| AD 1 |
| | |
| 14 | Death of Roman emperor Augustus |
| 43 | Roman emperor Claudius invades Britain |
| 60 - 61 | Rebellion of Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, against Romans in Britain |
| 64 | Great Fire of Rome |
| 68 - 69 | Civil war in Roman empire after Emperor Nero dies |
| c. 80 | Completion of colosseum amphitheatre in Rome |
|
| AD 100 |
| 116 - 17 | Roman empire reaches its greatest extent, under Emperor Trajan (98 - 17) |
| 122 - 38 | Hadrian's Wall built to defend province of Britain |
| 166 - 67 | Roman empire devastated by plague |
| 180 | Death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius; end of Pax Romana |
|
| AD 200 |
| 212 | Roman citizenship formally extended to all free-born people within the empire |
| 235 - 84 | Long period of civil war and chaos in Roman empire |
| 271 - 76 | Building of Aurelian walls around Rome |
| 284 - 305 | Diocletian is emperor of Rome; major reforms; forms "Tetrarchy" of four emperors to rule the empire together |
|
| AD 300 |
| 313 | Christianity tolerated throughout Roman empire |
| 324 | Constantine becomes sole emperor (western emperor in 312) |
| 330 | New city of Constantinople (now Istanbul) inaugurated on site of ancient Greek city of Byzantium in European Turkey |
| 360s | First invasions of Europe by Huns from central Asia |
| 378 | Romans defeated at Adrianople by Visigoths: Emperor Valens killed |
|
| AD 400 |
| RELIGIOUS WORLDS |
| 410 | Aaric the Goth, king of the Germanic people, the Visigoths, sacks Rome |
| 432 | St. Patrick introduces Christianity to Ireland |
| 445 | Attila the Hun attacks western Europe |
| c. 450 | Saxons from Germany begin to invade Britain |
| 451 | Attila defeated at Ch_lons |
| 476 | Germanic invader Odoacer expels Romulus Augustus, last emperor of Rome, and takes control of the city |
|
| AD 500 |
| 527 - 65 | Reign of Justinian, Byzantine emperor; he tries to reunite the eastern and western branches of the Christian church which are bitterly divided |
| 529 | St. Benedict founds monastery at Monte Cassino, south of Rome |
| 529 - 34 | Justinian introduces codes of law |
| 552 - 53 | Monks smuggle silkworms to Constantinople from China; start of important Byzantine silk industry |
| 563 - 97 | St Columba comes from Ireland to spread Christian religion in Scotland |
| 597 | Mission of St. Augustine to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity |
|
| AD 600 |
| c. 600 | Beginning of an important period of art and literature in Ireland |
| c. 602 | Slavic tribes begin settlement of the Balkans |
| 664 | Synod of Whitby in England; Roman Christianity chosen in preference to Celtic |
| c. 670 | Syrian chemist, Callinicus, invents Greek Fire, a highly inflammable liquid used by the Byzantine army in battle; first used in Battle of Cyzicus c. 673 |
| c. 675 | Bulgars, nomadic people from the Russian steppes, settle in lands south of the Danube |
|
| AD 700 |
| 715 | Muslim forces conquer most of Spain; only the mountainous north, home of the Basque people, remains independent |
| 732 | Charles Martel , king of the Franks, defeats Muslims at Poitiers in France, stopping Muslim advance northwards |
| 768 | Charlemagne becomes king of the Franks |
| 784 - 96 | Offa , king of Mercia in central England, builds defensive dyke between England and Wales |
| 787 | Vikings make their first raids on the coasts of Britain |
|
| AD 800 |
| NEW NATIONS |
| 800 | Pope crowns Charlemagne emperor of Rome on Christmas Day in St Peter's Church, Rome |
| c. 800 | First castles built in western Europe |
| 809 - 17 | War between the Byzantine empire and the Bulgars - Khan Krum of Bulgaria defeats Byzantines in 811 and kills their emperor |
| 814 | Death of Charlemagne |
| 841 | Vikings found Dublin on east coast of Ireland |
| c. 843 | Charlemagne 's Frankish empire breaks up |
| 843 | Kenneth /MacAlpin unites kingdom of Scotia and becomes first king of Scotland (dies c. 859) |
| 844 - 78 | Rule of /Rhodri Mawr , first prince of all Wales |
| c. 860 | Vikings rule at Novgorod in Russia |
| 862 | Vikings led by /Rurik are invited by East Slavic and Finnish tribes of north Russia to rule them |
| 871 - 99 | Reign of Alfred The Great of England |
| 878 | Alfred defeats Vikings under Gudrum at Ethandune; Treaty of Wedmore divides England between them |
| 885 - 86 | Vikings raid Paris in France |
| c. 891 | Monks write the history of England in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle |
|
| AD 900 |
| c. 900 | Magyars, nomadic people from central Asia, invade Europe |
| 910 | Benedictine Abbey of Cluny is founded in Burgundy, France |
| 911 | Rollo, Viking chief, settles in Normandy, France |
| 912 - 61 | Rule of Abd-al-Rahman III, Omayyad caliph of Cordoba, Spain; during his peaceful reign he develops arts and industry, such as paper-making |
| 936 - 73 | Reign of Otto The Great, king of Germany; he is crowned Holy Roman emperor in 962 |
| 937 | Athelstan of England defeats large army of Scots, Irish, and Danes at Battle of Brunanburh, northern England |
| 942 - 50 | Record of Welsh law is written down on the orders of Hywel Dda, Prince of all Wales |
| 955 | Otto defeats Magyars at Battle of Lechfeld, near Augsburg, and defeats Slavs at Reichnitz |
| 963 | Mieszko I founds kingdom of Poland; he is succeeded by Boleslav I, who expands its territory greatly |
| 976 - 1025 | Reign of Basil II, Byzantine emperor who defeats Bulgarians in 1014 |
| 978 | Vladimir becomes Grand Prince of Kiev |
| c. 986 | Eric The Red, Viking explorer, sets up a colony in Greenland |
| 987 - 96 | Reign of Hugh Capet, first Capetian king of France |
| c. 989 | Vladimir of Kiev chooses Orthodox Christianity as the official religion for his people |
|
| AD 1000 |
| MONKS AND INVADERS |
| 1020 | Italian towns, including Rome, Florence and Venice, become city states |
| 1000 - 38 | Rule of Stephen, first of Arpad dynasty of Hungary; he accepts Christianity for his people |
| 1014 | Brian Boru, High King of all Ireland, defeats Vikings at Battle of Clontarf, but is killed after victory |
| 1016 - 35 | Reign of Canute, Viking king of England, Denmark, Norway and Sweden |
| 1019 - 54 | Yaroslav the Wise, ruler of Kiev in Russia, unifies many Russian principalities |
| 1020s | Boleslav I of Poland creates a powerful state |
| 1034 | Scotland becomes united down to present border with England |
| 1035 - 66 | Normandy in north of France grows powerful |
| 1037 | Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Leľn unite |
| 1054 | Split between Catholic church of Rome and Orthodox Christian church of Byzantium |
| 1066 | William Duke of Normandy, defeats Harold of England at Battle of Hastings |
| 1072 - 91 | Norman armies conquer Sicily |
| 1077 | Pope Gregory expels Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV from church; Henry pleads forgiveness, but conflict between empire and Papacy continues into 12th century |
| 1086 | Survey of England by order of William I is recorded in Domesday Book |
| 1098 | Monastery founded at Citeaux in France; start of Cistercian order of monks |
|
| AD 1100 |
| c. 1115 - 42 | French teacher Henry IV makes Paris centre of religious learning |
| 1115 - 53 | Career of Bernard of Clairvaux, whose abbey becomes most important monastery in Europe |
| 1119 | Bologna University founded in Italy; Paris University, in France, is founded in 1150 |
| 1124 - 53 | David I rules Scotland |
| 1132 - 44 | St Denis Abbey, the first Gothic church, built by Abbot Suger in Paris |
| 1139 - 85 | Alphonso I becomes first king of Portugal |
| 1152 - 90 | Reign of powerful Holy Roman emperor Frederick I, called Barbarossa (red beard) |
| 1154 - 89 | Reign of Henry II Plantagenet of Anjou as king of England; he reforms law and government |
| 1171 - 72 | Henry II invades Ireland and is accepted as its lord |
| 1180 - 1223 | Philip II Augustus rules France, conquering Angevin lands in the west |
| 1190 | Teutonic Order of knights, a military society, set up in Germany to defend Christian lands in Palestine and Syria |
|
| AD 1200 |
| CONQUEST AND PLAGUE |
| 1209 | St Francis of Assisi founds Franciscan religious order |
| 1212 | Almohads defeated by Christians at battle of Las Navas de Tolosa |
| 1215 | English King John seals Magna Carta, giving more power to barons |
| 1240 | Russian Alexander Nevsky defeats Swedes at great battle on the Neva river |
| 1241 | L_beck and Hamburg form a Hansa (association) for trade and mutual protection; beginning of Hanseatic League |
| 1249 | University College, first college of Oxford University, England, founded |
| c. 1254 | Explorer Marco Polo born in Venice |
| 1262 | Iceland and Greenland come under Norwegian rule |
| 1273 | Rudolph I becomes first Habsburg ruler of Austria |
| 1282 - 84 | Edward I of England conquers Wales |
| 1284 | Peterhouse, first college of Cambridge University, founded in England |
| 1284 | Sequins coined in Venice, Italy |
| c. 1290 | Invention of spectacles in Italy |
| 1291 | Three Swiss cantons join together to begin struggle for independence from Habsburgs |
|
| AD 1300 |
| 1308 | Papal court moves to Avignon; Great Schism follows |
| 1314 | Scots defeat English at Battle of Bannockburn |
| 1337 | Edward III of England claims French throne - 100 Years War (1337 - 1453) begins |
| 1346 | English defeat French at Battle of Cr_cy |
| 1347 | Bubonic plague or Black Death reaches Europe |
| 1358 | Jacquerie Revolt; peasant uprising north of Paris, France |
| 1370 | Geoffrey Chaucer writes first book, Book of the Duchess |
| 1373 | Treaty of Anglo-Portuguese friendship; the English and Portuguese are still allies today |
| 1381 | Peasants' Revolt in England led by Wat Tyler |
| 1389 | Christian Serbs defeated by Ottoman Turks at Kossovo in Serbia |
| 1397 | Kalmar Agreement unites three Scandinavian kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden |
|
| AD 1400 |
| THE EXPANSION OF KNOWLEDGE |
| 1403 | Ghiberti sculpts human bodies in realistic style for bronze doors of Florence baptistry, heralding the Renaissance |
| 1415 | John Hus, Bohemian religious reformer, burnt at stake |
| 1417 | End of Great Schism in Catholic church; a single pope elected in Rome |
| 1429 | Joan of Arc leads French forces against occupying English army at Siege of Orl_eans |
| 1431 | Joan of Arc is burnt at the stake by the English |
| 1430s | Gutenberg, a German metalworker, experiments with printing using moveable type |
| 1447 | Casimir IV of Poland unites Polish kingdom with Grand Duchy of Lithuania |
| 1453 | Ottomans besiege and capture Constantinople, ending Byzantine empire |
| 1453 | End of 100 Years War; English expelled from all France except Calais |
| 1455 - 56 | First Bible printed in Europe by Gutenberg |
| 1456 | Hungarians under nobleman John Hunyadi storm Belgrade and drive out Turks |
| 1462 - 1505 | Reign of Ivan III (the Great), Grand Prince of Muscovy |
| 1466 | Birth of Desiderius, Dutch scholar and leader of revival of learning in northern Europe |
| 1478 - 92 | Rule of Renaissance art patron, Lorenzo de' Medici |
| 1479 | Crowns of Aragon and Castile in Spain united under Ferdinand and Isabella |
| 1480 | Spanish Inquisition introduced to uncover heresy |
| 1485 | Henry VII becomes first Tudor king of England and Wales after defeat of last Plantagenet king Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth |
| 1492 | Christian Spanish capture Granada in Spain from Muslims |
| 1492 | Christopher Columbus lands on Bahama islands, Cuba, and Hispaniola; he is first European to reach Americas since Vikings |
| 1497 - 98 | Portuguese Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, and sails on to India |
| 1498 | Italian religious reformer, Savonarola, burnt at stake |
|
| AD 1500 |
| THE GREAT RULERS |
| 1500 | Black-lead pencils used in England |
| 1506 - 1612 | Construction of basilica of St Peter's in Rome |
| 1517 | Martin Luther, German scholar, publishes 95 objections to Catholic practices |
| 1519 | Charles, archduke of Austria (and king of Spain), elected Holy Roman emperor (retires in 1556) |
| 1519 | Death of Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci |
| 1527 | Troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, sack Rome and capture Pope Clement VII |
| 1534 | Henry VIII of England breaks with Rome; makes himself head of English church |
| 1541 - 64 | Leadership of John Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland |
| 1545 - 63 | Council of Trent, Italy; Catholics efforts to reform |
| 1547 | Tsar Ivan IV "the Terrible" (reigns 1533 - 84) takes power in Russia |
| 1556 - 98 | Reign of Philip II of Spain |
| 1558 - 1603 | Reign of Elizabeth I of England |
| 1559 - 84 | Building of palace of Escorial outside Madrid |
| 1560s - 90s | French Wars of Religion: Protestant minority in conflict with Catholic majority as leading nobles struggle for power under weak Valois kings |
| 1564 - 1616 | Life of English playwright, William Shakespeare |
| 1568 - 1648 | Dutch campaign for independence from Spanish rule |
| 1571 | Don John of Austria smashes Ottoman fleet at Battle of Lepanto |
| 1572 | Massacre of St Bartholomew: 8,000 Protestants die in Paris, France |
| 1572 | Dutch Sea Beggars take Brill |
| 1575 - 86 | Stephen Batory, prince of Transylvania in Romania, is elected king of Poland |
| 1577 - 80 | English seaman Francis Drake sails round the world |
| 1580 - 1640 | Spain united with Portugal |
| 1588 | English fleet defeats Spanish Armada off south coast of England |
| 1598 | Henry IV, first Bourbon king of France, grants equal rights to Protestants |
|
| AD 1600 |
| COMMERCE AND COLONIES |
| 1605 | End of Boris Godunov's reign in Russia |
| 1605 | Gunpowder Plot fails |
| 1609 | Italian Galileo Galilei confirms that the sun is the centre of the universe |
| 1611 - 32 | Reign of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden |
| 1613 | Michael becomes tsar of Russia; Romanov dynasty begins |
| 1613 - 29 | Reign of Bethlen Gabor in Hungary |
| 1618 - 48 | 30 Years War involves almost all Europe except Britain |
| 1619 - 28 | In London, England, William Harvey discovers the circulation of the blood |
| 1624 | Cardinal Richelieu becomes first minister in France |
| 1625 | Dutchman Hugo Grotius publishes De Jure Belli ac Pacis, which becomes the basis of international law |
| 1627 - 28 | Catholics besiege Huguenots in La Rochelle on western coast of France |
| 1628 | Petition of Right, England; parliament curtails king's powers |
| 1629 - 40 | British king Charles I tries to rule without parliament |
| 1632 - 54 | Reign of Queen Christina of Sweden |
| 1640 | Portugal gains independence from Spain |
| 1642 - 47 | Civil war in England, Scotland, and Ireland |
| 1643 | Italian physicist Torricelli invents the barometer |
| 1643 - 1715 | Reign of Louis XIV of France |
| 1645 - 69 | Candian War between Venice and Ottoman Turks |
| 1648 | Treaty of Westphalia ends 30 Years War |
| 1648 - 53 | The Frondes; revolts against mazarins rule in France |
| 1649 | Charles I of England and Scotland executed |
| 1678 | Imaginary "popish Plot" to overthrow Charles II of England invented by Titus Oates |
| 1679 | Habeas Corpus Act in England ensures no imprisonment without court appearance first |
| 1682 - 1725 | Reign of Peter the Great of Russia |
| 1683 | Turks besiege Vienna; beaten off by John Sobieski |
| 1685 | Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France |
| 1688 | Revolution in England against James II brings William of Orange to the throne |
| 1689 | Formation of Grand Alliance of Habsburgs, the Dutch, and the English against France |
| 1697 | Treaty of Ryswick between France and Grand Alliance |
| 1697 - 98 | Peter I (the Great) of Russia travels through western Europe in disguise |
| 1699 | Treaty of Karlowitz; Habsburgs gain almost all Hungary |
|
| AD 1700 |
| THE AGE OF ENQUIRY |
| 1700s | Age of Enlightenment introduces revolutionary new ideas to Europe |
| 1700s | Agricultural Revolution begins in Britain; later spreads across Europe |
| 1700 - 21 | Great Northern War: Russia is victorious and replaces Sweden as the dominant power in northeastern Europe |
| 1701 - 13 | Much of Europe involved in War of Spanish Succession; French routed at Battle of Blenheim, 1704 |
| 1703 | Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, founds St Petersburg |
| 1707 | Act of Union unites England and Scotland |
| 1712 | In England, Thomas Newcomen invents a workable steam pump for use in mines |
| 1712 | Religious warfare in Switzerland |
| 1713 - 40 | Reign of King frederick william I of Prussia |
| 1715 | First Jacobite rising in Britain attempts to restore exiled Stuart dynasty to throne |
| 1720 | South Sea Bubble - financial scandal in England |
| 1721 - 42 | Robert Walpole is first and longest-serving British prime minister |
| 1724 | Peter the Great founds Russian Academy of Sciences |
| 1726 - 43 | Cardinal Fleury governs France peacefully |
| 1733 - 35 | France and Austria fight War of Polish Succession to make their candidates Polish king |
| 1740 - 86 | Frederick The Great rules Prussia; he greatly expands its territory and Prussia becomes a major power in Europe |
| 1740 - 48 | Prussia attacks Austria and drags much of Europe into War of Austria Succession |
| 1741 - 61 | Reign of Elizabeth I of Russia, daughter of Peter the Great; she founds Russia's first university at Moscow |
| 1745 - 46 | Second Jacobite rising in Britain led by Bonnie Prince Charlie attempts but fails to restore exiled Stuart dynasty to British throne |
| THE AGE OF REVOLUTION |
| 1750 - 77 | Sebastian de Carvalho (later Marquis of Pombal) appointed foreign secretary and acts as chief minister to Jose_ I of Portugal; introduces reforms |
| 1754 | Concordat with Vatican gives Spanish church independence from Rome |
| 1755 | The great Lisbon earthquake in Portugal; many thousands killed |
| 1756 - 63 | Seven Years War; Prussia and Britain versus France, Austria, and Russia |
| 1757 | Battle of Rossbach; Frederick The Great of Prussia defeats French and Austrians |
| 1762 | Publication of French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau's Contrat Social |
| 1762 - 96 | Reign of Russian empress Catherine the Great |
| 1764 - 95 | Reign of King Stanislas Poniatowski, the last king of Poland |
| 1772 - 95 | Poland is divided between Russia, Austria, and Prussia |
| 1773 - 75 | Emelian Pugachev leads uprising of Cossacks and peasants in Russia |
| 1774 - 92 | Reign of Louis XVI, king of France |
| 1777 | Accession of Maria as queen of Portugal; she exiles Pombal but continues his work |
| 1778 | War of Bavarian Succession between Prussia and Austria |
| 1780 | Joseph II, co-ruler of Austria with his mother Maria Theresa in 1780, becomes sole ruler on her death; ten year period of important reforms |
| 1783 | Russian government annexes the Crimea |
| 1783 - 1801 | William Pitt the Younger is prime minister of England |
| 1787 - 92 | Turkey fights Russia to regain the Crimea, but is defeated |
| 1788 - 90 | Sweden attacks Russia, but a peace treaty confirms the pre-war borders |
| 1789 | Outbreak of French Revolution; Paris Bastille stormed (14 July)* |
| 1795 | France overruns Netherlands; creates dependent Dutch republic |
| 1798-99 | Wolfe Tone organizes Irish revolt against English rule |
|
| AD 1800 |
| INDEPENDENCE AND INDUSTRY |
| 1800 | Italian scientist Volta invents electric cell |
| 1801 - 25 | Reign of Tsar Alexander I of Russia |
| 1804 | First oil lamp made in England, designed by Frenchman Argand |
| 1804 | Napoleon becomes Emperor of the French |
| 1805 | Battles of Trafalgar (British naval victory) and Austerlitz (French army victory) |
| 1806 | Napoleon brings the Holy Roman empire to an end |
| 1807 | Britain abolishes slave trade; slavery continues until 1833 |
| 1808 - 14 | The Peninsular War in Spain |
| 1812 | First tin cans produced in England for preserving food |
| 1812 | Napoleon reaches Moscow; is forced by partisan warfare and burning of Moscow to retreat to France |
| 1813 | Napoleon defeated in the "Battle of the nations", Leipzig |
| 1815 | Battle of Waterloo; final defeat of Napoleon |
| 1815 | Congress of Vienna follows defeat of Napoleon; map of Europe decided |
| 1821-29 | Greek War of Independence, against Turks |
| 1827 | Frenchman Nic_phore Ni_pce takes the first photograph |
| 1827 | Battle of Navarino Bay; British, French, and Russian navies destroy Turkish fleet |
| 1830 | Russians suppress Polish revolt |
| 1830 | Revolution in France |
| 1830 - 31 | Kingdom of Belgium is founded |
| 1832 | First Great Reform Bill gives more men the vote in Britain |
| 1833 | Abolition of slavery in British empire |
| 1840 | Penny postage stamp introduced in Britain; postage stamps transform postal systems |
| 1841 | Nationalist leader Lajos Kossuth founds Hungarian liberal reform newspaper |
| 1844 | First effective Factory Act in Britain |
| 1847 - 48 | Civil war leaves Switzerland a federal state |
| 1848 | Publication of the Communist Manifesto |
| 1848 | Year of Revolution throughout Europe |
| THE RISE OF NATIONALISM |
| 1851 | The Great Exhibition in England |
| 1852 | Louis Napoleon becomes Emperor Napoleon III of the French |
| 1853 - 56 | Crimean War: Russia fights Turkey, Britain, France, and Sardinia |
| 1860 | Italian parliament meets in Turin; Garibaldi takes southern Italy; most of Italy unified |
| 1861 | Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom in Russia |
| 1862 - 90 | Career of Bismarck as chief minister of Germany |
| 1863 - 64 | Poles rebel against Russian rule |
| 1866 | Prussia defeats Austria at Sadowa in Seven Weeks War |
| 1867 | Disraeli introduces Second Reform Bill in Britain |
| 1868 - 74 | Gladstone is British prime minister for first time |
| 1870 - 71 | Franco-Prussian War; Napoleon III abdicates, Third Republic established in France (to 1940) |
| 1871 | Unification of Germany: Prussian king William I becomes emperor of Germany |
| 1874 - 80 | Disraeli's second and last government in Britain |
| 1876 | Turks put down Bulgarian rising with great cruelty |
| 1878 | Congress of Berlin ends Russo-Turkish War (1877 - 78); freedom for some Balkan countries |
| 1881 | Assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia |
| 1882 | Triple Alliance is formed between Germany, Austria, and Italy |
| 1885 | German Karl Benz is first to sell motor cars |
| 1887 | Bulgaria elects Ferdinand of Coburg king; it becomes leading Balkan state |
| 1888 - 1918 | Kaiser (Emperor) William II reigns in Germany |
| 1891 - 94 | Franco-Russian agreement |
| 1895 | In France, the Lumi_re brothers invent the film projector |
| 1895 | Assassination of Bulgarian prime minister Stambuloff |
| 1895 | Marconi invents wireless telegraphy |
|
| AD 1900 |
| THE WORLD GOES TO WAR |
| 1900 | German naval law introduces 20-year building programme for a high seas fleet to compete with the British navy |
| 1901 - 05 | Separation of the church from the state in France |
| 1901 | Foundation of Russian Social Revolutionary party (Bolsheviks) |
| 1903 | Assassination of Alexander, king of Serbia |
| 1903 - 05 | Scandal breaks in Belgium over Belgian rule in Zaire |
| 1904 | "Entente Cordiale" between Britain and France |
| 1904 - 05 | Russo-Japanese War |
| 1905 | Revolution in Russia |
| 1905 | Norway breaks away from Sweden; elects King Haakon VII |
| 1906 | Liberal government comes to power in Britain; many reforms |
| c. 1906 | Navy arms race escalates |
| 1908 | Young Turk revolution |
| 1908 | Carlos I of Portugal assassinated |
| 1908 | Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 1908 | Ferdinand I proclaimed emperor of Bulgaria |
| 1910 | Portuguese revolution brings about the end of the monarchy |
| 1912 - 13 | Balkan Wars |
| 1913 | Coup d'_tat of Young Turks in Turkey |
| 1914 | Assassination of heir to Austrian throne leads to outbreak of World War I |
| 1914 | Battle of the Marne |
| 1914 | Battle of Tannenberg between the Germans and the Russians; German victory |
| 1915 | Dardanelles Campaign; British try to force passage to Constantinople |
| 1915 | Germans start submarine campaign to blockade British Isles |
| 1916 | Battle of Jutland between British and German fleets; stalemate |
| 1916 | Easter Rising against British government in Ireland |
| 1917 | Russian Revolution: Liberal revolution (February); Bolshevik revolution (October)* |
| 1918 | Armistice ends World War I |
| PEACE AND WAR |
| 1919 | Ernest Rutherford splits atom for first time |
| 1921 | Lenin introduces New Economic Policy in Russia |
| 1922 | Irish Free State founded |
| 1922 | Mussolini becomes Italian prime minister; dictator from 1925 |
| 1923 - 30 | Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in Spain |
| 1924 | First British Labour party victory at a general election |
| 1924 | Death of Vladimir Lenin |
| 1925 | Locarno Agreements between major European powers aim to maintain peace and stability |
| 1926 | In Britain, John Logie Baird invents the television |
| 1928 | French begin to build fortification, the Maginot Line, on German border |
| 1928 | Stalin launches five-year plan to expand Soviet industry |
| 1931 | Republic declared in Spain after King Alfonso XIII abdicates |
| 1931 | Statute of Westminster makes dominions of British empire self-governing |
| 1933 | Nazi leader Hitler appointed German chancellor; Nazis begin organized persecution of Jews |
| 1934 | Mussolini meets Hitler |
| 1936 | Germany invades Rhineland region on French-Belgian border |
| 1936 - 39 | Civil War in Spain |
| 1937 | Eamonn de Valera becomes prime minister of Ireland (Eire) |
| 1938 | Hitler compels Austria to form union with Germany (the "Anschluss") |
| 1938 | Munich crisis: France and Britain agree to let Germany partition Czechoslovakia |
| 1939 | Stalin and Hitler agree to divide Poland between them |
| 1939 | Germany invades Poland; this leads to World War II |
| 1940 | British scientists develop radar |
| 1940 | France surrenders to Germany |
| 1941 | Jet aircraft developed in England and Germany |
| 1943 | German Sixth Army fails to capture Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd) in Soviet Union, and surrenders |
| 1944 | Allies invade France and begin to reconquer Europe |
| ONE WORLD |
| 1948 - 49 | The Berlin airlift |
| 1949 | Britain recognizes the independence of Ireland |
| 1951 | Sir Winston Churchill forms his first peacetime government in England |
| 1953 | Death of Stalin in Russia; Nikita Khrushchev takes power |
| 1953 | DNA discovered |
| 1955 | The Warsaw Pact is signed |
| 1956 | Soviet troops invade Hungary and quash revolt |
| 1957 | Russians launch Sputniks; Laika, a small dog, becomes the first living creature in space |
| 1957 | The Treaty of Rome ushers in the EEC |
| 1958 | Charles de Gaulle brings strong presidential rule to France |
| 1961 | Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space |
| 1961 | Berlin Wall built to stop East Germans fleeing to the West |
| 1961 | Female oral contraceptive pill comes onto the market |
| 1964 | Leonid Brezhnev takes over from Khrushchev as ruler in Russia |
| 1968 | Paris erupts into student riots followed by general strike |
| 1968 | Czechoslovakia tries to initiate internal reforms; Soviet troops enter Prague and end "Prague Spring" |
| 1972 | "Bloody Sunday" in Londonderry, Northern Ireland; troops fire on civil rights marchers |
| 1972 | Munich Olympics; Israeli athletes killed by Arab "Black September" organization |
| 1976 | Helsinki convention on human rights adopted |
| 1977 | 240 Czech intellectuals sign Charter 77 stating that democratic freedoms are still denied |
| 1979 | Britain elects first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher |
| 1980 | Independent trade union, Solidarity, formed in Poland |
| 1985 | Mikhail Gorbachev elected Soviet Communist party leader; introduces reforms |
| 1986 | Nuclear power disaster at Chernobyl in Ukraine |
| 1989 | Berlin Wall dismantled |
| 1990 | East and West Germany are unified as one nation |
| 1990 | Solidarity's Lech Walesa is elected president of Poland |
| 1991 | Break-up of the Soviet Union, resignation of Gorbachev; Yeltsin takes power in Russia |
| 1992 | Yugoslavia breaks up and erupts into bloody civil war |
