultimately ended with no sides gaining land. -
Vietnam War started
Vietnam was split between the communist north and the south. They engaged in war with the communist backing the north and the Americans backing the south. The Americans feared the spread of communism so they didn't want the north to take over. However, the war was heavily unpopular in America and they pulled their troops. The north ultimately won the war. -
Khrushchev’s Secret Speech
In Khrushchev's speech to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he criticized the dead Stalin. He did like Stalin and wanted "de-Stalinization", and wanted instead to revert back to Lenin's policies. His speech hurt Stalin's reputation and helped to make the Soviet Union more liberal. -
Berlin Wall built
People were escaping from east Berlin into west Berlin. This caused the east Berlin to build a wall across Berlin over night. They later made the wall better and concrete. It separated the people and they didn't like it. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuba was a protectorate of the US since the Spanish-American War. However, Fidel Castro led a communist revolt and took over. America launched the "bay of pigs" invasion to take the island back but it failed. The Soviets were sending Cuba nukes, but luckily delegations were made and they stopped. -
Nixon visits Moscow
Nixon's visit helped create a time of detente between the US and Soviet Union. This meant that the tensions were lessening and getting better. This meant that the Cold War was close to being over. -
Berlin Wall taken down
After many years, the Berlin wall was finally taken down. This highlighted the coming end of the Cold War. It also opened up Berlin which really opened up Europe. A couple years later, the Soviet Union would be dissolved. -
Treaty of Maastricht
This treaty was very important to the future of a united Europe. In this treaty, the European Union was created. This also helped to make a uniform currency in Europe.