| B. C. |
|
| 3400 |
First Egyptian Dynastic Period |
| 2900 |
The Great Pyramid of Egypt
built by Cheops |
| 1300 |
Phoenicians opened
Mediterranean trade |
| 1230 |
Exodus of the Israelites from
Egypt |
| 1190 |
Fall of Troy |
| 961 |
Building of the Temple at
Jerusalem begun |
| 776 |
First Olympic Games held in
Greece |
| 753 |
Founding of Rome |
| 490 |
Greeks defeat Persians at
Marathon |
| 488 |
Death of Buddha |
| 335-23 |
The campaigns of Alexander the
Great |
| 146 |
Carthage destroyed by Scipio |
| 55 |
Julius Caesar invades Britain |
| 4 |
Actual date of the birth of
Christ |
| A. D. |
|
| 30 |
Crucifixion of Christ |
| 43 |
Conquest of Britain by Rome
begun |
| 70 |
Destruction of Jerusalem |
| 79 |
Vesuvius erupts, destroying
Pompeii and Herculaneum |
| 122 |
Building of Hadrian's Wall |
| 407 |
Romans leave Britain |
| 476 |
Fall of the Roman Empire in
the West |
| 569 |
Birth of Mohammed in Mecca |
| 711 |
Moors overrun Spain |
| 732 |
Moors driven from France |
| 1000 |
Norsemen reach Labrador |
| 1066 |
Normans conquer Britain |
| 1095 |
Crusades begin |
| 1215 |
The Magna Carta sealed by King
John |
| 1216 |
First Parliament in England |
| 1271 |
Beginning of Marco Polo's
travels |
| 1338 |
Hundred Years War begins |
| 1348 |
The Black Death sweeps Europe |
| 1440 |
Printing with moveable type
begun in Germany. |
| 1453 |
Eastern Roman Empire falls to
Turks |
| 1455-85 |
Wars of the Roses |
| 1476 |
First printing press in
England. |
| 1492 |
Columbus discovered America |
| 1492 |
Moors driven from Spain |
| 1500 |
Portuguese discover Brazil |
| 1519-22 |
First voyage round the world,
by Magellan |
| 1534 |
Reformation in England |
| 1536 |
Dissolution of the monasteries
in England. |
| 1572 |
St. Bartholomew's day massacre
in France |
| 1577-80 |
Drake's voyage round the world |
| 1588 |
Drake defeats Spanish Armada |
| 1605 |
Gunpowder plot to blow up
English Parliament |
| 1607 |
First permanent colony
established in Virginia |
| 1618-48 |
Thirty Years War |
| 1620 |
Mayflower colonists land in
New England |
| 1642 |
New Zealand and Tasmania
discovered |
| 1665 |
Great Plague of London |
| 1666 |
Great Fire of London |
| 1707 |
Act of Union unites England
and Scotland |
| 1715 |
First Jacobite Rebellion |
| 1745 |
Second Jacobite Rebellion,
"The Forty-five". |
| 1756 |
Beginning of Seven Years War |
| 1760 |
British defeat French in
Canada |
| 1760 |
Beginning of Industrial
Revolution |
| 1770 |
Captain Cook discovers New
South Wales |
| 1775-83 |
American War of Independence |
| 1776 |
American Declaration of
Independence |
| 1789 |
French Revolution begins |
| 1796 |
Napoleonic Wars begin |
| 1804 |
Napoleon becomes Emperor of
France |
| 1805 |
Battle of Trafalgar |
| 1815 |
Battle of Waterloo |
| 1832 |
First Reform Act in British
Parliament |
| 1833 |
Britain abolishes slavery |
| 1840 |
Introduction of penny post in
Britain |
| 1848 |
Gold discovered in California |
| 1854-56 |
Crimean War |
| 1857 |
Indian Mutiny |
| 1861-65 |
American Civil War |
| 1863 |
United States abolishes
slavery |
| 1867 |
Dominion of Canada established |
| 1869 |
Suez Canal opens |
| 1870-71 |
Franco-Prussian War |
| 1877-78 |
Russo-Turkish War breaks power
of Turkey in Europe. |
| 1899-1902 |
Boer War |
| 1903 |
First successful aeroplane
flight, by Wright brothers |
| 1904-05 |
Russo-Japanese War |
| 1909 |
Bleriot makes first cross
channel flight |
| 1909 |
Peary reaches North Pole |
| 1911 |
Amundsen reaches South Pole |
| 1912 |
Ocean liner Titanic sinks,
1513 lost |
| 1914 |
World War I begins |
| 1915 |
Ocean liner Lusitania
torpedoed, 1500 lost |
| 1917 |
United States enters First
World War |
| 1917 |
Russian Revolution |
| 1918 |
End of First World War |
| 1919 |
Alcock and Brown make first
non-stop trans Atlantic flight |
| 1920 |
First meeting of League of
Nations |
| 1922 |
Mussolini marches on Rome |
| 1924 |
Death of Lenin |
| 1927 |
Lindbergh makes first solo
flight across Atlantic |
| 1929 |
Start of the Great Slump |
| 1931 |
Japan occupies Manchuria |
| 1933 |
Hitler attains power in
Germany |
| 1936-39 |
Civil War in Spain |
| 1937 |
Japan begins war on China |
| 1938 |
Germany annexes Austria,
Munich Agreement |
| 1939 |
Outbreak of Second World War |
| 1940 |
Germany invades Denmark,
Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, France and Luxembourg |
| 1940 |
Dunkirk evacuation, Paris
taken by Germans |
| 1940 |
Battle of Britain |
| 1941 |
Russia and United States enter
Second World War |
| 1942 |
All of France occupied by
Germans |
| 1943 |
Allies invade Italy |
| 1944 |
Allies invade France |
| 1945 |
Germany surrenders, Hitler
dies |
| 1945 |
First atomic bomb dropped on
Japan |
| 1945 |
Japan surrenders |
| 1945 |
End of Second World War |
| 1945 |
United Nations established |
| 1947 |
India attains independence |
| 1948 |
State of Israel proclaimed |
| 1950-53 |
Korean War |
| 1953 |
Conquest of Mount Everest |
| 1956 |
Suez Canal dispute |
| 1957 |
Russians launch first space
satellite |
| 1959 |
Russians launch first rocket
to each moon and photograph its far side. |
| 1960 |
Piccard descends 7 miles (11
km) under the Pacific |
| 1961 |
First space flight, by Yuri
Gagarin |
| 1963 |
Assassination of President
Kennedy |
| 1966 |
River Arno overflows and
floods two-thirds of the City of Florence, Italy |
| 1967 |
China explodes complete H-bomb |
| 1969 |
Neil Armstrong is first man on
the moon |
| 1971 |
Indo-Pakistan conflict, East
Pakistan becomes Bangladesh |
| 1971 |
China admitted to the United
Nations |
| 1973 |
Britain, Ireland, Denmark join
EEC |
| 1974 |
President Nixon resigns |
| 1975 |
US withdraws from Vietnam War |
| 1976 |
Death of Mao-tse-tung, Power
struggle in China |
| 1978 |
Peace treaty signed by Egypt
and israel. |
| 1978 |
Cardinal Wojtyla becomes Pope
John Paul II |
| 1979 |
Ayatollah Khomeini comes to
power in Iran |
| 1979 |
Rhodesia renamed Zimbabwe,
Black majority government elected |
| 1981 |
Ronald Reagan becomes
President of USA |
| 1982 |
Yuri Andropov becomes
President of USSR |
| 1982 |
Falkland Island Crisis |
| 1984 |
Konstantin Chernenko becomes
President of USSR |
| 1984 |
Indira Gandhi is assassinated
and succeeded by her son Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister of India |
| 1985 |
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes
Premier of USSR, Andre Gromyko becomes President |
| 1986 |
The world's worst nuclear
accident at Chernobyl, USSR. |