World History (Final Project)

Hieroglyphics

3000 BCE

By about 3000 B.C. Nile River valley people had developed hieroglyphics, a form of writing. Hieroglyphic writing used more than 600 signs, pictures, or symbols to represent words and sounds. At first Egyptians carved hieroglyphics in stone or other hard materials.

Old Kingdom

2680 BCE

The Old Kingdom existed from about 2680 BC to about 2180 BC. Many important developments in science and the arts took place during this time. For example, Egyptians of the Old Kingdoms built the Great Sphinx and the largest pyramids.

Great Pyramid

2600 BCE

The Great Pyramid is constructed. This project was started by Pharaoh Khufu. The Pharaohs were expected to be buried in these great relics as a tomb for their lives as Gods.

The Xia

2200 BCE

The Xia ruled over a late Neolithic people who lived in the Huang River region starting in about 2200 BC. There is little evidence to support most of these legends. Scholars agree, however, that the Xia people existed and that they made great advances over time.

The Middle Kingdom

2050 BCE

In about 2050 BC this new line of pharaos reunited Egypt and ushered in the Middle Kingdom. Overall, this was the "golden age" for the Egyptians, marked by stability and prosperity. During the Middle Kingdom, however, nobles and priests began to weaken the power of the pharaoh.

The Shang Invaders

1750 BCE

At some point between 1750-1500 BC, invaders called the Shang swept into the Huang River Valley. Many scholars believe that the Shang introduced simple irrigation and flood control systems to the region. This may have strengthened their rule.

The New Kingdom

1570 BCE

From about 1570 BC to 1080 BC the New Kingdom was formed in Egypt. A line of strong pharaohs began to rule a reunited Egypt. Their base was the city of Thebes.

Zhou Dynasty

1050 BCE

The Zhou conquest of CHina in about 1050 BC marked the beginning of a dynamic era in Chinese history. Under the rule of three successive dynasties-the Zhou, the Qin, and the Han-China gradually became a large and powerful state. The longest lasting dynasty of the three was the Zhou.

Founding of Rome

700 BCE

In mid 700s B.C. a group of people called the Latins moved into west-central Italy. This plains region was called Latium. SOme of the Latin settlers built villages along the Tiber River. In time, they would form Rome.

Etruscan Kings of Rome

600 BCE

In the late 600 BC, Rome came under the rule of Etruscan kings from northern Italy, The Etruscan had a written language, which the Romans adapted. Under the Etruscan, Rome became to be known as a more modern city.

War for Rubicon

265 BCE

By 265 BC, Rome controlled all of Italy south of the Rubicon, a river on Italy's northeast coast. The Romans extended their republic with both a well-organized, impressive army and wise policies.

Qin Dynasty

221 BCE

The Qin Dynasty came to power in 221 B.C. through their military might. The ruler Cheng founded this new dynasty taking for himself the title Shih Huang Ti meaning first emperor. The Qin dynasty lasted only 15 years but produced many changes to China.

Rebellion and Liu Bang

206 BCE

In 206 BC Liu Bang once a commoner became a Qin general and overthrew his own empire. That was the same year a rebel army revolted against dynasty. Liu Bang started his own dynasty known as the Han.

Carthage

149 BCE

Although Carthage was no longer a threat, some Romans still hated the city. Thus, the ROman Senate decided to crush Carthage. In 149 BC Rome again declared war on its old enemy. After a bitter siege, Cathage was destroyed in 146 BC.

Fall of Rome

378

By the late AD 300, large numbers of Goths were flooding into the empire in an attempt to escape invaders from the east. The Romans treated them badly, however. The heavily armed Goths quickly crushed the large Roman army when they met in battle in AD 378.

The Justinian Code

528

In about A.D. 528 Justinian order his scholars to collect the laws of the Roman Empire. This collection, known as the Justinian Code, was organized into four parts. The Justinian Code formed the basis of Byzantine law.

Nika Revolt

532

In A.D. 532 rebellion called the Nika Revolt threatened to overthrow Justinian. During the attack Justinian wanted to flee Constantinople. Theodora talked him into staying and fighting.

The Crusades Meeting

1095

Pope Urban II was eager to regain the Holy Land from the Turks who had invaded and were threatening to take the Byzantine empire as well. In 1095 he called a meeting of church leaders and feudal lords. they met in Clermont, France.

Italian Renaissance

1300

In the early 1300s, a movement began in Italy that would later how Europeans viewed themselves and their world. The Renaissance was both a philosophical and artistic movement. It was marked by a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman literature and life.

Francesco Petrarch

1304

One of the first humanists was Francesco Petrarch who lived from 1304 to 1374. Like many humanists, Petrarch became famous as a scholars and a teacher. He also wrote poetry.

The Hundred Year War

1337

In 1337 Edward brought an army to Flanders, hoping to gain control of this rich trading area. Thus the Hundred Years' War began. It continued for 116 years as a series of raids and battles.

Chaucer's Birth

1340

Chaucer was born in England about 1340 and spent much of his life in service to the English crown. He fought in France and, for about 10 years, served as a diplomat throughout Western Europe. He was elected to the English Parliament.

Black Plague

1347

Beginning in 1347, one such disease became known as Black Plague swept through Europe. The plague began in Asia and spread along busy trade routes. It entered ports by way of trading ships.

Leonardo Da Vinci

1452

Leonardo Da Vinci lived from 1452 to 1519 was a man of many talents. He was an architect, engineer, painter, sculptor, and scientist. He made sketches of plans and animals, as well as detailed drawings of flying machine and a submarine.

The War of the Roses

1455

Shortly after the Hundred Years' War ended, a war for England's throne began. In 1455 the York and Lancaster families started the War of the Roses. The white rose was the badge of the House of York. The red rose, and winner, was used by the House of Lancaster.

Niccolo Machiavelli

1469

Niccolo Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat and historian, lived from 1469 to 1527. In 1513 he wrote the essay The Prince. Machiavelli sought to describe government not in terms of lofty ideals but in the way it actually worked.

Isabella d'Este

1474

Isabella was born 1474 and died in 1539. Isabella used her wealth to to support artists and scholars. She housed many writers, sculptors, and painters in her own court and hired famous architects to design parts of her palace.

Michelangelo

1475

Michelangelo, lived from 1475 to 1564. Michelangelo was a brilliant painter. Millions of people have visited the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, the residence of the pope in Rome, to view the frescoes Michelangelo painted on the chapel ceiling. Michelangelo was a brilliant painter.

Printing Presses

1475

By 1475 printing presses operated in England, France, Germany, Italy, and several other European nations. The books that these printing presses produced helped spread new humanists to a large audience. Other European publishers quickly adopted the new technology.

Baldassare Castiglione

1478

Baldassare Castiglione, an Italian diplomat, lived from 1478 to 1529. In 1528 he published what was probably the most famous book the Renaissance, The Book of the Courtier. The setting for the book is the court at Urbino.

Rise of Sects

1520

During the 1520 and 1530 hundreds of new religious groups appeared in Germany and Switzerland. These groups, known as sects, did not form organized churches. Many did not have clear cut authority. Most of the sects later died out.

Counter Reformation

1530

In the 1530 the Catholic Church started a major reform effort known as teh Counter-Reformation. It is sometimes called the Catholic Reformation. The Counter-Reformation began as an attempt to return the church to an emphasis on spiritual matters.

Robert Boyle

1661

In 1661 Robert Boyle writes The Skeptical Chymist, with his manifesto for the science of chemistry. This explained the roles of elements and compounds,.This told scientists they must carefully observe, record and report scientific data.

Sir Isaac Newton

1665

Other than the theory of gravity, Newton goes on to make discoveries in mathematics. Isaac Newton invents calculus , the mathematics of change, without which we could not understand the modern world. He keeps it secret, using it to develop theories which he eventually publishes in 1687.

Principa Mathematica

1687

In 1687 Isaac Newton publishes one of the most important scientific books ever. Newton publishes Principia Mathematica, revolutionizing physics and our understanding of gravity and motion. This was a momentous century in which science moved from a state of knowledge.

Flying Shuttle

1733

In about 1733 British engineer John Kay invented the flying shuttle. This invention moved the weft carrying shuttle quickly across the loom. Weavers could now make cloth so fast they outran the supply of thread from the old fashioned spinning wheels.

Louis XVI Succeeds Power

1774

In 1774 Louis XVI succeed Louis XV as king. To strengthen an alliance with Austria, Louis XVI married Marie Antoinette, the daughter of the Austrian empress Maria Theresa. The French people soon came to resent Marie Antoinette's Austrian connection and her involvement in French politics.

The beginning of the French Revolution

1789

The French Revolution began in 1789, however, the king lost all power within months. The great changes brought by the Revolution made the French feel that they were living in a whole new society. People began to prefer to the time before 1789 as the Old Regime.

Meeting of the Estates General

May 5, 1789

The Estates General met on May 5, 1789. Louis XVI then instructed the delegates to follow the old custom of meeting separately and voting as one body. The representatives of the Third Estate refused to obey.

Civil Constitution of the Clergy

1790

In 1790, the National Assembly issued the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. This law stated that people in parishes and dioceses would elect their own clergy. In return for seizing church lands, the government would pay the salaries of priests and bishops.

The National Convention

1792

The National Convention held its first meeting in 1792. Delegates were elected to this convention by universal manhood suffrage. As in the Legislative Assembly, delegates in the National Convention were divided into three main groups.

Cotton Gin

1793

In 1793 American Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a machine that could clean much more cotton in a day than hand laborers could. With Whitney's invention, the southern United States became the cotton producing center of the world.

Jobs for Women

1800

During the late 1800s, jobs as nurses, secretaries, and telephone operators opened up to women. Women's colleges were founded to improve their educational levels. With the growth of public schools, many women became teachers.

Electricity

1800

Beginning in the early 1800s, manufacturers increasingly applied the findings of science to their businesses generating industrial growth. The application of scientific solutions to industrial problems had three main results. It led to the creation of new products and materials and the improvements of old ones.

Factory Act of 1802

1802

Parliament began reform efforts with the Factory Act of 1802, which shortened hours and improved conditions for children working in cotton mills. It proved ineffective, however, because it had no means of enforcement. The Factory Act of 1833 corrected this omission and extended the law to all textile mills.

Robert Fulton

1808

Robert Fulton was the man to build a profitable steamboat. In 1808, his boat, the Clermont, began regular trips on the Hudson River between New York City and Albany. Soon steamboats appeared on rivers and lakes all over the world.

George Stephenson

1814

In about 1814 English engineer George Stephenson perfected a steam locomotive that ran on rails. About 15 years later, a locomotive pulled a line of railway cars from Liverpool to Manchester. Railways soon were being built all over the world.

The Telephone

1876

Alexander Graham Bell made an important advance in the field of communications. Belle transmitted the human voice a long distance. Belle patented his telephone in 1876.

Thomas Edison

1879

In 1879 American Inventor Thomas Edison created a bulb that glowed for two days before burning out. As it improved over the next few decades, electric lighting came to replace other sources of illumination. Electricity had to be made practically.

J.P. Morgan

1901

In 1901 American financier J.P. Morgan founded the United States Steel Company, one of the first of many billion-dollar corporations. Increasing the size of a corporation did not necessarily increase its profits, however. To take advantage of mass production, factories attempted to work at full capacity.

Battle of Tannenberg

1914

In August 1914 the Russians battled a German force at the Battle of Tannenberg. The Russian army suffered a humiliating defeat.Half its force was lost, including more than 90,000 prisoners.

WWI Begins

Jun 28, 1914

the spark that ignited the Balkan "powder keg" came on June 28, 1914. The heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and his wife were visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As they rode in an open automobile, Gavrilo Princip, a member of a Serbian nationalist group, assassinated them both.

Belgium/Britain vs. Germany

Aug 4, 1914

On August 4, 1914, German soldiers marched into Belgium. The British protested insisting that Germany honor the 1839 guarantee of Belgian neutrality. Great Britain declared war on Germany later that day.

Tanks Enter WWI

1916

In 1916 Britain introduced the tank, a heavily armored vehicle with guns mounted on it. Running on treads, it could move easily over rough ground. Tanks enabled troops to tear through barbed wire and cut into enemy defenses.

Woodrow Wilson threatens War

1916

In May 1915, a German submarine sank the British passenger liner Lusitania off the coast of Ireland. 1,200 passengers were killed including 128 Americans. Woodrow Wilson warned Germany that the U.S. would not tolerate another incident and Germany backed off.

Russia Loses Faith

1917

By the spring of 1917 the Russian people had lost faith in their government and in the czar. The elected legislative body, the Duma, had little power. Although serfdom had been abolished in 1861, debts, rents, and taxes kept most Russian peasants poor.

Treaty with Central Powers

1918

Russia signed a peace treaty with the Central Powers in March 1918 at the city of Brest Litovsk. Desperate for peace, the Russians accepted the harsh terms dictated by the Germans. Russia agreed to give up a lot of territory.

Fourteen Points

1918

In January 1918 President Wilson spoke to Congress. He outlined a set of ideas for a more just world once the war ended. His plan became known as the Fourteen Points.

Armistice

Nov 11, 1918

In November 1918 a German delegation signed an armistice, an agreement to stop fighting. The armistice provided that at 11:00 am on November 11, 1918, all fighting would cease. Under the terms of the armistice, Germany canceled the Brest Litovsk treaty with Russia.

Treaty of Versailles

1919

In May 1919, representatives of the new German Republic were called in and presented with a peace treaty. The treaty with Germany was signed at Versailles, near Paris. It was known as the Treaty of Versailles.