- Amanda Roraback
Timeline European History
15th CENTURY
1453
Constantinople fell to Ottomans
End of Hundred Years War (Charles VII France)
1456
First Bible printed by Gutenberg printing press
1460
Prince Henry the Navigator (Port.) died
1469
Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain married
1486
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola published Oration on the Dignity of Man
1488
Bartholomew Dias (Port.) sailed around Cape of Good Hope
1492
Columbus to the New World
Reconquista completed in Spain
Spanish Inquisition
Death of Lorenzo the Magnificent de Medici
1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
Vasco da Gama (Port) sailed to India
1498
Savonarola expelled Medici from Florence
16th CENTURY
1508
Michelangelo began painting Sistine Chapel (until 1512) under Pope Julius II

1509
Erasmus wrote Praise of Folly (printed 1511)
Henry VIII to power (1509-1547)
1513
First version of Machiavelli's The Prince distributed (published 1532)
1516
Utopia by Thomas More published in Latin (in English 1551)
Concordat of Bologna (French rulers could appoint Fr. bishops)
1517
Martin Luther posted 95 Theses on door of Wittenburg
1519
Hernan Cortes (Sp.) conquered Aztecs
1520
Suleiman the Magnificent to power (Ottoman Empire) (1520-1566)
1521
Diet of Worms
1524
Peasant's Revolt in Germany (1524-1525)
1525
Thomas Munzer (Anabaptist) executed
1527
Sacking of Rome by Charles V's soldiers
1528
Castiglione published The Courtier
1529
First Siege of Vienna by Ottomans
1532
Francisco Pizarro conquered Inca in Peru
1534
Affair of the Placards (France)
Act of Supremacy (Br) - Henry VIII became head of Anglican Church
1536
Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion published in Latin
1540
Jesuits founded by Ignatius Loyola
1543
Copernicus published On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies
1545
Council of Trent (Counterreformation) (1545-1563)
1547
John Knox brought Calvinism to Scotland
Edward VI to power in England (1547-1553)
1553
"Bloody" Mary to power in England (1553-1558)
1555
Peace of Augsburg (cuius regio, eius religion)
1556
Charles V abdicates, divides empire (Philip II, Ferdinand)
Phillip II to power (1556-1598)
1558
Elizebeth I to power (1558-1603)
1567
Council of Blood/Council of Troubles, Duke of Alba in Netherlands
1571
Battle of Lepanto (Spain and Venice defeated Turks)
1572

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
1584
Death of Ivan the Terrible (Russia) --> Time of Troubles
1588
Spanish Armada
1589
Henry IV to power in France ("Paris is Worth a Mass")
1598
Edict of Nantes (Huguenots in France)
Philip II of Spain died
17th CENTURY
1600
British East India Company founded (Dec. 31, 1600)
1602
Dutch East India Company founded (Mar,. 20, 1602)
1603
Elizabeth I (Br) died, James I to power (1603-1625)
1607
Jamestown, Virginia founded
1608
Quebec founded by French (Jul. 3, 1608)
1609
Dutch founded New Amsterdam (present-day New York)
1613
Michael Romanov to power (Russia) (1613-1645)
1618
Thirty Years War began (1618-1648)
1628
Petition of Right signed by Charles I (Br.): Taxes need Parliament, Due Process of law
1632
Galileo published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (trial 1633)
1640
Long Parliament (Br.) (1640-1648)
Frederick William, Great Elector to power (Prussia) (1640-1688)
1642

English Civil War began (1642-1649)
1643
Louis XIV to power (1643-1715)
1648
End of Thirty Years War (Peace of Westphalia)
Fronde in France (1648-1653)
1649
Charles I (Britain) beheaded
Commonwealth led by Oliver Cromwell (1649-1653)
1651
Thomas Hobbes published Leviathan
British pass Navigation Act (Dutch can't carry goods to England)
1653
Cromwell became Lord Protector
1660
Restoration of Charles II to throne of England (1660-1685)
1682
Peter the Great to power (1682-1725)
1685
James II to power in Br. (1685-1688)
1687
Isaac Newton published Principia
1688
Glorious Revolution (Br) (1688-1689) William and Mary
1689
John Locke wrote Two Treatises on Government
William and Mary signed English Bill of Rights (Dec. 16, 1689)
1690
John Locke published An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
18th CENTURY
1700
Great Northern War (Russia/Sweden) (1700-1721)
1701
War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714)
1713
Treaty of Utrecht (End of War of Sp, Succession) Philip V King of Spain
Pragmatic Sanction (Charles VI Austria)
Frederick William I to power (Prussia) (1713-1740)
1715
Louis XV to power in France (1715-1774)
1721
Robert Walpole became first PM of Br. (1721-1742) under George I and II
1733
John Kay invented flying shuttle
1740
Frederick the Great (Prussia) to power (May 1740-Aug, 1786)
Maria Theresa (Austria) to power (Oct. 1740- Nov, 1780)
War of Austrian Succession (Dec. 1740-1748)
1748
Montesquieu published The Spirit of the Laws
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended War of Austrian Succession
1750
Industrial Revolution
1756
Diplomatic Revolution
Seven Years War (1756-1763)
1758
Voltaire published Candide
1762
Catherine the Great (Russia) (1762-1796)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau published Emile and The Social Contract
1763
Treaty of Paris ended Seven Years War
1769
Richard Arkwright invented water frame
James Watt patented first steam engine
1772
First Partition of Poland (2nd in 1793, 3rd in 1795)
1773
Pugachev Rebellion (Russia) (1773-1775)
1774
Louis XVI to power in France (1774-1792)
1776
Adam Smith published Wealth of Nations
Declaration of Independence signed in the United States
1779
Samuel Crompton invented spinning mule
1780
Joseph II to power in Austria (1780-1790)

1789
Start of French Revolution (1789-1799) (Bastille)
1790
Civil Constitution of the Clergy (France)
1791
Olympe de Gouges composed Declaration of the Rights of Women
Legislative Assembly in France
Declaration of Pillnitzh (Aug. 1791)
1792
Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Legislative Assembly declared war against Austria and Prussia
1793
Louis XVI guillotined by Jacobins (Fr)
Levee en Masse declared by Committee of Public Safety
Eli Whitney invented cotton gin
1794
Thermidorian Reaction
1795
Directory established in France (1795-1799)
1796
Edward Jenner first smallpox vaccination
1798
Thomas Malthus published Essay on the Principle of Population
1799
Napoleon overthrew Directory (Nov. 9, 1799)
Combination Acts (1799 and 1800) (Br) prohibited Br. workers from organizing repealed 1824
Robert Owen bought New Lanark mill
19th CENTURY
1801
Concordat of 1801 (Napoleon) = French peace with Pope
Tsar Alexander I to power in Russia (1801-1825)
Act of Union - Ireland united with GB

1804
Napoleon crowned Emperor (Dec. 2, 1804)
1808
Napoleon deposed Spanish Bourbons, put Joseph in power
1814
Napoleon abdicated, exiled to Elba (Mar. 1814)
1815
Congress of Vienna
Louis XVIII (Fr.) to power
Napoleon defeated at Battle of Waterloo (Jun. 1815) exiled to St. Helena
1817
David Ricardo wrote Iron Iron Law of Wages
1821
Beginning of Greek revolt against Ottoman Empire
1824
Charles X to power in France (1824-1830)
1825
Tsar Alexander I (Russia) died
Nicholas I to power in Russia (1825-1855)
Decembrist Revolt (Dec. 1825)
1830
Revolution of 1830 in France
Delacroix painting Liberty Leading the People
Louis Philippe (July Monarch) to power (1830-1848)
Belgium independent
1832
Reform Bill (Br.) ended "rotten" boroughs and doubled vote (1 in 5 men)
1834
Zollverein established
1838
People's Charter drawn up (Br) asking for universal manhood suffrage, secret ballot etc.
1846
Repeal of the Corn Laws
1848
Marx and Engels published Communist Manifesto
Revolution against Louis Philippe (February 1848) in reaction to closing banquets and Guizot
Second Republic in France under Alphonse de Lamartine, National Workshops (Louis Blanc)
June Days (June 1848) in reaction to closing Workshops
Louis Napoleon elected president of France (Dec. 1848)
1848 Revolutions
Seneca Falls Convention in U.S. (Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton)
1849
Gustave Courbet painted Realism painting Burial at Ornans
1851
Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in London
1852
Louis Napoleon crowned Emperor Napoleon III (1852-1870)
Piedmont-Sardinia's King Victor Emmanuel II named Camillo di Cavour his Prime Minister
1853
Crimean War (1853-1856)
1855
Alexander II to power in Russia (ended Crimean War) (1855-1861)
1856
Patent for Bessemer process (steel)
1859
Darwin published Origin of Species
1861
Civil War in United States (1861-1865)
Alexender II (Russia) emancipated serfs
Victor Emanuel became first King of Italy (Mar. 1861-1878)
1862
William I of Prussia chose Otto von Bismarck to be Prime Minister
1864
Alexander II introduced local self-government through zemstvos
1866
Seven Weeks' War - Bismarck defeated Austria
1867
Austria agreed to create Dual Monarchy with Hungary
England under Benjamin Disraeli passed Reform Bill of 1867 - suffrage to most men.
1871
Franco-Prussian War
German Unification (Bismarck)
1873
Claude Monet painted Impression Sunrise (Impressionism)
1876
Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell
1878
Congress of Berlin
1879
Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House
1880
Beginning of the "Belle Epoque" (1880-1914) - "Beautiful period"
1881
Alexander II assassinated by People's Will (anarchists)
1884
Berlin Conference (1884-85) moderating Scramble for Africa
1888
William I of Germany died, succeeded by William II (1888-1918)
1890
William II forced Bismarck to resign
1894
Nicholas II (Russia) to power (1894-1917)
Dreyfus Affair (Fr.)
1896
Theodor Herzl published The Jewish State
1898
Emile Zola wrote J'Accuse (in l'Aurora newspaper)
1899
Freud wrote The Interpretation of Dreams
20th CENTURY
1903
Social Democrats split into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks (Lenin)
1905
Russo-Japanese War
Revolution of 1905 Russia/"Bloody Sunday"
Einstein's Theory of Relativity
1914
Br. Parliament passed Irish home-rule bill (postponed because of WWI)
Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated by Serbian Black Hand
Beginning of WWI (1914-1918)
1917
Tsar Nicholas II (Russia) deposed (Mar.1917)
Russian provisional government (Alexander Kerensky)
U.S. entered WWI (Apr. 1917)
Russian Revolution - Lenin (Oct.Nov 1917)
1919
Treaty of Versailles
1921
Lenin's New Economic Policy (USSR)
1922
Mussolini to power in Italy
1923
Hitler Beer Hall Putsch
German occupation of Ruhr
Dawes Plan (US loans to Germany)
1924
Lenin died
1925
Locarno Pact (Fr. Ger. Eng. Italy, Belgium) - guaranteed borders between Germany and France
1928
Kellogg-Briand Pact - promise to "renounce war as an instrument of national policy"
Stalin launched first Five-Year Plan (USSR)
1929
U.S. stock market crash - beginning of Great Depression
Lateran Accord (Mussolini peace with Pope Pius XII)
1931
Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory
1933
Hitler to power
Germany withdrew from League of Nations
1934
Stalin's Great Terror (1934-1938)
1935
Nuremberg Laws in Germany (Jews not citizens, no marriage between Jews and Germans)
Hitler began rearming Germany
Mussolini invaded Ethiopia
1936
Remilitarization of the Rhineland
Spanish Civil War (Franco's Nationalists rebelled against Italian Republic) (1936-39)
1938
Hitler annexed Austria (Mar. 1938) Anschluss
Munich Conference (Sep. 1938)
Kristallnacht (Nov. 9 and 10, 1938)
1939
Non-Aggression Pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) Germany and USSR (Aug. 1939)
Hitler invaded Poland (Sep. 1, 1939)--> beginning of WWII (1939-1945)
1940
Battle of Britain (July 10-Oct. 31, 1940)
Vichy government in France under Philippe Petain (July 1940-Sept. 1944)
1941
Operation Barbarossa, Germany invaded USSR (Jun. 22, 1941)
Japan took Indochina (Jul. 1941)
Japanese attack Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941) US entered war
1942
Japanese Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Battle of Midway (Jun. 1942)
1943
"Island Hopping" (Jun. 1943)
Tehran Conference (Nov, 1943)
1944
D-Day (Jun. 6, 1944) Landing in Normandy
1945
Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945)
US President Roosevelt died (Apr. 12, 1945)
Mussolini executed (Apr. 28, 1945)
Hitler suicide (Apr. 30, 1945)
Victory over Europe (V-E) Day (May 8, 1945)
Potsdam Conference (Jul. 17-Aug. 2, 1945)
Atomic bomb on Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9, 1945)
Japan surrendered (Sept. 2, 1945)
1947
Truman Doctrine (Mar,. 12, Truman aid to Greece and Turkey)
Britain granted India independence (split into Pakistan and India)
1948
Marshall Plan (Apr. 3, 1948)
Berlin Blockade and Airlift (Jun 24, 1948-May 12, 1949)
1949
Creation of NATO (Apr. 4, 1949)
People's Republic of China developed with Mao Zedong (Oct. 1, 1949)
1950
Schuman Plan (May 9, 1950) proposed European Coal and Steel Community
1951
Treaty of Paris formally established European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
1952
European Coal and Steel Community created (Benelux, France, Italy, West GermanY0
1953
Stalin died, Khrushchev to power in USSR
Battle of Dien Bien Phu - Vietnamese (Ho Chi Minh) defeated French
1956
Khrushchev criticized Stalin (deStalinization) in speech
1957
Hungarian Revolution
Rome Treaty signed (Created European Economic Community - EEC)
Sputnik (Russian satellite) launched (Oct. 4, 1957)
1958
Fifth Republic created in France under Charles de Gaulle (1958-1969)
1961
Berlin Wall built (Aug. 13, 1961)
1962
Algeria became independent from France after war
1963
Cuban Missile Crisis
1968
Prague Spring (Czechoslovakia) (Jan. 5-Aug. 21, 1968) Dubcek
Brezhnev Doctrine (Nov, 1968)
1975
Helsinki Accords (Aug. 1, 1975)
1979
Margaret Thatcher became PM (Br.) (May 1979-Nov., 1990)
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (Dec. 25, 1979-Feb, 15, 1989)
1986
Gorbachev (USSR) to power - Glasnost and Perestroika
1989
Gorbachev policy of demokratizatsiya
Polish voters elected Solidarity candidates (Jun. 1989)
Berlin Wall dismantled (Nov. 9, 1989)
Velvet Revolution Czechoslovakia (Nov 17-Dec. 29, 1989) Vaclav Havel
1991
Failed coup in Soviet Union (Aug. 1991)
Gorbachev resigned (Dec. 25, 1991)
Boris Yeltsin to power as President of CIS (Commonwealth of Indep,. States)
Shock Therapy in Soviet Union
1992
Maastricht Treaty signed
1993
Czech Republic and Slovakia split peacefully into two countries
1999
Euro introduced
Yeltsin resigned, Vladimir Putin succeeded him.
2001
Terrorist attack on US (September 11, 2001)